The long awaited debut LP from NYC’s FLOWER “Hardly A Dream” is finally set to arrive.
FLOWER’s tedious approach to writing/creating/drawing their debut LP was carefully thought out and the result is a monumental anarcho punk /crust record.
“Hardly A Dream” Takes us on a bleak journey through the dark side of society. As soon as you drop the needle a dark atmosphere is immediately created with a slow intro featuring arpeggio guitar work that builds into pummeling d-beat crust. The albums vocals then leave you with a feeling of being crushed by the ever-present weight of living through our modern world of late stage capitalism that was built on the falsehoods of the so called American dream, religious hypocrisy’s, nationalism, and the greed of humankind.
FLOWER take many cues from predecessors and are most often (and rightfully so) compared to NAUSEA but they also take a heavy influence from ANTISECT, SACRILEGE & other greats. The artwork has a very RUDIMENTARY PENI feel and the record comes with an amazing 24.5 X 34.75 CRASS style poster jacket. All art work was meticulously hand drawn and overseen by the guitarist Willow in true DIY style and spirit. Willow was also cool enough to draw up a special shirt for the record release featuring an alternative PROFANE EXISTENCE backprint!
Dark, heavy, galloping crust from the streets of London. AGNOSY is back to present us with a ferocious beast of an album that can only be forged by the anger and frustration of living in today’s world. “When Daylight Reveals The Torture” aggressively attacks evils such the current rise of fascism and animal abuse. It intelligently and passionately touches on the Afrin invasion and the revolution in Rojava and shows nothing but utter disgust toward the arrogance of humankind’s lust for greed and power that will inevitably lead us down paths of war and environmental devastation.
AGNOSY – Live at SCUMFEST in London. 2011
While lyrically AGNOSY are much more politicly straight forward this time around than on previous releases, musically they have expanded on their sound to create a dark and moody atmosphere while at the same time staying crust as fuck. To say they know what they are doing would be an understatement from this band of vets whose members have played in HIATUS, HEALTH HAZARD, and BEGINNING OF THE END.
Long galloping intros are followed up by traditional d-beat, fierce solo’s are then meet with vicious vocals and pulverizing bass in a brilliant recording captured by Lewis Johns at The Ranch Production House and was mastered by Brad Boatright at Portland’s legendary Audiosiege. We then pressed on deluxe heavyweight 150-gram vinyl, printed on reverse board jackets, and included an 11in x 22in gatefold insert to bring you a high quality and truly epic record.
PROFANE EXISTENCE – PO BOX 647 – HUNTINGTON WV – 25711 – UNITED STATES
The legendary crust classic is now available once again!
Authorized and released in cooperation with MISERY, S.D.S., & MCR Japan & Remastered by Jack Butcher at Enormous Door Studio we are beyond proud to make one one the most rare and sought after crust records available once again.
Fuck the scavengers charging punks exuberant amounts of cash on ebay and discogs. We worked meticulously with both bands and with Jack at Enormous door to bring you an updated version that kicks major audio ass while maintaining the original authenticity.
Released on deluxe 150 gram vinyl. With an 11×11 inner sleeve. Black Paper Jacket. Reverse Board Jacket.
Earlier this year we re-issued this legendary LP and sold over 950 copies in just 4 short months. For this second pressing we pressed 490 copies on Krystal Clear & 485 on Grey Vinyl with Black Mist.
Crystal Clear (Bullet belt no included) Grey With Black Mist (Bullet belt no included) PROFANE EXISTENCE – PO BOX 647 – HUNTINGTON WV – 25711 UNITED STATES
Stench crust the way it was meant to be played!
The UK crust scene of the 1980’s inspired band after band but no other band has ever reincarnated the sound of that time as well as SWORDWIELDER. Quite simply if you like crust, then this the album you have waited decades for.
Review by Craig Hayes from “Your Last Rites”… Swordwielder – System Overlord Heavyweight punk fanatics take note: System Overlord is a fucking triumph. The long-awaited sophomore album from Gothenburg stenchcore band Swordwielder is a brooding behemoth, constructed from the filthiest and heftiest strains of punk and metal. System Overlord shimmers with apocalyptic visions, and it’s overflowing with all the grim atmospherics and intimidating intensity that defines consummate crushing crust.
