An adventure in split Ep's! I have no gun but I can split: HELLISHEAVEN / WEALD "S/t" split Ep, 2015

This review will be the last one of the I have no gun but I can split series (for the illiterates among you this was a trivia-worthy reference to the mighty Exit-Stance's "I have no gun but I can spit"). Because the 2010's are still fresh, it is difficult to think critically about what it spawned punk-wise and formulate what it will be remembered for, for better and for worse (I already have a pretty definitive opinion about the latter and it starts with an "o", ends with an "i" and often has an exclamation mark). Thinking in terms of decades is not always relevant but I do believe the 2010's marked a radical shift in the scene with the unstoppable rise of social media and streaming. I have already written about the topic at length and repeating myself again will make me sound like a basement-dwelling incel type (basically the least sexy thing you can think of) who dislikes bands that emerged thank to this epistemological earthquake. I should do a series about brilliant young contemporary bands that I love with members who have luxurious hair and never watched a VHS non-ironically. 

Stopping in 2015 seemed like a decent idea, especially with a classically executed stenchcore split Ep. I haven't really included a full-on, orthodox stenchcore record in this series so that it felt right to discuss one for the 25th and final part, to leave on a high note, to leave the reader with a desire to ride a grizzly bear in an apocalyptic wasteland or to join a horde of pagan zombies or scare your nan with some hastily done corpse paint. I remember well where and when I grabbed this Ep as it was at Doom's first Paris gig in 2016. I was, of course, as a master of the crust craft and because it is my job to keep crust punk elite, well familiar with the rather experienced Hellisheaven and was excited about their teaming up with Weald, a band I thought was no longer (for some reason). It was a well spent fiver and this Ep does exactly what you expect it to do.   

Hellisheaven were from Lublin and formed in 2008. Upon looking at their discography I realized they had been going for much longer than I thought they and in fact disbanded only last year. I must admit that I progressively lost touch with what the band was up to as the death-metal influence became a little overwhelming for me and I could never really get into their 2013 album Abyss of War. My first encounter with Hellisheaven (I always wondered if they meant Hell is Heaven or Hellish Heaven or both, such poets) was, however, magnificent. Their first record, the split Lp with Creeping Corrupt released in 2009, can be said to be one of the finest examples of a successful blend of old-school heavy crust and raw death-metal. The five songs - among which a class State of Fear cover - were recorded at the band's practice space and the result sounds urgent, filthy and aggressive and the style fits the genre perfectly. A bit like classic 90's Polish crust (think Homomilitia and Hostility) on a romantic date with Stormcrow and Bolt Thrower. You could sense that the people involved had been fucking around in bands before and indeed the members had nice resumes (three members were actually also playing in the now classic grindcore band Suffering Mind in 2009). A very underrated recording and I wish this had been a full length rather than a split album. 

Following this great start, I was clearly watching for Hellisheaven's followup but had to wait three years until the release of a split Ep with Dissent. By that time the band had clearly opted for a more metal-oriented Bolt Thrower-ish sound that did not totally win me over at the time. I was expecting, rightfully I might add, an epic stenchcore Lp and got served one song of gruff Bolt Thrower worship with a crust edge. A little underwhelmed I was. In retrospect, I suspect that the band probably used the gap in time to regroup and initiate a shift in terms of intent and songwriting toward bulldozing death metal with a fetish for double-bass drumming. To be fair, it is not a bad song (some of the heavy moments remind me of Lost) and Hellisheaven proudly took that path, or rather they crawled agonizingly and growled their way through it. The song on this 2015 split Ep - while still recorded in their practice space - is a focused, unstoppable and heavy, sludgy and punishing Crust Thrower monument with some Swedish death-metal's down-tuned gutturalness that ticks all the right boxes and somehow keeps that DIY hardcore punk feel as it never get too technical. While I would certainly enjoy a full set of the genre live, it must be like being punched to death by a gorilla into Warhammer 40000 cosplay, I don't think I could take a full Lp. But "Oponenci procederu" works like a charm on a split Ep.

