Reviews

Agipunk

Anti-Cimex The 7″ EPs Collection 4×7″ box set

A sharp set re-presenting a few of the best Swedish raw hardcore records, the ANTI-CIMEX 7” EPs Collection box set contains the band’s legendary first three EPs as well as the 1992 Fucked in Finland live 7″. Each of the reissues included in the set is presented with keen attention to detail, staying faithful to the original artwork and packaging styles. With an A-side that’s more driven by thumping guttural bass lines than the band’s signature drum style, and a more pronounced primitive D-beat pounding on the flip, this press of the band’s debut Anarkist Attack EP has a crisp, crackly crunch to it that’s more satisfying than the entire Lay’s catalog combined. Translating the lyrics into English to discover that the songs, while savage on the surface, are actually violent demands for peace, adds another appealing layer to it. The much-revered second record is where the band establishes their trademark “wall of noise” sound, marking the switch to English lyrics and giving us the debut of Jonsson moving up from bass to vocals, as well as the iconic “War Machine.” Their third release, Victims of a Bombraid, is peak CIMEX for me, and pretty much a perfect punk record in my opinion. It’s a hard act to follow, but the live ’90s-era EP performed in Finland sustains the energy surprisingly well. The records are accompanied by a 24-page booklet of photos and interviews spanning all phases of the band’s history, from the beginnings to postmortem. Here you can find the band revealing how they took their name, recalling near-death experiences, and confessing their appreciation for BLONDIE and BILLY IDOL, but my favorite exchange might be this one: “Q: Do you want anarchy? A: Yes.” These powerful discs paired with the book make for a pretty immersive experience. To follow it up properly, you’re going to need the Demos ’81—’85 LP, and a few hours to burn on the archive at shit-fi.com and the Victims of a Bombraid blog.

Astio Bocche Stanche 12″

Italian band ASTIO calls Trento (a city in the foothills of the Italian Alps) home, and they create haunting, riff-heavy punk that stomps and pogos. Bocche Stanche is a six-song 12” that would be a welcome addition to almost any record collection. ASTIO uses this release to give a tutorial on how to shred while also creating a groovy enough environment that the inclusion of saxophone is totally welcome! The vocal delivery has a raw but not overly abrasive quality, while the rhythm section is featured pretty forward in the mix and is the total heart of this groove machine.

Deviated Instinct Terminal Filth Stench-Core: The 86 Demo LP

In 1986, a crusty nuclear bomb hit the punk scene. A gloomy fascination with the darkest of punk (at the time) in the form of AMEBIX and ANTISECT, plus some bits and pieces of thrash and death metal, gave birth to a subgenre that still stinks (pun intended) to this day: stenchcore. Thirty-six years later, Terminal Filth Stench-Core, the classic demo by DEVIATED INSTINCT, gets a proper vinyl issue via Agipunk in partnership with Terminal Filth Records (run by bass player Snapa), featuring new artwork from Mid and remastered by Bri Doom of DOOM fame. A solid classic stenchcore demo that stinks all over, but in a good way.

Horror Vacui Living for Nothing LP

HORROR VACUI of Italy are very well-rehearsed and the vocals are beautiful and deep. It pushes hard on the retro CHAMELEONS sound, but not so much that HORROR VACUI don’t bring their own unique efforts to the ennui table. Much of the vibe brought by ROSETTA STONE mixed with the morose tones of SISTERS OF MERCY, the electrified angst of CLAN OF XYMOX, and with the bass drive of NEW MODEL ARMY. Some of the vocal intonations recall PSYCHEDELIC FURS. The combination of melodramatic deathrock and post-punk irreverence is choice. Production is vibrating and clear, then some moments are dreamy like the most depressing JOY DIVISION songs. Amazing cover art that reminds me of somber medieval Renaissance printing meets the graphic novel Persepolis. A very solid offing for the darkroom brooding punker set.

Horror Vacui Distressed / The Last Dance 7″

HORROR VACUI from Bologna, Italy has descended again with a dual-track disc of deathrock that is sure to feed the goth in all of us. Heavy with punk influence, this isn’t just some CHRISTIAN DEATH-inspired darkwave, but more like grave-desecrating anarchic rock’n’roll. Opening this 7″ with “Distressed,” a rumbling, tube-screamer of desolate emotion, sets the mood for this disc. When “The Last Dance” kicks in, you’d better have your dancing shoes laced up, because it’s sure to “keep you dancing all night long.” There’s something in these songs that reminds me of LORDS OF THE NEW CHURCH, but with an even drearier delivery.

