Ten Steps To Make Your Life CRUSTIER Starting Today (step 5): Prophecy of Doom "The Peel Sessions" 12'' Ep, 1990

There are a couple of tacit but nevertheless crucial, and indeed immemorial, rules that even the most seemingly unflinching crusty has to abide by if the all-important crust credibility is to be maintained at all time. Some have been thoroughly documented by notorious crust anthropologists and I strongly recommend to read such classic studies as The Elementary Structures of Crustship or Coming of Age Rituals in Patched Societies. Today, I will focus on one of these ground rules so that the unexperienced reader will no longer be caught dithering like a speed virgin when asked about his or her favourite recording of /insert name of classic UK hardcore crust bands from the mid/late 80's/, a common enough question in punk socialising spaces like glamorous d-beat gigs, distro stalls or, of course, the bar. Make no mistake as a wrong answer to such a critical enquiry could have you banned from the crust elite for any number of years and from being asked to play in a retro stenchcore band, which is pretty much the highest rank in crusty social groups, the very top of the crust chain. In fact, there have been many instances where the question merely served as a means to gauge the current crust level of a new recruit, not unlike a rite of passage marking the transition from "poser" to "proper". So if you nurture the dream to one day become the guitar player of a tasteful synth-driven stenchcore band, the right answer could be decisive whereas faltering awkwardly "the first album?" will probably not suffice and might condemn you to only attain the spot of the bass player in a new school d-beat band. Therefore, whenever possible, safely go for "the Peel Sessions are excellent". 

A fine example of Midieval art

Not only is such an answer - almost - always true, as you could indeed argue that the best materials of Extreme Noise Terror, Doom or Napalm Death were recorded during their visits to the BBC studios (I personally consider the transitions between ENT's "I'm not a fool" and "In it for life" and between Doom "Symptom of the universe" and "Multinationals" to be some of the most poignant moments of crust magic ever put to tape), but it also shows that you acknowledge the influence that John Peel has had on the making of the so-called UK hardcore scene and sound. To be offered a Peel Session was a big deal for punk bands at the time. Pretty much every punk kid was a fan of the man's open-mindedness and enthusiasm and got to discover top bands through his show so it was felt as a major achievement to be invited to be a part of it, without mentioning that your band was going to be broadcast nationally on the BBC with all the exposure that ensued. I suppose one of the main reasons - if not the main reason - why punk Peel Sessions always sounded ace was that, for many bands, it would be the only opportunity to play on state-of-the-art equipment, as opposed to the usually shitty amps of their practice spaces, which accounted for the fantastic sound production they were treated with. Besides, the very idea of playing the noiziest, filthiest grinding hardcore on such expensive appliances, live on the BBC radio must have felt quite exhilarating and an antithesis in action. Punk, innit?  

When it comes to Prophecy of Doom, from Tewkesbury, you can confidently assert that their two Peel Sessions deserved to be regarded as the best material they ever recorded (although the second one from 1991 might be even better than the first). It will undoubtedly shine a knowledgeable glow upon your person. PoD were certainly one of the most unique and convincing bands pertaining to the original UK crust wave (as usual, I strongly urge you to read the chapter devoted to them in Trapped in a Scene) and, at their peak, their brand of intelligent, oppressive grinding stenchcore certainly amounted to the best of what crust had to offer. In spite of the two aforementioned Peel Sessions, one genuinely classic crust Lp - 1990's Acknowledge the Confusion Master - and a number of contemporary reissues (thanks to the good people of Agipunk for that), PoD have unfairly remained something of an underappreciated band, fervently revered by a few but tragically ignored by many. I first came across PoD through their second album, the Matrix cd, released in 1992 on Metalcore, which I got for cheap (it figures) ages ago. It was not, to say the least, an ideal introduction to a band that I had seen mentioned on several tasteful thank lists and that shared a split cd with Axegrinder, which entitled me to expect some proper crust from them. Matrix is not good and the last time I played it, I think Tony Blair was still Prime Minister. However, it stands as their only admittedly lacklustre work and you can trust all the rest, safe in your crusthood. 

The Peel Sessions 12'' Ep was recorded on January, 28th and broadcast on February, 14th, 1990. It included four songs that originally appeared on the album, released the same year on Deaf Records (a Peaceville sublabel) and recorded with the same lineup of Shrew, Shrub, Tommy, Dean and Martin. I suppose that if you played PoD for the first time to an innocent punky bystander, a common first reaction would be one of genuine wonder at Shrew's very peculiar vocals since he used a guitar effect pedal (some sort of delay) making him sound like the rotting corpse of some unidentified but undoubtedly monstrous and barbaric creature growling at your guilty conscience from beyond the grave. It is just a lovely feeling. While I am generally not a massive believer in using too much effect on your vocals, the combination of the delay with the threateningly gruff, insane-sounding vocal style works ideally with PoD and it has to be said that it was a daring move for the time. If life has been so miserable that you have never had the opportunity to enjoy PoD at their best, let's suggest that they could be defined as an oppressively groovy grinding crust band with a leaning towards early death metal or as an epic pub brawl between early Carcass and Mindrot, '89 Deviated Instinct and '88 Hellbastard but I feel that such comparisons cannot render the suffocating atmosphere of madness permeating PoD's sound and their original take on the genre, be it in terms of song structures, writing or sonic textures. You will find many different paces in these four songs, from fast-paced cavemen crust to mid-tempo mean pummeling stenchcore, blasting grinding death metal or painful and dark sludgy moment, all shades of crust punishment answer the call. As you can expect, the production is absolutely perfect and the bass sound is to die for. The lyrics were another strong point of the band with rather thought-provoking words about our pervasive egotism, the subconscious thought processes, the lies and conceit we create to keep going and the ensuing personal and social insanity. PoD's lyrics were like their music: quite unique and smart.

This 12'' Ep was released on Strange Fruit, the BBC-related label that put out all the Peel Sessions and of course everyone recognized the distinctive style of Mid who drew the cover of the record (I encourage you to use this intel as a scholarly piece of crust trivia) and kept experimenting with more layered visual techniques. Fortunately for you, Boss Tuneage released a PoD discography entitled Retrospective 1988-1991 last year (without Matrix though) that is still available on vinyl and cd so there is really no excuse.     

Prophecy of Crust    

Ten Steps to Make Your Life CRUSTIER Starting Today (step 4): Extreme Noise Terror "Are you that desperate?" Ep, 1995

This step is going to be a relatively small but still important one toward a well-balanced stenchcore diet and a harmonious relationship with the crustmos. So place your healing crustals on the table, light some sweat'n'cider-flavoured incense sticks and let's unclog those chakras.   

I guess everyone here is familiar with the cavemen crust pioneers Extreme Noise Terror so prattling at length about them - as I normally would - does seem a little pointless. Besides, the inclusion of this ENT Ep into the present series has a lot to do with the fact that it is a live recording and a rather rare occurrence of savage but listenable live crustery on vinyl. The marriage between the extreme sonic characteristics inherent to the style, the very limited means of recording in the 80's and a marked inclination to get plastered before playing, explains that there aren't that many good live recordings of the classic crust era, which is a shame since those bands usually played a lot. I certainly can think of a couple of great ones (of Antisect and their three live Lp's and Amebix of course, and even Axegrinder, that were done through the mixing deck), but often it was just an enthusiastic hardcore punk fan armed with a tape recorder in one hand (and a pint in the other) which logically accounted for the sound quality being very rough and the listener being barely able to make out all the instruments amidst all the drunken blabbering of the punters sometimes. All in all a pretty amusing experience and certainly one that makes the passionate punk feel like an archeologist exhuming scarce and precious artifacts of an ancient civilisation, which is probably not completely wrong when one considers that every gig is filmed by at least twenty persons in the audience nowadays.

