Slimy Venereal Diseases "S/t" Ep 1991

Please, don't let the name of the band scare you into checking another punk blog just yet.

Yes, it lies on the grindcore side of things (sort of).
No, it is not a moronic goregrind band.
Yes, it does have a silly goregrind name.
No, it is still not a band singing about anal vomit, bowel decomposition or such nonsense.
Why did they pick that name? I haven't got a clue...
Was it a bad idea? Indeed, it was.

Now, enough whining and hear me out. It's true that grindcore has gotten a pretty bad name lately: bands selling out to car companies, a scene overrun by metalheads in need of a rush of "extreme music" (believe me, I don't hold any grudge against metalheads but from what I have witnessed, the metal-grind crowd is not made up of the brightest of the lot. I remember that particular time when one of them wearing a bloody Disrupt - how ironic -  shirt was chasing me in order to beat me up because I had asked him to stop hurting people while dancing, which he was doing on purpose...) or wankers finding homophobic and sexist imagery funny. But originally, grindcore was a punk subgenre, admittedly influenced by extreme metal but not only. In fact, you could argue that fast hardcore punk was as much of an influence (if not more?) as metal. Anyway, I will leave the silly technical metal grindcore bands to the moronic horde and stick with old-school rough grindcore.

In spite of their name, Slimy Venereal Diseases is not even an over-the-top grindcore band. They do use some blast beats but they are much closer to fellow German bands such as MVD or Acid Rain Dance than to Napalm Death or Agathocles. I would argue that they chose the name as a joke in order to emphasize that they were serious, but not dead serious. I don't know much about SVD but they are definitely a band of its time sonically. Political crusty hardcore-thrash with a lot of energy and a proper DIY spirit to boot. The songs are mostly really fast with a crossover edge, not so far from Concrete Sox or Heresy actually, or even "Rock'n'roll conformity" era Deviated Instinct. The "slower" songs, like the opening song "Fear in her eyes", could have easily been lifted from an early Peaceville sampler with that distinct early crust feel (Mortal Terror really comes to mind here, especially with the dual vocal). Sore Throat is also an obvious reference here (they have a song entitled "Hello Sore Throat" after all) in terms of music (the two really short noisy blasting songs attest to that) but also for the fun aspect of the band. In other terms, if you are into late 80's crust and metallic fast thrashy hardcore, you will love SVD. If you are into goregrind however, you will be sorely disappointed. Despite the silly name, SVD was a political band into animal rights, fairly usual at that time I suppose, and with a liberating "be yourself" message.

This Ep was released in 1991 and was the very first record on Skuld Releases, a label that was to become a reference in quality anarchopunk and crust for the next twenty years (a single look at Skuld's discography is proof enough: Contropotere, Hellkrusher, Hibernation, Counterblast, Extinction of Mankind, Lost World, Bad Influence, Misery and even fucking Amebix). SVD would release afterwards a second Ep on Skuld in 1992 and a split Lp with Friends of Barney.      

Slimy Venereal Diseases

Cancer Spreading "Suffering" Ep 2011

For once, I won't be speaking about an old record or an ancient recording today. No, today I shall delve into the field of stenchcore and study the relevancy of its mid-00's variety. Heavy stuff to come, let me assure you. And in order to illustrate this study, I have picked a record that is only three year old, and therefore should be still available, and from a band that is still active and is getting better and better: Cancer Spreading.