Too much hype? No way… And no apologies, either. Swordwielder deal in definitive stenchcore on System Overlord, and much like their full-length debut, 2013’s Grim Visions of Battle, the band’s latest release is a knockout. Swordwielder’s harsh, gruff and dark sound owes a significant debt to old school icons like Amebix, Axegrinder, Deviated Instinct, and Antisect, and they mix and mangle their influences and leave ’em to rot on the battlefield.
Plenty of hammering rage drives System Overlord tracks like “Violent Revolution,” “Savage Execution” and “Cyborgs,” and thundering epics like “Corrupt Future” and “Northern Lights” exhibit subtler strengths, mixing guttural growls and clean vocals with crashing percussion and dirge-laden riffs. Connoisseurs of corpse-dragging crust will love the brute-force belligerence of “Absolute Fear,” “Nuclear Winter,” and “Second Attack,” which rain down like merciless mortar barrages. As a rule, all of System Overlord‘s mammoth tracks chug and churn with grinding muscle, while reeking of squalor and decay.
Swordwielder exudes tightly coiled aggression from start to finish here—songs rise from the ashes of desolation, and resounding calls for action and resistance ring loud. If you’re a fan of heavy-hitters like Fatum, War//Plague, Carnage, Zygome, Cancer Spreading or (insert your favorite hefty crust crew here), System Overlord‘s trampling tempo and strapping sound are bound to appeal.
WILT combine old school metal and crust in a perfect hybrid that very few others have ever achieved. Prepare for a LP thats equal parts galloping d-beat crust reminiscent of bands like HELLSHOCK, and INSTINCT OF SURVIVAL, meets old school death metal in the vein of BOLT THROWER, MEMORIAM (old) SEPULTURA.
Here is a track from the upcoming LP
“Sermon for the Bootlickers”
Despite the inculcation of helplessness within each there remains great power. Ill at ease with such makes us ill. Learn to see the hand that feeds for what it is. You’ve been fooled if you think you’ve got no power. Refuse to be reduced to a consumer you’re a human being. Define yourself by more than wealth. Define yourself as a human. You don’t need what you’re being sold. Bend your knee to no authority but your own mind. You have the power to avoid the gilded trap. Avarice is what you’re conditioned for. Break the mold discover what’s really valuable to you.
WILT will be on in Europe this July / August will ELECTROZOMBIES From Chile
Wed, July 12 Hanover / Germany / Confirmed Thu, July 13 Bremen Fri, July 14 Mulhem / Germany / Confirmed Sat, July 15 Gent, Belgium / CrustPicnic / Confirmed Sun, July 16 Paris / France or Amsterdam / Nederland July 18 North-East France or West Germany July 19 Freiburg / Germany TBC July 20 Winterthur / Switzerland Fri, July 21 Zurich / Switzerland Sat, July 22 Biel / Switzerland July 23 Lausanne or Geneva / Switzerland
July 24 Geneva / Switzerland or Grenoble france
July 25 Treviso (or Milano or Bologna or Verona) / Italy
July 26 Ljubljana Slovenia Confirmed
July 27 No Sanctuary chilling day
Fri, July 28 NoSanctuary Confirmed
Sat, July 29 NoSanctuary Confirmed
July 30 Ilirska Bistrica/Slovenia or Vienna/Austria or Budapest/Hungary.
July 31 Wiena / Austrai or Budapest or / Slovakia
August 1 Brno / Czech Republic.
August 2 Prague / Czech Republic
August 3 Finsterwalde / Germany TBC
Fri, August 4 Leipzig / Germany TBC
Sat, August 5 Berlin / Germany / confirmed
August 6 Dresden
August 7 Wroclaw / Poland
August 8 Warsaw / Poland
August 9 Poznan / Poland
August 10 Szczecin/Poland TBC
Fri, August 11 Rostock / confirmed
Sat, August 12 Hamburg TBC
For this in the Seattle or surrounding area you can catch WILT this Saturday April first at Highline Bar with NOOTHGRUSH from Oakland.