On the other side you have one song of the sadly short-lived Weald from Connecticut, a band that managed to split shortly after the release of the Ep. It would be far-fetched to claim that Weald will remain in our glorious History (that of crust of course) as a sorely missed groundbreaking band. In fact, it would already be a good thing if people remember them at all, beside their mates and local punks who were around during the first part of the 2010's. And, well, c'est la vie. If you really think about it, punk could not exist without the myriads of short-lived small but genuine bands like Weald. If fact, punk is by and large made up of such bands, they are our bread and butter. Those who tour and release records that actually sell are a minority. So even though the likeliness of meeting someone wearing a Weald shirt on the street is about as high as your bigoted great-uncle Paul becoming a vegan, they played their part, mattered and have their place in the grand crust narrative and that's good enough for me. 

My research revealed that Weald seemed to have trouble securing a steady lineup with several changes of guitar player and the original singer leaving before the recording of this Ep. The band caught my attention when their 2011 demo was uploaded online. It was a raw affair, evidently, primitive, sloppy at times, but its roots were clear and I definitely related to them: total 00's stenchcore revival. Not reinventing the wheel but pushing the crust cart in the right direction with heart and filth. I was hearing some classic Hellshock and Stormcrow on the music and if the songwriting could be improved, I sensed potential. And then... fuck all. Nothing for years and the release of this Ep and, in our day and age when bands release a record every two years, I thought Weald had vanished and its members had all gone on to play in postpunk bands as this virus was very contagious back then. But I was wrong as the band was still active and even recorded a another demo in 2013 (incidentally it was uploaded to their bandcamp two weeks ago, talk about a coincidence) with two songs one of which, "Vengeance is mine", would be rerecorded for the split with Hellisheaven with Will on vocals and a new guitarist.

This 2015 recording is a massive improvement, undeniably, and it makes one wonder what Weald would have been capable of on a full album. The story told by the song is great, it is a perfect stenchcore number. It has that super heavy grinding bass sound with dirty guitar leads and dirty thrashing riffs and it all points to early Stormcrow of course, the dominant influence, to which you can add early 00's Hellshock and Cancer Spreading too as the Italians were one step ahead of everyone in that niche at the time. Such a shame that Weald did not get to build on the momentum. Kind of a one-hit wonder - or nightmare depending on your tolerance for grizzly crust - I suppose. Speaking of bears, the cover displays a pretty angry one and illustrates the ecological theme of the songs. I am not sure I like it but at least I remember it and there are a couple of skulls too so that I am not too disoriented. Shane would join bands like Mortal War, Neverending Mind War, Condemned or Oiltanker in Philadelphia but I am not sure about the other members.  

This Ep was the result of a collaboration between many labels such as Neanderthal Stench (an important crust label then), Grindfather Production and Anomie Records. If you are a crust metal fanatic like myself, this is a split Ep you would want to grab for sure and it can still be found easily. 

HELLISHWEALD

  

     

Live by the Crust, Die by the Crust: Hostiliter "A New Dawn for Lost Mankind" cd, 2016

I have already touched upon the topic of how Italy from the mid-00's until the late 10's became one of the hotspots for genuinely solid old-school crust music in Europe - and beyond I would argue - while in the 90's, the decade traditionally associated with the rise of the genre, the country was surprisingly, not to mention sadly, crust-free (with the exceptions of Scum of Society and to some extent Dissciorda). I have never been sure about the reasons of this discrepancy. There certainly was grindcore so speed was not the issue. Did Italian parents choose to abandon their baby crust punks in the local woods? Legends of feral kids howling Doom lyrics at the moon would seem to point in that direction. Did they try to exorcize them? Were foreign crusties prohibited to enter the country by the government? Were the pigs equipped with crust repellent Bat-spray? The idea that Italian punks in the 90's did not enjoy crust music like the rest of the world is just preposterous so I would go personally go for the repellent spray. In any case, this mystery remains a cold case and any theory is a good theory.  

In the 00's, things changed drastically through the impulse of top bands like Campus Sterminii, Dirty Power Games and Kontatto and eventually something close to an Italian stenchcore wave (in punk terminology, a "wave" appears when more than five bands sort of play the same style) emerged by the end of the decade with Cancer Spreading as the last crust standing at the time of writing. These are basic historical facts that anyone can find in the Harvard Encyclopedia of Crust - chapter 7, section 3 - and I am definitely not paid enough for this gig to repeat myself on a sunday so if you need an even deeper exploration on the subject of Italian crust from both a synchronic and diachronic perspective, check the piece about Campus Sterminii's Life is a Nightmarish Struggle I did last year. 

