Drug City Drug City demo cassette
After much consideration, I have deduced that DRUG CITY is from Bruchsal in Germany, a middle-sized town not far at all from French Alsace. They have a song poetically entitled “South West Fuck You,’’ and since Bruchdal is located in the country’s southwestern part and that Iniquity Records is based there, my ever-insightful, perceptive mind was quick to guess (unless they are actually from Tucson?). I have to admit I had never heard of neither place nor band before, and this first demo tape is a rough one indeed. I have never been one to back down before barely audible distorted raw hardcore punk and even regularly play some during family dinners, but in this case I am at a loss as to what they are actually trying to do here. There is certainly a D-beat raw punk influence—they do cover DISCLOSE—and a couple of mid-paced songs, but the production is so rough that it pretty much falls flat, the songs lose the necessary energy, and the vocals have that evil hellish demented tone that would be more fitting to a blackened crust template. This very limited edition (ten copies!) is clearly a first attempt, but it is just very hard to listen to. I do like the lyrics however, especially to “Destroy All Art,’’ with its direct, political, and quite clever words. I just wish DRUG CITY would have been a bit less literal with the topic.