Stenchcore. I have always had mixed feelings about that term. In itself, the phrase was just a joke from the Deviated Instinct lads meant precisely to make fun of the trend to invent new genres through the mere addition of "-core" at the end of a word. Since in their own case, they smelled pretty bad, they made up the word "stenchcore". I suppose it was also a comment about their own music that was as dirty and filthy as you could get. But in the end, they could have called it "trampcore" (interestingly the name of a Chaotic End song) or "filthcore" or whatever (in fact, a very similar analysis could be made about the creation of the term "crust" by Hellbastard that was born from the same musical and cultural context). So, why the sudden resurgence of the stenchcore tag? Whereas "crust" has been kept and spread widely, "stenchcore" only rose again about 10 years ago, basically at the beginning of the old-school crust revival spawned by Hellshock. However, the bands that kept playing that genre in the 90's (Extinction of Mankind, Misery, Filth of Mankind, SDS, Coitus, Effigy, Hibernation, you know the drill) certainly didn't use the "stenchcore" tag. So why did it re-appear? Or more correctly, why did it get used at all, since in the mid/late 80's, it didn't seem to be used at all either?

I would argue that there has been a shift in the early/mid 00's, a change connected with the increasing presence of the internet. Since the world wide web allowed everyone and anyone to have access to any obscure records or bands (that great cultural equalizer as they say), the word "crust" came to define pretty much any band that played fast, aggressive music with throaty vocals and lyrics about war or the apocalypse. Disclose? Crust. Wolfpack? Crust. Tragedy? Crust. Aus-Rotten? Crust. How disconcerting. In the end, the term became empty of any stable meaning and that's when the "stenchcore" came handy as it refered to a specific sound contrary to "crust" that increasingly refered to nothing coherent musically, but rather, became synonym with wearing patches, dreads and studs.

The Hellshock boys probably sensed that discrepancy and opted for the term "PDX stenchcore" in order to stress that they were playing old-school, UK (and California) influenced crust. Much more than most of their 90's counterparts (SDS being the obvious exception), Hellshock was a referential band to begin with, probably because the members had already played in quite a few bands before and definitely because they know punk music and punk records very well (Portland, right?). Reading a very early interview of the band in an old Warning issue lately, I don't think the band took itself very seriously at the beginning. They were just doing a tribute to all the great British metal-punk and I really doubt they could have imagined doing three albums, touring extensively and becoming the new reference of the genre. Like many short-lived PDX projects, I think Hellshock wasn't necessarily meant to last long (a bit like Bomb Heaven). But then, they have had a tremendous impact for several reasons: they brought back the old-school metal sound into crust at a time when bands like EOM and Misery were no longer at their best, they revivified the aesthetics and resurrected the relevance of the old UK bands for a new generation, and, of course, they released absolutely crushing records. After years of boring Discharge clones, wasn't it great to finally hear some Sacrilege-type riffs?

Like with their longevity, Hellshock certainly didn't expect to start a new trend, a proper crust revival, or rather, the "stenchcore" revival. A lot of North-American bands started playing referential crust music, some were not exactly newcomers (like Stormcrow or After the Bombs) but others were actual young, spotty bands (like Sanctum, Stagnation or a bit later, Contagium). Very few of those bands are still active (contrary to Hellshock). Japan, being Japan, already had its fair share of old-school crust bands (Effigy, Zoe, Acrostix...) so I am not sure this new stenchcore wave had much of an impact over there, but I could be wrong. Europe got caught up some years later with, among others, Last Legion Alive from Belgium, Instinct of Survival from Germany (though their case is a bit different since they were already around, but playing another genre), Hellisheaven from Poland, Grind the Enemy from London, the mighty Fatum from Russia and Cancer Spreading from Italy.

As my faithful readers already know, I love bands sticking to their guns and Cancer Spreading is one of the kind. They formed in 2006 and have been really prolific: four split Ep's, one Ep, one cd album and two split Lp's. Usually, their records are the product of collaborations between many small DIY punk labels and that too is something I appreciate since it epitomizes, to me, the spirit of togetherness that punk should promote. But above all, the thing I like most about Cancer Spreading is that they are a proper punk band. Contrary to many stenchcore bands that already had a heavy, powerful sound even on their very first recording, CS started out as a shitty, yet loveable, band paying tribute to Deviated Instinct's "Terminal filth stenchcore" (an equally shitty and loveable piece of music that I hold close to my heart). The split with Children of Technology is an amazingly sloppy and yet undeniably great stenchcore record and it is quite possibly the only songs I know of that are genuinely influenced by Deviated Instinct (but after all "Cancer spreading" is a DI song). And then the band evolved, grew, improved, got tighter and tighter so that now, they are probably one of the five best CRUST bands today.

