An adventure in split Ep's! I have no gun but I can split: HELLKRUSHER / BULLET RIDDEN "Air Attack / Stricken From the Records" split Ep, 2012

Ten years ago, back when the blog was still vaguely respectable but did not make any money and I could not afford a butler, I reviewed Hellkrusher's "Dying for who" Ep from 1992 and reading it again today, I realized I was going to write pretty much the same thing about this seemingly immortal band even though they did not send me a free shirt after the first eloquent review. But I am not one to hold grudges, thankfully for me, and today's Ep was released exactly 20 years after Dying for Who which will probably make everyone involved feel old but is still a testament to the band's tenacity and inflexibility. Punk-rock trends - and there have been a lot of them since 1992 - have never seemed to affect Hellkrusher's sound or approach to punk in the least. In fact, I am sure that everyone could be playing skacore tomorrow and the band would still keep delivering their classic brand of d-beat thrash unperturbed and oblivious to the cool hardcore kids suddenly wearing porkpie hats and doing Madness covers but with mosh parts. But then that's something most of us would wish to be able to ignore.

I saw Hellkrusher live a couple of times, notably in 2012 supporting Antisect at the 1 in 12 Club in Bradford, and they were always solid. We all know first times tend to be biased and prone to sentimentalism but my favourite memory of them was the first with their performance at the Scum Fest in London in 2007, which was actually their reformation gig (they had not played since 2001). It was a brilliant one I remember very fondly and everyone was up for it. Since then, Hellkrusher is the kind of band I buy all the records of without really thinking much about it. I am never overexcited about a new record of theirs but I'll always get it nonetheless. It is just something I do almost instinctively. The existence of such a long-running band is almost reassuring. I know what to expect from them and I would say they also know what people expect from them. "Just do you!" as the corniest beauty influencers would say to the band. Just do Hellkrusher. 

After such profound and thought-provoking words of wisdom, what's exactly on this record? With the Doomsday Hour Lp (arguably still the band's shining moment and an absolute classic 90's Discharge-inspired record that I played a lot), the Geordies created their own brand of metal-tinged d-beat thrash with gruff vocals that they have built upon since and has become instantly recognizable. The arrival of Scoot on second guitar certainly gave the band's a heavier, more metallic, darker sound but they never covered their "We <3 DISCHARGE" tattoos. Their songwriting reflects how orthodox British-style d-beat and raw metallic hardcore can blend harmoniously. The result is positively predictable because it has to be, it is the very essence of the genre, a constant barrage of discore, a nightmare that continues. I like the fact that the band always kept it raw and never went for a cleaner production so that you instantly know that you are dealing with a proper punk band and not American hardcore jocks or pompous Slayer fans who rate guitar solos on a scale from 1 to 666. 

Hellkrusher have that distinct dirty Northern hardcore/crust feel and you can tell that they emerged from the vibrant scene that gave birth to many classic UK bands. They are basically keeping it old-school in a world where everyone is trying to imitate the old-school sound. The two songs on this split Ep are classic Hellkrusher and would work well if you were to introduce the band to an ignoramus who does not know them. Expert Discharge-loving metallic hardcore inviting Anti-System and Nausea to their casual gritty Northern crust pub. Classic d-beat riffs, gruff aggressive vocals with that typical British scansion and a vintage reverb (just the right amount). Job done.

On the other side you have three songs of Bristol's Bulletridden, a band that unfortunately did not get much recognition outside of England. It is clearly a shame as I have personally always rated the band which, in the music world, is often considered as a very high honour and the punk equivalent of being complimented by Dwayne Johnson about being in great shape (not that it is likely to happen to me). As a staunch fan of the cruelly overlooked Gurkha, I closely followed the artistic career (well) of singer Martin and of his rather unique diction, style of growls and hoarse, almost strange vocal tone and caustic, dark lyrics. One of the few punk singers to growl narratively, so to speak, with words you can understand (to some extent). 

I remember being in the audience when The Reckoning played at Scum Fest although I don't actually remember The Reckoning, a short-lived project from which Warprayer and the present Bulletridden emerged, in 2010 for latter. Despite very blurry recollections, I knew deep down or pretended to myself that the gig had been brilliant and therefore closely followed the aforementioned bands' evolutions. I did see and liked them both live but I think Bulletridden were more convincing on record. They had that wicked, dirty and crunchy metallic - but inherently punk - guitar sound (courtesy of ex Bomb Blast Men Chris) that I am such a sucker for, with direct riffs. Apparently, the idea behind the band was to do something like "The Accused meets Coitus" and "heavy but not metal" (let's thank Ian Glasper's The Scene that Would Not Die for the wisdom). I can certainly can hear some of the dirty groove of Coitus' crusty metal-punk sound (both bands would eventually release a split Lp in 2018) but also Genital Deformities's oft forgotten 90's era where you can find that similar snotty, punky delivery and I would add some of the heavy aggression of stenchcore revival bands like Limb From Limb or Sanctum. Listening to these songs again, I realized I had forgotten a little how good the band was and the greater appeal it could have had because they brought something different (punkier maybe?) to the metal-crust banner behind which Orcs like to gather and trade pieces of advice about sewing techniques.

