Live by the Crust, Die by the Crust: Χαοτικό Τέλος "Υπόσχεση" Lp, 2017

Χαοτικό Τέλος's Υπόσχεση Lp is the best crust album of the 2010's. Well, along with Swordwielder's System Overlord Lp. I don't think I can decide, they are both equally brilliant and outstanding in their own unique way, the one difference being that I will not be writing about Swordwielder's masterpiece in Live by the Crust, Die by the Crust (but on a side note do try to focus on living by it) because I already tackled the Swedes and their 2014 demo tape five years ago. Maybe one day I will write about System Overlord as, make no mistake about it, this is by far the band's best work and a crust milestone.

Χαοτικό Τέλος (Chaotic End in English) are from Athens and belong to the category of "legendary bands". You could argue all day over the actual requirements and characteristics that define a legendary band. It is not an easy question especially since the hegemony of youtube and music streaming and the subsequent decontextualization of punk bands from the past which turned pretty much all 80's hardcore bands into "legends", even when they only played seven drunken gigs and recorded two demos in 1982. But I personally agree with the statement that Χαοτικό Τέλος is a legendary band, as epic and hyperbolic as the term might be, it is difficult not to. If you need some background about the band and its story, I recommend you read the great interview that DIY Conspiracy did with them especially as it saves me the hassle (#lazy). 

So then why should they be seen as a legend? I think that the phrase "genre-defining classic" might be more accurate when it comes to the band since Χαοτικό Τέλος basically pioneered a style: Greek crust. Now when I say "Greek crust" I don't just mean that they played crust music and were from Greece, although they were obviously. Greek crust is a genuine subgenre that only grows locally - even if its influence can be felt here and there outside of the country - and can be defined by specific traits like OC crust, Swedish crust or Japanese crasher crust for example. Or horrible French oi if you have poor tastes. I have already written about it several times in the past because I am an obsessive geezer but, to put it simply, what I call Greek crust, as a theorized subgenre, is the reworking of the founding mid/late 80's UK stenchcore crust wave of Amebix, Axegrinder, Antisect with an emphasis on heavy atmospherics and synth-driven part, a heavy apocalyptic sound, some relentless pummeling crustcore phases and a dark and hopeless but still angry vibe. It is definitely old-school metallic crust but with its specific characteristics and lyrics in Greek which, because of the scansion, accentuation and general flow of this peculiar language, clearly helped shape and cement Greek crust as a genre (a similar process took place with Greek dark punk). 

Χαοτικό Τέλος were not the only purveyors of gruff apocalyptic hardcore crust in the very early 90's (the wave was still very much brewing in the late 80's although some bands, like Χαοτικό Τέλος, were already active with a different style) and fantastic bands like Ξεχασμένη Προφητεία/Forgotten Prophecy, Βιομηχανική Αυτοκτονία/Industrial Suicide, Ρήγμα/Rift or Πανικός/Panic among others were also active and delivered quality. All those bands, at that particular time and place contributed to the creation of what is now know as Greek crust. Not unlike OC crust, it cannot be said to be a very widely known style (although it does have its hardcore fans) and many crust lovers might be largely unaware of most Greek crust bands - or even that it is a distinct style of crust music for that matter - in spite of my passionate personal quest to promote it at all cost. But if you had to know just one typical Greek crust band - I don't know why you would but let's you had to for the sake of the argument - it would be Χαοτικό Τέλος as they truly are the basic definition of this sound. But if you are not a lazy bum or, worse, a poser, you can also listen to that brilliant Greek crust compilation I did. It is basically a crash course in the art of Ελληνική κρούστα's apocalyptic crust epics.

However, they were not the first Greek crust band I heard, as it was, of course, Χειμερία Νάρκη/Hibernation when I got the cd Στη Σιωπή Της Αιώνιας Θλίψης when it came out in 2003 or 2004 because, being released by Skuld Releases and Power-It-Up, it was well distributed and because I read somewhere that it sounded a bit like Nausea (which it does I suppose). Fortunately for me - and by extension for you since this work of Greek crust made a massive impression on younger me and arguably drove me years later to start writing and teaching about it with my usual arrogance - the first Χειμερία Νάρκη album (reviewed with my usual biting wit here) might be the best crust albums of the 00's so I clearly was lucky on that one. As I mentioned in the review of Στη Σιωπή Της Αιώνιας Θλίψης I had no idea that Χειμερία Νάρκη belonged to the grand Greek crust dynasty and were but the next logical step of the glorious genre. I was clueless that there were others proud specimens of that sound or indeed that it was even a specific sound to begin with. It took a few years for me to formulate the idea that there might be a Greek crust school and it was through Χαοτικό Τέλος's first album Μπροστά Στην Παράνοια. 

I used to order often from Hardcore Holocaust in the mid/late 00's as it was a great resource in d-beat/crust and I really enjoyed the selection and there was a small second-hand section that I droolingly checked sometimes. One day Μπροστά Στην Παράνοια was added, I had never heard of it and yet, to my disbelief, it was described as "probably the best crust album of all time" or something along these lines. It is often said that people change with time but I haven't really, I was as pretentious and smug as I am today only I feel, wrongly I presume, it is now a somewhat sensible way of life. But then that I somewhat did not know and had never heard of an album that the Hardcore Holocaust guy - who clearly looked like he knew his shit - called "probably the best crust album of all time" felt like a slap in the face and was a little humiliating. I would not go as far as saying that it taught me some humility but it was close enough. I was in disarray. Determined to check if it was indeed what he said it might be (it was before music streaming, blogs and high internet speed at home), I bought the record, a bit pricy to be honest but nowhere near what it is worth now, and was in awe. Hardcore Holocaust was not wrong as you could very well make the case that Μπροστά Στην Παράνοια is the best crust album of the 90's. I realize there are a lot of "best album of the decade" claims in this writeup and that my passion for Greek crust may somewhat distort my sharp ability to think critically but there is enough quality in this 1993 album to back such a claim.

Fast-forward to the mid-2010's. The growing success of Terminal Sound Nuisance is making me the undisputed king of crust (like a crust Kenny Omega if you like but with less injuries) and I am renowned, and even feared throughout the crustdom, for my incredible wealth of knowledge in the dark arts of Greek crust. It is an unpaid gig and no one at the job centre really understood what "Professor in Crust Studies" meant on my resume but it still is something although my mum would disagree. At that point in time, social media, some excellent music blogs and music streaming certainly made the concept of Greek crust more widely known and easier to explore, document and synthesize, but it still very much remained a genre for the crust initiates. And then I read that Χαοτικό Τέλος were playing again. Fuck me. I know many people tend to complain about old bands reforming and not being as good as they used to be and so on but just take a look at Deviated Instinct's recent live performances and releases and you will see that a reformed classic band can be as relevant and brilliant as they used to be. In the case of Χαοτικό Τέλος, it has to be said that Αλέκος, who also plays in Χειμερία Νάρκη, kept being active in the scene, that the bass player Στέφανος is an original member and that younger and supremely skillful drummer Βαγγέλης is the brain behind Παροξυσμός and tons of other bands and behind the label Extreme Earslaughter. So it was difficult to go wrong. And finally 24 years after their first album, Χαοτικό Τέλος self-released in true DIY fashion their second album: Υπόσχεση (Promise).    