Hostiliter can be said to have been part of that 2010's wave of Italian stenchcore as they were active during the heart of it, between 2010 and 2016 (or 2017?) and even though it is quite hard to gauge how those bands will fare in the future, it is still crucial to investigate and analyze them since, if punk does belong to the punks (and not the businessmen or the cultural establishment and the academia), it also belongs to the punks to write our own history and memory of punk. I must confess that I have absolutely no recollection of my first encounter with Hostiliter but it might have been during one of those nights when I end up scouting for new upcoming crust bands online for hours while I had promised myself I would just check whether Warcollapse did two or three split Ep's in the 90's (they only did two in case you were also wondering but wanted to spare yourself the effort). But anyway, the band was from Viterno, between Roma and Perugia and self-released a five-song demo cd in 2011 entitled Intoxication which will be your cuppa if you are into raw and straight-forward early Cancer Spreading (and clearly you should be). They recorded a remarkable promotape in 2012 (or was it later? The youtube videos says 2015) called Age of Decay that sounded more apocalyptic and metallic, with some great mid-paced moments and even some synth while keeping that fast and raw crust punk approach style. 

By 2015, the band had evolved into a more death-metal oriented crust unit - some would say "deathcrust" but I hate the term - not unlike what Cancer Spreading were doing at that moment too (I am not suggesting that Hostiliter's evolution was necessarily influenced by CS's but the fact is worth mentioning). A New Dawn for Lost Mankind is a modest but effective recording of death-metal influenced stenchcore with a hardcore punk production. The album lacks a little in heaviness but makes up for it thanks to its dynamic and aggressive crusty punk vibe. Bolt Thrower-influenced crust is of course the band's main template and bands like Heallisheaven, Sanctum or Last Legion Alive (and of course Cancer Spreading) come to mind and, while it would be far-fetched to claim Hostiliter were the cream of the crust crop - their sorry lack of vinyl output especially not helping - but they still definitely delivered, were apt specimen of the 10's metal crust subgenre and the cd is very pleasant precisely for its typicality. This is crust that has crows, chaos crosses, skulls, barren wasteland and torn war banners at its core. You already know the menu if you are seated at this table. The lyrics in Italian are definitely a plus and I had fun finding several borrowed bits from classic crust bands (a barely modified Deviated Instinct riff here, a Filth of Mankind break there, some Nausea flow too). The icing on the cake is the top Contropotere cover - "Demoni e dei" from their 1988 album Nessuna Speranza Nessuna Paura - which Hostiliter greatly pulls out. I don't know any other band covering the absolutely magnificent and unique Contropotere so A New Dawn for Lost Mankind is worth hearing if only for that very relevant choice. Great job.

The cd was released on Suoni Oscuri in 2016 and I suppose may still be ordered through the band as it was not well distributed at all. Mind you, I don't even know how many copies were pressed as I was lucky enough to get it when they played in France. Until then, here is the download link. 

           

A new crust for lost mankind

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

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

A fine example of Midieval art

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

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

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

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

Prophecy of Crust    

Ashes to ashes, crust to CRUST (round 12): Cancer Spreading "Ghastly visions" Lp, 2016

Just a few weeks ago, Cock Sparrer released a new album, modestly entitled Forever, and, being a modern man on a budget, I have been listening to it constantly on my portable music device. The new Lp works especially well while walking the streets with your head up high as you're heading up to the pub to meet up with the lads and have a right laugh (although you are just really making some errands and queuing at the local store). I suppose a most adequate description of Cock Sparrer would be "local conversations between middle-aged men, overheard at your local pub and put into music with all the best random tunes you have been casually whistling in the shower". Perhaps that's where the secret of the band's legendary tunefulness lies, contrary to us mere mortals, Cock Sparrer are actually able to remember all the great melodies they come up with while showering, they may even bring a water-proof guitar with them, just in case a solid tune needs to be tested on the spot before it vanishes. 