The band also made the wrong and almost naive choice to release cd's when the format ceased to be relevant in the eyes of "the scene" and was becoming about as sexy as a David Cameron mask at an orgy. Too bad. If the first album Songs Written Before Jumping out of an Eight Storey Window illustrated well what the band wanted to achieve, it was a little too long for a first attempt, the second one Upbeat Noise for Downtrodden People's enjoyed a better, heavier production. During their decent run of six years (they split up in 2016), the band was rather prolific and in a fair world you would see the few remaining crusties in your town wearing cider-stained Bulletridden shirts on Sundays. 

This split Ep is the perfect record if you want to both taste something familiar (Hellkrusher) and also be introduced to a lesser known band (Bulletridden). It was released in 2012 on Antisociety and is not too hard to find (it was a very ambitious pressing of 1000 copies).

Bulletkrusher     

   

An adventure in split Ep's! I have no gun but I can spit: CONSTANT STATE OF TERROR / DEPORTATION "Slave to wealth / S/t" split Ep, 2010

Life on Earth is full of mystery. It seems that some things just cannot be explained rationally. Without even looking at the not so distant past when ignorance ruled mightily and people believed that the plague was a punishment from a bearded wanker who lived among the clouds or that the world would collapse on January 1st, 2000 at midnight because of a bug, some stuff do remain inscrutable, deeply enigmatic and baffle even the most clever minds of our time like mine. Who took a piss on my mate Paul's car on New Year's Eve? Who stole my shark-shaped tea infuser at work (I suspect "mean Karen" from accounts)? Why aren't Constant State of Terror revered and whispered about with awe among us lovers of old-school metallic crust punk? Unexplainable mysteries indeed. It must have something to do with Reptilians.  

This is a delicious little split Ep that I bought for Constant State of Terror (who will be referred to as CSOT from now on because I can't be arsed), a band that I have always held in high esteem. They belong to that kind of bands that I have been following since their inception in the mid 00's. I remember seeing them in 2007 and being impressed with the performance and the music. I am not sure why they have never been more popular but I reckon the name might have played a role. It's certainly a mouthful (just imagine a Frenchman pronounce it) and somehow conjures up the idea of an uninspired lazy crust band although I do like the political idea behind the moniker. But what do I know, I play in a band called Turquoise so it's not like I can lecture anyone in terms of paronomasia. Another aspect could also be that their old-school UK style was not as popular when they were the most active in the late 00's/early 10's but nowadays quite a few bands have been toying with this vibe to some acclaim (like State Manufactured Terror from NYC for example, another one with a "let's shoot ourselves in the foot straight away" name). I reckon the band should just reform and pretend they are an upcoming band from a cool American city but they would probably have to do some Insta training first. A buzzing Insta account is half the work these days.

Brighton's CSOT are made up of people who were involved in bands like Substandard (one my favourite British bands from the 90's and another cruelly underrated one), MTA and PUS so they were already rather experienced when the band was born and from the start you could hear that they knew what they wanted to do. I cannot think of many bands capable of blending old-school crust with 90's anarchopunk so successfully. They managed to balance fast UK hardcore thrash with filthy metallic crust with ease and it must be said that the sound is crucial here: CSOT are raw. And I mean genuinely RAW and unpolished, not super tight actually, just like late 80's/early 90's bands were when energy, emergency and anger were what mattered the most. While so many modern bands strive to recreate that kind of vibe with gears, vintage shirts and fancy effects, CSOT just do it spontaneously as if it was just how they do things anyway. Unsurprisingly the two songs (the first of which, "Slaves to wealth" has exactly the same introduction as Death Side's opening number on their split with Chaos UK) were recorded in just one day and they are the perfect meeting point between the stench crust of Deviated Instinct and A//Solution and the 90's anarcho thrash of Sedition and Disaffect. Old-school punks delivering old-school punk. Bloody love it.

On the other side, you will find five songs by Deportation from the Netherlands (Amsterdam I believe). Now this is a far more obscure one as the band only recorded once, sometime in the late 00's. The thirteen songs from the session appeared on a cdr demo in 2009 but they were just too good not to be properly released on vinyl. Five of them landed on the present split with CSOT while six others were included on a split Ep with the solid Peace or Annihilation from Indonesia. I don't think the band toured much, from what I gather they were rather short-lived, and I could only find two live videos online, one of which was taken in Barcelona so I suppose it might have been more a local project. Despite all this, Deportation's humble recording is actually really good and therefore deserves to be rambled about online.

