INVAZIJA // PICISMO

 

Mostly this is a collection of INVAZIJA recordings spanning from their time as ANARCHIJOS INVAZIJA (including tracks from the Protestas and Vogti Veida demos) into the late 1990s when they ditched the 'Anarchijos' in the name and focused on a heavier, almost stoner/crust sound. Vocals are still the focal point, stark shouts that are undeniably "Eastern" and give even the gnarliest riffs a cold, distant feeling. They made the progression by adding new elements to an already distinct sound and without turning away from their punk roots, leaving sonic archaeologists with a trove of tapes and records that feel like they came from another time and another world. I say "mostly" a collection of INVAZIJA recordings, because some nice punk in the past filled up the rest of the tape with Ukrainian and Latvian punk so the Lithuanians wouldn't get lonely. Ukraine's PICISMO taken from 1997/98 demos - discordant and damaged hardcore tonnage that related to, but sounds completely different from their neighbors on the first side. Gruff vocals and churning riffs a la UNSANE but with a propensity for tearing loose in a DBeat fury. Yet another example of what can happen when bands develop their sound organically (hint: it's almost always better). Then three more bonus cuts from Latvia's KURU KSIETRA fill up the end of the tape; rapid fire proto-fastcore delivered with adolescent honesty. More compilations, more collections, more underground and under-appreciated DIY hardcore punk. Please and thank you. 

SPLIT TAPE

ANARCHIJOS INVAZIJA

 

Thanks for Music Not Noize for this burner from Lithuania - I only knew one track from ANARCHIJOS INVAZIJA before this tape from 1995 came to me and....ooffffff now I need more! A ruthless buzzsaw guitar that lands somewhere between HELIOS CREED and STRESS leading a band cranking out stark cold metallic hardcore bursts that could form a bridge between summer '84 SIEKIERA and Legenda. It's always great to discover something new, but when it opens a door to a world full of new sounds...? Well, that's even better. 

PROTESTAS

ANTISOCIALINIAI PSICHOPATAI

 

It seemed like I only heard some whispers about this tape in the early months of Covid Reality, but there's nothing quiet or subtle about Lithuania's ANTISOCIALINIAI PSICHOPATAI. Their brand of punk is ripped from the legacies of Latin American and Eastern European bands of the '80s, played with a relentless intensity. Adolescent snarls and churning pogo repetition, it's just.....it's fucking punk. 

ANTISOCIALINIAI PSICHOPATAI

ATTAKTIX

Contra Order doesn't start - it detonates. And you hold your breath, and you clench, and you exhale twenty minutes later and everything around you is in ruins. A massive blast of Scan-DBeat destruction - early WOLFPACK hooks in "Land Of Pain," the brief hiccup after the first chorus in "Lost And Wasted," classic Tompa harsh snarls throughout, the leads that close "Demons Of The Past," the blasts in "Wound Wide Open," I could go on, but you get the idea. Five years after their first release, Lithuania's ATTAKTIX have unleashed an absolute monster, appropriate for the times, I suppose. 

CONTRA ORDER

 

WE MAY FIGHT A BATTLE THAT CAN'T BE WON

A most excellent comp from 1996, released on cassette by Experimental from Portugal and on CD by Boisléve, We May Fight A Battle... concentrates on heavy edge/vegan hardcore, but since it was the '90s there is more than enough crossover into other subgenres. The easy highlight is Lithuania's SC - disjointed punk that seems like perhaps it wants to be metal but doesn't quite pull it off, these songs are well worth the entire cassette and I find myself scouring the internet searching their few cassette only releases (it is so far a fruitless search, but it is not finished). STONEWALL, Portugal's X-ACTO and Brazil's PERSONAL CHOICE fall nicely into the straight edge hardcore box though all write songs more interesting than a generic genre descriptor might suggest. BY ALL MEANS from Modena, Italy were the first band I ever drove on tour back in 1997, and the sonic assault they delivered at those shows has not been lessened by a decade and a half - I still think they are a seriously under appreciated band, pure and personal brutality. MEANSTREAM are gruff heavy hardcore with an affinity for mosh and Mexico's AUTOCONTROL round out the line up. AUTOCONTROL seem to have a criminally limited discography (this cassette and one track on a 1999 compilation LP) but their multi vocal doom tinged metallic crust are also worth the entire cassette, so now you have even more reason to get amongst this...

WE MAY FIGHT A BATTLE...THAT CAN'T BE WON