Axegrinder "Still Grinding Enemies: Studio and live tape 86-89"

For once, it is not an actual record or a single recording that I am going to offer the world but a selection of lesser known recordings of a rather well-known band, Axegrinder. Someone pointed out to me that the 87 live in Wimbledon could no longer be found on the web and before this screaming injustice I have decided to act.

Judging from the amount of Axegrinder regalia one can witness at any crust-oriented reunion, one could either think that they are no mystery to anyone or that their art looks great on a studded vest. Now, I am sure most people reading this will already know Axegrinder and their fantastic Lp "Rise of the serpent men" (no, not the Reptilians). Quite probably, you would be familiar with Axegrinder's first demo "Grind the enemy". However, what went on in between these two marks is far more obscure and that's what I am really interested in today. Listening to 80's bands' discography nowadays, one is bound to realize that those bands moved really fast indeed. For instance, there are few similarities between the punky, almost chumawambesque at times, Deviated Instinct of 85 and the heavy metal-edged Deviated Instinct of 89. You will come to the same conclusion if you take early recordings of Antisect or Amebix and compare them to five year older ones. Maybe bands were more likely to experiment at that time (not always for the better, Discharge anyone?) or they wanted to innovate, I don't quite know but the fact is they seemed to evolve quickly. And Axegrinder were no exceptions as you will hear.

The file is divided into two parts. The first one consists of the cd "Still grinding enemies", a good-looking bootleg (I know they're evil but I would be the first to jump for joy if a proper reissue was to see the light) that has the "Grind the enemy" demo from 1986, a live in Wimbledon from July 1987 and a live in Bradford from 1989. While many bootlegs, especially cd's, have little information about the band, here you will find the lyrics of the demo songs, as well as some pictures and artwork. The other part of the file is a live recording from 1988 which was poetically called "The squat tape". These tracks were meant to be a live Ep but things did not materialize (although it is never too late to do well, right lads?). The review will therefore be chronological as it reflects the evolution of Axegrinder in a more relevant fashion.

Let's start with "Grind the enemy". A funny coincidence maybe but it always puts a smile on my face when I think about the three major demos of metallic punk: "Ripper crust", "Terminal filth stenchcore" and "Grind the enemy". Not only were they all recorded in 1986 but they have "crust", "stenchcore" and "grind" in them. This is geek paradise. Anyway, if the Axegrinder Lp is Amebix, their demo is Antisect indeed. The band must have seen Antisect play quite a few times because you can hear that the "Out from the void" era is definitely the main source of influence here. The sound is rough and ready as expected but the songs are too good to let this be a hinderance. The guitar sound is dirty and has a earthy feel to it. If it were an image I would picture it as a ball of dirt. That's a compliment by the way. The songs are all mid-tempo apart from "Thealphobia", a fast number that reminds me of Hellshock. The vocals are certainly one of Axrginder's strong points: raucous shouts managing to be deep and angry-sounding. Don't expect too much musicianship here and in fact I believe the songs wouldn't work as well if they didn't have this simple, honest, spontaneous rendering. Sure, you have probably heard better drummers, but I wouldn't trade the almost awkward, mechanical rhythms for the best double-bass drum metalhead in the world. Lyrics here are very much esconsed in the anarchopunk tradition. "Grind the enemy" is (yet another) "Arise!" rewriting but its barbarian, pagan metaphor gives it an anthemic quality (no wonder it's been the most covered Axerginder track so far); "Thealphobia" is a "Fear of god" type of song; "Master race" is an anti-fascist song about the death camps; "One law" is a take on "Out from the void" where "Your laws, your rules" has replaced "Your standard, your law"; "Damnation of the living" is an apocalyptic song and finally "Special brew" is about... well, drinking odd-smelling beverages. The demo is nicely structured with a spoken word as an introduction, an synth and guitar instrumental, "Armistice, that is both cheap and yet very moving in the middle and then "Special brew" as a conclusion since I suppose they were all off to a drinking marathon after spending a couple of hours in the studio.

The main question that arises now is: what happened between Antisecty "Grind the enemy" and Amebixian "Serpent men"? Well, as a clue, the band did record a song for a Peaceville compilation, "A vile peace", that started to reflect this transition. For some reason, this song, "Where evil dwells", seems to be unanimously hated by the members of Axegrinder, for they claim they were trying to be Slayer but miserably failed, giftless punks they were. To be honest, I don't really care about Slayer and I am hardly the thrash-metal expert, but "Where evil dwells" sounds nothing Slayer to my ears. In fact, I think the song is great despite an odd moment when drummer and guitarist have trouble keeping with each other. And, more importantly for us, it appears on the 87 live in Wimbledon included in "Still grinding enemies". On this live recording, you will also find a version of "Damnation of the living" from "Grind the enemy" (oddly enough, the only song of the demo that the band still played),  "Black days ahead", "The butcher of Jerusalem", "In death she awaits" and a new intro (Axegrinder appeared to love intros and to change them frequently, just like Antisect really). Sonically, there is a distinct evolution from the demo, and while it is not overwhelmingly different (the shadow of Antisect is still lurking), it still indicates a shift. First, there are more obvious Amebix influences, a quiet arpeggio to start a song, some heavy and epic mid-tempo parts. Second, I can't help but think that the band may have been on a light thrash-metal diet at this point, especially on some song structures and guitar riffs. It is to be noticed that Axegrinder always tended to play faster live, so one might venture that those songs, had they been recorded in a studio, would have been a tad slower. I unfortunately don't know the lyrics of the songs apart from "Damnation of the living" (see above) and "Where evil dwells", an anti-religious song. Judging by the live comments between songs, I think it is safe to say an anti-religious theme pervades the set. The sound here is really good for a live, you can hear everything and this is as crisp as you are likely to get when it comes to old live recordings.