I am starting to realize that I haven't actually talked about the music: Υπόσχεση is a perfect crust album. Or rather, it is both a perfect Greek crust album and a perfect crust album. I would not change a single thing to Υπόσχεση which is not something I say very often. Or rather the only thing that could be improved is the artwork, not that it looks ugly or irrelevant - there are enough classic crust signifiers with a reaper, desolation and skulls and  for the listener not to get lost - but such a brilliant work would have probably deserved something more original and evocative, something that would have made it stand out visually as much as it does sonically. The 2010's version of Χαοτικό Τέλος is as potent and genre-defining as the 1990's one. The band offer a new version of their original sound, not so much an improvement per se but more like a seamless continuation of similar roots. Χαοτικό Τέλος have not really changed and their Greek crust recipe is as effective as ever. Of course, the sound itself is different. While Μπροστά Στην Παράνοια had that typical 90's eurocrust production, Υπόσχεση sounds like a modern old-school crust album (amazingly they don't have the exact same instruments and amps than in the early 90's). However, while many bands tend to update their sound through overproduction and departure from what made them great and loved in the first place, Χαοτικό Τέλος just sound like their good old selves at the peak of their creativity in a contemporary studio with contemporary gears (not unlike Misery's From Where the Sun Never Shines, another serious contender for the best 2010's crust album). The main difference is that the drumming is more technical, precise and provides a wider range of possibilities. 

Χαοτικό Τέλος lovingly grind heavy slow apocalyptic synth-driven UK crust like Amebix and Axegrinder as well as American crust heroes Misery, unleash fast dark and aggressive Doom/Hiatus-style freight train 90's eurocrust and demonstrate an incredible sense of narration and storytelling which is truly what has always characterized Χαοτικό Τέλος' - and by extension Greek crust's - peculiar greatness. Through smart and inspired eerie introductions, evocative parts, transitions, beautiful layered epic moments followed with intense thunderous climactic bits, changes of pace and beats, some of the angriest, most passionate and expressively anguished gruff vocals you are likely to hear, they manage to tell a whole story from the first to the last minute, from the introduction to the melancholy conclusion, no mean feat considering it is a 42 minute long album as the band take their time and rightly so and never let the listener even take a break to go to the bathroom. The magnificent first song, "Αγκάθια", an 8 minute epics exemplifies all the narrative crust tricks better than any word. Not many bands can do this as brilliantly (Counterblast's Balance of Pain comes to mind here even if they tell a different story, they tell it with a similar gusto). What does Υπόσχεση tell us then? What is the story? It is a journey of anger and passion, beauty and suffering, Υπόσχεση sounds like the wind blowing over the land and it could be the last day of mankind just as the first day of a new hope. Perhaps it is both. It is a shout in the dark, in darkness, it is a call to action, it is the pain of living in such a disgusting world and the possibility of making it a beautiful one. And it is a crushing crust punk album that will have you play air guitar in the bathroom (do close your windows though, it cannot be iterated enough).   

Absolutely class album that is still available so support the band and get a copy. In fact if you were to buy just one crust album this year, go for that one (or for System Overlord). In pure DIY anarchopunk fashion the band self released this masterpiece and you even get a poster and a sticker with the vinyl.  

Υπόσχεση

Live by the Crust, Die by the Crust: Versklaven "S/t" Lp, 2013

Versklaven are just like my friend Tom (the name has been changed as I do not want to upset anyone, especially since I am about as hard as a twig). I never think about Tom and until I came across him last month, I had completely forgotten about him and the crazy night we had in 2014 at some festival where I promised that I'd send him a brilliant mixtape full of obscure and tragically under-appreciated punk bands, maybe not in the coming month but definitely before winter. Of course, I never did make the mixtape and the drunken promise slowly (well not that slowly actually) escaped my mind and I never saw or heard of Tom again. Which was a little disappointing as I had had a jolly good time but then I - what with being busy lip-synching to Antisect before the bathroom mirror - did not make the effort to do it and he must have forgotten about the whole thing anyway. Which is not as bad as it sounds since I am pretty sure I owe him a tenner. 

Well, Versklaven are like Tom. I really enjoyed their outputs when they came out in the early/mid-10's, we had a good time, we bonded quite a bit but the constant flux of quality crust and the subsequent split of the band resulted in their music slowly fading from my memory, not utterly vanishing though, more like sharing a flat at the back of my skull with other worthy but half-forgotten crust bands like Dödsfälla, Massakro SS or Minds Continue. There are worse but also more glamorous roommates.  But doing some research about 10's crust bands for this ambitious series, the modern music equivalent of the the Homeric Odyssey, I came across Versklaven again and I remembered that they were quite good indeed even if I had not played the Lp for ages and upon spinning the thing I quickly realized that they were, in fact, much better than I remembered or can even be said to be, if I may be quite bold, the dog's bollocks.

Versklaven certainly do not pop up in many conversations these days and even yours truly has to plead guilty on that one which proves that I as outstandingly smart, sharp and witty as I may look to my readers, I still have not reached perfection yet. I'll probably be there next year though according to my astrologist. Fingers crossed. To get back to our Houston lot, that's in Texas I reckon, the fact that they are not part of the conversation when it comes to solid old-school crust from the 2010's is unfair. It may have to do with their German name - it means "to enslave" - but then when one considers how difficult it is to find a good name that is still available, the decision to pick the German translation was wise, especially since there was already a Japanese hardcore band called Enslave (and it worked for Aus-Rotten after all). Perhaps they should have picked a fancier punk language like Swedish, Finnish or French (just kidding for the last one unless you are a cheesy emocore band in which case you basically must pick a French name). 

I have already written about Sacrilege-loving bands in my review of Terminal Conquest's demo tape and a lot things I said about the practice of Sacrilege worship as epitomized by Portland's Terminal Conquest are also valid for Versklaven. Formed in 2011 and disbanded around 2013 (or 2014?) as prehistoric live videos on youtube suggest, the Texan group was short-lived but came before bands like Terminal Conquest or Lifeless Dark. The only example of total Sacrilegious metal-punk I can think of at the time was Death Evocation, who got a lot more attention and exposure than Versklaven probably because of the resumes combined with the experience of the persons involved (basically they played in cool Boston bands before, bands I have never heard but that my mates wearing Van's or New Balance trainers and shirts with live shots of angry people jumping around seem to love). DE were more on the metal-side of Sacrilege though, somewhere between Behind the Realms of Madness and Within the Prophecy while Versklaven are decidedly on the first album, so much so that they had no scruples borrowing, more than just a couple of times, Sacrilege riffs and transitions for their own songs.

I suppose you could claim that this self-titled Lp is the perfect rawer, punkier (and overall faster) version of the first Sacrilege Lp. Some anarchopunk-styled spoken parts reminds me of Nausea or Potential Threat and bring an additional vibe to the songs by connecting to the genre's anarcho roots. Otherwise, the riffs are crunchy examples of 80's metal-punk worship and Sacrilege cosplay, thrashing and dynamic without falling in technical wankery. Similarly the songwriting does not mess about and goes for the throat with moshing crust power. I personally have no issue with respectfully borrowing from classic bands but, since some do, be warned that there is a lot of Sacrilege in Versklaven. The vocals are different, raspier, growled rather than shouted - more Nausea's Amy than Detestation's Saira a bit hoarser than After the Bombs' Janick - and I think they work great as they give some supplementary aggression and anger to the music.  