This new band from the southern parts of Finland plays hardcore Scandinavian Punk rock. The members are each from different southern towns in the country, but it seems like the band maybe centered in Helsinki, the capitol of Finland. The guitar has a massive sound and flies through riffs at a buzz saw speed while the drums keep the circle pit a movin. Fem vocals emanate from a scratchy throat with a “no bullshit no compromise” attitude that keeps things fun yet serious. Chorus parts sometimes have the whole band singing along, which fills out the wall of sound approach, and provides a fun atmosphere. Rare guitar solos pan from one ear to the other side while the bass keeps the melodic structure flowing, then both come racing back to keep up the punch n drunk distortion. The last song Ylivallan Orja has a poppy chorus with what sounds like 10 people singing, and just makes one wanna pogo (yeah I know, cheesy, but eat my shit anyways). This is that kind of punk: good to listen to, good to dance to, dont give a fuck who ya slam into cos its all in good fun. This well done debut was officially released the beginning of November last year (2012), and the bandcamp page includes 3 songs that aren’t on the bombastic 7″. All songs are available for free download, but as always, if ya like it and and can afford to buy it, you should!
This trio powerhouse from Atlanta Georgia just recently formed in 2012 out of the ashes of previous ATL bands, including DISABLE. Turn A Blind Eye consists of 4 well produced punk rock anthems expressing their dissatisfaction with American society. The record opens with sounds taken from a police protest rally, and segues into the song Above The Law, an anti-cop ballad for the masses. The record closes with an instrumental guitar track which acts as a eulogy for the depressive song Rope’s End. In between is the street punk style hardcore melee that is DERNIER COMBAT. Heavily distorted guitar and bass layered over a rock steady beat that throws in lotsa fills and time changes. Production is crystal clear and as heavy as lead itself. Vocals are straight forward shouted out punk rock that reminds one of late 80’s hardcore. Musical influence ranges from POISON IDEA to ANTI-CIMEX, and lyrics deal with corrupt politicians, suicide, and depression caused by the ‘fucked up state’ we live in. Recorded / produced by the bands guitarist / singer and released on their own label Baby on Board Recs. Vinyl 7″ is limited to 300 copies of hand numbered ruby red wax. Download card / password included for track by track mp3 version of this great record. Digital package includes four cover songs, including such widely known bands as CHAOS UK and POISON IDEA. Make sure to get your filthy hands on this release, cos this is a hot record from the dirty south!
Without hesitation on seeing this beautiful primal aesthetic cover, I had to stick it on. A hand-screened foldout cover with a twenty page booklet of lyrics and lyric explanations is great material to flick through while listening to an album. Asfixia from Bilbao (Basque country) are powerful yet sublime. They have this really raw crisp sound, dark and melodic at times with great rasping vocals. But now unfortunately are split up since 2007. Also included on this is a great version of the song ‘Product’ by the old German crust band Lost World.
Annunaki Revenge who are on the next side are also from the Basque country. Their side consists of six songs of crusty hardcore with gruff vocals. They but me in mind at times of the ferocious crusty Greek punk of the early nineties/late eighties. Then other times it can be very melodic but still very intense. As far as I’m aware they sing impassionately of the absence of hope in modern life. The release is a benefit for an anarchist printing collective based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Basque country. Released by Stonehenge Records and Contraszt! Records
(SFitzgerald)
When I was a kid Halloween was by far my favorite day of the year. I have a distinct memory of the year I got chicken pox, I was 4 years old living in Ardrossen Alberta, and oh boy was I upset that I couldn’t go trick or treating with my older sister. She shared the candy with me, but it just wasn’t the same. Every year my mother would take me to the thrift store to find a cheap ski-suit, then come Halloween I would get on 2 pairs of long johns, don the ski-suit, and my mother would get out rolls of masking tape to cover me head to toe – I went as a mummy, with the help of mommy. And since I couldn’t bend my knees or elbows, I walked like one too!
As I got older, the costumes became more complex. My mother hand sewed me a Beetlejuice costume when I was about 12, and I spiked my hair for the first time (using green Halloween hairspray). I remember one year working for weeks with liquid latex to hand make a Halloween mask for my Lich costume (a Lich is like a zombie mage from D&D, what happens when evil wizards take a potion to extend their life at the cost of dying while staying alive so they can continue to gain more power). One year I went as the Devil, and even spent hours dying my skin red with watered down food coloring which stained for weeks, but looked awesome! Or there was the year I dressed up as a mafia guy, including a Tommy gun I spent week making, with a copper pipe barrel, coffee can magazine, and oak, hand cut and stained rifle butt. The cops pulled me over to confirm it wasn’t real – and of course to run my name for warrants – cause you know, they are assholes. That incident lead to its own humorous story, but I will tell that one another day.