Are you that Desperate? belongs to that rare category of "listenable live recordings of 80's crust" and let's face it you need to master at least one of those if you want to be a credible crust punk. Apart from the aforementioned forefathers of the genre Antisect and Amebix, Extreme Noise Terror have been the only vintage crust band to enjoy a proper live record of one of their late 80's performances - although the first pressing of the Ep was only released in 1991 - namely their gig at the Powerhaus in London on October, 5th, 1989, with Doctor and the Crippens. Of course, Doom would also have a couple of solid live Ep's later on, 1992's Live in Japan and 2001's Pissed Robbed and Twatted, but those were not recorded in the 80's. Of course, you could also argue that protocrust noize masters Chaos UK - with the B side of 1986's Just Mere Slaves 12'' recorded in Japan - and Disorder - with their full Lp 1985's Gi Faen I Nasjonalitenten Din recorded in Oslo - had official live recordings on vinyl prior to ENT, but since we, at Terminal Sound Nuisance, posit that "crust" is both continuation as well as change, and that, although the Bristol hardcore heroes played a major role, in terms of musical influence, aesthetics and logistics, in the making of crust, they were not, strictly speaking and in spite of similar lifestyles and hygiene, "crust bands". Know what I mean?

Along with Napalm Death, ENT were the most iconic band of the mid/late 80's hardcore crust wave in Britain and their early works remain unsurpassable cult releases like Scum or War Crimes. However, whereas Doom, who started a bit later as a band, always stuck both to the ethics of the DIY punk scene and to their cavemen adaptation of Discard, ENT decided to go for bigger things, signed to Earache Records in the 90's and tried to become a medium-sized metal bands, leaving their crust punk roots and anarcho lyrics in the process, which was seen by many as selling out and understandably left a stain on the ENT name to this day even though the band (which was always singer Dean's band) have gone back to their old-school cavemen crust style and to DIY punk label, a return that some have deemed more than a little questionable and hypocritical. However I am not here to pontify but to talk about the actual piece of wax and the band's legacy because, as much as one may be critical of ENT's past direction, there is no denying the sheer power and insane intensity characterising their 80's period and in 1989 they sounded bloody unstoppable.

Like many a snot-nosed punk of yore, ENT was the first crustcore band I ever knew through their split Lp with Chaos UK, a record that did not really convert me to the cause of noize at first as it all sounded a bit much and just plain silly to me, whereas I immediately connected to Doom at about the same time. I remember not being able to get my head around ENT's dual vocals. Were they for real or just arsing around in the studio? And what about that name? Sure, your band can reasonably be described as an extremely noisy terror but does that justify being so literal? It took a listening session of A Holocaust in your Head while inebriated for me to really grab the essence of ENT. Many years have passed and my appreciation of late 80's ENT is strong and pure and I still cannot help singing along to "Murder" whenever I hear it (with the appropriate level of discretion that the social situation requires of course). The widely accepted current consensus concerning the band's body of works is that the Peel Sessions (all three of them: 1987, 1988 and 1990) along with the In It For Life split Lp with Filthkick are the most ferocious ENT records (and their cover of the Rejects has to be one of the most inspired punk covers ever), but you cannot go wrong either with the raw pogo crust power of Radioactive, A Holocaust in Your Head's emphatic - if a bit sloppy - template for the traditional dual vocal crust attack formula and 1991's Phonophobia certainly heralded the new era of controlled and tighter crustcore brutality that would define the 90's and climax with Disrupt's Unrest.

Contrary to Doom, with whom the comparisons are unavoidable because of common members, who pretty much stuck to their initial career plan to sound like Discard/Crudity/Svart Parad, the spectrum of influences of ENT - who grew out of the ashes of mid-80's bands Raw Noise and Victims of War - was broader and included, beside the Bristol noise merchants Chaos UK and Disorder and anarcho bands like '82 Antisect (to whom they owed their famous trade-off vocal style) or Anti-System, classic foreign hardcore bands from Japan (GISM, Swankys or Kuro, Italy (Wretched or EU's Arse), Finland (Kaaos or Rattus) in addition to the usual Swedish suspects (Anti-Cimex and Shitlickers). Those rather varied but always savage hardcore influences were then blended together until you obtained a smooth enough texture meant to be played at full speed, with cider-fueled intensity and with completely over-the-top extreme dual vocals that still manage to sound punk as fuck. To get back to Are you that Desperate?, it includes six absolute classic ENT classics: "Deceived", "Another nail in the coffin", "Subliminal music", "Murder", "Raping the Earth" and "Punk - fact or faction?". The Ep appropriately starts with "Deceived", and its classic and so epic introduction that has certainly sent shivers down many a spine throughout the years and is just the perfect opener. The sound is pretty decent and the band quite tight so that you can easily understand what is going on. I would not recommend this Ep to someone not previously familiar with ENT as it sounds even more brutal than usual - because of the proximity created by the live recording - like an enraged mob of drunk cavemen banging on your door at 2am. A couple of speeches between the songs indicate that the band was not too happy with the macho dancing and "metal attitudes" they were witnessing at the gig which I suppose is fairly positive and showed that they still cared and, beside the lyrics, there is a text entitled Meat Food for Thought exposing the impact of Western carnivorous diets in terms of pollution, ecological destruction and social inequities in developing countries, that is - sadly - still very much relevant.

The live Ep was originally released in 1991 but this present version of Are you that Desperate? is the second pressing from 1995 with the black border cover. Both were released on Crust Records, a Providence-based label run by Dropdead's guitar player that was responsible for a couple of noizy classics from the likes of Disrupt, Diskonto, Totalitär and of course Drodpead. My only minor issue with the Ep is that the cover, depicting a Oliver Hardy lookalike in a uniform pouting at a burger, is not what it could have been. Indeed, the drawing on the backcover with its crustier than thou gnomish caveman making noise out of a helplessly broken guitar would have made for a legendary cover (but since it already appeared on the insert of The Peel Sessions 1987-1990 maybe they refrained from the idea of putting it on the cover, I dunno).

Probably not the most ideal listen for an ENT novice but an undeniable treat for your inner crusty.  
        

Am I that desperate?

Ten Steps to Make Your Life CRUSTIER Starting Today (step 3): Genital Deformities "Shag nasty! Oi!" Lp, 1989

I have been thinking about all those bands that never got to exist lately. Those that never went past the practice stage, assuming they actually got enough of their shit together to enter a practice room. I suppose we all have dozens of unborn bands, often the result of boozing sessions with your mates during which everyone thought it'd be hilarious to form a mock ska band or agreed that what this town really needed was a more traditional d-beat band called D-Charge. Usually, after sobering up, such projects never really happen since the very concept of it often proves much more fun than its actualisation and the logistics involved in playing in a band. And let's face it, if many such ideas sound hysterical when formulated while intoxicated, the truth is that, in most cases, a lot of them should indeed remain in the realms of projection and although I have been threatening for several years to concretise Skarcass, my ska band devoted to covering early Carcass songs, I am fully aware, deep down, that humanity may not deserve to have this calamity unleashed upon it and that it would be safer for all involved that Skarcass, tragically, never sees the light of day. It would be a right laugh though.

Was Genital Deformities the product of a heavy drinking session somewhere in the West Midlands in 1987 when a drunk teenage punk offered excitedly to form the noisiest band possible with the most disgusting and obnoxious name they could think of? Quite likely indeed. Fortunately for punk history, GD became real and created a genuine early crust classic with Shag Nasty! Oi!. However, and rather unfortunately for matters of appropriacy, they stuck with the moniker Genital Deformities, a courageous choice maybe, one that may have some appeal to lovers of purposefully gory disgusting noise, but akin to shooting yourself in the foot and then trading your crutches for some shite speed offered by a right dodgy geezer in the loo if you are not actually a goregrind band, which GD never were although they have been misconstrued as such.