Cancer Spreading is a band I have been following since they started. To be fair, with a name like theirs, I was bound to fall in love with them. The Ep we are dealing with was released in 2011 and exemplifies what the band sounds like today. While it would be easy to dismiss as yet another metal crust act, Cancer Spreading have this genuinely dirty sound: they don't crush you with a clean metal production, rather they bury you under a pile of filth and then proceed to stomp on it while screaming like boars. They don't fall in the "we-want-to-sound-like-Bolt-Thrower-so-hard" trap like most, no, they adapt the impending, unstoppable sense of doom that bands like Bolt Trower, Prophecy of Doom or Mindrot inspire to a dual vocal crust attack owing to Extreme Noise Terror, A//Solution or Mortal Terror. The vocals are completely over the top, which I bloody love, they are gruffy, throaty and mean as if a drunk rabid zombie were preaching the apocalypse. There is that feeling of uncontrolled insanity pervading the music. If cavemen tried to cover Hellshock songs, that's what it would sound like. You really don't get much crustier than that nowadays and their new split with Fatum might even be better (a synth-driven, Greek-influenced, mid tempo scorcher with bear-like vocals? Fuckin A!).

As with most CS records, the artwork is absolutely amazing and a lot of efforts have been put into it, a right orgy of axes, orcs and deformed skulls. Cancer Spreading is part of this new generation of top notch Italian bands that produce quality punk-rock whatever the style they are playing: Terror Firmer, Campus Sterminii, Into The Baobab, Infamia, Dystopian Society, Warpath, NIS and so on.

Cancer Spreading play solid, sincere, proper crust music and I wish more bands were still carrying the banner today. For that I will rely on Instinct of Survival, old-timers like Extinction of Mankind, Misery or Hibernation and newer bands like Fatum, Swordwielder or Ruinas.

Keep stenching.   

Suffering

  

The Mad Are Sane "Reality" Lp 2007

If you have never heard The Mad Are Sane, today is your lucky day. In fact, assuming you are into old British anarchopunk, and you'd better be, you might very well be the luckiest punk alive. When I got this geezer, put it for the first time on the turntable and listened to the first song, I was literally flabbergasted, gobsmacked, floored.

The first minute of "World in action" is of an epiphanic nature. The martial guitar sound with just the one chord, the heaviest tribal drumming you have heard and then comes the voice. The singer must have swallowed a box of nails just before the recording session. It feels like he is talking directly to you, full of spite, anger and outrage. Rarely have I heard such aggressive, threatening vocals in the anarcho scene. With their pounding rhythms, the songs sound like the world is on the verge of terminal insanity (anyone using that expression for a new blog will be sued. Thank you for your cooperation). Or maybe they sound like The Mad Are sane are about to jump at your throat, crucify you at the entrance of their squat and then proceed to dance all night around you, utterly oblivious to your moans.

Yes, this record is that bloody good. "Reality" was initially a demo, recorded in 1983, that was released on vinyl in 2007. To be honest, I ordered that one for two reasons: first, I buy pretty much any reissue, be it a good or a mediocre one, from any old anarcho band, be it a good or an average one (I would type "mediocre" but I subjectively can't); second, I vaguely remembered The Mad Are Sane from a Mortarhate compilation, 1984's "Who? What? Why? When? Where?". But I certainly did not expect it to be that fucking brilliant. That's what I love about punk-rock, when you think you know it all and feel jaded, there's always one band you've never heard of that you will remind you that it is a never-ending spring of greatness. Long live dead punk bands!