I am not too sure about the whole band's lineup, even though the fellows must have been involved in others. The guitar player did join Agathocles in 2012 and more recently started the band Raw Peace. Before Deportation singer Gośka used to sing in the good Sangre with people from Betecore, Olho de Gato and Boycot playing dynamic 00's-style anarchopunk with great dual male/female vocals (think a blind date between Bread and Water, Disaffect and To What End?) and she would eventually sing in Suicidade and Diesel Breath in the 10's. To a significant extent, Deportation is a different animal though. A more simple but extremely resilient and resourceful organism able to survive on just one food source: d-beat. The recipe is familiar and the band keeps it basic, effective and to the point. The songs are short and sweet (the five songs are about one minute long) and on that level I am reminded of Cracked Cop Skulls' primitive approach even though Deportation have a more rocking rounder sound. The straight-forwardness of 90's d-beat is a key but I would venture the band felt closer to Consume's galloping discore more than Dischange's strict obedience to the Scriptures. They are somewhere in the middle I guess. The fantastic two track female vocals confer a warm old-school metal punk feel and Gośka's tone can be compared to After the Bombs' here. Brilliant work. Two of the songs are about the cruel deportations of illegal immigrants from Europe and how it ruthlessly destroys lives. Tragically, things have only been getting worse in that respect since 2010. I suppose the band was never supposed to last very long and they did not record anything else. 

This was released in 2010 on RadicalHC Records, a label that also released the split Ep with Peace or Annihilation. As for CSOT they finally released a full album, Speak Truth to Power, in 2020 although it was recorded in 2014 (!). As expected it is a gruff angry slice of old-school British anarcho metal-punk done by proper punks who probably don't know what Tik Tok actually is. Lovely.  

Constant Deportation of Terror     

An adventure in split Ep's! I have no gun but I can split: CONTRAVENE / SVART AGGRESSION "S/t" split Ep, 2000

The first time I saw the Contravene logo I thought it was a chicken or maybe a fat water fowl or common pigeon. It was a little bewildering. Even back then, in 2003, when my doomed quest to know everything there is to know about crust, anarchopunk and patches was still in its infancy, I already knew that there were only a couple of bird species that punk bands were legally allowed to use if they wanted to earn the bitter respect of their peers. There was the dove for the anarchopunk bands, a symbol inherited from the original 80's waves and popularized by peace-loving soap-dodging teenagers like Omega Tribe, Alternative or The Iconoclast and then re-adapted by countless crust bands like Nausea or SDS (Japanese crusties certainly love their dove). The use of this bird is something of a prerequisite in those genres if you have an anti-war song (more likely you'll have at least seven of them) and while no doves fly here in the real world, they certainly do on punk shirts.

The eagle is also an acceptable punk bird, but more of an aggressive, threatening, majestic one, sometimes used as a patriotic symbol if you are unlucky enough to be American. Some neocrust or blackened crust bands use it often. I have to say that Tragedy's take on the eagle is particularly striking and, unsurprisingly enough, it has been a popular logo. Vultures can be used as well, often in the stenchcore or metal crust imagery in order to reflect war, desolation and death, the vulture is the bird that comes when we're all already dead and we have effectively committed self-inflicted extinction. Lol.

Chickens on the other hand have never been popular punk birds for obvious reasons. It looks thick, it cannot fly with any sort of grace (when it can at all), it is certainly not threatening in the least. And to most people it symbolizes food. So why would Contravene use it at all? It did take a couple of years and a friend's compliment for me to realize that the band's logo was actually and logically a dove. I had a Contravene badge (and still do I think) with the logo because I loved the band and did not mind enduring the mockeries and ridicule in relation to wearing a chicken on my jacket. And then that friend told me something like: "Cool dove logo mate" which made me understand that it was, in fact, a dove but a short-winged, featherless one with a strange goose-like neck. But a dove nonetheless. I guess. Stupid me, I can see the dove perfectly now.

I was a big fan of the band in the 00's (I may have overplayed A Call to Action to be honest) and while I still listen to Contravene from times to times I cannot say they move me like they did back when I still had all my hair. I do see the band as a genuine 00's anarchopunk classic however and I cannot think of any other that sounded quite like them. The Phoenix-based unit were quite prolific too with one Lp, two Ep's and two split Ep's under their vegan belt in only six years (between 2000 and 2003 actually) so that if you were into DIY political punk at that time you would have heard of them, even more so since they toured in Europe in 2001 (or something? I was too busy listening to streetpunk dross in 2001 and missed them like a bellend). In addition Contravene were from Arizona and while areas like Portland, New York, Minneapolis or any Californian shitholes were deemed "cool" and would attract punters regardless of the bands on stage, Arizona was not exactly the trendiest punk place and that made them a little more special in my eyes as a result. They were very outspoken politically, very serious, very passionate and supported revolutionary ideals (there is the obligatory political text about multiple oppressions with the Ep) and it made them quite inspiring in a lot of respects. They had that kind of youthful energy and belief that matter and their lyrics are every bit as relevant today, sadly I must add. 