Korrosive Observations From the West LP

Bay Area Finnish hardcore enthusiasts KORROSIVE deliver a potent blow of a debut album with Observations From the West. They’ve been busy with demos, live tapes, two 7″ EPs and a split 7″ with APPENDIX, and all this rotation made them perfect at what we all love so much: Pure KAAOS, MELLAKKA, BASTARDS worship with a bit of UK82 here and there. And yes, songs about war. What could go wrong?

Misery The Early Years LP

MISERY is the perfect example of a band most punks know by name, but aren’t necessarily familiar with their full discography. Few bands can claim to have the endurance of MISERY. Active since 1987 (I read they recently practiced after some years of silence), MISERY has survived several decades of punk trends, some of which haven’t aged half as well as Minneapolis’s loudest, through their unshakable loyalty to the old school crust genre. Initially highly influenced by the original crust sound that rose in Britain in the mid/late ’80s (especially AXEGRINDER, AMEBIX, and HELLBASTARD), MISERY went on to create their own sound and epitomize not only what old school crust could and should sound like, but also what dirty vibe and visceral tension it had to convey. With their raw and heavy chugging, apocalyptic, polyphonic stench-crust, MISERY became the ultimate crust band. They outcrust the competition. Where all the bands appeared to split up and give up, not to mention take showers, they remained standing (depending on the amount of special brew, let’s be fair), loyal, faithful to their first love and evolving, growing with it, like a healthy couple. Sure, just like in a relationship, some moments were better than others, but MISERY and crust never went their separate ways. They are crust lifers. Many contemporary crust bands owe a lot more to MISERY than they think, and I am under the impression that they don’t always get the credit they deserve in terms of songwriting, as they showed that you could pen heavy metallic crust songs and be inventive and even (gasp) catchy. And you won’t find a better bass sound in an old school crust band. Early Years gather material released between 1989 and 1996 on the first three EPs of the band (minus the live one), along with the lesser-known two split EPs with ASSRASH and HELLSPAWN. Absolutely essential, not just if you are into the genre, but if you are interested in punk history as a whole. In an epoch when the average lifespan of a new band is 24 months, there aren’t many die-hard bands like MISERY anymore. Agipunk took care of making this flawless, wonderful soundtrack for the end of the world available to the punters, and it is an ideal entry to the band’s world. Don’t be a poser. Get this.

Pig Sweat Don’t Panic LP

Swiss punkers PIG SWEAT bang out a barrage of sputtering and scrapping hardcore punk like a gut punch. Tracks are fast and furious, clocking in at around one to two minutes each, yet they are chock full of attitude with blistering riffs and changes. Some moments are mid-tempo jackhammers, others are blazing hardcore. A lot comes to mind here, from contemporaries GOLPE and EXIL to NIGHTMARE (huh, that’s the title of track three) and POISON IDEA. Guitars are in the higher register like DIE KREUZEN, while the rhythm section plays with a ton of heavy umph, think SEVERED HEAD OF STATE. The balance of punk rock groove and insane hardcore meltdown, all done, again, in just a couple minutes each, is impressive and concise. The outro track “Dictators of Austerity” is a perfect melody-churning send-off and seems like their ballad track—but it’s only two minutes! And it is just as impactful as the 45-second “No Aims” into the title track.. A fuckin’ winner from PIG SWEAT.

Terminal Filth Death Driven LP

Crashing cymbals, guttural and nearly blackened-style vocals, gnarly hardcore breakdowns, and impossibly swift rhythm shifts make TERMINAL FILTH the current masters of international-style hardcore/stenchcore. This full-length is jammed with some heavy-hitting material! The band calls Berlin home, but they recently played in Portland, Oregon, so I’m hoping to see some more US dates develop. For me, this is worth seeing live. If you’re in the mood for heavy, metallic crust, then definitely check out TERMINAL FILTH and grab one of these LPs.