I haven't learnt much about the band since I last wrote about them in my review of their 1994 split cd with the mighty Subcaos (here) but what you must know is that GD recorded their first demo in December, 1987, a recording (I doubt it was ever actually released physically) that respected the "noise not music" doctrine with the utmost loyalty as it was, quite literally, noise and certainly not music. Made up of fifteen "songs", most of them being short and brutal bursts of hardcore noise, it was recorded with a drum machine and a singer who was clearly on white cider and it can be said to be a prime example of early noisecore giving Sore Throat's Aural Butchery a run for its money in terms of gruff roughness. Amidst the blasting chaos and the utter dementia pervading the demo, some songs introduced heavy mid-paced Frost-like riffing and atmospheric crust moments that did point to where GD would be heading the year after once they got a stable lineup (or once they saw themselves as an actual band) and decided to write proper songs. In 1988, GD recorded an Ep that was never released and included six songs that would all be rerecorded on the Lp. Since this recording can be considered as a sort of rawer version of the album, there is no need to slobber over it too much but let me tell you that it easily outcrusted most of the competition at the time (thanks a million to Panzer Badger for exhuming this unreleased masterpiece). So let's proceed to Shag Nasty! Oi!.

I suppose that when the name of your band already refers to deformed genitalia, calling your album Shag Nasty! Oi! should be considered as rather benign, even though it certainly conjures up the saucy songs of the Macc Lads. Since the Lp does not have an insert, I am unable to assess how ironic this title was in the light of the lyrics which, from what I can decipher, with some difficulty because of the super gruff cavemen vocals, were quite serious and abstain from the lewd and fruity. As for the cover of the album, I could write a whole article about it. First, because it is a stunning artwork drawn by Skinny who had already done covers and posters for Doom, Napalm Death, SxOxB or Extreme Noise Terror at that point and second because it is a stunning but penis-based artwork. Again, you could argue that a band called Genital Deformities and an album called Shag Nasty! Oi! would use a phallic landscape for a cover, it just makes sense, and at least their artistic choices are coherent and the vision is clear, as overrun with dicks as it might be. On the one hand, I love the cover because it looks very macabre, nightmarish and grotesque and very punky too and it can be admired for the well-composed and detailed piece of punk art that it is. On the other, it makes wearing my GD shirt a highly delicate endeavour for, if its aesthetics kinda look like Nightmare Before Christmas from a distance, anyone looking closer can notice that I am covered in erect ejaculating penises and there is a priest with two cocks in his mouth holding what appears to be a penis-made nunchaku and very much enjoying it (without mentioning the lecherous Thatcher-like figure seemingly involved in some kind of wild orgy with penis-shaped skeletons). So probably not the most adequate outfit to wear for your nan's birthday (although you never know, do you?). In spite of all the sexual references and if you manage to abstract yourself from the penis imagery, the overall atmosphere of GD's visuals did possess that dark apocalyptic and decadent feel one can find on a lot of classic crust records, locating the band in the original strong crust tradition.

Shag Nasty! Oi! is, as deliberately disgusting as the cover might be, an absolute stenchcore crust classic, a practically flawless album worth of praises that ought to be celebrated as often as possible. I remember getting the Lp for quite cheap about fifteen years ago and looking at the prices on discogs, it looks like Shag Nasty! Oi! is a crucial piece of crust culture that is still rather affordable. I have to admit that I was extremely suspicious upon ordering it because of the band's name but it was described as "UK crust from 1989" and, in my fanaticised mind, this combination of words always evokes images of crust grandeur. It makes the heart beat so to speak. Once I got over the shock caused by the cover and mentally accepted the fact that I had been conned into acquiring a grindcore Lp, I played the album and realized how wrong, mistaken, naive, foolish, arrogant, misled and juvenile I had been. Throughout punkstory, although a consequential number of crust bands have claimed to be influenced by Celtic Frost and Hellhammer, few succeeded in crustifying properly the mighty Frost sound and among those who did, GD have to lead the pack. Shag Nasty! Oi! manages to incorporate and rework Frost and Hellhammer riffs and structures into a decidedly metallic UK crust sound. It has got the incredible rocking groove that the Swiss were known but instead of evil and ominous, GD sound like noisy cider-fueled punk cavemen in an advanced stage of dementia obnoxiously covering Celtic Frost opening for Napalm Death and Doom at the Mermaid in 1988 (quite possibly the best compliment I have ever paid on the blog). The songs are dark and heavy, mostly groovy and mid-tempo primitive crusty metal epics, but you do have a couple of faster numbers (like Frost had really) and even a grinding one, and although the songwriting template informing the fifteen songs on the album is clear to see, it never sounds redundant. The guitar sound is to die for, thick, heavy, loud and rocking, with an almost organic quality, it sounds like the gurgles of a happily rotting corpse and makes the Lp stand tall along with the vocals. I suppose you could write a whole essay about those insane-sounding, gruff vocals that sound grotesque and macabrely theatrical, but also very threatening and pissed, even more so than Sore Throat's, and I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the singer spent the recording session in a straitjacket.

One may venture that the intent behind Shag Nasty! Oi! was to create an hyperbolic and ludicrous, dark, organic, thick crust metal work, that is both serious and farcical. GD were certainly on a par with the best of the early crust waves and meaningful comparisons can be made with early Hellbastard, Axegrinder and Sore Throat whose mid-paced moments were also very Frost-oriented. And if you are still slightly circumspect, please listen to the song "Dark sky," basically one of the best stenchcore crust songs ever written, its anthemic value especially emphasised by the delicate acoustic intro "Crouterposs" that precedes it on the album. "Dark sky" sounds like a crusty dance of death, like the soundtrack to the end of the world, like the crust to end all crusts. The slow-paced opening beat with its long pause is a proof that crust punk can be innovative while remaining heavier than a tramp's breath, the vocals remind me of an intoxicated grizzly bear and the unsuspected ominous Amebix-like synth-driven eerie break in the middle utterly takes the song to Mount Olympus Crustus. "Dark sky" is a perfect old-school crust song, like Axegrinder's "Final war", Hellbastard's "We had no evidence", Nausea's "Extinction" or Misery's "Born fed slaughtered" and .

The lineup on Shag Nasty! Oi! was made up of Tom Croft (who would join Excrement of War shortly after), Crow, John and Tim and it was their last collaboration as the subsequent 1992 Profession of Violence tape (also released on vinyl as a split with Nuclear Death from Poland) had Crow, John, Jez and Mik Vik. That GD lineup then split up but the band kept going for the split cd with Subcaos with only Crow as original member, the rest being Higgy, Neil, Iggy and Ade (who left before the recording session). The recordings that followed Shag Nasty! Oi! may not have been as crusty, but if you are looking for Frost-inspired heavy UK hardcore punk, it does not get much better. A tragically overlooked band, doomed by a preposterous moniker. That's punk, innit?                        

Shag crusty oi!    

Ten Steps to Make Your Life CRUSTIER Starting Today (step 2): Oi Polloi "Outrage" Ep, 1988

Oi Polloi. 

A name synonymous with respect, integrity, resilience and invigorating raucous singalongs for punks all around the world since 1981. Of course, the band has had more members than I have had showers so far this year, however the dedication and positive energy that the singer Deek demonstrates on stage and on records is truly remarkable and, indeed, inspiring. Throughout their almost four decades of activity, Oi Polloi have released a lot of records so that one may feel understandably a bit lost looking at their discography. Because they have always been a staunch DIY punk band with anarcho politics, Oi Polloi remained in the DIY circuit and kept playing and sharing records with younger punk bands and releasing materials for DIY labels, while many self-proclaimed "bigger" bands proved to be nowhere as hard-working or honest in their approach. As time passed, and contrary to many old punk bands who were disconnected with the real DIY punk scene, Oi Polloi's sound has consistently evolved along global contemporary punk trends. As a result, you can say that most of their works reflect and capture the sonic moods of specific time periods while still retaining that distinct "Oi Polloi touch". And since this Scottish lot were very much alive and kicking (hard, it has to be stated) when the original UK crust wave started, it is little wonder that their late 80's output encapsulates some of the defining features of the old-school crust sound.