There is no similarity between Cock Sparrer and Cancer Spreading I can think of other than their initials. However, when I think about the former, the song "Where are they now?" immediately comes to mind and if you were to ask this question about the latter, I would point to Ghastly visions (an album that proves to be much more difficult to whistle to while showering), and then probably quote the song "Still pist" from The Pist to further develop. How fun would that be to have a full conversation using only the names of punk songs! Right? Right?? RIGHT??? 

Okay then, let's cut the crap and get to the penultimate round of this series about contemporary crust with the new album of Cancer Spreading, whom I will refer to from now on as CS (like Cock Sparrer, Civilised Society or Concrete Sox). I already wrote quite extensively about this Modena band exactly three years ago with a review of their 2011 Suffering Ep which also saw me discuss the implications of the term "stenchcore" both diachronically and synchronically and enjoy using these two lovely adverbs in the process. Incidentally, CS did not release anything for a few years and the two-year gap between the 2014 split Ep with Fatum and last year's Ghastly visions felt somewhat unusual for a band that had been so impressively prolific in the past (one album, two split Lp's, one full Ep and five split Ep's in six years). If you look closer at CS' recording session - a perspective that often proves to be more enlightening than release dates - you will notice that they did not record for almost three years, since their July 2012 session during which they immortalized the songs that would end up on the 2013 split Lp with Last Legion Alive and the aforementioned split with Fatum. It is not far-fetched to assume that the band must have decided to take more time to write new songs, think about where to take CS next in terms of musical direction and sound and allow some space for self-reflexivity. This makes all the more sense if you consider the self-defining project that inherently encompasses CS: the persistence to play stenchcore.

Whether you like the band (or the genre for that matter, both of them being so intertwined in 2017) or not, in an epoch when a band's lifespan is increasingly and even intentionally short, sometimes to the cynical point of anecdotage, the fact that CS resolvedly stuck to their guns for more than 11 years now is quite remarkable. They started off as a sloppy punky crust band and grew progressively, improving and polishing their take on the genre with time. In that sense, they are a "real" band and not just a short-lived side-project. CS is a band that you follow, record after record, and enjoy noticing the development of. Their previous records (the 2012 session) were fairly impressive - the song "Insomnia" being a genuine highpoint and I would bet my collection of Antisect shirts that the band will be particularly remembered for that one when we are all old and grumpy in our studded wheelchairs - and I was really wondering what they would do next. An easy way out would have been to do a classic "more of the same" new album, but the risk of having jadedness settle in cannot be taken lightly. They also could have gone for something significantly different in terms of genre and turned into a full on sludge-metal band overnight, but then it would have run contrary to the core stenchcore identity of the band. The crucial point was to be inclined to change without losing essence. There is no obvious solution to this equation and different bands will come up with different answers (as Instinct of Survival's move can attest). In CS' case, it was death-metal.

Now, from the vantage viewpoint of the Terminal Sound Nuisance's ivory towers (I've recently got meself a comfy chaise longue on the rooftop if you must know), I have often admonished crust bands that treaded too heavily in death-metal territory, not because I find the idea preposterous or unworthy, but because, more often than not, they ended sounding like a heterogenous mix of crust and death-metal that did not really fit with one another and felt like a tedious series of disconnected elements. Some bands did it quite well (like Limb From Limb), others still do (like Putrefaction), but on the whole, upon hearing death-metal and crust in the same phrase (I will not gratify the calamitous term "deathcrust" with anything more than a posh scoff), I tend to wield my punk shield as a derisory repellent. But basically, it all depends. The death-metal influence in CS has been more and more pregnant from their 2011 recording session on but I would argue that they wisely picked elements that actually blended well with old-school crust and therefore kept away from the variegated clumsiness that I often associated with such endeavours. If Ghastly visions can be seen as some sort of death-metal hybridization, it is not because it contains more death-metal songwriting bits as such (although it does), but because it certainly relies more meaningfully on old-school death-metal sound, textures and vibes.