If I were to describe The Mad Are Sane, I would say that it really reminds me of Exit-Stance (one of the most underrated bands of the anarcho scene) in the bass-driven heaviness, the pounding relentlessness of the tribal drumming, the simple efficiency of the riffs and the feeling of outrage pervading all the songs. But The Mad Are Sane may even be better. To add some catchiness to the rather martial nature of their sonic intensity, you will notice some tuneful guitar tunes here and there, just to show you that, indeed, the band actually spent some time and thoughts writing these wondrous songs. I already mentioned the nail-eating male singer, but in addition there was also a female one, with a very pissed off, shouting voice, not so far vocally from early Sacrilege or Solvent Abuse. Basically you have two top notch vocals. This demo would have been the ultimate anarcho grail if the singers had been working in the trade-off style rather than the "you do one song and I'll do the next one" style. So basically, you have four songs with the bloke and three with the girl. It still is amazing, but punk-rock is sometimes like tag-team wrestling: a good spectacular move involving the two wrestlers of the team can be more effective.

Like Exit-Stance, and like most of the Mortarhate roster really, The Mad Are Sane seemed to have been heavily into animal rights, as two songs, "Animal crimes" and "Waiting for the day", deal directly with that topic. "World in action" is about the destruction of the environment, "Tract" is about violence that pervades society, "Dying church" is an anti-religious piece and "Neither seen nor heard" is about the business of backstreet abortion. In fact, that song is a little disturbing as it could also be read as an anti-abortion song, but since that seems highly unlikely given the context of the band, I am assuming it is not. I do hope I am not wrong here. I mean, pro-life anarchopunk does sound unlikely. I almost decided not to post this record because of that last song. Could this come from this fringe of the  animal rights movement that is against abortion because they feel it is wrong to harm a life? This theory seems far-fetched, given the members were spiky-haired 16 year old anarchopunks...

From what I understood, this early line-up of The Mad Are Sane didn't exist for very long and the band only played but a handful of gigs. There was a second demo recorded in 1985 with a very different line-up including members of Self-Abuse (both bands were from Bournemouth) and Confession of Sin. That second demo is by no means a bad effort but certainly pales in comparison with the scorcher that is "Reality". The Lp can still be found quite easily and it was released on Abused Records, a label that only released records from Self-Abuse apart from this one (I'm assuming it is also run by a Self-Abuse member).

The Mad Are Sane    

Internal Autonomy "Only you have the power" 2 x Ep 1993

Fuck me. It's been two weeks since I posted something here and I still don't really have the time to write a proper review (read "a lengthy ode to my own tastes"). Don't get me wrong I absolutely love Internal Autonomy, but since I already posted one of their records last year and ranted over it, I basically encourage you to check out the review of their "Love and life" Ep. I also strongly suggest you get their discography and their new album "Ferox".

In a time when everyone and their mums is desperately trying to play "dark punk" but often end up playing overproduced, self-indulgent and soulless gothic rock, it just feels good listening to what Internal Autonomy were up to 20 years ago. When I come to think about it, this band had a terrible timing: whereas they were penning wondefully dark and smart old-school anarchopunk tunes, by 1993 Hiatus and Doom were all the rage and the new American anarchopunk sound of Aus-Rotten, Mankind? and the likes was getting stronger. Even in Britain, this brand of punk-rock was almost extinct by then as most bands were getting faster and heavier, even when they remained tuneful like One By One, or they were trying to blend other musical genres with punk-rock, like PAIN with dub music or Witchknot with noise rock (or something). Thus Internal Autonomy remains, in my opinion, a really unique band which, unvoluntarily - almost in spite of them, as I don't think they were really aiming for a specific sound at all - were flying the 80's anarcho flag (in that light, only Indian Dream and to a lesser extent PUS come to mind). This recording doesn't have a female singer like "Love and life" did so it is the bloke singing and while I am a sucker for female-fronted anarchopunk, this offering is still fantastic, somewhere between Lack of Knowledge, Sanction, Flux of Pink Indians and Thatcher on Acid, this would have been a great fit on "All the Madmen" (I mean, there is a bloody saxophone on most of the songs!).