OP are a rare band in that everybody kinda likes them, maybe not love them, but at least show some sort of respectful appreciation for what the band stands for and for giving punks the cathartic opportunity to shout "Punk picnic oi oi oi!" once a year (sometimes twice if you're lucky). I first heard OP in my teenage years, that confusing time when "streetpunk" and oi meant the world to me, a romantic era when lyrics about "punx and skins getting drunk together on the street because they were on the dole and rejected by the system that they had to fight to survive" symbolised the essence of "real punk" and had a gospel-like quality. Admittedly the words were mostly abstract since still being a high-school kid I was neither technically unemployed nor "on the street" and was neither even that sociable nor a heavy drinker. It was more of a teenage fantasy than anything I guess. But anyway, my best mate had taped an album of a mysterious band called "Oi Polloi" which I remember he described as a great oi band (but then, with not one but two "oi" in the moniker, the opposite would have been nothing shirt insulting) with a singer sounding like he'd swallowed a whole box of rusty nails. It was Unite and Win!,  of course, OP's first album, quite possibly a tape of the Step-1 reissue of 2001 but I never owned it so it is just an overeducated guess. I really enjoyed the tape and thought the massive terrace-styled chorus were ace but as I was getting more and more into Crass and official anarchopunk bands at that time, I also appreciated that some songs, judging from their titles, seemed more serious. The extraordinary realization that there was a whole anarchopunk scene in the 80's coexisting with the so-called UK82 wave was one of biblical proportions and I dove headfirst into that black and white world adorned with doves, circled E's and slogans written in the crass font. In fact, you could say that I am still happily swimming. The year 2002 proved to be crucial in my relationship with OP as it was marked with two important events. First, I obtained the Outraged By the System cd that compiled 1988's Outrage Ep and their 1987 split Lp with Toxik Ephex and should therefore have been called The Crust Collection (but I doubt Step-1 would have been up for it as it would have deterred the baldies from getting it). This cd was a right kick up the arse as it blew away what I had heard previously from OP. It was heavier, harsher and faster, more intense but still very groovy indeed. It was crust but bleary-eyed me did not know it at the time. Also in 2002, I got to see OP in action, live at an antifa festival in Geneva, Switzerland, and they were absolutely amazing, with a serious political message but also a lot of positivity and fun and I remember singing along hard on "The only release". This live experience was a second, well-deserved kick up my sorry arse and I felt silly for originally misconstruing OP as an "oi band with alright lyrics". I came home safe in the satisfactory knowledge that OP had been an anarchopunk band all along and have since only revisited their oi repertoire with great moderation (there are some enjoyable numbers if I'm being honest that do speak to the 16 year old fan of the Rejects, Blitz and the Upstarts that secretly lives inside me and only gets out when someone plays "East End" after 1am).

To accurately present all the evolutions of OP would be a tedious task so let's stick to one of the the band's major works, the Outrage Ep, released in 1988 on the famous Bristol-based label Words of Warning whose very first record was a 1986 compilation Ep entitled You are not Alone that already included OP with the song "Nuclear waste" (as well as Stalag 17, Hex and Symbol of Freedom, you can read my thoughts on it here). OP had already demonstrated rather aptly that they were more than able to deliver intense Discharge-inspired anarchopunk on their previous releases, and the very direct Resist the Atomic Menace 1986 Ep, on Endangered Musik, and the Unlimited Genocide split Lp with the magnificent AOA, released the same year on Children of the Revolution, featured raw, aggressive and quite convincing instances of that fast brand of anarcho music popularised by  the mighty Antisect, Anti-System or Icons of Filth, the latter being a major influence on OP's songwriting, especially regarding the combinations between the heavy mid-paced moments and the all out trashing ones, a delicate art if there ever was one. The band further increased the intensity on their two next releases that coincided with the arrival of guitar player Arthur who was admittedly rather fond of the then booming thrash metal sound (hence the numerous guitar solos, the man would join The Exploited later on). I am not going to delve too much on the 1987 split Lp with the insanely catchy and tuneful Toxik Ephex, but suffice it to say that the infusion of a more metallic guitar sound conferred a generous crusty crunch to OP's music. This development was perfectly logical as not only were many early 80's anarcho hardcore bands "going metal" by the mid/late 80's but a whole new generation of bands were pioneering a new sound, playing faster, darker and heavier punk music. Because OP have been around forever, their production is nowadays rarely approached from a global diachronic perspective which is a shame since the band's progression enlightens and illustrates that of anarchopunk and as the crust wave properly kicked in in 1987, it makes sense that the band's sound reflected that new development (although such processes are almost never the outcome of a conscious decision, they just happen during practice).

Outrage was recorded in 1988 with the same lineup as the Toxik Ephex split but the production is clearly more powerful and balanced and I don't think OP ever sounded as ferocious as on these four songs. The title song "Outrage" is a crushing metallic discharge-y number like Antisect and AOA at their most intense with a thrash influence reminiscent of Final Conflict or Legion of Parasites and probably too many solos (but then that's also what makes such records so charming). The next one is the anthemic "Thugs in uniform", a song that has been medically proven to coerce punks into raising their fist and sing along (still one of Nature's greatest mysteries). While written and recorded as an oi song in its early version, on this Ep "Thugs in uniforms" sounds like Hellbastard teaming up with Icons of Filth to cover the Cockney Rejects. It retains the yobbo punky snottiness of the original but with a crustified moshing power complete with wanton "huh". Just perfect. I absolutely love this song. The opening scorcher on side B might be my favourite though as this rerecording of "Resist the atomic menace" blows away the original. Starting in utmost epic fashion with a heavy mid-tempo beat and a galloping thrash riff, the song then explodes into an uncontrollable cavemen crust storm with classic OP singalongs for good measure. The level of intensity is through the roof here and I particularly appreciate how the song goes back to the early stenchcore metal part with added anarcho spoken words over it. Genuinely classic song that reminds me of Pro Patria Mori in terms of anarcho crusty metal punk power with hints of Concrete Sox and "Out from the void"-era Antisect. Phew. The last numebr "Death by night" is once again a direct, heavy and thrashing fast Discharge-inspired tune with massive chorus, crazy soloing and mean spoken parts. It is undeniably a great one taking cues from aforementioned scruffy bands and I am also hearing a Swedish influence, like Anti-Cimex or Crude SS maybe, which would make sense of course. The sound on Outrage is heavy and intense with the appropriate rawness, highlighting the band's ferociousness as the drum pummels, the guitar thrashes, the bass thunders and Deek alternately vociferates with his distinctive gruff tone or vehemently recites political speeches. This is uplifting, energetic and powerful old-school anarcho-crust and unquestionably a classic Ep of the genre although it is seldom hailed as such, as if the band's longevity and different incarnations somehow prevented one to look at some of their works individually and contextually. Thanks fuck I'm here.          