And well, they were quite unique musically too. Not perfect and listening to them carefully and critically again, there are bits that don't quite work but I don't think it really matters because they had all that sincerity and they did strive to create their own brand of anarchopunk (to an extent, it is not like they went all experimental and played the guitar with forks like The Ex did) which makes them remarkable. Their side of this split is made up of one long song, recorded in early 2000. "Stand up and resist" is classic Contravene in all its glory. It opens with a sample of a political speech then proceeds with a rather melancholy and melodic, mid-paced, short introduction before unleashing the dark and heavy crusty riffs with a singalong chorus, then some sort of metallic-yet-melodic instrumental moment, then back to the fast crust riffs and then, as an epic conclusion, the same arpeggio tune as on the opening is back this time with more dynamics and catchy poppy backing chorus. Contravene were great at telling stories with their songs, that were often quite long for the genre, through the use of introductions, conclusions, twists or transitions and on this number it works flawlessly.

They have often been compared to Nausea, probably because of the strong shouted female vocals, but they were more tuneful and versatile. They definitely belonged to that 90's wave of female-fronted US anarchopunk of classic bands like Antiproduct or Mankind? but they were also heavier, metallic and crustier like the aforementioned Nausea and even European bands like Homomilitia (the fact that some members from the band also played in Misanthropic and Sea of Deprivation accounts for the metallic sound). What made them really stand out was their surprisingly melodic poppy moments reminiscent of Civilised Society and even Chumbawamba or Omega Tribe - I love anarcho-cheesy and Contravene sometimes did go full out which can scare some eway - although the production is always on the heavy side. It might be too melodic for the crustier-than-thou and too heavy and metallic for the lovers of traditional anarchopunk but in the end that was what made Contravene who they were. One of the most relevant anarchopunk bands of their generation.

On the other side Svart Aggression were a perfect choice for a split with the Arizonians, full of significance and meaning. Hailing from Kalmar, the band is mostly known nowadays (and by "mostly known" I mean that I have one mate locally who knows the band because they did do a split with Kaaos, which is pretty brilliant) for their connection with Protestera with whom they shared two members in the early days. One year before Operation, a criminally overlooked angry Swedish anarchopunk band, officially folded, two members of the band formed Svart Aggression. In 1999 Protestera, basically the progression from Operation, started and both bands sounded very similar in the beginning, fast and angry 90's aanrchopunk, pretty much the same people under a different name. While oft forgotten when one meditates about 90's Swedish hardcore, crust and d-beat, Svart Aggression certainly deserves to be rediscovered, if only because they were a little different and did not quite fit the orthodox Distortion Records template.

In some respect Svart Aggression unintentionally stood for some stylistic transitions that took place between the late 90's and the 00's in Sweden as some bands started to add different influences to the otherwise fairly classic scandicrust recipe. The furious and savage käng attack is present with the cracking song "Mördare" and its traditionally pummeling fast d-takt and epic crunchy hardcore riffs, not unlike Tolshock maybe, but there are also heavier elements with a down-tuned melancholy vibe like on the introduction to "Skit system" and its slow d-beat. Pretty much how the so-called neocrust wave would work just a few years afterwards but I suppose it was more the dark Wolfpack influence speaking in this case. The dual male and female vocals really gives the band that classic anarchopunk feeling that already prevailed in Operation - and many other bands in the 90's and early 00's - and on the whole you could see Svart Aggression as a sort of Swedish version of React. I love how the two vocalists work together as Emma has a very peculiar way of singing that is almost spoken but still powerful and that balances well with Coffe's raspy aggressive käng shouts. A genuinely great combination. These two songs were recorded in late 1999 during the same session as the five songs that would eventually appear on the brilliant Tänk Själv Ep in 2006 released on Scream Records (although the label does not appear on the backcover, in true DIY fashion, a small promotional flyer from Scream Records referencing the Ep was actually included in the Ep) but, not owning the split with Kaaos, released in 2000 like the present record, I can't tell you if the two songs it has were also taken during the same session. 

This split Ep was released on Catchphraze Records, a label based in Arizona that was responsible for records by Axiom, Inner Conflict and all of Contravene's. The label also ran a small distro that sold DIY tape versions of old, sold-out records that were seemingly impossible to find - to me anyway - and I remember ordering several tapes from them around 2003, notably Sacrilege's first Lp on a very simple dubbed tape with a xerox cover. Needless to say it severely kicked my ass. So thank you Catchphraze. 