And then, there are the lyrics. Actual anarchist politics that are smart, down-to-earth and radical, stuff you can relate to, stuff that can actually inspire you. "What's is coming to?" is a song about the so-called freedom in modern democracies and how you are only really free to do what you are supposed to do; "Faith" is a song against all rulers, against political parties blinding us with illusions of a perfect world in order to gain power; "Storm" is a class war anthem that will get motivate you to create your own "Bash the rich" march in your local area and finally "Death to discipline" is about the school system and how it brainwashes kids and destroys their indiviudality. The great-looking booklet includes some political writings that delve deeper into the topics at hand. This is a quite odd format, a double Ep, that was released by Profane Existence in 1993. I know this has been posted elsewhere on other blogs but I am not sure the scans of the booklet could be found so here they are.

Take them by storm!    

Desobediencia Civil "No hay libertad sin desobediencia" cd 2001

Most of the time, I focus on posting rare or obscure on Terminal Sound Nuisance. There are two reasons for this. First, I feel that the sharing of music and knowledge is what punk is all about. Although I alway try to give my own critical view of a band, a genre or a scene, I feel that it is our collective role to ensure that punk history doesn't get lost and that it is important to promote a sort of punk sensibility (for lack of a better term) through an accessible analysis of the punk-listening experience. Second, I am an opinionated bastard with an ego problem who likes to boast. But now is not the time for nerdy posturing, because today's post will be about one of the most crucial Latino anarchopunk bands ever: Desobediencia Civil.

In my (definitely not) humble opinion, DC is an unjustly underrated band that, had they not been from Mexico, would have its name on thousands of punk jackets across the world. I would even argue that they were easily one of the very best 90's anarcho bands worldwide. DC formed in Mexico City and started playing in 1993. From what I gathered, the people involved were all originally part of animal liberation and political collectives and felt the need to do something against the "chaos punk" apathy that prevailed then in the city. DC's discography is far from being massive as they only released one Ep and one album as well as a couple of live demos. I would venture that the band was more interested in getting their message across and touring than in recording twice a year and having coloured vinyls out. Although they weren't the first anarchist punk band in Mexico or indeed in Latin America, they may have been the first to call themselves anarchopunks (possibly along with Coprofilia, Empirismo and Regeneracion) and to merge the canonical anarchopunk sound and aesthetics with the aggression and the rabia of classical Mexican hardcore punk, thus creating a proper Mexican anarchopunk sound in the process. DC's first Ep, "Cuanto tiempo mas", though it already incorporated visual elements from the anarchopunk, still sounded very much like a traditional raw Mexican hardcore punk records and was closer to Massacre 68, MELI or Xenofobia (and my faithful readers already know that I love my Mexicore to death) than Antisect, Doom or Conflict. It is only with their Lp, "No hay libertad sin desobediencia" that the band managed to merge both worlds, seamlessly, effortlessly and with an honesty, a genuine anger that cannot be faked and that I wish I heard more often.

On this recording, DC kept the snotty, desperate anger and chaotic edge of late 80's Mexican hardcore but infused it with the classic UK anarchopunk sound of Antisect, Legion of Parasites or Potential Threat (especially with the addition of the female vocalist), with early Doom (whom they cover), Early Hiatus and early Extreme Noise Terror and finally, I would argue, with a bit of Swedish hardcore like Crude SS or No Security. The dual vocals work to perfection, the bloke having that raspy, raucous, threatening and just so bloody pissed off voice, while the girl shouts in a clearer, warmer tone, not unlike Potential Threat, Homomilitia or Antiproduct. The drumming is reminiscent of Stick (from Doom)'s early bands (Doom or more precisely Excrement of War come to mind): it beats the D but you still get some Disorder/Chaos UK changes and a couple of blast beats. The guitar sound is thick and crunchy, just what you need to get the crust in "crust-punk". The music is just incredibly energetic, catchy, angry AND catchy, as a lot of the chorus will stay with you. There is enough variety in terms of tunes and tempo hooks to make this album a fantastic listen from beginning to end and a real anarchopunk classic.      