 

Lyrically, OP hit hard as usual with straight-forward, in your face protest words about the dangers of nuclear power plants (in particular Dounreay in northern Scotland), police brutality, mad scientists and governments and multinationals plundering the Earth and its people. Pretty typical tropes but each song is accompanied by a short explanatory text providing some insight about the context as well as useful contacts to get involved in the struggle. The band even included a short and devastating review emanating from the evil "music press" likening their sound to "a breath of fresh ordure, way surpassing all expectations of dreadfulness" which made me giggle. It would have made a great title for a record. My only issue with Outrage is that the cover looks bland and very unappealing, which, for such an intense record, is a real shame and arguably any other piece of artwork from the insert would have been a better choice. I would even argue that, had Outrage been graced with a cover meaningly conveying its crusty anarcho power (especially in the light of some subsequent OP's artworks), it might be held in higher regards nowadays. Following the Ep, the band would release their utterly classic - and ace-looking - album In Defence of Our Earth in 1990, also for Words of Warning, this one clearly a well-known and appreciated work reflecting OP's songwriting flair as well as a certain diversity. Still, it does not beat Outrage in terms of sheer power. But then, few records do.  

     

Oitrage    

Ten Steps to Make Your Life CRUSTIER Starting Today (step 1): Generic / Mortal Terror "S/t" split Lp, 1988

Hallo there, how's life? 

It has been four weeks since the end of the confinement and, little by little, it looks like the average locals are slowly finding their way back to being their own self-centered arseholes in an open air environment again. Excruciatingly banal stories of how they survived lockdown through Netflix and virtual boozing session with their mates now fill the air like butterflies in spring. I suppose future anthropologists will analyze this gregarious storytelling frenzy as a truly moving sign of resilience proving that life - or what passes for life anyway - always finds a way. As for me, I find it quite perplexing that the inevitable global realization that modern life is basically a massive existential void - one fueled by our own vanity, our shortening attention span and our belief in a new trinity made up of the superficial, the performative and the spectacular - has not sparked more philosophical questioning about the culture of consumerism, speed and artificial abundance we call home. 

Like everything else, punk-rock has been put on the back burner. At this time of the year, Europe is always full of touring bands looking for gigs and a way to sell their new record and the main issue has always been how to respond logistically to all the demands. But now, as Subhumans once said, there's no more gigs, at least for a while and no punk festivals will be held this summer. Punk is a multifaceted entity composed of several species and subspecies (often referred to as "scenes") that can usually coexist and even sometimes interbreed, although the gathering of some antagonistic punk species (like tough guy hardcore jocks and gutter teen punks) is injudicious and bound to result in testosterone contests, venue bans or plans of split records, which is much worse. However, there is one particular gene that runs through all the different punk tribes: the festival gene. Punks can't get enough of fests. Festival organizers tend to blend species that can appreciate, or at least tolerate, each other in order to avoid too much confrontation, so that everyone on location wears similar tribal distinctions that makes the audience feel at home and part of a passionate and dedicated community. From the outside, it just looks like two hundreds black-clad scruffy drunks in a field pretending to watch other scruffy drunks trying to play loud music on stage. But festivals can be said to symbolize the apex of the punk year as they are spaces for the expression and reaffirmation of a collective cultural identity. Ideally booked during the punk mating season, summer, festivals are also perfect opportunities to parade in full regalia in order to boast and impress potential partners, belittle possible rivals and cement your punk credibility through the acquisition of tasteful shirts and badges (you can stream the records online so why bother paying for them?), or you can also share beauty tips, trade useful contacts abroad for your next tour and further develop your love for nature in lice-ridden camping sites that are little more than a barren wasteland littered with cans and the first wave of festival goers. Heaven.

With the festival season basically ruined, the delicate reproductive cycle and natural balance of punk is endangered as the hot new bands of 2020 will not be allowed to tour this summer and that ace-looking studded jacket you completed in March will be left vastly unseen, a real shame if one considers the number of likes it already got on Insta. So what now? With the cancellation of punk festivals, summer can quickly get bleak and I have a feeling that the crust species, always particularly fond of festivals because of their natural tendency to get dirty and their imperviousness to most natural infections and parasites, will be especially badly hurt. And when my people are in trouble, when suffering awaits them, when they are no longer able to enjoy an average Doom-like band at 3am while downing their twentieth can of lager of the day, well it does make the eye watery and one just knows one just has to do something, especially if one never shirks from doing one's duty, albeit at one's small personal level, to make a festival-free summer bearable. So why not revisit records from the classic crust era, from the late 80's to the early 90's, and from the cradle of genre, Britain. I have been longing to write about (sometimes minor) UK crust classics for a while and now is as good a time as ever to indulge in this difficult but delightful task that will hopefully cheer up my fellow crusties in these dark times and provide with fancy topics of conversation and perhaps enlighten some commoners in the process (open-minded me, right?). 

What a lengthy introduction... My congratulations if you have read that far, your lionhearted tenacity shall be rewarded. Let's proceed to the actual record, one that I am particularly fond of and yet does not really get the credit it deserves. The hometown of Alan Shearer, Newcastle, and its wider area have always produced quality punk bands and the two participants of this split, Generic and Mortal Terror, both hailed from this town and epitomised that Northern take on the mid/late 80's UK hardcore wave although in different fashions. To be honest, I selected the album because of Mortal Terror, a band that, as one of the very first crust-influenced crust bands, managed to synthesise all the characteristics of the foundational crust wave in a very free and unselfconscious manner. Few crust records sound as gloriously spontaneous and punky as MT's side of the split with Generic and I cannot overstate how much I like it and, in fact, for a self-proclaimed crusty to claim the opposite would be tantamount to high treason. Therefore, although Generic technically occupy the first side of the Lp, I will deal with MT first. Let's start with a bit of formative history. Trapped in a Scene tells us that there were a couple of pre-MT bands, none of which released a demo, though I would have loved to give Nausea a listen as it was made up of Duncan and Scales who ended up in MT, Steve who went on drumming for Senile Decay and Hellkrusher (and much later one The Vile) and of Mandy, on the bass, who would end up singing in Health Hazard. By early 1988, the first MT lineup solidified with the aforementioned Dunc on the guitar and Scales on vocals, another singer named Pug, bass player Phil and another Phil on the drums who was at the time also responsible for the epic rhythm section of Newcastle's undisputed crust heroes Hellbastard. Small world, innit?

I already wrote a bit about MT ages ago (well, in 2012) when I tackled their split Lp with Aural Corpse but the split Lp with Generic being my favourite, I had always been toying with the idea of ranting once again on the crusty allurement of MT. I have to concede that, at first, I thought that the split with Aural Corpse was the band's first. My reasoning - if flawed - was pretty sound and based on the theory of punk evolution which determines that the Antisect/Anti-System/AOA anarcho hardcore style predates the ENT/Deviated Instinct crusty mayhem. However MT did it the other way around, starting with crust savagery and ending up sounding like they were around in late 1984, which was fairly unusual. In our deleteriously hyperconnected world, the relative obscurity of MT remains mysterious and I am disconsolate to confess that my specially-made MT shirt has not yet proved to convert anyone to the band's greatness. Truly unexplainable when one considers that MT's music is crust gratification of the highest order and tick absolutely all the boxes you are entitled to expect from an old-school UK crust record. From their very moniker that manages to sound formulaic even in 1988, but is at least an honest indication as to what you are going in for, to the obligatory ten second joke "song", the numerous mid-tempo filthy metallic "stenchcore" moments, the hyperbolic dual vocal cavemen crust teamwork, the epic grungy introduction to the deliciously raw and urgent sound (the eleven songs were recorded in five hours for £29), the MT side is classic in the best sense of the term, reminiscent of early Extreme Noise Terror for the speed and the brutally angry vocals, Terminal Filth Stenchcore Deviated Instinct and Grind the enemy Axegrinder for the crunchy and dirty dark metal riffing, Ripper Crust Hellbastard for the epic crust power and even early Napalm Death and Sore Throat when MT sound at their most manic and obnoxious. Whenever I play their side of the split (which is often, hence the skips), my face light up with beatific glee and the moment when the first song "Horrible death" kicks in into that typical, quintessential early crust sound after the ominously catchy introduction, to me, that epiphanic moment basically signifies crustness in all its disgusting glory. The ultimate crash course in crust.