                                                                             Svart Contravene

An adventure in split Ep's! I have no gun but I can split: JUGGLING JUGULARS / ENOUGH! "S/t / Open your eyes to the world" split Ep, 1997

There are bands that just cannot help shooting themselves in the foot. 

The first contact you have with a band is through the name (yes, this review is co-written with my long-time friend and mentor Captain Obvious) and while good bands don't always stick - for whatever reason - good names do. Just look at 3-Way Cum. An absolutely brilliant band, one of the very best in the gruff crust genre in the 90's, a decade when the style was about as fashionable as a Tik Tok lip sync challenge today (don't ask) and yet the strange choice for a name may repel a lot of people and insured that wearing a 3-Way Cum shirt at the supermarket would raise some highbrows and attract some acutely disapproving looks (not so much at goregrind shows though). Not really a sticker (or for the wrong reasons). I am not going to talk about average or even mediocre bands that had great names because I am not that kind of person, especially since the last lawsuit, but let's face it: a good name for a band is like a good name in life, it's a good first impression. But it still is just an impression: Spectres for example is a fantastic moniker and yet they have become a Tears for Fears cover band. 

  

That's a little how I feel about Juggling Jugulars and Enough! - especially for the latter to be honest - good bands but why go for such names. And I do know what I am talking about as I play in a band called Turquoise (yes, go figure). People may not be aware of it but the phrase "juggling with out jugulars" is actually a line taken from a song by the mighty Rudimentary Peni entitled "Slimy member" (itself the name of a rather good US band). And - wait for it, wait for it - this very same song also has a line that says "severed head of state" just like that Portland band that used to be famous. How unlikely is that? A one-minute song with merely twelve lines reading like a poem has inspired not one but three bands in their brainstorming for a good name. That's some solid trivia if you want to show off like a dick on New Year's Eve. I recommend you start a drunken conversation about this exact subject at around 4AM with a total stranger. That'll show them. But to get back to today's topic, in spite of its clever and nerdy origin, which I personally like, Juggling Jugulars cannot be said to be a convenient name as it is a bit of a mouthful and the meaning is rather, well, cryptic. 

JJ are from Tampere and Pori and have been around seemingly forever, basically since 1989. The phrase "they are still around?" abounds whenever the band is mentioned. And yes the are still around. They have changed a lot throughout the years and have managed to forge their own brand of tuneful anthemic political female-fronted punk-rock that can be sung in the shower but still has an aggressive powerful edge. They did not start quite like that although you could already hear, here and there on this Ep, a tendency for melody and a quest for the balance between snot and tune. There are some really catchy moments and "Toy voters" with its infectious chorus and dark guitar lead is genuinely good and my favourite number. The one song in Finnish, "Suolia Ja Ulosteita", is a completely different animal, an enjoyably chaotic and humorous take on classic 80's Tampere hardcore. Very fun. The remaining three songs are decidedly punk-rock, navigating between snotty UK punk, Deutsch punk (or is it just me?) or even early hardcore. Not bad but nothing too spectacular either about those.

On the other side you will find the real heavyweight of this Ep with Enough! from Gdansk. To be quite honest, Enough! are the reason why this record made it to this series (which is a bit like being selected for the Crust Olympics). They check the two main Terminal Sound Nuisance boxes: they play groovy gruff crust and (yet) they are (still) vastly underrated. Arguably the band took some questionable decisions. The name "enough!" does not sound too good (why a name in English if all the lyrics are in Polish?) even if I like the sentiment behind it as it can be the source of a lot of misunderstandings and shit puns ("do you know Enough!?", "Enough! is enough" or "damn, I just can't get Enough!!"). As for wearing a shirt, well it'd just look a bit silly or even arty, innit? Not as silly as my English Dogs top depicting naked women riding dragons but still a potential inspiration for bad dad jokes. As for the artwork neither JJ and their cheesy drawing of a juggling clown nor Enough! with the sketch of an eye wide open really manage to grasp the attention (but then the Poles' Darkside tape displays a ridiculously ugly bat so the eye is not so bad after all). And despite all this, I consider Enough! as one of the best Polish crust bands of the time (and there was some harsh competition not like in France where about three bands were fighting for the throne). Actually, to be fair, I also rate Enough! as one of the best metallic crust bands of the 90's (name and visual aesthetics notwithstanding).  