Now, let's talk about "The squat tape", a very interesting live set that epitomizes the transitional state of Axegrinder at that time. Recorded in 88, a mere 6 months after the previous live recording, it contains songs that will eventually appear on the Lp, namely "Never ending winter" (and yet a new intro!), "War machine", "Hellstorm", "Life chain" and "Final war", as well as a remnant from their 87 live recording, "Black days ahead". Both lives were actually recorded in Wimbledon and it may have been in the same venue, though this is a mere guess. However, whereas the 87 one had a rather clear sound, this one lies on the raw side of things and has a thick, grassy sound. In fact, the overall sonic atmosphere is not unlike early Hellbastard or even Hellhammer with their artificial sloppiness. The main interest of this live set is that, while "Never ending winter" and "Life chain" sound pretty much the same than the Lp versions, "War machine" and "Final war" are very different. Indeed, in the middle of  the song, the band included a fast, d-beat part follower by a quiet instrumental part. Add this to the riffing, and you may very well have the ultimate Amebix hommage ("Fallen from grace" comes to mind). I think I like this version as much as the final one. "The final war" too was apparently rewritten before the Lp was recorded. The version we have here is again in a total Amebix songwriting worship mood, this time with an emphasis on the energetic mid-tempo epics (think "Arise!", "Drink and be merry"). In fact, most of the song is hardly recognizable as it is much faster than the final version, though they did keep the quiet part in the middle with that great bass line and guitar arpeggio. This live recording will delight Axegrinder lovers who happen not to be aware of its existence and prove that Effigy were heavily into this one.

The final live recording was taken from a live in Bradford from 1989 (it is on youtube as well but the user who uploaded it dated the live on 1990, which is impossible since the band broke up in late 1989) and Axegrinder had by then totally given up any pre-"Serpent men" songs and had even written new songs that were not included on the Lp, which made me wonder at their songwriting pace. For a self-proclaimed bunch of lazy sods (see "Trapped in a scene"'s chapter about Axegrinder), they did write a lot of great songs in a mere 3 years of existence. As hinted by the previous lives, the pace of the songs is faster compared to the studio versions, more dynamic but maybe losing a bit their sense of impending doom on this particular live set (the gig was a very metal affair with Deviated Instinct but also Paradise Lost and Tallion). You will find here old acquaintances such as "The final war", "Life chain" and "War machine" (the usual suspects really) as well as two new songs, "Return to Arcadia" and "Requiem for" (I am actually unsure of the the exact name, the singer does utter it and that's what I understood, though it could also be "Requiem four". Does anyone know? The geezer who did the bootleg certainly did as he just wrote a couple of question marks in place of the song title!). These two songs sound like a natural evolution to the Lp, with added double-bass drum and a couple of heavy-metal influenced rhythms, not unlike what Amebix were doing at the very end I suppose. "Return to Arcadia" is superior I think with its gloomy, eerie intro. It might be unfair to judge these two last songs just on their live rendering, but to me they could indicate that the band was starting to run out of inspiration, passion and power, as they don't really hold to the older ones. They are still good enough to be a suiting epitaph for that great band.

Thanks to Mariana who gave me the idea for this post.

Axegrinding feast

'Hiatus' The Peaceville Sampler compilation Lp 1988

I have been meaning to post this geezer for a while now but Lp's demand more work and my scanner is too small for the Lp size. Tough shit. Anyway, here it is finally for all to enjoy and believe me, there is much to be enjoyed on this amazing record.

For those who aren't in the know, Peaceville used to be a punk label and was probably the main label responsible for the UK hc/crust/grind explosion of the mid-late 80's (along with Earache I guess). "Hiatus" was Peaceville's sixth release and it had a stellar line-up with crust pioneers Deviated Instinct, Axegrinder and Doom among others. Yes, it is that good.

There are 10 bands and 18 songs on the record which opens on two Electro Hippies tracks. Now I love the Hippies and their seamless mix of hardcore and grindcore and their Lp is probably in my top 10 of the period. The two songs here were recorded in 88 but are not quite as powerful as the album though, not as inspired shall we say, and while one can easily spot the filthy and heavy guitar sound that made the album so great, the overall sound could have been better and the vocals on "Sometimes I'm so glad" are a bit cheesy to my ears. However, it is still classic grinding metal punk and the Hippies had set the bar really high with "The only good punk" anyway. Lyrics here deal with animal testing and the dilemna that might arise if someone needed an animal-tested drug in order to survive ("Could you look me in the eyes?") and with pretentious punks who have an ego-problem and treat people like shit if they are not vegan/SxE/whatever ("Sometimes I'm so glad"). As usual, thought-provoking, smart words from Electro Hippies.