Eventually I began setting up Halloween parties as a community event. This was really the first DIY organizing I ever did, years before I ever organized DIY all ages punk shows or anarchist bookfairs. I would rent a hall, get my (former) friend Pat to DJ, and my friend Yvonne to run the bar (this was years before I went Straightedge). People donated to get in, and the bar would usually break even, even after the costs of a liquor license and me setting the prices far below normal. The majority of attendees were people I played Vampire or D&D with.
The reason I loved Halloween so much as a kid, and even until I was a young adult, was that it was the one holiday where you could be dark, dress up scary, as something evil. Where you could embrace all the things normally frowned upon in this fake Christian and legalistic culture. It was the day the freaks, geeks, artists and picked on kids could shine. It was DIY, and encouraged youth to be creative, and use their imaginations. And it was the only holiday where you went out into the community, often with friends to meet your neighbors, and knocked on the doors of other people (who you would threaten with pranks if they didn’t give you candy). Every other holiday meant staying home with family to celebrate some weird depiction of a dead deity and gorged on dead animal carcasses. On Halloween, instead of consuming a carcass, you would try to create a costume that made you look like one! Halloween for me was the collective accumulation of everything missing from every other day of the year all wrapped up into one dark night. I was always drawn to darkness, just as I was always drawn to be creative.
But Halloween has been recuperated by the consumer capitalist mainstream and drunken party culture. Now it exists as nothing more than another excuse to buy more junk (made by children in a sweatshop in China), consume, and get drunk. Whereas the costumes of my childhood were mostly homemade, even if people occasionally bought a mask or the fake blood, or whatnot, there was always a DIY element to it; now the norm is to purchase your costume at the mall, 100% plastic shit, shipped from overseas, and throw it out the next day. Mom’s and dad’s no longer take their kids door to door in many cities, as the fear of poisoned candy and sexual predators has become so pervasive (even though no one has ever actually poisoned candy to hand out, and the vast majority of child molesters are family, close friends, or people given authority over the kids; not a stranger in the bush) that the new tradition for many parents is to drive their kids (in their gas guzzling SUV) to the mall where they go store to store instead of door to door, and managers or employees of corporations hand out candy along with promotional materials. Because as we all know, Corporations are far more trustworthy than the people who live down the street from you.
For young adults and teenagers, the new trend is a mix of sexist shit costumes such as “Slutty Nurse,” or “Breast Inspector” and the always popular cultural appropriation and other racist ‘costumes’ such as white people wearing blackface. And have you noticed the disturbingly sexualizing Halloween costumes being marketed for young girls these days? Costumes become more and more sexualized by the year, for both adults and children. From “Slut Shaming” to sexualizing children, the corporations who make and sell this shit have no problem profiting off of rape culture. Just as the bars have no issue with profiting of addiction, and binge drinking.
Then of course there is the Halloween candy, made of shit and chemicals that are toxic, glued together with processed sugar, and often containing the milk of abused cows or other products stolen from the bodies of animals which our species domesticated who live tortured lives in industrial farms and feedlots before being shipped to the slaughter house. This poison cocktail then gets wrapped in a couple sheets of plastic “to make sure it safe from contamination” before being shipped halfway across the world so you can give it to kids to ensure they become addicted to sugar. TRICK OR TREAT!
Even the horror movies have gotten worse, turning into movies that fetishize and sexualize torture for 2 hours straight.
Over the last few years I have pondered various strategies to try and re-appropriate what is left of the once very DIY and community oriented former Pagan holiday. As much as I am disheartened by what it has become, I still do see some hope in the darkness. The continuing popularity of the Halloween screenings of the cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show give me some hope, and honestly dressing up in drag and throwing toast in the air can be quite a blast! The overt queerness of Rocky Horror may be what has saved it from being appropriated and recuperated entirely by this consumerist and homophobic culture.