Terminal Sound Nuisance is very much a home and safe space where prejudices are fought and notions of "good" versus "bad" music are challenged (to put it mildy). Maybe narrow-minded crusties ignored Enough! because they were not curious enough (pun half intended) and I seriously pity them because the band deserves much more attention than they get. These two songs are old-school metallic crust miracles with a thick and heavy production that is just dirty enough and highlights the pummeling groove and power of the songwriting. Of course the band emerged from the prolific and qualitative Polish anarcho/hardcore/crust scene of the 90's so they should definitely be seen in this exceptionally creative context that gave birth to better known bands like Homomilitia, Sanctus Iuda or Infekcja. You could argue that retrospectively, from the outside, the band may seem a little lost among all the other top bands and that may account for their relative obscurity outside of Poland. 

Darkside, their 1996 demo (six songs of which would land on a split 10'' with Nula in 1998) was already a strong start, a raw and aggressive dual male/female vocal filth-crust attack with a metallic edge (a bit like a fistfight between Homomilitia and Excrement of War taking place in a discarded scrapyard) but the improvement on this second recording session is impressive. Enough! sound unstoppable here. 

It can be difficult to sound genuinely heavy without sounding too produced but the two songs are just viscerally heavy, at the core. The first number "Życie To Tylko Łzy" reworks a classic Deviated Instinct riff to launch the track into a heavy groove-laden mid-paced vintage crust anthem with cavemen vocal to die - or kill - for. The second song "Bez Litości" also uses a classic band's riff as a songwriting basis, this time Sacrilege's, for the old-school thrashing stenchcore bollocking of the year. Colossal stuff. There is a definite 90's feel too on those two songs and the crushing power and the textures of Hiatus do shine through as well and I sense some of Misery's sense of gruff apocalyptics and at the same time Enough! definitely sound like a Polish crust band. Flawless and leaving the listener begging for more but, of course, there would not be more from Enough!, sadly. The crust adventures were not over yet as two members of the band got involved at some point in Filth of Mankind (Tomek eventually taking over on vocals).  

Did Enough! have enough (well) to record a full album with that crunchy blend of old-school UK crust and 90's eurocrust? Well, who knows. I see the band as a case of proto 00's stenchcore revival in a lot of respects although they sounded more primal and frontal. The degree of intentionality of the refrences in the songwriting remains unknown. In any case you should rush and get yourself the recent Lp reissue of Darkside as it also includes the two songs from the split Ep with a new cover but with an equally horrible closeup picture of a deranged looking bat. Really guys?

This nice split includes two very different bands who share the "network of friends" DIY vibe of the time. And it can be found for cheap. It was released on Trująca Fala in 1997, a label run by a wonderful man that started in 1992 as a tape label and is still very much active. 

Enough Juggling!  

Still Believing in ANOK: Capite Damnare "S/t" cd, 2008

I was a big Jurassic Park fan as a kid. Like most children, I was really into dinosaurs although I would be struggling to give an actual reason for that passion. Maybe the idea that giant extraordinary lizards once roamed the Earth sounded much more exciting than doing math homeworks I was predisposed to fail miserably or listening to my dad whining about his nemesis, Helen from accounts, being obnoxiously mean to everyone at work. What a life. So when Jurassic Park came out in 1993, it was a genuine revelation, not just because it taught me that one should bring an extra pair of underwear when watching some movies (i.e the raptor scene), but because, beside the whole dinosaur thing, it displayed the absolute wonder, the pristine awe, the purest amazement at discovering, unearthing old bones hidden in the arse end of nowhere. The archaeologists don't give damn if a little bastard tried to be funny by comparing dinos with chickens (odd that he did not end up being fed to the T-Rex), and whether the discovery is ground-breaking or banal, the excitement remains: something that makes the heart beat has been found.

The concept of such an innocent joy was one of the most potent motivations when I decided to create Terminal Sound Nuisance 11 years ago. That and the drive to become a crust influencer on Insta but, tragically, I could never get the hang of it and the few attempts at taking selfies were, to say the least, very inconclusive as my nose always looked too big and I did not want people born after 9/11 to scoff at me. That people are totally unbothered to not resemble their profile picture is a worrying sign. After all these years, I still strive to convey that sense of excitement over the punk bands that I love and to show that, whether they are consensually accepted as canonical works or just random obscure local acts, they deserve to be loved and talked about critically (isn't acriticality the major threat to culture?). The noble mission I have assigned myself today, an introduction to Capite Damnare (which translates as "condemned to death"), is arduous indeed as it proves difficult to describe objectively the overwhelming sense of marvel that I felt when I bumped into their self-titled demo in 2014 (I checked the dates). 