Next are two songs from a weird band with a weird name and actually they sound even weirder: Gold, Frankincense + Disk-Drive (yes, that's the name). They were from England and recorded in the same place as anyone else at the time (Lions Studio in Leeds) so it's a fair bet to say that they were involved in the punk scene. Musically, expect strange new-wavy industrial pop-punk. Or something. Not my cup of tea but to be fair it's still listenable. No lyrics unfortunately.

After that moment of strangeness come the bursts of madness with 3 songs from the mighty Sore Throat. I have always loved Sore Throat and their sense of humour and I even got through their noisiest records once or twice. The first song is a Shitlickers cover, "War system" and it's done in a raw, distorted fashion that would make Abraham Cross and the dozens of Japanese bands aiming for that sound blush in defeat. Next is "Money for knobheads" (and not "nobheads" but I have kept the typo on the mp3 name just because I'm a geek) and it is a crusty metallic number, with simple and yet dirty and heavy riffs and the same snottier than thou outlook. Finally, "1 in 12 song" is a long blast of noise. The artwork includes the famous "Positive drinking attitude" drawing with a crusty punk enjoying what must be special brew.

The last two bands on the first side are Insurrection and Atavistic. Insurrection were from Guernsey and played (or play since they have reformed) Disorder/Chaos UK influenced fast punk-rock but with a heavier sound and hoarser vocals (they actually had two singers). Their song starts with a simlistic yet effective metal riff and bursts into fast Bristolian worship. Not too far from Ad'Nauseam. This is good. The song is about a serial killer who hears voices and ends up in the electric chair. White cider and penmanship don't always go well together. Insurrection also had an Lp on Peaceville which is highly recommendable if you are into the aforementioned bands.

The closing song of the first side is "Pepetual motion" by Atavistic, one of the most intelligent and original band of their era if you ask me. The aforementioned piece ilustrates the shift from their Ep's to their misunderstood Lp, meaning that you do get a bit of harmonica and even a touch of synth. Musically, Atavistic were a noisy hardcore band, very fast and distorted, fuzzy even, but always keeping certain heaviness and song-writing flair. I could say that they were somewhere between Siege, Disorder, Active Minds and Electro Hippies perhaps, but really Atavistic was one of those unique bands so hard to pin-point and so intersting because of this. Lyrically, they also stood out with analytical thoughts rather than slogans and that's what the song on the comp is dealing with, the importance of ideas in motion, of challenging the comfortable norms of songs about war and vivisection. Great stuff.

The B side starts with three early Doom tracks, "Free yourself", "War on our doorstep" and "Diseased". These were recorded between the "Domesday" demo (the third one) and the split Lp with No Security so it's the classic Doom line-up in full force, back when they were still trying to sound like Discard or like Discharge before they had had their tea in the morning. The tracks are catchy, powerful and angry, just what you expect from them I suppose. Simple riffs and gruff vocals shouting about freedom as a state of mind, war in Ulster and the power of money.

Next is a rare Axegrinder track (now that should get everyone's attention). Actually it is a rare version of an otherwise classic track, "Lifechain". It is probably just a different production since the vocals are similar to the Lp version but Axegrinder have never sounded more like Amebix than on this song. The guitar level is slightly lower and they have added a good deal of synth throughout the song for perfect monolythic effect. Since this might be my favourite Axegrinder song, it is really interesting to hear it in an almost flawless Amebix impersonation, though to be fair, the lyrics were little more than a rewriting of "Arise!" to begin with (and there's nothing wrong with that in my book!). It is little surprising that the band is refered to as "Amebigrinders" in the thanks list! Recognise your chains!

The two next tracks are cross-over hardcore songs by Decadence Within, not really my thing I must say. While I really enjoy early DW with their classic anarchopunk, the later period has always left me cold. It's probably good for what it is I guess.

Next are Extra Hot Sauce, the only non-British band of the sampler. Fast, almost grinding, cross-over hardcore again, heavier and crazier-sounding than DW. Nothing really special but I find that the track fits just fine on the compilation which closes on two amazing songs by the mighty Deviated Instinct.

Now, DI have known several distinct musical periods throughout their lifetime and there is little in common between the mid-paced anarchopunk of "Tip of the iceberg" and the industrial crust of "Nailed". Even though I love everything they have done (the new Lp is fantastic by the way), I still have a preference for their third 1987 demo from which many songs were taken for compilations ("A Vile Peace", "Consolidation" Ep, "1984 the third"...) and the two songs on "Hiatus", though they are subsequent to this recording session (contrary to what I initially thought, thanks to Mid for pointing it out to me :) ), are very much in the same vein. The guitar sound just makes me crazy, it is thick, filthy and groovy at the same time, the vocals are aggressive and snotty, the songs have a real structure, a proper story to tell so to speak. The first one is a rerecording of "Scarecrow", a song included on the first Ep but the recording didn't exactly do justice to any of the songs on the Ep (some say it sounds like shit, I'd go for "it has a certain rough charm"!). There you have at last a properly recorded (and played...) version of this amazing track, so much more powerful than the first one. The song uses the scarecrow metaphor to tackle people with a superiority complex, "holier than thou" as they say. The second song is more Celtic Frost influenced with its bouncy guitar and drum. It is called "Among friends" and is unsuprisingly about friendship or rather false friendship with all the backstabbing and gossips that go on in the punk scene (or any social gathering really). The icing on the cake is the inclusion of a great piece of artwork from DI that you have probably already seen, an indigenous face with closed eyes among urban debris with a gun pointed at her head. Joyful stuff, isn't it?