Let's compare Ghastly visions with the first album of CS, 2011's Age of desolation, a record that is seldom discussed in the band's discography (truth be told, it was released on cd only). The latter was clearly a classically modern (understand 00's) stenchcore album in terms of production and intent, with death-metal touches of course - and even a Bolt Thrower cover - but not to the point of informing the whole work like in its successor's case. Ghastly visions uses the down-tuned heaviness and aggression of old-school Swedish metal (I'm hardly the expert but think early Dismember, demo-era Entombed or Carnage), along with some of its typical riff and vocal structures, and then crustifies it, making it rawer, less technical and more direct. The record does not fall in the much-dreaded "double-bass drum overdose" and "lengthy tremolo pickings fest" trappings and walks - or rather crawls heavily like an agonizing beast - the thin line between crust and death-metal, blurring it with focus and determination (the only song where I feel it does not work is the too rocking "Sinners shall weep"). The guitars are low-tuned and I like how they work together, one doing the heavy chugs when the other is carefully piercing your ears. As is crucial with the genre, the bass playing is top notch and there is old-school crusty groove at work here (I'm always a sucker for that). As for the vocals, you can tell that the singer has really studied the old-school death-metal repertoire with Genital Deformities peaking above his shoulder as you are invited to an orgy of mean guttural growls, savage roars and postmortem demented screams. Your gran probably won't like it too much.

Upon first listening to the Lp, I must admit that I was a little taken aback by the permeating death atmosphere of it. And then, after repeated listens, the classic crust elements became apparent, like the early Axegrinder moment on "Putrid angel", the early Deviated Instinct beat on "Fragment of filth" or the nod to Antisect on the macabre "Hanged corpse", and of course Ghastly visions contains just enough fast cavemen crust moments (à la Nuclear Death Terror or Accion Mutante) to remind you of where the band essentially stands. The core influences of CS (Bolt Thrower, Genital Deformities, Stormcrow...) are not gone but have been reworked through a different lens, one through which you usually observe Dismember or Coffins. It is a bit like that one time I switched from soy milk to rice milk. The cereals taste different but you know they are the same. And at the end of the day, they are still crunchy and familiar and that's all that matters.

The object in itself is stunning. The cover and backcover - drawn by Stiv VOW and Skinny respectively - are reminiscent of old-school death-metal imagery (the Dismember demo comes to mind) and referential, a little cheesy but tasteful. You also have a large booklet with the lyrics and a cracking Rudi Peni-esque drawing of a bat and a brilliant "hanged corpse" drawing on the inner sleeve that looks like the missing link between Crass and Hellhammer (both of them done by Klaudiusz Witczak). The lyrics are mostly dealing with despair, madness, alienation and negativity (did you really expect songs about cycling or vegan cookies?) and quite well-written for the genre, you can tell there has been a genuine effort to convey meaning and evoke powerful images while remaining gritty and carnal.

There's even a bloody poster! yolo

The record was released last year - and is thus still available - on Neanderthal Stench (one of the most exciting labels in terms of crust right now), Back on Tracks (from Brazil) and Heavy Metal Vomit Party (from Slovakia) and the vinyl's actual colour is "beer with black splatter" if you still need an excuse to get it.

The spreading of ghastly visiiiiiiiooons

Ashes to ashes, crust to CRUST (round 9): Putrefaction "Scavenger" Ep, 2015

If you ask your next-door neighbour about his favourite contemporary crust bands, Putrefaction are unlikely to come up in the discussion. And the hypothesis is not rhetorical, go ahead, chat him up and you'll see I am right. It is, along other dismaying things like the recent French elections or international shipping costs, one of the many sad truths of our time and I do not have a reasonable explanation for this discrepancy. 

It would be far-fetched to claim that Putrefaction have gone completely unnoticed, as I remember that their 2012 Lp did garner some well-deserved attention, but this wonderful Ep pretty much flew under the radar. If the amount of active crusty metal-punk bands is any indication, it is then sound to assume that Putrefaction's sound is not happening at the wrong time. Could they be at the wrong place, being from Dublin? Yet another instance of the "had-they-been-from-Portland" syndrome? Still, the ever-increasing globalization of punk music through the internet should precisely keep great crust music from remaining relatively unknown and, ideally, foster both a more horizontal way of apprehending music from multiple backgrounds and an urge to discover exciting bands from all over, as vertiginous as it might be given the spectrum of inquiry. But then, the internet also tends to exacerbate pre-existing glorifications of some parts of the scene at the expense of others. We have a window open to the world and yet use it as the mirror of our obsessions. Could the world wide web be the ultimate reflection of this duality? Or has our attention span been permanently damaged by the overwhelming mass of information continuously renewed before our eyes? Or perhaps the name "Putrefaction" sounds too ingrained in death-metal lexical mythology and might scare "da punx" away? 