Guy Fawkes Day 2008, Victoria, unceded Lekwungen territories. A group of people built an effigy of Harper to burn on the lawn of the Legislature
I use to see some possibility as well in November 5 – Guy Fawkes Day, before the iconic V mask became mass produced and adopted by the right wing Libertarians and conspiracy theorists who never bothered to read Allan Moore’s anarcho-antihero epic, nor taken the time to learn the real history of the Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament. But alas, I have given up on Guy Fawks day after burning only 1 effigy of Steven Harper.
And of course there is the Pagan revival, people going back the roots of Samhain. There is definitely something encouraging about people, especially settlers on stolen land, wanting to go back to their roots. The potential for decolonization is there. Yet I am not entirely sold on this either, as those pagan roots are often from cultures that have already engaged in the domestication of animals and plants, and worship warlike patriarchal gods, or gods who offer the control of nature for faithful servitude. Spirituality has also been largely recuperated by civilization and turned into an escapist retreat from taking action and creating change. Then there is the questions of cultural appropriation whether it is neo-pagan Wicca and reinvention of Samhain, or the appropriation of Día de Muertos.
Another thing I have attempted with limited success is to organize sober spaces that are alternatives to the drunken Halloween party culture. There is many people that can’t be in spaces where alcohol is, whether it is cause they are struggling with addiction, a youth who legally is not allowed into a space that sells booze, or someone who just doesn’t like being around drunks or doesn’t feel safe around them do to past experiences.
A new idea I had this year was to make posters which read in large text something along the lines of:
“GET TO KNOW YOUR NEIGHBORS
Halloween is suppose to be about building community
DON’T TAKE YOUR KIDS TO THE MALL
trick or treat & meet the people you live next to.”
Another idea I have played with is to make vegan treats, which may not be healthier but are a lot better than the toxic corporate crap candy most folks are handing out to trick or treaters. I have a simple recipe for Vegan rice crispy squares for example, and I thought if I was to make them with a note attached explaining who made them, why, and all the ingredients including a phone number and address to accompany my name; perhaps, just maybe, parents would let their kids actually eat them??? A connected idea to make this one work better, was to make a batch of Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies, using Sarah Kramer’s awesome recipe, in about august/September, and make a note with the ingredients that reads “hand made for you by your neighbor,” then take these door to door and hand them out for a few blocks, as a good opportunity to get to know the people who you share geographical locality with. This way not only do you meet them which can help build community, but also make them more open to homemade candy come Halloween.
The other type of strategies would be to find ways to use the current consumer culture and appropriate it’s energy for anarchist purposes. Thousands of people in the streets wearing generic disguises can offer a perfect smoke and mirrors type of potential for low level warfare against capital. Although with the enormous police presence and normalization of snitch culture amongst yuppies, there are some real risks to this. Alternatively one could try to use the trendy hipsters as a funding base for anarchist projects. Put on an event or sell something targeted towards pop culture (Zombie paraphernalia?) and use the money from it to pay the rent on your infoshop, to restock your punk distro, buy media or AV equipment, send to prisoners, or to cover travel to conferences, summits, or elsewhere for people who should be there but can’t afford it. There are many projects that are in constant need of funds in the anarchist movement. However, this strategy also runs into some risks of recuperation or wasting our energy on projects that don’t help further our own.
Halloween has been reduced from the night to creatively celebrate horror and the dead to a dead holiday where zombies dressed as in costume celebrate the death of creativity and consume the horrors of capitalist civilized reality. Is it time to bury this tradition? Or can transform into wild beasts and enact a séance to resurrect it from the death that is this modern reality called of civilization and destroy the monster called Leviathan?
SOMALI PIRATES are a humorous tongue in cheek band from sunny San Diego California. On this record, they compile the four best songs and put them all on one 45rpm 7″. This booze swillin, all night patyin bunch of rock n roll rebels know what to do, and they do it well. The music on this is catchy punk rock n roll with good melodies and a steady vocal presence. These punx just play good ol fashioned rock n roll with no pretense and no judgement – except to the posers! With songs such as Pay Me Or You Die, or Stay Strapped, SOMALI PIRATES brings the party thrash to mix with issues that make you think, like booses you most likely hate, and corrupt politicians. This EP comes with song explanations to keep it simple, stickers, and a digital download card. Released on Camel Clutch Records
AIE is from Slovakia and play pure unadulterated grindcore. there are no melodies here, just music written to be played fast and loud. Short and to the point. ALEA IACTA EST bring 5 original songs, plus a cover of “human trafficking” by INSECT WARFARE. Lyrics are political in nature featuring short sentences with big ideas. Translated into Slovak, English, and I think Czech (?), they definitely want the audience to know exactly what they are saying. First song has a noisy intro, and then nothing but brutal assault follows. recorded April 2013.