As a conclusion, a short word about the look of the compilation. All the bands brought a piece of artwork of their own along with their songs and that's always a good idea when you have people in the bands who actually care about the visual aesthetics accompanying the noise they produce. I am definitely not as enthusiastic about the cover. In fact, I am not even sure what it is supposed to convey... The backcover has a long thank-list that you won't be able to read because my scanner is crap and pictures of the bands having a laugh and boozing. If you are not convinced yet about the greatness of this record, there's nothing I can do for you.

Hiatus!

No Frontiers compilation Ep 1989

"No Frontiers" is actually the first comp to be posted on Terminal Sound Nuisance so it is going to be a very emotional moment for all of us. This record was released by the ever excellent Loony Tunes Records, a label you can always rely on when it comes to good political punk-rock. To be fair, I have only heard of this one recently and when I saw that Debauchery and Chaotic Subversion were included on it, I rushed to buy it for a mere 5 euros. And let me tell you that "No frontiers" does not disappoint.

First, it is recommended that you get past the rather terrible artwork and the choice of colours (seriously? Green and white?). First we have the almighty Debauchery. Those Northern mad metal punks have already had their Lp (also on Loony tunes) reviewed here and let me tell you that the song included on this Ep is probably their best one ever. It's called "Code of silence" and is even more rocking than their Lp. It is a  heavy  and groovy crust number reminiscent of a bastard child between GBH, late Antisect and Hellbastard conceived while listening to Venom and English Dogs (a glamourous vision, isn't it?). The sound is terrific and the song deal with state-sponsored torture (you know, "behind closed doors"). If current bands who claim to play "metal-punk", or "motorcrust", or even "motorcharged crust" were half as good as Debauchery, I am pretty sure the world would be a better place. After such musical glory, it is hard to be as enthusiastic about the next song, by a band called Advance Warning that I had never heard of. They were also from the North of England (like Debauchery) but don't expect booze fueled crusty punk, as Advance Warning is a much more UK82 inspired outfit. Despite them being 7 years too late, the song is actually good, quite fast and snotty as it should be and there is a slight early USHC undertone to it. The Enemy meets HDQ maybe? Anyway, their song is called "Blitz" and is about living in poverty-sticken Britain in the 80's.

Now to the other side of the Ep. First is probably my least favourite band of the comp, Bad Attitude from West Germany and their song "Inner motives". It is not bad but lies far too much on the USHC side of things for my tastes. They even have baseball caps. I am not really sure what the song is about either. Well, they don't like working and being told what to do and that's good enough for me. Next are the excellent but equally obscure TWERP (meaning Terminate With Extreme Religious Propaganda). These young lads looked like a fun bunch and they remind me of Rhetoric both musically and lyrically (serious but not too serious). They played thrashy metallic punk with snotty vocals not unlike AOA's or Active Slaughter's (anarchonistic, I know) and a great dirty sound on the guitar. I wish I knew more songs from them. The next song is from a Terminal Sound Nuisance favourite, Chaotic Subversion, aka What-Sedition-sounded-like-when-they-still-sniffed-glue, and a cracking song "Deadmeat". Unsurprisingly the song is about the evil of meat-eating and butcher shops and never have Chaotic Subversion sounded more like a vintage Italian hardcore band than here. Think Eu'Arse and Wretched with a sloppier treatment. Just magic. Finally, the last song, "Care", is from a band from Canada called Neighbourhood Watch and it is pretty standard USHC to my ears with a song about... caring. To be fair, it is raw and aggressive enough and works well in the comp.

No frontiers!

 

Zealot - demo tape 80's

I'll be honest here and admit that I don't know much about Zealot. In fact, apart from their hometown Leicester, Zealot are complete strangers to me. Their demo was on the other side of the Dreadful demo tape and I only have the tracklists. No cover, no recording information, nothing and I couldn't find anything about Zealot on the web. Now, that's an obscure catch, isn't it?

Judging from the music it is safe to assume Zealot were from the mid-late 80's (1987 seems like a relevant guess as far as this demo is concerned) and they were rooted in the anarcho side of things (they do have an anti-hunting/animal right number and a song called "Double standards" about sexism). However, they don't really sound like your typical English band from the period. I guess they listened to a quite a bit of US hardcore and crossover. I suppose the most appropriate comparisons would include Rhetoric and early Concrete Sox but also Septic Death or even a far less metallic Energetic Krusher. It is really fast hardcore punk with distinctive mid-tempo thrashy breaks and angry vocals that remind me of Debauchery or even Deviated Instinct. The singer really sounds pissed off and threatening but the real stand-out of the tape is the addition of a female singer on a couple of songs with a great haunting voice not unlike Post-Mortem or Violators singer's. In fact, with this in mind could almost say that if The Mad Are Sane, Toxic Waste or Symbol of Freedom had gone thrash they would sounded something like Zealot. Finally, the sound is rough but you can actually hear all the instruments which is not a quality you can find on all recordings of that era (oh well, DIY or die as they say). I really wish I knew more about Zealot because I have the feeling those fellows might have been on to some other bands than this one.  