You should ask your neighbour again, unless he threatened to call the cops the first time. If so, it might be safer to leave him on his own and just leave a note in his mailbox or something.

Putrefaction are friends so I could be a little partial to them but have no fear, I will be just as subjective as usual, prone to defend the crust underdogs against the trendies (that I always picture wearing Fall of Efrafa shirts and Metal Punk Death Squad hats for some obscure reason that even my shrink cannot make sense of). As I remember it, the idea of Putrefaction was born in 2005 in Dublin when Eric (the handsome guitarist/singer, formerly in Easpa Measa and currently also singing for Rats Blood) mentioned that he was thinking of forming some kind of D-beat band under that moniker. Helped in this task by brothers Donal and Eoin, it first came into being with the 2007 Destroyers demo. The demo was a rather raw but promising 8-song effort that gave the listener an idea of what the band was then trying to achieve. It could be roughly described as an aggressive blend of State of Fear-type crust, Hellshock's epic stenchcore style and Repulsion's primitive extreme metal (the punk as fuck Sepultura cover is pretty ace). There were some genuinely good ideas on this one. Though it was partly impaired by a raw punk production, it still conferred the demo some sort of Hellhammer charm, so even if it was not a groundbreaking recording, at least it had the relative merits to sound unpretentiously spontaneous and angry. It did not, however, prepare the unsuspecting listener for the mammoth metal-punk scorcher as unleashed on Blood cult five years later.

To be fair (time for confidences), when the Blood cult Lp came out in 2012, I had almost forgotten about Putrefaction. I do not know how active they were locally between 2007 and 2012, but the truth is that I thought they had basically stopped playing so I was both pleased and surprised when a full album was released on four reliable labels such as Underground Movement (also responsible for the Coitus discography and the brilliant Bullet Ridden album), Distro-Y Records, Phobia Records and Ratbone Records. Without even getting into the songwriting, the progression from the demo is immense. The album has a massive sound and, as tempting as the claim that the musicianship considerably improved appears, it might be closer to the truth to say that the effort is that much more focused and cohesive that it allows the instruments to really shine. Blood cult is a more diverse work which borrows more heavily from the world of extreme metal than the demo. The direct crustcore element is toned down to give room to a more refined death-metal influence that never feels contrived and mechanical. Although Putrefaction's investigative fields are apparent, the band never sounds derivative or generic. More crucially, despite the diverse stylistic additions, the music does not feel disparate and the different phases sound like adhering parts of a smooth whole and not like a bland series. I would argue that this is what makes the album good: it sounds whole. I may not love to death all the elements when taken separately, but as an entity, they all work. On this album, Putrefaction borrowed from old-school death-metal bands like Repulsion or Autopsy, but also from modern metal crust acts like Limb From Limb or Hellshock, from the dark hardcore punk sound of Tragedy or World Burns To Death and the epic cavemen crustcore of Cop On Fire and Consume. The list of possible influences is endless and it would be pointless (and a probable tedious read) to go on, as what really matters here is that the band tied all of these elements in the songwriting with one thing: mood. Whether they go for a brutal death-metal beat or for a mid-paced heavy hardcore moment, the mood remains the compass. Putrefaction sound like a trance-inducing apocalyptic ride into the industrial wasteland as a symbol of the decay of an ever-rotting society. Sure, the hellish bike (it has to be a motorbike, right?) sometimes takes a turn or goes faster but the destination does not change.

When Putrefaction released their Scavenger Ep two years ago, this time I was ready to ruck and when they played in Paris I bought it in a heartbeat (and let me tell you that they were one of the most convincing crust trios I have ever witnessed live). If Blood Cult was a dantean journey to the threshold of Hell's gates, Scavenger can be described as the mad descent into the Inferno itself as it sounds like the (un)natural progression of the Lp. It is a great Ep with memorable clever riffs that never falls into complacency, enhanced with a thick, heavy and aggressive production that is burning and abrasive and never sounds overdone or artificially angry. Superb job on that level. The bass sound is ominous and distorted and confers a crunchy texture to the songs, the guitar has that vibrating, filthy metallic quality but keeps a distinctively hardcore aggression and the drumming is excellent, just at the right level, pummeling but neither buried nor overshadowing everything else. The vocals are hoarse, guttural and aptly expressive of the sense of desperate rage that the band goes for, and, more importantly, they never sound forced or ridiculously grandiloquent. 