CONTROLLED EXISTENCE is from Prague, Czech Republic, and manage to fit 8 crusty power violence songs on their side. Lyrics are a mix of Czech (?) and either Italian or Spanish, not sure which. No English translations on this side, which is a shame for under – educated Amerikans such as myself. Songs all stick to the same style, mid range vocals, lots of chaotic speed amongst groove laden riffs. Songs recorded February 2013.
This split is 14 tracks of total fury in about the same number of minutes. Definitely recommended for fans of power violence / grindcore and guaranteed to please.
The grass IS always greener
When you’re standing in a desert
That use to be a forest
Like the Fertile Crescent
Or the great Scottish rain forests
You know, where now what we call the Moor is
Or parking lots and paved roads where the meadow use to live
But you see the trick isn’t to get over to the other side of the fence
But instead to tear it down altogether
A world free of false man made borders
Walls and fences
Cages are for captives
And we are meant to be free
As all life is meant to be
I hate walls and all the people who love them.[i]
I hate bars and prisons
And bars built to keep people drunk in
Captives to their own inebriation
Wasn’t that drink suppose to give you escape?
But there is no escape when the whole world is our prison
Just another bottle do drown in
Not until the people have risen
To tear the oppression down
Bring the bastards down
No crowns
Royal or otherwise
[i] This line is a play off a line from anarcho-pop band Chumbawamba “I hate wars, and all the people who love them” from the song Here’s The Rest Of Your Life from their second album Never Mind the Ballots
First and foremost, my apologies for basically disappearing from the PE world in recent months. I hit a huge wall as far as writers’ block, and I was sort of stuck in my usual bout of self-doubt, self-loathing, and that sort of thing. The never-ending cycle of mental shit that I’m too [whatever] to look into.
But that’s not why I’m here today!
I’m here to ask a simple question of the DIY punk scene. What the hell happened? Why is it that in arguably the most horrific period of this generation, there is virtually no response from the youngest and least jaded punks? Have we as a subculture accepted defeat already? Has the political punk scene become so stale and reliant on old cliches that we cannot adapt to new challenges? Or has the stupid mindset of punk being “just music, maaaaan” taken over for good?
The world is absolutely fucked right now, and things are only getting worse. From rampant climate change, to reckless predatory capitalism. From Nobel Prize-winning presidents’ beloved assassin drone acceleration to Russia’s state-sponsored criminalization of an entire group of people. From the ongoing war of terrorism to the war on First Nations’ people in Canada. From rape culture to the scourge of fascism in Greece. And that’s just the first few examples from the top of my head. This is all right in front of our faces right now, and we’re fiddling while the planet burns.
In the last couple of years I’ve seen political discourse in punk drop sharply, as I’ve seen sub-sub-subgenre revival trends come and go. Instead of thinking about current or relevant issues to sing or write about, it seems that these revivalists would rather ape their beloved punk heroes word for word (or in the case of seventh-rate American raw-d-beat attak bands, even write their lyrics in broken English as a gimmick). After all, the fashion and sound is much more important than having anything relevant to say these days!
I’ve even noticed this apathy in the punk scene in the reviews section of Profane Existence! It’s become so rare that I see a review that mentions a band’s lyrics, let alone challenges a band on anything. Reviews are always the most boring part of a magazine (and yes, I still do reviews here), especially when they are nothing more than a short puff piece for a record. Maybe I’m alone here, but I think a review should cover more than just what a band sounds like. What are they singing about? What are the lyrics like? Is there something dodgy in the art or the lyrics? Let us know! Something strike you as amazing, or as horrible? Speak up! There is a major difference between Profane Existence and other major punk zines. Profane was founded as a blatantly political magazine and label. An alternative to punk scene apathy. A place for the anarchists and radicals to exchange ideas and listen to some killer tunes at the same time. If the anarchopunk community can’t rise above lazy apathy, what’s the point in continuing? We’re anarcho-punks for a reason. Anarchy still isn’t about hanging out on the internet and paying 600 dollars for an old record.