Zealot

Dreadful s/t demo tape 1988

What name could be more appropriate for a extremely noisy grindcore band than Dreadful? To be honest, the band deserve to be called dreadful, but inb the Terminal Sound Nuisance context, that's definitely a compliment.

Dreadful were from Glasgow, Scotland, and this is their first demo. They also appeared on a 7" compilation called "They ain't see nothing yet" which was a benefit compilation put out by Nabate in 91 for the people who had been nicked during the Poll Tax protests and riots (and what an amazing compilation this is: Hiatus, Private Jesus Detector, Mushroom Attack, Psycho Flowers and Dreadful). Here, we have eleven songs that were recorded at two different times, march (B side of the tape) and september (A side) of 1988. As I mentioned, this is some seriously noisy, chaotic and rough proto-grindcore we're dealing with here. In fact, I would argue that Dreadful were not technically a grindcore band, as the riffs, the guitar sound and the song structure have more similarities with hardcore than Napalm Death. You can hear that the band had been listening to Siege, Lärm and Heresy an awful lot. This said, while not a proper grindcore band, Dreadful were certainly as fast and the vocals as gruffy and harsh.

At times, the sound quality being so poor, the band playing so fast and the singer screaming so loud, you don't really know what's going on and you're left with the impression of a wall of noise, of a blurred outburst of fury... and I really like it! I sometimes have this same feeling when I listen to early Napalm Death, Atavistic or vintage Sore Throat. If Electro Hippies had had a grizzli bear behind the mike and had lived (and recorded) in a cave with neanderthal men into hardcore, I think something like Dreadful might have come out of it. Lyrically though, this is serious as hell and definitely in the anarchopunk tradition. Songs about animal abuse, a class war anthem about the Poll Tax ("Poll tax is a milestone, we gave them an inch, THEY TOOK A YARD", anti-nuclear and anti-war stuff as well and a threatening song about poverty and class divides in Glasgow.

This is probably the noisiest band featured on this blog and if you are into early pissed off, political grindcore, Dreadful might be your next favourite band. "A crusty sock production". Noise not music indeed.

Dreadful

Life Cycle "The weight of tradition" 12" 1989

As you will have noticed, Terminal Sound Nuisance is all about quality rather than quantity, and again today, this powerful statement is about to be exemplified with another amazing post: the 12" of Life Cycle.

LC was a Welsh band from the late 1980's. "The weight of tradition" is their second record, the first one being an excellent Ep called "Myth & ritual", both were put out by Mad World records (in fact, they were the only productions of said label). Unfortunately, information about LC is scarce but I understand they rose from the ashes of Capital Gain, a more "traditional" anarcho-sounding band. They were supposed to be included in "Trapped in a scene" but finally weren't (late contributions maybe?). The Welsh scene had a couple of good, original bands at the time like Shrapnel (with whom they actually shared a member at some point in the late 80's), Symbol of Freedom or The Next World (who appear on LC's thank list). But back to the record. LC played a mixture of punk and metal (a popular blend at the time to be sure) but didn't really sound like any other band of the era. This is groovy, crushing, dirgy metal-punk we're dealing with here, not unlike Celtic Frost or late Deviated Instinct, in that LC picked heaviness over speed. They also remind me quite a bit of an obscure German band called Intricate. The atmosphere of the songs is very bleak and the sound is rather cold, almost industrial. There are two vocalists, a girl and a boy, which makes the songs more varied and not monotonous. The male singer's voice has a Hellbastard undertone to it while the female one is much clearer, more powerful, more shouted than screamt, akin to the classic anarchopunk vocal style probably.

Thematically, this 12" is centered around the issue of feminism and the weight of tradition imposed on women. The cover is divided into two parts, on the left is a drawing of a naked woman in a rather suggestive pose whose face is hidden, while on the righ is a drawing of a carcass in a slaughterhouse. The fact that both drawings have the same shape creates a parallel between the female body as seen by the male eye and dead flesh, meat. Quite clever, right? The lyrics are metaphorical and reflects the feeling of alienation and social suffocation. It's pretty dark on the whole and quite short as well, which, along with the circularity of the music itself, illustrates well this sense of desperation and helplessness. Favourite lyrics have to be "Demolition" as they deal with gender relations and contain this great line "We crack ourselves open, Martyrs to social codes". Marie, the bass player/singer, wrote a text about gender issues and conventions that you can find at the bottom of the back-cover. Interesting stuff that can make a good introduction to such issues.

The weight of tradition

Arrogance demo 1987

Back with another 75p demo tape from an old anarchopunk band called Arrogance. Now that's a good name for a band and I'm surprised it hasn't been picked again since. I don't know much about that English lot though... They were from a small town near Gloucester and judging from the ad for Apostles Lp's in the tape, it is safe to assume the bands were somewhat related. In fact, Arrogance reminds me quite a bit of Statement, an excellent band who shared an Ep and an Lp with the Apostles (edit: and indeed, it is mentioned in Armed With Anger that the bloke behind Statement also played in Arrogance. I am a genius, I know).