To say that DC was a serious band would be an understatement and in that respect they really remind me of the best of the US anarcho scene of that decade, bands like Aus-Rotten, Antiproduct, Mankind? but they remind me more especially of Resist And Exist, a band that was outspokenly revolutionary like DC. Bands like Disaffect, Sanctus Iuda, Homomilitia or Paragraf 119 could also be relevant comparisons. Lyrically, you will find a whole lot of issues covered by the band, ranging from feminism, animal rights, the wage-slave system, class antagonism, social conformity, the corrupt political system to imperialism or being anarkopunks.

The influence of DC on the political punk scene both in Mexico and in the rest of Latin America cannot be underestimated and I see them in the same light as 90's bands like Abuso Sonoro or Execradores in Brazil or Apatia-No in Venezuela, that had relevant anarchist politics and merged the anarchopunk spirit with that South-American urgency and anger. DC split up quite soon after the release of that album, in 2002, because some of the members migrated to the U$ for economic reasons but I read that they reformed briefly in 2008 in order to play a couple of benefit shows in the States. I suppose you could say Mexican bands like Fallas del Sistema or Crimenes de Guerra are (or were?) the real legacy of DC in the 00's. "No hay libertad sin desobediencia" was released on the ever reliable Cryptas Records and I'm pretty sure it can still be found on decent distros everywhere.

No hay libertad.

Social Insecurity "S/t" Ep 2002

Today's post will be less epic than the previous one for two reasons: first, I'm fucking knackered and second, this record should really speak for itself, so you don't really need me ranting over and over again. Unless you want me to.

There are actually two bands - at least - called Social Insecurity, one from Edinburgh that was active in the early 2000's and one from California that was around in the early 90's and was part of the blooming anarchopunk scene then. But for today, the Scots will suffice. As you are all aware, I am a self-righteous wanker who likes dictating what good taste really is to the unwashed among you (and there are more than just a few). To those who sport a studded leather jacket, a mohican or two and a faded Varukers top, then let me tell you that you should have painted at the back of your jacket, instead of The Unseen, was Social Insecurity. Like many bands that are a bit late to the party, Social Insecurity played that rather typical mid-late 90's British hardcore-punk style, not unlike Poundaflesh, In The Shit or even Hellkrusher, but they may have started playing it a few years too late, so that they may have passed under the radar of "da punx" who may have been thinking they were merely derivative and under the crust radar as well for not being "crust" enough, not having Tragedy-like tunes or a Dis-name. Life does suck sometimes.

However, not only are Social Insecurity a top-of-the-shelf 90's flavoured British hardcore-punk band in its own right but they are also heavier, and I mean HEAVIER, than most neocrust that was starting to be all the rage back then. Social Insecurity is the perfect mix of mid-90's Varukers and Hellkrusher. I am pretty sure that all the members had played in bands prior to Social Insecurity but all I could find was a Beergut 100 connection (a typical, though enjoyable, mid-90's British punk band) through the guitar player. This is bass-driven dischargey hardcore punk that is openly pissed off and that you can pogo and drink cider to. I would have loved to see them live, at a punk picnic for instance, with, say, Disorder, Poundaflesh, Hellkrusher and Red Flag 77. Social Insecurity have this thick sound that is effortlessly groovy and heavy. The songs are mostly fast-paced but there are a couple of crushing metal breaks (in the crusty sense of the term) to keep things refreshing (in a guttural breath way).