This album is rather short, about 16 minutes, which is not actually a bad thing as a longer work would have probably pointed at its main flaw, the lack of narrativity and storytelling. A 30 minute Lp necessitates more work on transitions, climaxes, atmospheres, plot which the relatively short length of Versklaven's work does not really. Released in 2013, the recording was actually done in 2012 and was made up of seven songs in total as two songs were used for a split Ep with Abduktion (it also comes recommended if you want more Sacrilege-flavoured metal-punk). The album was put out by Torture Garden Company, a local Houston-based label but whose catalogue I am vastly unfamiliar with. I am not sure what the Versklaven members have been up to since the split. Guitar player Tom was also involved in the metallic crust band Dissent and the excellent Bolt Thrower-inflenced War Master before he moved to Portland and took part in Iskall Regn and more recently in Decomp (the new album is ace, check it out), while bass player Mark now plays in Lace. 

Enjoy this piece of crust history. 

Versklaven            

     

Live by the Crust, Die by the Crust: Keretik "Terra Mater" Lp, 2017

The formidable abundance of readily available punk music, online just as much as in physical formats (which we used to call, in the old days, "a record" or "a tape" or even, for the embarrassingly unfashionable ones among us " a cd") can be rather vicious. On the one hand every single new recording - even the shite ones it has to be said - can be streamed, digested, stored in a corner of the brain and digested instantly, on the other, well, it has become impossible to even give a chance to many potentially worthy bands. Just listening to the first song of every new d-beat recording in a month would take you a whole afternoon, and I'm only talking about 90 second long bursts of noise. Imagine what doom metal fans and their eight minute long songs must go through because of the sheer profusion of new music, the endless flux of novelty. Poor bastards. 

Even I struggle to give a go to bands playing subgenres that I hold close to my heart even though I do spend a lot of time clearing my personal soundscape from pretentious egg punk and shoegaze abominations. Tragically, despite my Sauron-like capacity to spot good crust from miles away, some top bands do escape my awesome attention and die trying in the luxurious mountains of Mordor while terrible hobbity postpunk acts manage to crawl through the epicenter of the Crustdom. I almost did not notice Helsinki's Keretik and only gave them a listen because the Lp had been released on Urinal Vinyl, an old-school UK anarchopunk label that I always keep an eye on, and I can't praise the Dark Lord enough since Terra Mater is an unsung jewel of gloomy metallic crust. And you know what? By which I mean you probably don't but are about to because I am going to tell you what you don't know, yet, but will be happy and surprised to and possibly thinking, aloud or not, "fuck me". In fact, you probably know Keretik under another name, Viimeinen Kolonna. 

VK have been around since the early 00's and have released quite a few records on Agipunk, Hardcore Holocaust and of course Fight Records (who also have a hand in Terra Mater) so you have probably at least bumped into their name. I suppose the change of name - and the symbolical burial it implies -  signified the band's intent to try new things musically as Keretik has much more of an old-school crust feel than what VK's were famous for, that is to say thick, fast relentless thrashing Finnish hardcore. To be honest, and I am not trying to boast needlessly here, the first time I heard Keretik I thought that it was the new project of VK's singer as he has always had easily recognizable vocals. In fact, you could describe him as sounding like a crazy drunk on the street chasing you while aggressively yelling insults as loud as possible. But in a good, Finnish hardcore styled way, a genre renowned for its extremely hostile and pissed vocal aesthetics. The three members making up Keretik are not exactly novices in hard-hitting punk music as they previously made some noise in Rythmihäiriö, Agenda or the grossly underappreciated Amen. So they definitely have bad backs. 

Keretik play raw, dark and direct old-school metallic crust with mean dual vocals - gruff and hoarse shouts versus evil and desperate yells - reminiscent of the Finnish hardcore tradition but that also has a lot to do with the language itself and its particular prosodics. Along with the genuinely torturous and aggressively punk dual vocals (one of the record's strongest point, they sound like a massive bollocking of biblical proportions, a "you're being grounded, no Discharge for two weeks" kind of punishment). Finnish does confer an original vibe to the music as few old-school crust bands sang in Finnish, apart from the aforementioned mighty Amen and proto-crust legends Painajainen. Keretik did not try to go for a massive crushing sound and kept it raw and primitive which fits with the record's rather short length for the genre, seven songs in eighteen minutes. The music could be described as primal and there is a certain Amebix influence in the songwriting. There are other elements brought to the table as gloomy pagan crust punk acts like Dazd also comes to mind (especially in some creepy melodies), as well Coitus for the dark and rocking thrashing squat-crust mosh-inducing riffs and the dual vocal post-stenchcore sound of A//Solution could easily be invoked too. The record itself is a little disappointing as there is no insert included and the visual does not really appeal to me. It was released on three labels, Urinal Vinyls, Psychedelica Records and, unsurprisingly the immortal Fight Records. And as a testament of the old-school DIY punk spirit the band decided to add a patch with the record. Thanks for that.  

Keretik have another recording under their bullet belts entitled Tomorrow's Worst Enemy. It was recorded in 2021 and I am not afraid to say it pretty much stands as one of the best crust works of the past few years. Building on their raw and primitive metal punk vibe, thanks to a better sound and more articulate songwriting, Keretik have added a sense of crust epics and atmospherics without giving up on the aggression. Beside the aforementioned culprits I am reminded of Axegrinder and Misery as well. Top drawer old-school crust that I cannot believe went unnoticed. In fact, if I had not done some research about Keretik for this post, I probably would not have even known about the existence of Tomorrow's Worst Enemy while it is right up my stenchcrust alley. There is tape version of it, but the band is looking for a label for a vinyl release. You know what to do: support the band. 

Terra Mater  

Live by the Crust, Die by the Crust: Napalm Raid "Wheel of war" Lp, 2017

To listen to, enjoy and truly engage with certain types of noizy hardcore punk, it could be argued that you need to be, at least, a little masochistic. I mean, in theory no sane person likes to be aurally punished by purposefully brutal, relentless and loud noisy music. I remember well the combination of utter dismay and genuine concern for my mental health on some of my (non-punk) friends' faces when I played them Extreme Noise Terror as a reply to the rather innocuous question "so what do you listen to these days? Still into punk-rock?". Of course, relativity is of the essence here. If you listen to a lot of that kind of punk like myself, some vintage ENT in the morning will sound like a reward, a gratification and not like an unfair punishment inflicted by a soap-dodging weirdo. Hence the parallel with masochism. Are subgenres like cavemen crust or crasher or stenchcore musical forms of masochism? Do we like or need the pain to get into these? And if so, where would goregrind be on the scale of masochism? Shagging someone who just ate four pounds of stale garlic sausages? Such questions do make one shiver. 

Another memory that immediately comes to mind in order to illustrate this theory is Sete Star Sept's gigs in Paris in 2014. It took place in a genuinely depressing and miserable-looking bar (that also served mediocre pizzas) located in a rather rough Parisian suburbs whose landlord, a friendly Sri Lankan man, once agreed to host a punk gig in order to attract some punters as his bar was almost always empty after 6pm. Following that fateful decision of his, he ended up having punk gigs regularly, sometimes several times a week, and bands like Destino Final, Fleas & Lice, Morne and even Dropdead and The Mob played there. I don't think the landlord ever got the appeal of punk music but, up to a certain point, he managed to bear the pain stoically. That Sete Start Sept gig stands out because of how emphatically chaotic and noisy and just incomprehensible the band sounded like (I mean, even I struggle to go through a SSS record). The look on that poor man's face was one of utter disbelief, composed incredulity and fatalistic pain as he witnessed the band's performance. What unlikely chain of events, he must have asked himself, led to me owning a cheap bar hosting what could be best defined as an impenetrable wall of nasty sound that some people inexplicably seem to enjoy? SSS is a rather extreme example, his worst night maybe, and fortunately for him, not every gig were that much of a sonic bollocking. But still, as I watched the grindcore freaks relishing in the savage noise and the landlord's resilient agony, the paradox was evident. Some loved the punishment while others endured it. 