This recording is equally fascinating because it stands for an early instance of crust-inflenced crust music, meaning that MT were one of the first punk bands to borrow openly from the genre's forefathers - who were peaking at the time - and try to replicate and indeed synthesise the original UK crust sound. The force of the band in 1988 precisely lied in their youthful and direct synthesis of the crust style that was at its apex at the time and could even be said to become quite derivative at that point. Therefore, I would further that MT absolutely sounded like generic UK crust and that, if in the late 80's or early 90's it would have been something of a limitation, a couple of decades later, I would argue that it is precisely what makes it so good and the perfect synthetic introduction to the original sound of crust. Besides, if you are really craving for creativity you've got that moody anarchopunk tone on "Sick butchers" and an merry oi-ish vibe of "Yankee go home" that does not really work that well but you could argue that such creative imperfections and silly humorousness are part and parcel of the crust genre and are therefore legitimate. MT's insert is a traditional cut'n'paste artwork completed with a sloppy collage and the lyrics are politically-oriented and deal with with animal abuse, US imperialism and an evil man called Bernard.

On the first side of the Lp are another Geordie orchestra, Generic, who were, in a paradoxical act of self-awareness and humility, not that generic in the British context of the mid/late 80's. If you hold any interest in that part of the music scene, then you will undoubtedly be familiar with Generic. If the name does not at least ring a distant bell, I'd, first, recommend a serious re-assessment of your life priorities and second, an immediate exploration of the band's solid discography. I wouldn't blame you too harshly for this academic lacuna since, in spite of releasing three Ep's and two split Lp's between 1985 and 1989 and being really active during a crucial period of the UK punk scene, Generic are tragically seldom discussed nowadays. As usual for this type of band, I strongly suggest you read their chapter in Trapped in a Scene if you want all the juicy bits about how they came to be, but since I don't really have anything better to do right now, I might as well throw in a couple of trivia details. The band formed in 1985 in Newcastle and was made up of Sned and Micky, who used to play in the excellent anarcho band Blood Robots, and of Terry and Wizz from In Memorium (which I have never heard). The driving idea behind Generic was to play energetic and angry hardcore punk with uncompromising political lyrics and although it would not be irrelevant to classify the band in your dusty and thick "fast hardcore thrash" folder, some pieces of songwriting were still quite reminiscent of the golden anarcho age (for example in the band's frequent use of spoken parts or in some of their darker, more tuneful moments), an artistic take on the 80's hardcore genre that undeniably increased my liking for them. Sure, you can enthusiastically jump and wear bandanas to the music, but there is always a Chumba-like moment just around the corner as well (or even litteral Chumba members like on the Torched Ep).

I freely admit that I played the Ep's more frequently than the Lp's and I feel that the Generic side on this particular album would have made a good Ep, were it not for the strange and uselessly long dub outro to "Violation" and the rather forgettable untitled last song (more a joke than anything else I guess). By the time Generic recorded the songs for the split, the lineup had changed several times and the band even survived a separation. As well as drumming, Sned played the bass on this one, with Wizz on the vocals and Terry on the guitar. If you are looking for energetic, versatile and angry hardcore punk with raspy vocals this sunday then it might very well do the trick. The songs are mostly fast-paced but the many manic tempo changes and songwriting creativity, notably some delightfully heavy crusty mid-paced moments or eerie anarcho intros, keep the listener on his or her toes and engaged. Clearly not formulaic and taking inspiration from a wide hardcore spectrum, Generic stood for international hardcore punk, both musically and conceptually, more than any other British bands at the time. I can hear MDC, CCM, Siege, Negazione, Olho Seco, Heresy, BGK, Black Flag, Kuro and probably many others. While the creeping anarchopunk influence gives away that Generic are indeed an 80's English bunch (the accent effortlessly revealing the specific region), I would argue that the music's core, its inspiration lies in the international hardcore wave and in the desire to be a part of it in the philosophy of "act locally, think globally". A pretty good listen even though I keep thinking that with a bit of trimming it would have a smashing Ep instead of a decent split Lp. In terms of lyrical content on this one, Generic appear to be quite critical of "the scene" and all the stereotyping, especially as far as masculinity is concerned, it can generate. There are also songs of empowerment encouraging you to seize the day. Generic always had relevant and relatable political and personal lyrics and it is indeed very shocking to know that the singer Wizz later on got charged with sexual misconduct which understandably makes an official Generic discography impossible.

This split Lp was released on classic Darlington-based label Meantime Records (run by Ian from Dan) in 1988 and I'm starting to realize that I'm basically posting all the Meantime discography little by little. Damn. After this album, MT went on to release another split Lp with Aural Corpse with a different lineup on Looney Tunes Records before they split. Scales then went on to sing in Sawn Off (with Sned from Generic) in the late 90's and Afterbirth in the mid 00's while Dunc played in Grudge. Generic recorded a last Ep, Torched, after this Lp. Drummer Sned and first guitar player Micky reunited in the great One By One in the early 90's and played in many bands afterwards (without mentioning running Flat Earth Records for Sned).

Enjoy this humble album as it conveys a relevant image of what the DIY punk scene was about in the North of England in terms of music and honesty. I love it.

PS: unrelated to the issue but since it cannot be said enough: fuck the police institution, fuck white supremacy, fuck the class system. Fuck.  

Generic Terror

Distorted Hope and Cruster Rags: the Rise of Japanese Crust (1989/2019)

First, I wish to reassure my numerous faithful readers that their beloved leader and torchbearer of good taste in punk - if you need the vulgate I am referring to myself - is in rather good health and has been spared, so far, by that nasty virus roaming the streets and looking for an easy, and preferably weak prey to victimize, not unlike the "apolitical" skinheads of my youth who relished beating up teenagers who wore patches of Crass they deemed deeply offensive to their identity and anti-hippie religion. Those were the days. But anyway, I am sure that all my protégés will be relieved to know that not only do I stand uncontaminated but also that the Terminal Sound Nuisance staff has not been indulging in unproductive slothfulness in the past weeks. Indeed, their worrying natural tendency towards slacking, whenever it raised its ugly head, was harshly punished as I forced them to choose between listening to a 90's shoegaze mixtape or the whip (and they generally picked the latter as any sane person would). They were thus both incentivised and desensitised to work hard and provide their honourable sensei with the ground materials needed to complete his oeuvre, one that would, beyond dispute, replenish our mental energies and restore balance to the galaxy: three compilations of Japanese crust music covering thirty years of crasher madness, noiz addiction, apocalyptic stench and dove logos.  

Instead of engaging in pointlessly dull tasks like taking some fresh air or writing a lockdown diary showcasing the void at the centre of one's life, I decided to dive headfirst in the ruthless world of Japanese crust in order to extract its essence, its core, find meaningful ways to highlight it and create comprehensive but still palatable entries into the Japanese crust modes of expression. To be honest, it was no mean feat, and I am not just saying that to make myself look like an ideal of perseverance, it was a massive endeavour as I had to cut through hundreds of recordings spanning three decades to find songs that fitted my initial postulate. Since, of course, before I send the troops deep into Japanese crust territory, I had to think about what it was I was actually digging for. Doom-like cavemen crust? Epic Antisect-ish metallic crust? So-called Osaka-flavoured crasher crust? Or the specifically Japanese "crustifying" take on Swedish hardcore? Although an educated ear can always spot the Japanese crust bands, they nevertheless display a rather wide variety in terms of speed, mood and intent. What unite those bands, however different they might objectively sound, lie in the very articulate referentiality, the level of fervid intensity and the common hyperbolic tension that permeate the music. I have pondered about the identity and guises of Japanese crust in the past on several occasions for the blog, most notably in the series Japanese Crust vs the World and Noize Not Music is a Fine Art so I point you in these directions if you need more background information about and examples of Japanese crust's referentiality and thunderous vibe. 