The lyrics are unofrtunately not included with the tape but from what I can gather Arrogance sang about your average anarcho issue: religion manipulating people (you got to love the "Bloodshed from bullshit" slogan), nuclear weapons, the rich ("Another fat rich man"), the system being unfair, animal rights and so on. The sound quality is not exactly the clearest but you can still hear every instrument and it's not a chaotic mess (well, it's still punk-rock). As aforementioned, Statement is a relevant comparison (a couple of guitar leads do point to them), there's definitely some Conflict as well and the singer's voice is sounds angry and threatening while keeping the necessary level of snottiness (not unlike Anti-System's vocals on "No laughing matter"). The distorted guitar is not really loud or heavy as the songs are driven by the bass. Overall, it is quite fast apart from a couple of Exit-Stance-ish mid-tempo numbers.

As you will be able to see, the artwork is made up of rather cheesy drawings but I suppose that's what makes them so good. The intro of the tape, a spoken-word piece, has actually been reprinted in the booklet and is a call for unity among anarchopunks. I am not sure who they were refering to, but apparently there were pretty big quarrells between punk factions, one of whom had even printed stickers criticizing the other one (now that does sound like a Conflict story, doesn't it?). Arrogance asked for the bickering to stop and for more meaningful and productive actions, which is all very honorable but slightly useless when one keeps in mind punks' love for rumours.

On the whole if you are looking for mean and angry, even dark at times, English anarchopunk, Arrogance might very well be your catch of the week. And to quote them "END THIS FARCE, BECOME A FORCE". Priceless.

End this farce, become a force!

The Next World - Branded Ep 1988

Have you had enough of the noisier side of punk-rock? Well, I certainly haven't but for a change let's have a post-punk record today. I suppose it is somewhat amusing that post-punk, or goth-punk, or whatever MRR wants to call it this month, is now quite trendy. Just take a look at current bands like Belgrado, Spectres, Moral Hex, Horror Vacui or Lost Tribe. So I think the time is right to offer you a proper post-punk band from the grim Britain of the 1980's (also known as the Thatcher years).

The British anarchopunk world has produced marvelous pieces of dark post-punk throughout the years. I'm thinking about Internal Autonomy, Terminus, Lack of Knowledge, Awake Mankind, Political Asylum and even The Mob or Poison Girls (it has to be said that anarchopunk was a very flexible and comprehensive term at the time that encompassed all styles of music, from the Astronauts to Legion of Parasites). Like many unfortunate others, the Next World have fallen into obscurity and it's a shame because this Ep is really good.

The Next World were from Kettering, East England. Their contact address in Bradford, seems to suggest that they were also close to the mighty 1in12 club. TNW were a two-piece with a drum machine, and they played dark anarchist goth-punk. Now, when I say dark I don't mean "I'm-dressing-like-a-19th century-dandy-and-I'm-a-decadent-wanker-who-likes-drawing-spiders-and-reading-romantic-poetry kind of dark". TNW's dark music came from the gloomy, hard and rough social reality they lived in as their lyrics testify. Don't be fooled by the tuneful melancholy side of the music, TNW were an angry bunch. The first song, "Branded", deals with the idealized and oppressive beauty standards imposed on women (the artwork and short extracts taken from women magazines reflect this theme). The second song is called "Public order" and it is the core of the record.

The song deals with the police and the Public Order Act that was passed in 1986 by Thatchula. Basically, this act gave the police a whole new set of powers in order to control the population and especially to break any mass-actions from the working-class. One has to remember that the huge miner strikes had only just ended and that during those strikes the police had been incredibly brutal, breaking into any homes in miners' villages, beating up elders and kids, tapping phones, opening mails and so on. In fact, whole sections of the mining regions were completely curfewed and cut from the rest of the country while the police, who often vastly outnumbered the miners, did their dirty job. I remember reading an account of the strikes from Belfast anarchists that said that the tactics used by the British police during the strikes were pretty much the same as those used in Northern Ireland. One has to love Thatcher claiming afterwards that, really "the police have been wonderful". Back to TNW record now, you'll find inside the cover a long text entitled "The police are out of control to have us all under the control" that not only describes the new repressive 1986 Public Order act, but also gives you a history of the creation of the police in Britain (Class War has a whole brochure on the subject for those interested). It is a great read and it certainly tells you where the band stood ideologically.

The last song is a bit depessing. It's called "Safe territories" and it tells the story of a bloke who will never leave the small town where he was born as he'll live there and work there all his life, in a "safe territory" of routine and exploitation. It's probably my favourite of the record though. Sonically, TNW are tough to pigeonhole. The singer has a very distinctive voice (pretty much a "love it or hate it" voice) that reminds me of Southern Death Cult, The Dark or Sisters of Mercy (only not as low). The music is bass-driven with a couple of great bass lines and the guitar has a rather warm and heavy tone, defintely not as cold as many other bands of the era. I hear some Zygote and early Amebix, a dash of the Mob maybe, with a punkier guitar, Smartpils and Terminus could also be points of comparison, but in the end TNW really had their own sound (you can thank or blame the drum machine for that) and once you've heard them you're bound to recognize instantly.