Wheel of War can be said to be an absolute scandicrust bollocking, one that is unceasingly intense and furiously harsh, one that could easily repel meaningful sectors of the hardcore punk world, one that could even be considered as being "maybe a bit much" by fans of d-beat and raw punk. And I would not entirely  disagree with such a statement actually as Wheel of War can sound a little hard to bear. But it is still patently one of the best albums in the crust category of the 2010's and most likely the best in the scandicrust subcategory. For some reason, the MTV Music Award went for Ed fucking Sheeran as artist of the year in 2017 and Napalm Raid were not even nominated. In fact, the knobheads don't even have a Best Crust Artist category. Shameful really. 

Wheel of War is so good precisely because it sounds so punishing. Whenever I play it, I excitedly anticipate the coming kicks up the arse, I know what's coming and am looking forward to it. The Lp reminds me of D-Clone Creation and Destroy, or Framtid's Lp's, or Flyblown's, or Atrocious Madness', or 3-Way Cum's Ep's, or Hiatus' Way of Doom, or Doom's Peel Sessions, not because Napalm Raid sound just like them (although the Canadians are certainly not dissimilar to some of those works) but because their Lp possesses that level of madness-inducing sonic aggression, of uncontrolled anger, of unhinged power. The battering does leave the listener exhausted but happy. Or it can lead to him or her leaving punk-rock in order to live an existence of silence in a monastery somewhere in the arse-end of nowhere.

Napalm Raid (which we will call NR from now on) are from Halifax, Nova Scotia, a dynamic Canadian town that has produced a vast number of top crust and hardcore bands (and extreme bands in general from I gather) in the past fifteen years, some of which I rate very, very highly. There will be further opportunities to talk about those in the future of Live by the Crust, Die by the Crust. I first heard of a Halifax crust scene through Contagium in the late 00's but upon preparing that dantean series I realized that the seemingly immortal System Shit are also from there and, uncoincidentally NR did a split tape with them in their early years. NR caught my attention in 2012 when I bumped into their video of "Why" (where does that come from) on fucking youtube (I have to say I am generally not a big fan of music videos but this one is pretty basic, just the band playing in the studio, nothing cheesy). I was of course impressed with the band's solid, hard-hitting knowledgeable take on the 90's Anti-Cimex/Driller Killer sound but I was particularly fond of the deeply deranged echoing reverbed vocals. At the time, not every band and their mum used such effects (Destino Final obviously did, a lot) so that it sounded a little different. Because I was absolutely skint at the time, I could not buy the Mindless Nation Lp though. 

Two years after, I read about NR's new Ep Storm, a record that I instantly got into and promptly got hold of. While the band kept a significant Cimex käng backbone, they added a distorted Japanese crust sound to the music and, in an emphatically loving move, reinforced the early Doom influence especially on the vocals and the animalistic cavemen atmosphere. Thanks to a massive crashercrust-styled production, Storm was an absolute crusher of a record that indicated a strong crustification of NR's music. I love both Wheel of War and Storm but I would understand why one would rate the latter higher (I think I do, because I did not expect it to be that good). I literally could not wait for the followup and when Wheel of War came out I already knew that it was going to be a collection of intense scorchers but wondered if the album was going to sound like a meaning-enhancing cohesive whole as opposed to just like an assemblage of songs that sound good separately but do not really work together. Was it going to be a collection of short stories or a proper novel? I would have been fine with both but to pull out a genuine great crust album you do have to think about how your songs echo and relate with each other, how specific changes affect the overall narrative. Quite a challenge really as, in the world of crust, recording a great Ep is not the same as writing a great album, the stakes are just different. 

Thankfully NR managed to write a magnificent second album that does not relinquish any of the band's awe-inspiring crushing power and still tells a good story and has a solid plot with enough changes of paces and executions, enough introductions and transitions to make the album memorable. Don't get me wrong, it still sounds like a demented grizzli bear giving you a right bollocking and not like a boringly pretentious German post-hardcore project but I appreciate when records really tell me something (well, shout mercilessly something at me in this case). The sound is a little different to Storm's, maybe less distortion-oriented however the drums have never sounded so powerful, like an endless shower of crust pants-wearing meteors crashing on the listener. Heavy shit. Wheel of War opens with the eponymous song, a metallic filth-crust number - with those hyperbolic howling Doom-like anguished cries that personify the band - that sounds like a rabid row between Brum's finest, Driller Killer, Framtid and Disturd. The next two songs are faster and more direct distorted scandicrust songs that just pummels the shit out of you while "No law" is more has more of a mid-paced distorted 00's stenchcore with a thrashing groove, you know what I mean? The next two are more short sharp shocks of crasher-käng and the final number of the first side is a heavy and dark mid-paced Cimex-styled beefy conclusion. The second side does not let the pressure off at all and keeps assaulting your senses. The highlights include "Wounds" a massive distorted groovy tribute to Doom's cover of Black Sabbath - it really is a tribute to the tribute and multilayered referentiality for careful crusters - and "Untold reality", a kind of melancholy and long Wolfpack-inspired käng ballad. Who said d-beat could not reflect morosity?

Wheel of War is pretty much flawless. I have friends who cannot get past the hyperbolic version of Doom vocals but I definitely think they are an element that makes NR so good and recognizable, which is not so easy in the crowded Dis-crust genre. NR are also somewhat unique in that they occupy a liminal position, the boundary between beefy Anti-Cimex käng, neanderthal Doom-worship and manic crasher-styled Japanese crust. It's like chopping some 90's Cimex, early Reality Crisis, early Driller Killer and Disturd with a knife sharpened with classic Doom, then cook it in a Distortion Records pot, spice it up with some Framtid and Bombanfall, then serve it to a rabid Swedish bear and hear the fucker roar through a distorted microphone in your ear. This album sounds massive and unstoppable. You've been warned. 

Napalm RAIIIIDDDD

UK84, the Noise Ain't Dead (part 5): Solvent Abuse "Last salute" Lp, 2007

According to me - and my fine perception of punk is of the highest standard and therefore bound to get you some punk points if you abide by it - Demo Tapes has been one of the best punk labels specialized in reissues - if not the best although I also a lot of respect for Antisociety - in recent years. After checking, I realized A Touch of Hysteria's one-sided Lp - Demo Tapes' first undertaking - was actually released in 2006, which is really not that recent and some hairlines certainly receded since then, but you know what I mean by "in recnet years". I have already touched upon the label's work in my old review of the Passion Killers' Lp but I decided that the idea to write about Demo Tapes again was a marvellous one indeed that should be followed through with my customary determination - and since I haven't had that many great ideas this year, I am hoping this might make up for the inconsistency. Beside Demo Tapes' work is easy to get excited about and hopefully it will bring some joy to all the miserable bastards reading this. You're welcome.  