Due to numerous tours, there seems to have been an important connection between Edinburgh punks and Czech Republic. Like Beergut 100 who had a split with Zemezluc, Social Insecurity's next record would be a split Lp with Czech metal-crust heroes, Dread 101, released on famous local label Insane Society records in 2003, also a highly recommendable work of art if you are into records that no one really remembers. This Ep was released in 2002 on Emergency records a label from... Czech Republic (!) responsible for records from Exekuce, Mardröm or Demarche. The lyrics are pretty serious, with an anarchist leaning. "Burn all flags" is about taking your dog to the park, breaking down the borders and flag-burning; you already know what "Police brutality" is about (but could it be a nod to old Scottish band Toxik Ephex?); "Rage inside" is about a bloke going mental because he's possessed by the devil (I warned you there were some metal breaks); "Suffer in silence" is about not taking any shit from the authorities and fighting back and "Systematic slaughter" is about the horror of war and brushing your teeth twice a day (and could it be a reference to Reprisal?). Does the cover look like that Anti-Cimex Ep? Yes, it does, and that's three additional punk points in my book.

Translations in the Czech language included.  

Burn all flags!  

Ρήγμα "Ο Τελευταίος Αιώνας" Lp 1994

The division of punk into a myriad of different subgenres sometimes create funny situations or even small, but real, cultural misunderstandings. I was chatting with a good mate of mine once on a boozy night, basically drinking on the streets and talking shit, and for some reason the subject of Greek punk came up. I spontaneously said that I was a sucker for 90's synth-driven Greek crust and that I really couldn't get enough of the genre. He stared at me blankly and then laughed. The very notion of synth-driven Greek crust was ridiculous to him (but then he doesn't even enjoy Amebix, so what can you do?), absurd, surreaslitic even. But for the proper crust fanatic that I am, synth-driven Greek crust obviously means absolutely classic old-school crust, with an actual Amebix/Axegrinder feel. There IS such a thing as the Greek crust sound and it means real crust (or stenchcore, assuming that term might be more helpful), and judging from the prices some of these Greek records go for, I am definitely not the only believer. But what is classic stuff to me is not classic stuff to others, and it certainly was not to my aforementioned mate who may even have thought that I was taking the piss with such a preposterous phrase as "synth-driven Greek crust".

You are probably guessing where I am going with all that cheesy reminiscing. Today, we are going to talk about the Greek school of crust, a school that never disappoints and has steadily produced a handful of classic records in the past 25 years. There are some places where the crust genre has never really taken root (yes France, I am looking at your right now). On the contrary, the politicised Greek punks in the late 80's embraced the ideas, the aesthetics and the sound of British crust punk with an incredible ease. One would believe that it just made sense to them and they seamlessly adopted and further developped the crust philosophy. There are no similar instances in Europe that offer such a concentration of superb metallic punk bands combining gruffiness with a true sense of epics, rage with despair. "Why Greece?", one will ask. "I don't have a bloody clue," I will reply. "But let's try to figure it out". First, Greece already had had a solid tradition of quality punk-rock throughout the 80's, with bands like Stress, Ex-Humans, Genia Tou Xaos, Gulag or Adiexodo (and that's without mentioning the postpunk/new wave side of the spectrum) so the foundations were already there. Second, I would argue that, quite simply, Greek punks must have been into extreme metal music, early thrash and death metal, and therefore the dark, rough and gruffy metallic punk sound of Antisect, Deviated Instinct, Axegrinder or Hellbastard did not just appeal to them, it must have appeared like the next logical step. But contrary to a lot of bands worldwide that basically turned crossover overnight and tried to punkify Slayer and Metallica (with varying degrees of success), a significant number of Greek bands chose the "slow, dark and heavy metallic path that regularly wanders in pummeling d-beat territory" instead (although there must have been Slayer-wannabe bands there too). And some bands, not unlike Amebix and Axegrinder, really loved their synth (arguably a bit too much for their own good at times). Bands like Chaotic End, Panikos, Forgotten Prophecy, Naytia, Psychosi, Industrial Suicide, and later on in the 90's Nuclear Winter, Ashen Breath, Rising Terror, Hibernation. The Lp that is being posted today is, according to your favourite self-appointed expert, a relatively unsung classic of Greek crust: Rigma's sole album "Ο Τελευταίος Αιώνας".