The Next World

Domination Factor "Dominated till death" demo 87 + live in Brum 87

Don't let the rather crappy name fool you, Domination Factor is a crucial listen if you are into early crust music (and if you aren't, what the hell are you doing here?). Not only does this band rule, but they also deserve a seldom used adjective in the realm of punk: they are original.

If you have any serious interest in 80's British crust punk, the voice of the DF singer is bound to ring a bell and for good reason since it is the same bloke who sang afterwards for Prophecy of Doom. In fact, DM was very much a pre-POD band so it is no real surprise that DF aimed for originality as POD, beside being absolutely excellent, were a band that stood out for its distinctive sound and aesthetics. Ian Glasper, who knows his shit, describes DF as "grind-crust-reggae-ska" in "Trapped in a scene" and claims the band's short lifespan was due to its unorthodox mix of music genres (I mean reggae AND crust? Really? And that was long before Mouth Sewn Shut). I don't know if he's right but it makes sense that at a time when everyone was going more metal and was trying to play faster and heavier, DF might have picked a wrong card intending to include reggae and dub influences in their music. But 25 years later, listening to their demo know, only one thing can be said: the demo is bloody brilliant.

To be honest, there aren't that many dub moments on the demo and when they come they always fit very well with the rest and create an interesting atmosphere. While POD were very much a grinding metallic crust affair, DF were a lot punkier, definitely not as metal, more straight-forward than its gloomier successor. The vocals don't have as much effect but they still sound quite similar to POD's. It reminds me of early Deviated Instinct crossed with early Extreme Noise Terror, some anarcho bands like Exit-Stance or Anti-System and even, as strange as it may sound, One Way System's mid-tempo songs.

As if the demo wasn't enough, I have also included a whole live recording from the same year (1987). The gig was at the Mermaid in Birmingham (a venue also known as "crust valhalla") where every band of the period got to play at some point (remember that flyer with Antisect, Deviated Instinct and Hellbastard? Yes that was at the Mermaid. Or the stenchcore festival with Chaos UK, ENT, Hellbastard, Deviated Instinct and Ripcord? Mermaid again. Antisect, Sacrilege and Generic? Yep, there too. Amebix, DI, Sore Throat? Huhu.). The sound is rough but still enjoyable. All in all, I guess Domination Factor will be of great interest to Prophecy of Doom lovers and will be a potent offering to stenchcore maniacs.

CRUST!

Demo + live

Agonie - demo 2006

En français :

C'est avec une émotion non-dissimulée que je tiens à poster aujourd'hui la demo d'Agonie, un groupe parisien, dans lequel j'officiai au milieu des années 2000. Agonie s'est formé en 2005 et cessa d'exister en 2007. A cette époque, la scène parisienne avait en son sein des groupes sincères avec lesquels nous avions des affinités : Munda di Mierdo (le groupe le plus chaotique et sympathique du monde), Décombres (mais quelle idée de tenter le crasher-crust au pays des Bérus?), SkitYouthArmy (Paris city thrash attack) et donc Agonie (gros bordel sonore). Agonie c'était Audrey, Caro, Clément, Romain et Simon. On a eu la chance de jouer avec des chouettes groupes étrangers comme Born/Dead (excellent concert), Makiladoras (pire concert de l'histoire) ou In the Shit, et dans des lieux accueillants (Chalet, Moulin, Miroit).

Comme vous allez vous en rendre compte, Agonie n'était pas le groupe le plus doué de sa génération. Le son est aussi fauché que nous ne l'étions, et on ne peut pas dire que les qualités et aptitudes des musiciens du groupe ne ressortent spécialement de l'enregistrement (ne mentionnons même pas nos performances live...). Malgré nos évidentes limites artistiques, beaucoup d'influences se bousculaient au portillon. Il y avait les groupes @punk à chant mixte comme Disaffect, Antiproduct, Jobbykrust, Antischism ou Easpa Measa, les groupes de crust tragédiques, du crustcore à la State of Fear, mais aussi Disorder, des trucs plus metal comme Hellshock ou Nausea et quelques groupes de grindcore (le batteur avait une obsession presque inquiétante pour Yacopsae). Un gros foutoir était à prévoir. J'aimerais pouvoir affirmer qu'Agonie était une synthèse incroyable de tous ces groupes suscités mais en réécoutant la demo aujourd'hui, il est plus honnête de dire que nous étions un groupe d'anarchopunk rapide, un peu crusty, avec des chansons qui ne ressemblent pas. Au final, on pourrait avec optimisme avancer que nous étions une version crue et décomplexée d'un combat de catch alcoolisé entre Mankind?, Contropotere et Disaffect quand ils commençaient tout juste à faire trois accords. Ou alors on était juste nous-mêmes, ce qui est sans doute la meilleure chose à être. La mauvaise qualité involontaire de l'enregistrement n'est pas non plus sans rappeler certains disques actuels de groupes noisepunk qui cherchent à imiter les productions caverneuses de célèbres bristoliens. Mais ça nous venait naturellement. On arrivait même à rater les reprises de Disorder et de Doom, ce qui est rétrospectivement la chose la plus punk à faire en concert.