The past 15 years have seen an insane number of reissues, in all subgenres of the big dysfunctional family that is "the punk scene". New labels started to devote much of their efforts toward making old and classic - by which I mean almost always from the 80's - bands available to the next generations and to experienced - by which I mean almost always hoarding - record collectors, modern Sisyphuses craving to complete their collection at the expense of an adequate diet and often of a working marriage. Labels like Radiation and Vomitopunk with UK82 punk for example. Other established labels like F.O.A.D and Mad Butcher also started resurrecting vintage and rare records, with the former, whatever one thinks about the highly productive fellow, displaying a truly remarkable passion and attention to very diverse reissues (from Svart Parad, Brigada do Odio, Human Gas or Industrial Suicide to name but a few). There have been far too many punk reissues - on vinyl for the most part - since the mid noughties to even consider making an exhaustive list of them all. Let's not be silly. But had anyone predicted ten years ago that I would be able to get hold top releases of old recordings from Bed Boys, Ψύχωση, Disattack, Post Mortem or Kalashnikov, I would have diagnosed a case of severe marble-losing or registered the prophet into a rehab center for deluded punks. But here we are in 2021 and there are just too many desirable reissues of canonical bands around, so many in fact that keeping up with them has become a time-consuming, expensive and at times even fastidious, task. While at first, I was annoyingly overexcited and probably insufferably enthusiastic about reissues of once-unattainable seductive records, the novelty of affordable nostalgia on vinyl slowly started to wear out. Today, I have a hard time feeling the same eagerness for most reissues, even from bands I genuinely love. Even the Chaotic Youth Lp barely made the ole heart beat and I consider them as one of the most underrated bands under the UK82 umbrella. 

 

Why why why but why? I would hypothesize that this overabundance of reissues of 80's bands has a lot to do with the internet. I know it can be easy and convenient to put the blame on "the internet" but I feel the growing reliance on streaming platforms, that have now turned into near monopolies, has changed the way we listen to punk and how we reflect on old punk music. The internet and its corollary, the incentive of overconsumption of readily available cultural artifacts that are decontextualised in order to be lazily absorbed, have contributed to radically broaden our knowledge and speed up considerably the reissuing process. We all want and need a piece of history in order to feel like we belong. I do believe that this process was inevitable and is very positive in some respect. After all, knowing the culture and history of punk music is indeed important and enlightening - I remember getting quite emotional whenever I bought a Captain Oi reissue in the very early 00's, even the shit ones, so I completely relate to this idea - and the possibility for discovery is limitless with the internet. However it has also created a juicy market for nostalgia which, combined with the great equalizing effect of the internet, has profoundly changed the way we engage with the past. But then, I also think that reissuing some bands, and not only that but also the reasons why it is done and the way it is done, can be necessary and crucial. I have regularly touched upon such fascinating topics on the blog and, while it makes me look clever and scholarly (and possibly a bit boringly self-admiring), they are not really fun to read and a series called The Noise Ain't Dead has to be fun so let's bloody 'ave it. But if you long for more bitter whining, I suggest you buy my brand new book entitled Things were not quite as dreadful before: a punk's mid-life crisis in the age of Spotify. 

 

So yes, Solvent Abuse. Brilliant punk name in the context of widespread glue sniffing, an activity I would not recommend, especially when over 20. I got this Lp when it came out in 2007 (or was it really early 2008?). I had thoroughly enjoyed DT's first release, the demo of A Touch of Hysteria, and it was one of those records that got a lot of airplay at the squat I was living in at the time - golden days when a shower every fortnight was deemed acceptable - especially the song "Death cart", a miracle of tuneful darkly poppy anarchopunk. I had also acquired the second DT's production, Extended Play by The Mental (Dick Lucas' first band) but to this very day I have never really managed to get into it, connect with it, although I very much expected myself to, what with the band sounding sloppy, snotty, unashamedly punk and having a song called "God for a day" about the giro. Both Lp's were well done with accurate details about recordings but nothing out of the ordinary. Just serious enough reissues and the opportunity to discover bands I did not know the existence of so I could brag about them afterwards, just standard punk behaviour really. So it made sense to buy DT's third record as Solvent Abuse were another band that was completely unknown to me - and to anyone I knew as far as I could tell - and the cover had a circled A and a studded belt so it could clearly not disappoint. Little did I know that Last Salute would be the best Lp reissue - by a good deal - I had ever seen at that point in time. Even before playing the record, looking at the massive booklet that included so many band pictures, letters from classic labels, all original artwork, fanzine reviews, gig posters... The object in itself and the amount of work that went with it were breathtaking indeed. I had always been a sucker for records accompanied by thick booklets so it felt truly awe-inspiring and made some other records at the time - and today still - look a bit tepid and half-arsed. I am aware it might sound a little harsh, and I suppose it is. Last Salute carried an irrefutable admirableness, or, as modern bellends too lazy to form actual sentences would say, it had a "wow factor".  

Solvent Abuse - which will be referred to as SA from now on, which feels somewhat uncomfortable - were from the Nottingham area, existed for three years, from 1981 to 1984, and only enjoyed the one vinyl appearance, one song on 1983's compilation Lp (I've got those...) Demo-Lition Blues! on Insane Records, a label unsurprisingly run by members of The Insane. Apparently the band formed on the glamorous bus from Notts to Alfreton, where future members bumped into each other by chance. They were all from Watnall, a place I have never been to but sounds like a town out of The League of Gentlemen. SA played with quite a few established 80's bands at the time like The Adicts or Peter so I suppose they must have been a significant act locally, although there were so many band then that it must have been hard to get noticed at all. They are the epitome of an obscure band, pretty much known and genuinely appreciated by people who were either there or people into punk archaeology. The 2007 Lp amazingly managed to give SA a second life and spread their name around, certainly much further than when they were still around as a local band. I don't suppose they have retrospectively really become "a classic 80's band" - as the formation of this category, of the canon, has become shaky and somewhat meaningless with the hegemony of youtube. Yet the fact that a contemporary Paris band proudly covered "Heroin girls" definitely proves that the reissue achieved what it meant to: bringing SA in the conversation about UK82. And I, for one, am both thankful and grateful for that. 

 

But what about the music then? Last Salute is made up of SA's three demos, the first two both recorded in 1982 - in June and October respectively - and the third one in early 1984. The first five songs of Last Salute are part of the band's first endeavour into the Nottingham-based studio and illustrates what those young punks were originally all about. Before I go any further into primitive 80's UK punk territories, not unlike a hound following a scent, let me warn you that the sound is raw, if not rough, on the first demo (and on the second one as well actually) but with a series called The Noise Ain't Dead precisely dedicated to raw, fast and noisy mid-80's British punk, you are expected to know what you're in for. SA's music is interesting and worth investigating for two main reasons. First, the band had both a male and a female singer. They did not sing together, in the trade-off style for instance, as each of them had their own numbers to angrily shout to, kinda like The Violators' vocal structures. Still I would venture that SA are primarily remembered and enjoyed as a "female-fronted punk band" which is both true and incorrect, especially since only the bloke remained for the last 1984 demo. The second reason why a basic knowledge of SA might come handy during punk trivia night is that a significant number of their songs fit the early Discharge-influenced template, raw and direct proto-hardcore punk with a pure form of d-beat. "Vigilante" (top singalong chorus on this one) and "Last salute" - which ended up being picked for inclusion on the aforementioned compilation Lp Demo-Lition Blues - are great examples of the rawest kind of proto d-beat Discharge-loving anthems, like The Varukers, Anti-System or Antisect - not quite as dark and furious as the former though. The other three songs (two of which are fronted by Jar) are your classic dynamic and snotty anarchopunk songs somewhere between Action Pact and A-Heads and they work well enough. 

 

Hurray, acceptation letters!