From what my informer told me, after the demise of the band, members of Rigma and of Olethrio (another quality band with top female vocals) formed Olethrio Rigma, which originally followed a similar metal-punk way (the first album is highly recommendable) before falling in the "let's be a real metal band" trap. Apparently Oethrio Rigma enjoyed quite a bit of mainstream success in Greece which may have overshadowed prior works of both bands. And, in the case of Rigma, that is an unforgivable shame since "Ο Τελευταίος Αιώνας" may very well be the best Greek crust album of the period (that is a bold statement considering the awesomeness of Chaotic End's Lp but it will at least make people really listen to it).

The record starts off with a synth sound, just to let you know where you are heading toward. I wish I had the time to carefully describe each song but that would require an amount of leisurely time that I unfortunately don't have and beside, I am a lazy sod. The most striking thing about this Lp is the quality of the songwriting. Many think that crust music is generic and derivative, if not tedious. Well, this kind of work can undoubtedly prove them wrong. All the songs are memorable and, although the backbone is indeed metallic crust, inventive (not a term I use often on that blog). You will find all the elements that make Greek crust so great, the heaviness, the dark anger, the epic songwriting, the gruff yet not forceful vocals, the crushing mid-tempo numbers, the dirgy intros, so that you won't feel lost in a maze of musicianship pointlessly craving for originality (and we all know that trying too hard to be original never works). Rigma manages to enrich the crust formula with catchy guitar leads, witty tempo changes, but also with the addition of tasteful death-metal parts or "traditional" anarcho moments. Bands who try to mix too many elements from too many different genres often fail at doing properly, precisely because they consciously try. In Rigma's case, the disparate influences just seem to merge with ease and eventually end up making whole, coherent, cohesive songs. It sounds naturally heavy although the production is relatively raw; the riffs and the song-structures are not complex but they are always meaningful; the guitar sound is dirty, slimy and aggressive just as it should be; the drummer never overuses the double-bass and rather chooses to diversify his range of paces and his use of toms and cymbals, without ever getting technical (but then, I'm not sure he could!); the singer has a hoarse shouty voice but never overdoes it (aka, he doesn't want to be Bolt Thrower's frontman); the bass paves the way without being too up front and is used to great effect on some tempo changes and intros. The last song starts and ends up with the ominous sound of the wind blowing. The whole record reeks of spontaneity, like the original crust bands did, and it never tries to be crust. It just is. Rigma's "Ο Τελευταίος Αιώνας" is a triple threat match between mid-90's Panikos, early Hiatus and late Deviated Instinct.

The Lp looks great too, an antisectish gatefold with hand-written words and drawings to illustrate the band's message. All the lyrics are in Greek, which definitely adds to the uniqueness of Greek crust as the language fits perfectly with the apocalyptic gloom conveyed by such bands. Fortunately for the non-Greek speakers, you also have - broken - English translations which will show you that Rigma were indeed pretty serious. Songs about social alienation and control, about the sombre feelings and emotions, about the insanity born from our survival in a ruthless world, about the difficulty to express anger and despair. Dark words for dark times.      

For those interested, a demo also entitled "Ο Τελευταίος Αιώνας" was recorded by the band in 1993 and includes even crustier, rougher versions of the songs on the Lp. A glorious listen if you are in an epic neanderthal mood. Prior to this recording, Rigma also released a demo tape in 1992, called "Στα Μυαλά Των Ανθρώπων" but I have sadly never heard it... Sob, sob. Rigma's Lp was released on Wipe Out Records, a prolific Greek label responsible for records from bands like Chaotic End, Panx Romana, Stress, Anti or the brilliant Chaotic Dimension.

So now, do yourself a favour and get some Greek crust in your life.        

Q: And Greek crust? A: And Greek crust.