Am I calling for a “PC police” or whatever ignorant bullshit term is going to be thrown my way when this gets published? Give me a break. I’m far from perfect, and frankly I’ve never met anyone who isn’t. I love the DIY punk community, I love anarchopunk, and I hate the state of the world. We’re all in this for a reason, and we should all take a moment to think deeply about why we’re here. Do you give a shit? Or is this just another fashion for you? Have you ever stopped to consider any of this before?
Activism takes many forms, and you can still rock the fuck out while educating or making a difference. Punk can be a huge part of the revolution, as long as we let ourselves!
ENDNOTES:
-Doomed Society Radio still exists. It’s also growing, and becoming a label. I’m putting on a couple of benefit shows to help pay for the first release, which will be a much-beloved Canadian anarchist band. It will be co-released with their label and a couple of others. http://doomedsocietyradio.wordpress.com
-I’m not trying to alienate people with this column. I’m just sick of punks not challenging the status quo.
CoT is a fem fronted 5 piece blackened crust band from El Paso Texas. There isn’t much punk at all with this outfit, apart from the red / anarchist message. ISKRA call themselves anarchist metal, and this outfit isn’t far from that description. The demo package for this CD is awesome and totally DIY. Even the CD itself has the album cover printed onto the top with a glossy finish. To Serve Man is 7 tracks (two of which open and close the album with no lyrics) played out in a little bit more than 30 minutes. Recorded and released in 2012, by Culture War Distro. The lyrics, just like the art, are anti – Christian in general, and talk about body politics and street riots in particular. Two of the songs are entirely sung in Spanish, true to nature as some of the members are of Hispanic origin. Their latest effort is a split release with a power violence band from Phoenix called Biocidio.
The opening track, Twilight of Capitalism 2, is a 3 minute instrumental prelude of the anarchist crust to come. The guitar plays a repetitive minor key riff amidst sounds of urban unrest and general chaos, most likely caused by civil warfare. Lots of sound samples keep it interesting for the 3:20, and ends with a crowd chanting for either peace or freedom.
Bottomless Execration comes next and instantly brings the black metal inspired crust that will play out through the rest of this album. Minor key riffage on dual guitars, truly off the wall drumming that fully drowns itself in the art of blst beats, and reverb on the screeched out vocals. COMMUNION OF THIEVES truly is a force to be reckoned with. Beauty Beyond An Image slows the pace a bit, but just to make it more clearly emotional and melodic without losing the aggression. Innocencia Interrumptida quickly returns to blast beat black metal form. The acoustic intro for Black Earth is great, and the basic guitar pattern is used a lot through the rest of the song, albeit faster and distorted. Pasos Libres is definitely one of the best musical compositions, there’s a lot of rage seething to escape, and after it is released, it gets washed into the drainage ditch with a thunderstorm, which ends up cleansing the listener in a rain storm with acoustic guitars before this beast is put to rest.
This demo is amazing and has top – notch production but retains a dusty feeling from the desert. Although I thought this album would be very difficult to improve upon, you should really check out the new material on their bandcamp page, since they were able to do just that.
This crusty California split 7” brings 4 songs from each band on a raging blue marble slab o’ wax. Blood Shot and Dilated play some crusty D – Beat influenced punk that maintains some hardcore and death metal elements. With dual (and sometimes triple) vocals with an overly competent drummer, there is just no stopping this East Bay band. The guitar and bass throw in a touch of emotion and lots of thrash attack mixed with a hint of black riffage. The drums easily hit the speed of death / black metal, and recoil back in time to maintain the base speed. Their last song, Bite The Hand, reminds me a bit of melodic Scandi – crust.
Blood Stained Reality comes from the sunny streets of San Diego, but you wouldn’t know it by the sound. The vocals are bigger and more liquor stained, unlike B&D who tend to scream a bit much. Also, the metal influence is gone, replaced with only pure SoCal punk. While there is no emotive or really even melodic approach, there is significant groove and a few breakdowns thrown in for good measure. Neither band sing about anything new or earth – shaking, but they team up for a great split on this release and compliment each other well.
7” limited to 500 copies, this one at least, is on blue marble. A co – release from a couple small time labels, and recorded in 2012 in East Palo Alto California.
Profane Existence 