 

The second demo certainly showed some improvements, albeit rather limited ones, with the two primitive, primal Discharge-y songs were sung (well, you know what I mean) by Jar thus making "60 seconds" and both versions of "Chant" - two were included although they sound very similar - the first examples of female-fronted proto d-beat thrash music, along with Potential Threat as we saw in the first part of the series. There should be some sort of music award for that. The remaining four songs are of the mid-paced snotty punk variety again, with a vibe reminiscent of The Defects or Picture Frame Seduction because of Shelley's vocals. The last demo saw SA develop that more rocking GBH-infused heavy and catchy punk-rock to great effect - the songs "They've got guns" is really good - thanks to a noticeable progression in terms of production and musicianship, but it does go a little beyond the Noise ain't Dead template. 

Last Salute can sound a little too long at times primarily because some of the songs could probably have been shorter and because discography often feels a bit lengthy.  The Lp is, however, a magnificent work of passion and loving dedication and, from that point on, Demo Tapes has always delivered the very best in terms of research, context development and packaging. Their records makes you feel like you get to know the bands in a meaningful fashion, almost intimately so (alright, maybe it is just me). DT is run by the very knowledgeable Sean Forbes, who used to take care of Rugger Bugger, so that you know you are going to be offered the most exhaustive and accurate details and comprehensive pieces of archaeologic evidences about unfairly little-known punk bands that reinforce that sense of punk's collective history and remembering. It could not be better. In SA's case, polite but firm - in that typical English way - rejection letters from Clay Records and Riot City Records - who must have been receiving hundreds of such requests at that time - are even included. You will also find a short article about solvent abuse and how this dangerous pastime was tied to the worsening living conditions under Maggie's rule original reviews of the band's tape and live performances. And dozens of pictures of teenage punks with spiky hair and questionable sense of fashion of course. Time-traveling to the days when punk was fresh and at its peak from your sofa. Last Salute was actually a collaboration with Pure Punk Records, an Italian label that reissued the very underrated Soldier Dolls - they too had stellar Discharge-loving numbers - and catchy Brummies Drongos For Europe. 

 

Demo Tapes would keep releasing top notch early obscure Discharge-y bands (like Violent Uprising or very recently Disattack) as well as amazing tuneful anarchopunk (Passion Killers and No Defences) and even some classic early crust (Pro Patria Mori), three of the things I love best in the world. They are all works of love and the process of gathering the many pieces of information and getting hold of all the original master tapes is a long one so that DT has "only" released eleven records so far, but with Asylum's Is this the Price? being just out, the serious punk who cares about legacy and being bollocked by noise just knows that quality requires time. The passion has not been killed.           

                                                                         Solvent Abuse

How Crust Survived the Millennium Bug (part 12): Campus Sterminii "Life is a Nightmarish Struggle" Lp, 2009

Alright, here we go then, this is the last part of the Homeric series How Crust Survived the Millennium Bug. It was, as usual, a pleasure to grace you punk plebs with awe-inspiring knowledge and bitingly insightful examinations into some of the most crucial crust works and bands from the noughties. If you want an autographed photo, please send a personal message and I will provide you with banking details for a transfer that will help fund Terminal Sound Nuisance. It's all for the cause comrades. Before I enlighten guttersnipes with yet another top article that will conclude the series in great fashion, I wish to say that the series was not meant to be, properly speaking, an 00's crust best-of. Although the endeavour to achieve such a task could be worthwhile in its comprehensive scope (and I would be very curious indeed to read lists on the subject), the series did not attempt to achieve it. Rather, I have tried to select works that reflected both the variety of crust styles with their different contexts of creation and the genre's evolution and milestones that defined the decade; how those recordings connected with the 90's; if they brought something new and original to the orgy or if they purposefully chose to keep closely to the tradition, a move which might be, in itself, innovative contrary to what the end result might sound like. For instance, you may argue that Consume's Forked Tongue cannot be said to really stand as an instant crust classic in itself, however the band proved to be not only very influential and memorable but also acted as a symbolic hyphen between the 90's scandicrust sound and its continuation into the 00's, hence the necessary inclusion, from my point of view, of a Consume Ep. Just another day at the office really.

Establishing rankings is always a struggle that oft causes one to wallow in self-doubt, but of course the twelve records making up the series would be part of my own 00's ranking. Others, that were already discussed previously on the blog and therefore were not mentioned in the present series, would also be elected, like the Acrostix / Contrast Attitude split Lp or the Defector Ep. I also chose to leave those bands that were extensively dealt with in the past - like Filth of Mankind, Extinction of Mankind or Warcollapse - out of the series, although it goes without saying that The Final Chapter, Northern Scum and Defy definitely have their place. Other records and bands had to be, sometimes heartbreakingly, omitted for lack of space and stamina as I did not want to embark on a two-year long series with fifty records (beside you probably would have gotten fat spending your precious time reading my achingly long reviews and I do care a little about your health). This said, and because of my beneficent nature, I shall provide some clues if you are inclined toward a deeper, more thorough exploration of 00's crust. In this prospect, you might want to try to quench your thirst for knowledge through attentive inspections of the Stormcrow/Sanctum split Lp, Doom's World of Shit Lp, the Stagnation S/t Ep, the Cancer Spreading/Disköntroll split Lp (one of my favourite CS records), Zyanose's Loveless Ep, Instinct of Survival's North of Nowhere Lp and Winter in my Mind Ep, Svart Aggression's Tänk Själv Ep, Against//Empire's The One Who Strikes the Blow Lp, Man the Conveyors' Cheers cd, Visions of War/Olho de Gato split Lp and many more, this is only a sample, but since I cannot be arsed to namedrop bands on punk civilians for the rest of the afternoon, your suggestions are as good as mine and feel free to add to the list. 

Today, we are going to tackle - with the inspiring erudition and intellectual dynamism that have come to characterize Terminal Sound Nuisance - Campus Sterminii from Bologna, which will also serve as an opportunity to tackle the new wave of Italian metallic crust that emerged in the mid-00's. I have already touched upon Italian crust punk in the rather distant past through a review of Scum of Society's '97 Ep Violenza Legale, a humble but thoroughly enjoyable Ep that happened to be one of the few examples of an Italian take on the 90's eurocrust wave that swept through the continent. In fact, I cannot think of many 90's Italian crust bands but maybe I am just unaware of some. Original anarchocrust legends Contropotere could hardly be described as "crust" anymore by then and, although they rubbed shoulders with many bands that fitted the tag in the 90's, they did not belong to the decade's wave, even if their progressive 1991 Lp Il Seme Della Devianza was not deprived of an old-school metallic crust influence. Jilted only belonged to the category to some extent as they were - and in fact still are - more a crusty hardcore band and most of their records were released in the 00's. Considering the insane number of class Italian hardcore acts in the 80's, the lack of typical 90's crust bands in the country is surprising though there was definitely no shortage of grindcore or fastcore bands then. Things drastically changed in the 00's.