Because crust has been a genre capable of maintaining a high level of popularity and quality in Japan to this day, a single compilation would have fallen short of illustrating the density of bands and the different evolutions that crust initiated in a country where punk, in all its manifestations, is and sounds very special. In the end, I settled for three compilations, one for each decade. I am aware that this is not without its shortcomings. Some bands have been going for more than a decade - indeed the immortal LIFE could have been included on any of the three volumes - while others basically sit between two decades. On the other hand, many of the bands appearing on the first compilation, about the 90's, can without a doubt be considered as characteristically "90's crust bands" while many of the more contemporary bands have that typical overdistorted sound that is rather common these days and will, I am sure, be known as a typical "2010's sound" in the future. So while it might not be ideal, I still feel this is the most relevant means of classification available to me. 

Another possible point of contention is, obviously, the selections themselves. As you can see, some bands that technically do not play crust music made the cut. In other terms, there are NON CRUST bands on CRUST compilations. Coming from someone who has always been despotically strict where crust boundaries were concerned, who never missed an opportunity to disparage mediocre crusty posers and who turned Terminal Sound Nuisance into the respectable establishment for elite level crust punx it is known for today, rather like a kosher tag but for the crust cult, the admission of non-crust music into a self-proclaimed crust compilation can be seen as somewhat problematic, disharmonious, if not blasphemous. But then, as cooler prevailing heads would offer, one also has to consider the aesthetics of the bands concerned. Although I am well aware that bands like Frigöra or Isterismo did not abide by the crust rules of music, they used a lot of crust references in their artworks or other paratextual elements so their presence does make sense in the broader context of such selections. Similarly, a band like Framtid never clamoured to play crust music as their obsession revolves mostly around the Swedish hardcore but their unabashed love for the raw mangel sound is precisely shared by many original crust groups so that in the end they are still in the vicinity and can therefore be invited to the party. The pure d-beat bands however were not included since the worshipping of Discharge belongs to a different, though related, genre.

I did my best to be exhaustive and relevant but unfortunately, and contrary to appearances and in spite of my resolve, I am not quite omniscient and I may have omitted some bands that I am either unaware of or deemed too far from the basis of reasoning I subjectively postulated. I wish I could have included cavemen crust acts like Indistinct Unrest, Crusthead Humanerror (yes, that is their name!) or A.K. but the songs were barely audible and unfit for human consumption, though if you focus long and hard, you can make out some tasteful grizzly shouts. Too bad. As for Condoom, I have sadly never got to listen to them but my heart, along with some obscure internet nerds, suggest that they too would have a rightful place in such compilations. What you do get in the end are three compilations that are about 70 or 80 minute long, with 102 bands, and as many songs, in total. As usual, my masterful compiling technique allowed me to equalize the songs like a boss for the most part and you will concur that listening to hours and hours of harsh distorted punk is not always the most pleasant of tasks, though it is clearly one worthy of the Crust Medal of Merit. 

Finally, I hope you enjoy the compilations. They were, as usual, made out of love, and you should enjoy, immoderately and irresponsibly, the pummeling walls of distorted aggression and apocalyptic despair that make up this vernacular crust genre. For a long time, I was rather suspicious of, if not a little antagonistic to, Japanese crust. Of course, as any self-respecting punk with unflinchingly good tastes, I loved the metallic variety of the Japanese wave and praised bands like SDS, Effigy or AGE, but found much of the Japanese crust bands too redundant and too prone to imitativeness. With time, I learnt to appreciate the peculiar art of emulation and referential aesthetics so characteristic of Japanese crust (being a massive sucker for Antisect, early Doom, Sore Throat and the Bristol noiz helped too) and I have grown to become a genuine lover of their local adaptation of this multifaceted genre that has tragically vanished in many places during the past decade but that punx keep alive and well over there. And this commanding loyalty is something I greatly admire. Up the crust.

Below are the tracklists. I am currently uploading the fuckers onto youtube but my computer is old so it takes forever.

1989/1999:

1. AGE “Exploding insanity”, Exploding Insanity mini Lp, 1999 (Niigata)
2. LIFE “Eco system”, The World Lies Across Them Lp, 1999 (Tokyo)
3. Truth of Arize “The day after”, S/t demo tape, 1998 (Kobe)
4. Crocodileskink “Discrimination”, S/t split Ep with Força Macabra, 1997 (Tokyo)
5. Victims of Greed “Mouth head”, No Hesitation to Resist compilation 10'', 1998 (Osaka)
6. Warcry “Hope for a change”, Keep Drinking Attitude demo tape, 1993 (Osaka)
7. Discord “Animal rights”, S/t demo tape, 1998 (?) (Tokyo)
8. Ability “System”, S/t demo tape, 1998 (Mie)
9. Socialcrime “Manzokusuruna”, Protest Noise Ep, 1998 (?) (Tokyo)
10. Battle of Disarm “Human disaster”, 反戦-反動物実験 - Join no army, police and politician split Lp with Brainstorm, 1993 (Tokyo)
11. Despair “The free world”, Final Noise Attack compilation Ep, 1994 (Osaka)
12. Golem “Mid”, Sadness demo tape, 1999 (Tokyo)
13. C.F.D.L. “Selfish shit”, Atrocity Exhibition 12'' Ep, 2002/1990 (Aichi)
14. Mindsuck “Blind and dominion”, Natural Crust & Punk Force compilation Ep, 1996 (Nagoya)
15. Lasting Noise Attack “Prejudice”, 3 Songs demo tape, 1998 (?)
16. Crusade “Dishonest the world”, No Trust demo tape, 1992 (Osaka)
17. Mental Disease “Red needles”, Get the Knowledge. Free your Mind Ep, 1996 (Kariya)
18. Collapse Society “Practice?”, Tokyo Crusties Conp, compilation Ep, 1994 (Tokyo)
19. Acid “Gray Earth”, Gray Earth Lp, 1991 (Tokyo)
20. Frigöra “Religion”, S/t Ep, 1995 (Kawasaki)
21. SDS “Riding on the ghorst at the midnight”, Pain in Suffering / Future Stay in the Darkness Fog split Lp with Misery, 1991 (Gifu)
22. Unwise “Worth of existence”, Worth of Existence Lp, 1993 (Tokyo)
23. Gloom “Scum”, Recomendation of Perdition 12'' Ep, 1997 (Osaka)
24. Äpärät “Disposition”, Chaos of Destruction comilation 3x Lp, 1997 (Yokohama)
25. Condemned “Disease germ in the present day”, To All Human Error demo tape, 1994 (?) (Osaka)
26. Instinct “Ordered brains”, Massenslavement demo tape, 1997 (Nakama)
27. Abraham Cross “Course for life”, Peace can't Combine 12'' Ep, 2002/1995 (Tokyo)
28. Hakuchi “World in a mess”, Gods Disturb Ep, 1993 (Niigata)
29. Macrofarge “In the world”, S/t split flexi Ep with Euthanasia, 1989 (Tokyo)
30. Defiance “Deformed peace”, What is Crust? What is Melo-Core? Be Different Hardcore? compilation cd, 1998 (Osaka)
31. Iconoclast “After the blood shed”, Who Does the Freedom and Equality Exist For? Ep, 1994 (Kanazawa)
32. Reason Why “Contradiction”, Final Noise Attack compilation Ep, 1994 (Osaka)
33. Reality Crisis “Chain & rule...united”, Deformed Society Ep, 1999 (Nagoya)
34. Antiauthorize “System roots”, Our Wind... Ep, 1995 (Tokyo)
35. Carnage “Change”, What is Crust? What is Melo-Core? Be Different Hardcore? compilation cd, 1998 (Mie)