Tuono Ho Scelto La Morte LP

TUONO is not only a band from Italy who plays hardcore but Italian hardcore. Reminiscing less chaotic, rather melodic, spooky-in-guitar sounded bands: BEDBOYS, CHELSEA HOTEL, STINKY RATS, STIGMATHE, KINA; merging urgency, post-punk-ish otherworldly echos and pogo-style repetitive, simplified beats; all captured through a modern sound. The atmosphere of the record is both desperate and frustrated. One song contains a dub-ish part, probably as a nod to the past—since nowadays it’s pretty accepted to maneuver a parallel career as a dub DJ if you dig the genre, although you are in a punk band. As everything is in place on this record, TUONO’s focus dominates their songs. Which makes Ho Scelto La Morte cautious, and this approach sucks out all air for surprises. That is not always a bad thing as TUONO’s debut full-length is a solid job, but as a subjective listener I cannot find what to hold on to.

Warkrusher Armistice 12″

I love it when BOLT THROWER gets worshiped by punks, because, in essence, BOLT THROWER was a punk band that played death metal! Crushing death metal with a clear vibe of Realm of Chaos-era BOLT THROWER, mixed with apocalyptic crust like classic AXEGRINDER and DEVIATED INSTINCT. The thing with the so-called “stenchcore” is that it has all been done countless times before, but Montreal’s WARKRUSHER really knows how to pay a proper homage to the war masters. From the logo, the cover, the songs, and overall vibe, they nail the fuck out of it. Enter the realm (of chaos) of Armistice at your peril. Crussssssst!

Wolfbrigade Anti-Tank Dogs EP

Arguably one of the most influential Swedish punk bands ever, starting out as WOLFPACK and steadily evolving into WOLFBRIGADE, with their trademark DISCHARGE meets ANTI-CIMEX meets DISSECTION sound. Many of the modern crust bands owe their careers to these Swedish crust-mongers. This new three-track EP shows a slight evolution into a more metallic and dirty territory, even more so than on their last record The Enemy: Reality. Every song is carefully crafted and sharpened into a weapon of crust destruction. WOLFBRIGADE is a central piece in the Swedish punk scene, whether you want them to be or not. So dig your paws in! The Lycanthro Punks will stop at nothing and trample everything in their path.

Wolfbrigade Progression / Regression LP reissue

Before this review, I realized that I had not played WOLFBRIGADE for a very long time. And I am not sure why, because they have become something of a classic band, one of the few Swedish hardcore bands whose popularity transcends the DIY hardcore punk scene (in general, accusations of selling out are never too far away when this happens). It’s a little tragic but, while I do play WOLFPACK regularly, I don’t think I ever really sat down and paid properly attention to Progression/Regression, the band’s first album under their new name, and to be honest, I do feel like a bit of an idiot for it. This album is a hardcore bulldozer—it hits really hard, it sounds mean and unstoppable, as if darkness itself were shattering your bones. The production is massive (more so than on 1999’s Allday Hell), thick and heavy, and there is a feel of relentless unstoppability to the work that leaves one in awe. Intense shit. I am not necessarily the biggest fan of their take on the käng genre, but listening to this again makes me want to ride a bike into the wasteland wearing boots and a bandana. Musically, we’re still heavily in the dark hardcore period of the band when they maximized the late ANTI-CIMEX sound with the addition of a Swedish death metal influence in some guitar leads and in terms of epicness. I almost hear some of POISON IDEA’s rocking darkness at times too, although WOLFBRIGADE is quintessentially Swedish. This is undeniably a real ’00s hardcore classic and it still sounds fearfully powerful. Agipunk and Havoc Records had the sense to offer a new cover because the original was quite dreadful, if quite typical of the ’00’s. A welcome reissue.

World Burns to Death The Sucking of the Missile Cock LP reissue

This hardcore classic has been re-mastered (though seemingly still with a layer of mud caked over the speakers to maintain some authenticity) to remind us of what the state of hardcore was in 2002 right after 9/11 when George W. Bush was in office. The anger and disdain is visceral, likely leading to the staying power of this album. Everything on here is so perfectly put together that it sounds like it could have been written and recorded last week. “Whom the Gods Destroy…They First Make Ridiculous” is a face-bludgeoning anthem that sticks with you. “The Dead Sing This Hymn” has a ridiculously strong intro that is likely to cause you to thrash around whatever room you happen to be in. Perhaps it’s a good idea to put away any fragile items before you put this one on. Even if you played this one a thousand times twenty years ago, it’s time for a revisit. This album also reminded me that it’s been a while since I’ve pulled out any SEVERED HEAD OF STATE records, so I’m going to get on that, too.