 

It can be said that labels and distros such as Agipunk certainly contributed to the rise of crust in Italy during the first half of the 00's through their promotion of international hard-hitting raw hardcore and fast crust music. This development can be witnessed in the evolution of Kontatto, a band that included a future Campus Sterminii member on the guitar, Koppa, who also ran the Disastro Sonoro label. From a rather typically fast and raw Italian hardcore band in the late 90's, they crustified their sound throughout the decade so that by the mid/late 00's a distinct crust vibe could be noticed in their furious hardcore sound. Although merely an example, such a process prevailed in significant sectors of the Italian punk scene in the 00's with the rise of acts such as Drunkards, Disforia, Disprezzo, Berzerk, Dirty Power Game, Dissciorda or the band that will be covered today for your greatest enjoyment, Campus Sterminii. With a moniker translating, I reckon, as "extermination camps", parading in Italy with a CS shirt is bound to raise a few eyebrows and potentially elicit some misunderstanding but you are pretty much fine in the rest of the world. The whole CS story can be found here on the Crucified Freedom blog so I am not going to bother too much with minute details. The band formed in 2002 with aforementioned Koppa from Kontatto on the guitar, Marzia from Pussy Face as well as Jessica on the bass and Gra on vocals. Their first recording session took place in 2004 and appeared on a split Lp with Poland's Disgusting Lies in 2005 released on Agipunk and, let me tell you, the six songs that made up their side of the Lp epitomized what cavemen crust has always been all about. Deliciously raw if not rough (not quite bardger's arse rough but close), CS delivered furious old-school cavecrust with insane-sounding dual vocals - like a tempestuous row between a gruff undead logger and a rabid demon taking place in a dirty Italian gutter - reminiscent of Extreme Noise Terror, Warfear, Amen or Decrepit with some epic and metallic guitar leads and a production bringing primitive Brazilian crust bands like Dischord to mind. I am not too convinced by the boisterous singalong closing track "E cosi sia" but otherwise it is pretty much flawless if you like your crust dirty, primal and vocally savage. Well, if you like proper crust really. 

 

After this excellent first effort, CS went on hiatus as Koppa and Marzia moved to London for a bit (and managing to play with Gianluca Nailbiter in Death From Above, a band whose genre you will never guess) and after their return CS recorded a couple of songs for a split Ep with Croatia's Nulla Osta. The three numbers on their side displayed the same fire as the previous record, this time with a Scandinavian hardcore influence creeping in, although crust as fuck sonic savagedom firmly remained their dominant trait and with the same insane-sounding feral dual vocal work I am such a sucker for. The split Ep was released in late 2006 on Koppa's label Disastro Sonoro by which time he had also started to run Agipunk alongside Mila. In 2007, CS played the Scumfest festival in London where I got to see them (twice I believe?) and became an instant fan of their direct, emphatic and filthy take on the crust genre. After the quick acquisition of their available releases upon coming home, I clearly anticipated their next move, especially in the context of the late 00's when crust's renascent old-school metallic outgrowth, stenchcore, had just peaked and was already declining. Life is a Nightmarish Struggle was well worth the wait.

Recorded in early 2009, the Lp exhibited a massive improvement in terms of production. The much heavier and cleaner sound also reflected an evident metallic influence in the band's songwriting and, more especially, a distinct and prominent addition of hard-hitting scandicore in the vein of Wolfpack, Driller Killer or late Anti-Cimex - obvious points of reference - but also particularly reminiscent of what Guided Cradle were creating in the mid-00's. CS's revisit of metallic and epic scandicore also included some overt death-metal moments and more than a few solos, further grounding them in the Swedish tradition of extreme music, even if the cavemen dual vocal attack (which always worked better on the songs in Italian) and several loving nods toward galloping stenchcore and nasty crustcore also indicated a strong crust basis. The album could therefore be seen as a solid blend of beefy scandicore and gruff old-school crust, a very fine thing in itself but not necessarily a feat that would warrant the inclusion of Life is a Nightmarish Struggle in this series. In fact, the presence of the Lp in this elite selection can be explained by "Wasteland" and "Non c'e' limite al peggio" (which is actually a reworking of an older song that you can find on the split with Disgusting Lies), two songs that - and I will firmly stand by my statement until Death (not the band) takes me to the grave - I rate as some of the very best mid-paced old-school crust anthems ever written. I realize this is no small declaration and if anyone wants to discuss this with me in a crust-themed octagon, then bring it on if you think you're fucking hard enough.

 

The two aforementioned gems were already heralded through the Lp's introduction "Midnight storm", one that was not only fittingly heavy, apocalyptic and foreboding but also highly reminiscent of what trad crust had best to offer in terms of narration and storytelling - I love epic crust intros - so that definitely put my private crust detector on high alert. Believe me, I was rewarded well beyond the soundest of my expectations. The two songs have everything you can dream of when it comes to mid-tempo old-school metallic crust: filthy pounding heaviness, desperate moodiness, hoarse and growly vocals, crushing beats, eerie guitar leads and memorable poignant chorus. I am reminded of Warcollapse's punishingly primitive Crust as Fuck Existence, of Skaven's painful crust dementia, of classic 90's Misery epics, of Effigy's aggressive thrashing stenchore as well. That the songs are placed at the end of the album ("Wasteland" is the antepenultimate, "Non c'e' limite al peggio" the ultimate)  somehow brings a new light on the whole work. As a conclusion, beside the usual doomsday metaphor, the songs announce the end of the Lp as much as the figurative end of the 00's stenchcore revival. By penning two of the best crust anthems of the decade, CS unintentionally - and rather ironically - symbolized the closure of a trend that recently had lost many of its representatives. It would not be the end of the stenchcore subgenre, by no means, as bands like Instinct of Survival or Visions of War would keep going, and brilliant new bands would pick up the banner and carry it throughout the following decade of the 10's with a renewed source of influence thanks to the additions of 00's stenchcore bands to the old-school canon. Still, I always felt that this Lp was one of the last great crust works of the 00's, but then to think of music with the rigid notion of decades might not be relevant though it certainly is useful to have that sort of frame to think with. 

 

The Lp was released on Agipunk - obviously - and my copy is the purple stained clear vinyl. Crust artist extraordinaire Stiv of War was responsible for the cover which reminds me of a cross between the yin and yang Neurosis symbol and the typical 00's obsession with bloody orcs. I think the band stopped around 2010 and after the demise Koppa certainly kept busy - he was playing in Kontatto with Marzia and Giuda at the same time as CS - as he formed the gothpunk band Horror Vacui in 2010 and now plays in Tuono - a vintage Italian hardcore band, alongside members of Komplott and Impulso - the latter two also having Marzia on the drums. Guitar player Jacopo, who had joined CS at the end of the band's existence, kept playing with Cancer Spreading (one of Europe's best crust bands of the 10's). There is no doubt that bands like CS, as important players in the revitalization of the genre, opened the gates to a substantial number of crust bands in Italy in the following decade and one can name, beside the brilliant Cancer Spreading (already dissected here and here), like Hostiliter, Nihildum, Warpath or Stasis.

A relevant record to close this series. Play loud.

 

Life is a nightmarish crust song

                   

How Crust Survived the Millennium Bug (part 10): Morne "demo 2008" Lp, 2009

If I had to find the most accurate metaphor to locate Morne in the grand crust narrative, one that profoundly resonates with my personal mythology, I would say that Morne were the Ahmed Johnson of the genre. When Ahmed, out of nowhere, ran to the ring and slammed Yokozuna in 1995, I was just like the crowd: flabbergasted. This powerful and, I daresay, legendary slam left me in awe and, as a 12 year-old, confirmed that I wanted to be a wrestler when I grew up. Sadly, reality struck me in the face, and with a physique reminiscent of Harry Potter in the early movies, wrestling quickly became a fantasy that would never come true and my dreams were shattered. My size could have allowed me to become a referee but, as they are often clownishly mistreated, this would have only added to the humiliation. But back to Morne. Just as unexpected as Ahmed's incredible feat of lifting Yoko, the band, it appeared to me, also pretty much slammed crust out of nowhere when I first came across their demo in 2008. 