Despite the shorter format, Scavenger is still a pretty varied, highly mood-driven work with some delicious hooks in the arrangements and the articulations. "Welcome death" is a crushingly epic introduction to the record, reminiscent of vintage Stormcrow (especially in the textures), Limb From Limb and of a punkified Bolt Thrower; "Wasted time" is a mid-paced dark hardcore anthem (skipping on my copy for some unfathomable reason) that brings Tragedy and Wolfpack's best moments to mind; "After the storm" is an epic mid-00's "gruff-yet-modern" crustcore number that nods towards Cop On Fire and Nuclear Death Terror (with perhaps something of the Spanish D-Beat/crust school as well); finally, "Ballast existence" goes back effortlessly to Stormcrow heaviness and concludes the last ride in style. Although they certainly build on old-school metal and punk (you won't be hearing silly technical blast beats, pseudo screamo atmospheric parts or similar nonsensical atrocities), Putrefaction sound modern in a good way, dark, powerful and epic. They are not openly referential and, in spite of some unavoidable sonic familiarity, write songs that are singular, catchy and strong enough to stand out from the crowd. The lyrics are another definite strongpoint, pissed, genuinely political and carefully written despite their directness, they depict the homicidal and exploitative nature of modern politics instead of rehashing dull doomsday allegories. I particularly enjoy "Wasted time," with words about "A vicious ruling class crucifying the poor. Ireland 2015" that read bitterly familiar in the current era of austerity politics. 

A truly cracking record released on Distro-Y (and still available) that you could argumentatively recommend to your neighbour now (never underestimate the connective power of crust).       

Putrefy Dublin

Skaven / Dystopia "S/t" split Lp 1996

About a year ago, I posted one true crust classic with the Misery/SDS split Lp, with one of my most epic review to this day. And because I am aware I am one of the leading voices of the internet (after all, it is no coincidence if the Queen of England herself, when asked what her favourite blogs were, replied: "Terminal Sound Nuisance, definitely. Top writing from a top geezer and quality punk-rock from a true connoisseur. Each time I read it, I want to abolish myself.") I think it is high time I deal with another true (or cvlt as some wankers would have it) 90's classic: the Skaven/Dystopia Lp.

As you know, I am one to follow the news and lately I got hold of the wonderful Skaven discography Lp that the mighty Skuld Releases just unleashed (it did take five years to come out though... Good thing I didn't hold my breath). If you have to buy just one record this month, that should be this one. The songs have been tastefully remastered, the artwork is sick, there are two posters included, honestly it couldn't have been done better. However relatively obscure Skaven are, they remain one of the most potent American crust bands ever and one could only wish they had sticked around a little longer, at least long enough to record a full Lp.

Skaven were from Oakland and formed in 1995. Apparently, they rose from the ashes of a punky black-metal band called Black Maggot, which I have sadly never heard (assuming they recorded anything at all), a significant fact since there is a distinct, almost foundational, black-metal feel, to Skaven's music and songwriting. Although I remain largely unconvinced by most current bands trying to blend black-metal and crust or hardcore (Order of the Vulture, Dazd and Summon the Crows being two good exceptions), Skaven managed to pull it in a terrific fashion, probably because they did it effortlessly, just because it made sense to them, as if the cross basically just happened. There is an occult atmosphere in Skaven's music that is enhanced by the mean, gnarly vocals. However, don't picture some wankers arsing around in a dark forest dressed like cheap actors from an 80's Italian barbarian movie. No, if anything, the band's sense of evil comes from a filthy sewer where crusty punks would wait recklessly for an apocalypse that never comes, getting really drunk and listening heavily to Deviated Instinct and Bathory in the process. Claustrophobic, uncontrollable and insane.

