Reviews

Massdead Compostable Billionaire Bones cassette

Ecological collapse is on its way. Because of capitalists’ greed and exploitation of natural resources, many species have tragically gone extinct, such as the Bramble Cay melomys, the Spix’s macaw, or the baiji, and the French social security system is bound to be next. One once-thriving species in the ’90s that everyone thought had been extinct since the late ’00s is the legendary dual-vocal cavemen crustcore. The only surviving specimen had long been thought to be MASSGRAVE. However, rumours of several sightings of the species in the wild caught my attention, and when it was confirmed that these beautiful animals had miraculously survived predatory species that had been invading their natural habitat (such as post-punk), it did bring tears to my eyes. With an unoriginal and referential name like MASSDEAD, it is pretty clear that this California unit is nodding toward MASSGRAVE’s furious grinding crustcore. That said, MASSDEAD trimmed off most of the grindcore aspect and, creatively speaking, are more akin to late DISRUPT, late ’80s EXTREME NOISE TERROR, or early VISIONS OF WAR. Compostable Billionaire Bones—a rather sensible green idea—sounds like a seriously pissed charging rhino and brings back a sound that I love dearly and that has sadly fallen out of fashion. The production is devastating and the vocals are adequately over-the-top. The persons responsible for this extreme crust assault have all been involved in bands like STORMCROW, VASTATION, and ABANDON, among many others. This Neanderthal crustcore attack was released on the excellent Blown Out Media, a label that specializes in class raw D-beat, beefy käng, and tasty old-school crust that I am following closely.