Now, I realize it is not the first time I have expressed memories of genuine feelings of surprise throughout How Crust Survived the Millennium Bug. Indisputably, the Χειμερία Νάρκη's 2003 album shook me hard and rocked my tiny world. However, this took place in 2003 and, in the subsequent five years, I became a rabid listener and devout follower of crust music and, as patches steadily grew on my sleeveless jackets, I slowly turned into an amateur archaeologist of the genre, reading everything I could find on the subject and saving whatever I could from my meager income to buy crust records (blogs only really kicked off around 2008/09 and the fast and unlimited streaming of music sounded as unlikely as a reality TV star becoming the president of the US of A). I may have been cocky enough at some point in the late 00's to claim boastfully that I had mastered the truth of crust - if the internet never forgets, fortunately people do - but a couple of meaningful revelations taught me (some) humility and that, not only was the quest only just beginning, but that the most important and most fulfilling element of it was the continuous process of realizing your objective, the path of knowledge rather than its completion. If you listen carefully, that's pretty much Yoda's message especially since the Force and the Crust are kinda equivalent at the end of the day. So basically when Morne noisily crashed into my youthful certainties, my knowledgeability of crust was much more solid than it had been five years before. Still, this demo absolutely kicked me up the arse and, well, it was a wonderful feeling which does not happen that often these days. Bloody inspiring, mate.

I first heard of Morne around the time of the release of this first recording in 2008 (in spite of forming in 2005, I don't think many had heard of Morne outside of Boston and probably Poland) through the Profane Existence message board, a platform that acted as a decent source of information about old and new bands from all over the place, hot releases and tales from the past told by heroic old-timers. It was not so dissimilar to Facebook, only the PE board did not display ads, did not spread dodgy theories and was not owned by a multibillion capitalist company. Minor differences really. I think a generous punk posted a download link to the Morne demo and, following the general enthusiasm, my thirst for crust led me to give Morne a chance. Unaware of the band's connection with a definite favourite of mine, I did not really expect anything from it and the gesture had more to do with healthy curiosity than irrepressible excitement. The first listen of the demo instantly proved sufficient to convert me. Bam.

Let's get rid of the elephant in the room right away: Morne is fronted by Milosz, former member of Gdansk-based crust legends Filth of Mankind, who moved to the States in the mid-00's (I guess?). I have no qualms about claiming, loudly as a former post shows, that FOM were one of the best old-school crust bands of their era and the absence of their magnus opus The Final Chapter in this series only has to do with my will not to be (too) redundant but it rightfully deserves a comfy spot in the top crust albums of the noughties. When I learnt about the connection between both bands, Morne's masterly first effort made sense. That this brilliant recording could be categorized as a demo felt a little insulting, as much as I instantly loved it. There was none of the sloppy playing, approximate tuning, non-existent production and naive songwriting that the term "demo" implied to me. Recorded in November, 2007 and March, 2008 at Dead Air Studio by Will Killingsworth, the Morne demo sounded like an incredibly brilliant album rather than a demo tape, which it originally was in 2008 (a cd version also existed). Although the production can be said to be a little raw and dirty - a better description in the context would be organic and cavernous - as opposed to a cleaner sound that the band may have craved for (subsequent events seem to point that way so that intention is of prime importance), I personally believe that it sounds absolutely perfect for a crust album: raw, dark, heavy, brooding and gritty. If the demo of my former band in the noughties had sounded even half as good - inspired and tasteful were not even options - as Morne's demo, I would have been a most unbearably conceited lad to say the least.

As lazy as the comparison might seem, you can certainly recognize Milosz' guitar style in Morne and link it to FOM's riffing and texture, but after all, in their early days, like FOM, Morne played in the metallic crust league and used the classic traits that the genre substantially encompassed. However, where FOM relied on a more aggressively grim sense of imminent threat, Morne sounded far sadder but also deeper and, well, more desolate and beatutiful. You could say that FOM were apocalyptic while Morne's beginnings were post-apocalyptic. Their objectives - let's call it an update of the Amebix/Axegrinder type of crust - might have been similar but the ingredients were different. FOM had both feet loyally planted in the crust tradition while Morne borrowed elements from doom-metal and heavy post-hardcore and as a result sounded more progressive and also much more narrative than a lot of 00's crust bands while still looking at an old-school crust compass to navigate its galloping epic vibe. There are seven songs on the demo for 39 minutes so you can imagine that the band was able to take its sweet time in order to build story-like chapters with proper introductions, endings, climax so that the album sounds like a living cohesive whole with its plot, well set atmosphere and recurring narrative tricks. 

The dominant pace is of the brooding and mid-tempo variety and parallels between Morne's early stage and the heavy doomsday dirges of Axegrinder and Misery, with a torturous Neurosis twist, are relevant. Morne's progressive narrative side also made me think of Skaven's (though they told a very different story) and especially of Balance of Pain-era Counterblast, who were brilliant at playing with moods and ambiance while remaining mean and crushing and proved to be able to speed things up when apposite. The vocals are clever, not forceful or savage, but shouted naturally with a gruff undertone, a bit like Axegrinder, crusty but not growling. Finally, and it certainly contributed to me being so starry-eyed about this recording, Morne were a synth-driven old-school crust band, unfortunately, tragically even, a phrase I cannot write nowhere near often enough. I have always been of the opinion that the addition of a synth transcends the epic gloom that is at the heart of proper crust and Morne used it with dashing maestria. I cannot help but being reminded of the classic Greek crust sound epitomized by early 90's Χαοτικό Τέλος, and quite obviously of Monolith-era Amebix and Axegrinder's Rise of the Serpent Men, and even - perhaps it sounds a bit bold but I am a man who loves danger and I've had more than my fair share of near death experiences, notably when playing badminton - of early Acrostix, and them more than the others maybe. The song "Twilight burns" makes me want to wear cool shades and ride a bike into the sunset, no mean feat considering I tend to be nauseous on motorbikes (anything that has a motor really).

The vinyl reissue of the demo was released in early 2009 with only 330 copies pressed. It had a lovely foldout cover silkscreened with silver ink which is pretty fucking classy indeed. The cover itself is appropriately bleak but not really special (a misty forest), however the lettering of the lyrics was done by Dino Sommese from Dystopia and Asunder and you can definitely recognize his style which I happen to dig (he also did it on the split between Stormcrow and Sanctum). The Lp was released on No Options Records, a busy label on the crust front in the 00's (Stormcrow, Limb From Limb, Phalanx). Following the demo, Morne recruited Jeff from Grief and Disrupt on second guitar (he even appeared on the picture on the back of the vinyl version of the demo, though he doesn't play on it) and this lineup recorded three songs for a split Lp with the excellent Warprayer from Bristol on Alerta Antifascista. The production was much cleaner and Morne's side was certainly monumental, with the sludgy post-hardcore-doom influence significantly more prevalent, still in the metallic crust territory, but very close to the frontier which would be crossed for good on the next record. Untold Wait, released in 2009 on Feral Ward - the band moved really quickly at that point - was basically a re-recording of the demo with a clean and clear production pretty much turning the work into a post-hardcore doom-metal album, which makes one think about the importance of orchestration and artistic intent when it comes to the vibe you are trying to convey. I lost track of the band afterwards - though I did catch them live a second time in 2012 in Paris (I first caught them on their 2009 tour and religiously bought a cheerful shirt) - as they went on to evolve into a more progressive atmospheric doom-metal realm. Not my cuppa but certainly well-executed.

 Can you have training wheels on a motorbike? Just asking for a friend.

Morne