1989/1999

2000/2009:

1. Contrast Attitude “Judgment of the cross”, Awave! / Now the World is from CHAOS to another more CHAOS... split Lp with Acrostix, 2004 (Mie)
2. Effect “Fight for freedom”, Effective Disaster cd, 2005 (Tokyo)
3. Voĉo Protesta “Scarred”, Slave to Convention – a Tribute to Doom compilation cd, 2007 (Tokyo)
4. Revölt “Destiny of doom”, Crust Night 2002: the War Begins for Them!! compilation cd, 2002 (Kumagaya)
5. Proof of Existence “What will happen tomorrow”, Scriptural Disaster Lp, 2003 (Yokohama)
6. Calamity “Destroyed oppression”, Crust Night 2003-2004: Destroy Amm War Bastards and we Know it!!! compilation cd, 2004 (Tochigi)
7. Agree To Differ “No justice in war”, System is Maintained by Us. If we suspect it, we can Unite to Break the fuckin' System!! split 2x Ep with Change, 2002 (Hiroshima)
8. Sacrifice “Beite beatha bas”, Crust Nights 2005 compilation cd, 2005 (Sendai)
9. Arize “Destroy!”, This is Arize World demo tape, 2003 (Gifu)
10. Peaceful Collapse “麻痺”, Reality? demo cdr, 2003 (Sendai)
11. Defector “Lunatic annihilation”, (パンクシステムデストロイ) Punk System
    Destroy Ep, 2003 (Osaka)
12. Urban Head Raw “Throw it away”, End of Restraint compilation cd, 2003 (Kitakyushu)
13. Unkind “(F)”, Crustie Not Hippies Ep, 2004 (Kanagawa)
14. Kriegshög “Extinction”, S/t split Ep with Deathtribe, 2008 (Tokyo)
15. Border Line “Lost in maze”, S/t demo cdr, 2004 (?) (Fukushima)
16. Equality “Revenge is peace?”, Our Lips Say Freedom demo tape, 2002 (Aichi)
17. Affect “Darkness silence”, Darkness Silence demo cdr, 2004 (?)
18. Argue Damnation “Manifesto”, Direct Action Now Lp, 2000 (Kobe / Osaka)
19. Screen Out “Innosent victims”, Despair of Ignorant Ep, 2000 (Ibaraki)
20. Minds Continue “No more army”, S/t Ep, 2007 (Tokyo)
21. Devastated Goes “Masscommunikill”, Devastation demo cdr, 2007 (Osaka)
22. Alive “Mind”, Mie City Hardcore 2 – Howlling Noise Crusties from Gates of Hell compilation Ep, 2002 (Mie)
23. Chaos Engine “陰核”, Chaos Reigns, a “Ray” of Hope Remains Ep, 2007 (Yokohama)
24. Effigy “Mortal war”, We Knows Our Guilty / Lama on Loppumassa split Ep, 2001 (Takamatsu)
25. Disdomestic Violence “Mad economists”, S/t Ep, 2006 (Saitama)
26. Tohchika “Noise room”, Crust Night 2003-2004: Destroy All War Bastards and we Know it!!! compilation cd, 2004 (?)
27. Death Dust Extractor “Slave system”, Slay Your Masters or Slave in Chains Ep, 2008 (Tsuyama)
28. Hermit Prose “Spiral of the Earth”, Down Beats Sect Ep, 2006 (Suita)
29. Reduction “Nature screams”, Social Disorder Ep, 2002 (Osaka)
30. Zoe “Slaughter”, The Last Axe Beat Lp, 2004 (Osaka)
31. Nationstate “Japanese title”, S/t demo tape, 2005 (Osaka)
32. Answer Crying “Punk rock sucks”, Under the Authority – Endulance and Lie are your Reality? Cd, 2004 (Aichi?)
33. Deceiving Society “Nonsense battle”, Detonation Cruster 12'' Ep, 2001 (Mie)
34. Acrostix “Eternal winter”, Awave! / Now the World is from CHAOS to another more CHAOS... split Lp with Contrast Attitude, 2004 (Mie) 

2000/2009

2010/2019:

1. Avvikelsse “Relief”, S/t Ep, 2016 (Osaka)
2. Sow Threat “Filthy chain”, S/t Ep, 2014 (Okinawa)
3. Ferocious X “Värld av skit”, Värld av Skit split Ep with Sistema En Decadencia, 2019 (Osaka)
4. Ulcer “Remains”, Vandalism Lp, 2017 (Kagawa)
5. Akka “Inverse proportion”, 5 Songs Ep, 2012 (Shikoku Island)
6. Subliminal Darkness “Personal greed”, 4 Tracks demo tape, 2012 (Gifu)
7. Lastsentence “Strange fruits”, S/t demo tape, 2011 (Osaka)
8. Attack SS “Nuclear time bomb”, No Nukes Ep, 2012 (Okazaki)
9. Strange Factory “In slat”, Fukushima Nightmare Ep, 2012 (Fukushima)
10. Framtid “Nuclear power genocide”, Defeat of Civilization Lp, 2013 (Osaka)
11. Disturd “Collapse”, Dark cd, 2015 (Kobe)
12. Massgrave “Yin and yang”, You are Freaks Too... tape, 2010 (Tsuyama)
13. Isterismo “Mentire”, Hardcore Inferno compilation Lp, 2010 (Tokyo)
14. Deformation Quadric “A.B.E. Weapon”, Anger at the Social System cd, 2017 (Osaka)
15. Zyanose “Condemn racist”, Permanent Damage split Ep with Enzyme, 2019 (Osaka)
16. Absurd Society “Refusal of the change”, Absurd-Society =不条理な社会 Ep, 2013 (Sapporo)
17. Disgust “Natural born enemies”, Power Corrupts split cd with Extinction of Mankind, 2010 (Nagoya)
18. Lastly “A look at the now”, Crazy Fucked Up Deadly Local Ep, 2014 (Hida-Takayama)
19. Unarm “核心を問う", Myth and Reality 311 Lp, 2013 (Tokyo)
20. Asmodeus “闇", Life? Demo cdr, 2010 (Tokyo)
21. Scene Death Terror “?”, live in Osaka, 2016 (Osaka)
22. False Insight “Masquerade”, S/t split Ep with Asocial Terror Fabrication, 2015 (Shizuoka)
23. Unconscious Nondiscrimination “?”, live at Huck Finn, 2019 (Gifu)
24. D-Clone “Where is it”, Creation and Destroy Lp, 2012 (Nagoya)
25. Radioactive “War must disarm 2017”, 8 Track demo cdr, 2017 (Tokyo)

26. Kaltbruching Acideath “Customary slaves”, S/t split Lp with Zygome, 2019 (Tokyo)
27. Defuse “Cry of roar”, Cry of Roar Ep, 2017 (Osaka)
28. Dropend “Narcissist paranoia”, Distortion Hell Ep, 2013 (Tokyo)
29. Asocial Terror Fabrication “Soak into the soil”, S/t split Lp with Instinct of Survival, 2018 (Tokyo)
30. Zikade “Extinct conductor”, S/t split Ep with Braincëll, 2019 (Ashikaga)
31. Deformed Existence “Elitists (who spikes and vivid)”, Hate With Patriotism demo tape, 2019 (Tokyo / Niigata)
32. Zay “The question of silence”, Silence and Clamor demo cdr, 2015 (Mie)
33. Axewield “Ominous dream”, War Machine cd Ep, 2010 (Takamatsu)

2010/2019