The first time I listened to CD, I immediately knew that I would be writing about them at some point on a special occasion. But since everyday is a good day as the poster in my mum's toilets proudly claims, why not get to it in Still Believing in ANOK? Like Enola Gay (the first band tackled in the series), including CD here is an editorial choice (significantly facilitated by the fact that I am alone at the helm and therefore fundamentally uncontradicted), as CD like the Germans were active in the late 80's at a time when the original UK anarchopunk wave was still on its last legs and crust and hardcore would soon rise in force. This said, it is difficult to gauge the influence anarchopunk had on foreign scenes and how fast it spread. The Italian punk scene in the 80's was absolutely massive and one of the strongest in the world. Traditional anarchopunk did have an influence on bands there, but the politics (the scene was very political indeed) and the aesthetics more than the music really transcribed this influence. Wretched is a case in point as they were visibly inspired by Crass and the anarcho spirit but were musically closer to Disorder and the likes. You could very well argue that a meaningful part of the Italian hardcore scene was influenced by DIY anarchopunk in terms of politics and visuals (anti-war, animal liberation, pacifism, squatting, the banners, the black clothes and so on) but that American hardcore, discharg-y bands and Bristol noise mongers far prevailed as far as music was concerned. 

As usual, there were exceptions, Bed Boys from Torino were one of the most remarkable non-British old-school anarchopunk bands of their time and the magnificent Contrazione (which we will discuss) were not far off the mark either (you could throw Rivolta Dell'Odio for the artier, goth side of the anarcho spectrum). But still, not exactly a legion of Flux fanatics. With this context in mind, CD's 1988 demo was nothing short of a miracle. Coming from Milano and Verona, information about the band itself is scarce, but judging from their thank list (I miss the ancient wisdom that those conferred and as a teen I would have given everything, including my baby brother, to appear on a cool band's thank list) CD were pretty active and connected to the then dwindling hardcore scene as they mentioned Impact, Disperazione or Infezione. The presence of Contropotere is unsurprising as there were undeniably similarities between both acts. They had a female singer at a time when there were not many girls in punk bands in Italy, they worked on the British post-anarcho sound, they had many eerie melancholy moments and heavily used pagan visuals and atmospheres.

However, while Contropotere can be rightly considered as an early crust band (though they were so difficult to categorize), CD stopped just before the crust turn. In fact, I see them as one of the very best examples of the liminal space between old-school anarchopunk and the rise of crust, between Deviated Instinct's Tip of the Iceberg and Terminal Filth Stenchcore so to speak. They were quite incredible. They had those proto-crust dirty metallic riffs but also straight-up anthemic punk moments as well as melancholy delicate anarcho parts and they managed to blend all these elements seamlessly and with a refreshing spontaneity emphasized by shouted vocals that remained tuneful and on the punky side of the spectrum instead of bearlike growls. '87 Deviated Instinct's riffing can be heard, Civilised Society? could be a good point of comparison too while The Mob and Karma Sutra are clearly invited to the party. In terms of Italian bands, beside Contropotere, Torino's Contrazione, with their inventive moody anarcho-tinged angry punk with dual male and female vocals were very close and it is not irrelevant to see CD as a "Deviated Mob" take on their sound. I cannot overstate how good this band sounds, from the thrashing anarcho anthem "Aspetti la morte" to the soft, dark number "Vivere e' stata la tua colpa" and the eight minute epic "Inseguendo un sogno" and even the dark folk a capella song "They say: it's safe", this demo is a gift from the punk gods. 

Visually, CD were also fascinating. The omnipresence of celtic frames and macabre skulls is not unlike Antisect's protocrust era (which makes sense in 1988) and clearly heralds what bands like Oi Polloi or Sedition would soon look like, but you also find a Conflict-style vegetarian/animal liberation essay. This recording should be the object of cultish devotion. I remember stumbling upon it thanks to the Kalashnikov Collective website and my disbelief quickly turned into enthrallment, then enthusiasm and finally a craze for knowledge as I scouted the internet for details. The present version of the demo is a cd reissue from 2008 on two Udine labels, Lazy.punx Autoproduzioni and Fra Il Di E Il Fa AlE Di Mieç Il Mâr Autoproduzioni. The thick booklet that comes with the cd is beautiful and I cannot recommend it enough. I am sure you can still find it for cheap.              

  

Capite Damnare

Live by the Crust, Die by the Crust: ExtinctExist "Cursed Earth" Lp, 2016

I don't know if you have noticed but the end is nigh. The last summer in Paris was excruciatingly hot and, as we don't love anything quite as much as endlessly complain, you can imagine that the whole outraged nation engaged in a whining marathon with some people being sincerely scandalized that climate change would affect a people as civilised and clever as us. So while temperatures escalated deliriously, which was not that pleasant indeed as I had to shower a bit, we had the perfect excuse for some intense complaining sessions and generally acting like insufferable bastards which even the most ardent dullards took part in. You have to make the most of every situations, don't you? 