As I see it, Skaven are very much heirs of the late 80's/early 90's Californian crust scene, a wave that had disappeared by 1996 (with the worthy exception of... Dystopia). You can actually hear influences from bands belonging to the aforementioned scene like Glycine Max, A//Solution or Apocalypse in the music, as well as classic UK crust like Deviated Instinct or Mortal Terror, with early Misery coming to mind too, and black metal bands like Bathory, Possessed or Samael. Skaven's strong point however lies in their intent to create a proper soundscape, to literally build a sonic atmosphere of their own, and in that respect the fact that they were playing with two bass guitars certainly helped. Although undeniably heavy, the band didn't really rely on heaviness or speed in order to crush you. Rather, they used twisted song structures with multilayered bass and guitar parts that manage to take the listener by surprise while still making complete sense. The music is dark, really dark, but is not sorrowful. It reeks of madness, desperation but remains really organic, slimy, festering, swarming.

Skaven's art is almost as impressive and striking as their music and equally as dark. Drawings that reflect the fate of mankind and our pointless, destructive wandering upon the Earth. There is a specific obsession with death that also appears in the lyrics, both literally with the worm-infested, decaying flesh and figuratively with death being the sole outcome of our actions, whether it be through pollution, drug abuse or the death of one's will through the acceptance of one's enslavement. Not particularly cheery stuff, I'll give you that.

Dystopia, on the other side, are much better-known and remains one of the very best American bands of the 90's (that statement is not open to any discussion. Thank you for your cooperation). Dystopia fucking rule. Although they have almost achieved cult status today, the fact that the band emerged from previous bands is not widely known. In fact, Dystopia rose from the ashes of the late 80's/ early 90's Californian scene crust scene, with Matt playing in the early Mindrot line-up (back when they were a Prophecy of Doom/Bolt Thrower crusty kind of band), Todd making a whole lot of noise in the grinding crust outfit Confrontation and Dino drumming for Carcinogen (possibly the closest to Dystopia from the three aforementioned bands in terms of music) and although the term "crust" does not totally fit Dystopia (but then the band escaped any easy categorization), the lads definitely grew up in that context (apparently the drummer of Apocalypse even played with them at some point). By the time Dystopia started in 1992, the crust scene was already on its last gallon of special brew and it could be argued that the variety of influences that can be found in Dystopia's music might stem from a need to break free from formulaic music. And they certainly succeeded in doing so.

I won't try to pigeonhole Dystopia because it would be time-consuming and pointless. To me, they have an old-school crust backbone with a lot of doom-metal and death-metal over it. But more importantly, they are just incredibly groovy, heavy and intense. When you know they were just a three-piece, this makes it even more remarkable. Dystopia belongs to this category of bands that sound like they are playing for their lives, as if they were all going to die the next day, as if each second of their songs were fighting Death itself. The term "Burning spirit hardcore" should have been created for them.

While Skaven have these occult and fleshy aesthetics, Dystopia's are more anchored in the daily struggle to survive in the social jungles we call urban centres. Hopelessness, mysanthropy, suicide, self-hatred, sickness, cruelty, there is a wide panel of social ills in Dystopia and their very music, the way they write music, somehow perfectly embodies them. This is the demented soundtrack of survival in our modern societies. To give you an example, the song "Anger brought by disease" is about a man dying from disease who wants to kill his enemy (his former teacher, a nazi or his boss, take your pick) before dying. This is social anger in the flesh indeed.

This split is probably one of the very best crust records of the 90's, not because both bands play unadulterated crust but because it stands for a particular time in history as it is basically the evolution of the South-Cali crust scene. Skaven were, to put it bluntly, the best American crust band of the mid-90's, along with Misery, and Dystopia were a uniquely intense band that went beyond genres and yet managed to satisfy everyone (right?). This record was co-released by Life Is Abuse, still run by Matt from Dystopia, and Misanthropic Records, a label also connected to the band that released the Skaven Ep and records from Phobia and Grief among others. DIY or die trying. After the end of Skaven and Dystopia, some members of both bands eventually ended up in the powerful crusty doom-metal band Asunder, but ex-members could also be found in Noothgrush, Demonsteed, Ghoul and more recently Kicker.

Mandatory.

The worms will inherit the dystopia