L'intérêt principal d'Agonie réside probablement dans nos textes. Sans vouloir trop frimer, on passait du temps sur leur élaboration et on essayait d'éviter les clichés. Pas de haïkus dischargiens (même si on kiffait Discharge), pas de bancales et obscures métaphores pseudo-païennes (étrangement Amebix ne faisait pas l'unanimité). "Démocrature" parle de l'illusion démocratique, de la capacité d'adaptation du pouvoir et de l'idée de sacrifice pour le système; "Mal(e) dominant" est un morceau sur la domination masculine et sur les rôles imposés aux femmes afin de perpétuer le système (on aimait pas le système comme vous le voyez); "SO" traite de l'attitude des services d'ordres des syndicats pendant les manifs qui n'hésitent à suppléer les keufs et les aider dans leur noble tâche; "Terre sous garantie" est la chanson écolo/apocalyptique; "Peace bomber" parle de la guerre en Irak et de la propagande militaire; "Fashion punk" est une attaque contre les punks plus concernés par leur touche que par la politique (ironiquement, je suppose, j'étais à l'époque recouvert de patchs); enfin, "Police state" est une reprise de Disorder qui nous a permis de ne pas écrire notre propre chanson anti-flics (on reprenait aussi "Police bastard" de Doom en live).

L'artwork a été fait à la main, avec des collages et des montages et a été le fruit de nombreuses heures de travail, de lecture de textes situationnistes et de roulage de joints. La demo était à prix libre et les sous allaient à une caisse de soutien pour les prisonniers. On était clairement pas le groupe le plus doué de l'époque (la palme revient sans contestation possible à Munda di Mierdo), toutefois Agonie était un groupe honnête, pas poseur, croyant en une démarche DIY radicale. Avec des tripes, du coeur et une âme. Et quelques gueules de bois.

Up the punx.

Paris chaos crust!

In English:

It is with undisguised pleasure that I am posting the Agonie demo today, a Parisian band I served in during the mid 2000’s. Agonie formed in 2005 and called it a day in 2007. In those days, the Paris punk scene had genuine bands with whom we shared a lot like Munda di Mierdo (the world’s friendliest and most chaotic bunch), Décombres (what were they thinking trying to play crasher crust in Bérus country ?), SkitYouthArmy (Paris city thrash attack) and then Agonie (massive sound nuisance). Agonie were Audrey, Caro, Clément, Romain and Simon. We had the privilege to share the stage with good foreign bands such as Born/Dead (our best show), Makiladoras (our worst show) or In the Shit and we got to play in cool venues as well (Chalet, Moulin, Miroit).

As you are about to hear, Agonie were hardly the most gifted band of their generation. The sound of the recording is as crappy as we were broke, and our musical skills don’t really shine through the demo (let’s not mention our legendary gigging abilities…). Despite obvious artistic limitations, we were driven by many, rather ambitious, musical influences : fast anarchopunk with male/female vocals like Disaffect, Antiproduct, Jobbykrust, Antischism or Easpa Measa, Tragic crust, State of Fear type crustcore, but also noisy bollocks like Disorder, metallic bands like Nausea or Hellshock and even some grindcore bands (our drummer had an almost unhealthy obsession with Yacopsae). A huge mess was to be foreseen. I would love to tell you that Agonie were an amazing mix of all the aforementioned bands but listening to the demo today for the first time in years, it would be more honest to say that we were just a fast and sloppy crusty anarchopunk band with songs that don’t actually sound alike. In the end, one could optimistically venture that Agonie was the equivalent of a shamelessly raw and drunken wrestling fight between Mankind ?, Contropotere and Disaffect when they were just starting to play their instruments. Or we were just ourselves, which is probably the best thing to be. The very raw sound quality of the recording isn’t unlike what current noisepunk bands are trying to emulate when they aim for famous Bristolians’ worship. But it came to us effortlessly. We even managed to butcher our Disorder and Doom covers, which is retrospectively the punkest thing to do live.

The main interest about Agonie probably lies in our lyrics. Without bragging too much, we spent time on the writing and tried to avoid clichés. No dischargy haikus (though we loved Discharge), no cheesy and obscure pseud-pagan metaphors (surprisingly enough, we didn’t unanimously love Amebix). « Démocrature » is about how democracy is an illusion, how power is able to adapt and force the idea of sacrifice upon us ; « Mal(e) dominant » tackles male dominance and the gender roles imposed on women in order to perpetuate the system (we weren’t big on the system as you can see) ; « SO » deals with the behaviour of unions’ security boys during demos where they don’t mind doing the cops’ dirty work and helping in their noble enterprise ; « Terre sous garantie » is the eco/apocalyptic song ; « Peace bomber » is about the war on Iraq and military propaganda ; « Fashion punk » is an attack against punks who are more concerned with their looks than with politics (ironically, my clothes were quite litterally covered with bands’ patches at the time) ; last but not least, « Police state » is a Disorder song we covered so that we didn’t have to write our own anti-police song (we also covered Doom’s « Police bastard » live).

The artwork was hand-made, in a cut-and-paste fashion, and was the result of long hours of labour, what with reading situationist texts while rolling spliffs. You could get the demo for a donation and the benefits, as small as they were, went to a prisoner support fund. We clearly weren’t the most talented band of our time (this highly-coveted title goes undeniably to Munda di Mierdo), but we were a genuine, down-to-earth band with strong radical DIY ethics. With guts, heart and soul. And a couple of nasty hangovers.

Up the punx.