I am not too bad with heat if I'm being honest. Of course, I insist on complaining as much as humanly possible but I can deal with intense heat. Last year was harsh though as the sun even melted the constellations of dog turds that grace every Parisian streets and you must know that those are particularly tough shits. Who said romance was dead? Usually the coming of summer always signals the arrival of large amounts of blokeish wankers on the streets, too keen on exhibiting chest hair and fond of cat whistling and honking, the sort of elite twats who seem to think that excessive hair gel and pungent perfume are somewhat going to get them laid. Last year though, there were fewer of them because the heat made behaving like an obnoxious pig much harder, which was something of a relief for the local skirt-wearing population and for common decency altogether. So you see, the end of the world also has a good side to it. Besides, who really needs trees? Sure, they come handy when you really need a wee and your bandmates won't stop the van because you, supposedly, should not have drunk all those beers, especially since we are still four hours away from the venue. But they make really convincing plastic ones these days.

But let's get a little serious here because today we are dealing with a very serious band indeed: ExtinctExist. I am a pretty serious fellow myself and I agree that the self-destructive Anthropocene, fueled by capitalism, predatory postcolonial economic strategies, the overproduction of goods doomed to obsolescence and first-world brainless overconsumption is probably not an ideal situation as it might take everyone and everything along in its collapse but not before we slowly choked on our own pollution. But hey, we still have Netflix and social media, which, I'd like to remind you, still are the best way to determine your position on the sexual marketplace and loathe people who have dismal profile and blurry pictures of disturbingly ugly children. So that's still something. But I am happy that there are bands like ExtinctExist who see music (and solid hardcore punk music in this case) as a medium to talk about crucial ecological issues in creative ways. It is still a punk-rock record and not a political rally so it's not like you are going to join the struggle after the last song (especially since it ends on a very gloomy atmospheric note) but still, as thoroughly enjoyable as I find some of the metatextual, overly referential, metacrust bands, I also love politically motivated crust bands and I think both are necessary for a healthy scene and my own well-being (I had to sell my crystal collection a long time ago).  

So what do we have here? EE are from Melbourne and if you have been following what has been going on in this part of the world during the past decade, you'll know there have been a lot of good bands there like Enzyme, Lai/Jalang, Execution, Sistema En Decadencia, Scab Eater and so on. The members of EE are not exactly newcomers to "da punk scene" as Danish singer Jeppe used to play in Nuclear Death Terror and the magnificent Uro; drummer Tim also plays in Jalang and used to be part of neocrust act Schifosi (they were one of the good ones to be fair); bass player Erle was involved in bands I have no clue about and guitar player Ramez purveyed riffs in the oft overlooked Drunkard (not the best name arguably). And this wealth of experience does shine through as Cursed Earth is a really tight album with a massive sound. There is no room for sloppiness. It is not overproduced but it is clear that the band wanted the work to be relentlessly heavy and dark (I love how punishing the drums sound). 

Yeah, someone sat on my copy

EE play crust metal but cannot be said to fall entirely under the stenchcore umbrella as you won't find the strict typical stench mimics here (let's say if EE were a person you would fit half of the body under said umbrella). Instead you are offered a beefy blend of furious scandicrust and thrashy death metal. Conceptually, they are not quite unlike Agnosy actually when I think of it, metal crust but not stenchcore. At their dis-crustiest, the band definitely brings to mind Nuclear Death Terror as well as that brand of mid-00's American crustcore, like a darker, more metallic version of Another Oppressive System or Consume and epic European bands like Cop On Fire. When they go metal, in addition to vintage mean death-metal, I can hear distinct nods to old-school crust acts like Hellshock and Extinction of Mankind, which all in all is more than enough to get a good grade on my homemade crust detector. This Lp stands as one of the most convincing examples of anarcho scandi metal-crust around. 

Cursed Earth is an album that packs a serious punch and grows on you. I am not always a sucker for this kind of production in my crust (too clean at times) but it works well here and I enjoy the different changes of pace, influences and moods displayed by the band which allow them to tell a good story (EE clearly wants to convey a sense of storytelling with this album). This Lp has a lot of power and an epic quality, just listen to how "Scourge Amazonia" kicks in and tell me you don't want to go feral, paint your face green and tie yourself to a tree in an endangered rain forrest (pack some mosquito spray if you are actually going to do that). The lyrics deal with Fukushima, the Plague, the pagan relation to nature and life, the ecological damage that meat-eating implies for Amazonia and other such joyful topics. The lyrics are well-written and, if they all deal with natural abuse, rather diverse. Each song (almost poems at times) comes with a text in prose illustrating the issue at stake in a literary fashion which is a good idea and both formats do complement each other. The explanatory text to "Scourge Amazonie" tells of a fancy Parisian restaurant where toffs have pricy steaks which made me giggle a bit. 

The Lp comes with a thick booklet, the old-school way, and overall the finely crafted artwork reflects what the band is about. The Lp was recorded in 2014 but only came out in 2016 on the always reliable Ruin Nation Records. You can still find this one so you know what to do and support the scene.

Cursed Existence