Howdy, comrades! Welcome to the first volume of In Crust We Trust for 2020. Thanks to everyone who paid a visit to In Crust We Trust’s end-of-year double-feature back in December. If you were kind enough to share those posts around, then (1) you’re now a certified member of In Crust We Trust’s Street Team, and (2) your official Diehard Disrocker fanny pack is in the mail*.
(*It’s not. But I owe you a hug.)
No major changes are planned for In Crust We Trust in 2020, aside from ditching the long-winded introductions that started most of the previous volumes. To be honest, they proved about as popular as a mid-fuck shart.
Elsewhere, though, it’s business as usual. The focus remains on raw punk, stenchcore, d-beat, and filthy hardcore and metalpunk, and I’ll continue to dig into the crustiest musical crevices I can find every month, searching for horrible noise to share. Obviously, you can expect a lot of rabble-rousing, subversive sentiments, and plenty of loud opinions. No doubt, some of them will be mine.
Of course, without you, I’m just howling into the void, so thanks a million for stopping by. Don’t forget, I’m always keen to investigate upcoming releases, as well as check out recommendations, so feel free to get in touch or leave a comment.
Alright, enough waffle, here’s to another killer year of noise not music.
Spiteful Urinator / Dogcock – Split 7”
Aotearoa New Zealand malcontents Spiteful Urinator recently announced they were calling it quits after 11 releases (and four compilations), all of which oozed overwhelming amounts of contempt. Spiteful Urinator are easily one of NZ’s best and most authentic punk bands—certainly in terms of being their true selves on and off stage—so their demise is genuinely sad, even if Spiteful Urinator’s antagonistic attitude wouldn’t countenance such sappy sentiments.
The good news is that Spiteful Urinator’s vocalist Dane Bailey and guitarist Sean Carmichael have been playing together in reliably misanthropic bands for decades, and they’ll no doubt carry on. Even better, if Spiteful Urinator’s recent 7” split with fellow NZ brutes Dogcock is their final recording, the band are definitely exiting on a spitting and snarling high.
Spiteful Urinator’s harsh sound mirrors their nature, with vicious d-beat and hardcore battering noxious black metal. The band stick to that unsavory MO on their split with Dogcock, delivering fierce bursts of unapologetically strident hardcore. Dogcock grind their way through an equally gruesome amalgam of polluted punk and gutter metal, matching Spiteful Urinator’s feral volatility along the way.
Hasta la vista, Spiteful. Long may your surly stench linger.
Zyanose – Total End of Existence
And speaking of obnoxious stenches, I definitely felt a sharp twinge when long-running Japanese crusties Zyanose announced they were closing up shop at the end of 2019. It’s tough waving goodbye to Zyanose, not only because they’re rightly revered in noisenik circles, but also because the Osaka-based band combined sanity-shredding intensity with dissonant insanity like no other. Zyanose’s final release, Total End of Existence, is yet another ear-splitting triumph filled with bass-driven crust and chaotic raw punk that’s about as toxic as a junkyard inferno. Total End of Existence is a fittingly abrasive finale for a band who made zero comprises, right to the last. Sayōnara, you absolute champions of audio destruction.
https://youtu.be/5ObPWnuvmP4
偏執症者 (Paranoid) – Kind of Noise
The last full-length release from Swedish punks 偏執症者 (Paranoid), 2018’s Heavy Mental Fuck-Up!, featured plenty of corrosive punk, but it was also the band’s most metal album yet. Paranoid’s latest 7″, Kind of Noise, leans harder on the band’s Disclose-inspired roots, with mind-melting waves of dissonant instrumentation leading the charge.
As usual, Paranoid’s latest release sounds as ugly as a massacre, and yet it’s a beauty to behold. The group have a gift for producing raw punk that’s hideous and yet irresistible, and often full of downright catchy hooks too. Kind of Noise’s four ear-piercing tracks are stacked with crashing drums, skin-flaying guitars, and blown-out howls and shrieks. Expect 10 minutes of maximum mayhem and feedbacking pandemonium from bona fide masters of sonic murder.
Fragment – Serial Mass Destruction
Alternative Action – 2020 Attack
Serial Mass Destruction is the latest EP from Canadian band Fragment. The group’s raucous 2017 12″, In the Dust, is a stone-cold crasher crust classic—at least, it is to me—and Serial Mass Destruction features a similar mix of pounding percussion, echoing grunts, and battered, tattered, and amp-melting guitars. Fierce distortion lashes skull-drilling hardcore throughout, as raw punk fights for survival in subterranean ruins. No surprise, Serial Mass Destruction is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
If you can handle Fragment’s mind-buckling onslaught, you should definitely sample the blown-out / nightmarish noise of fellow Halifax, Nova Scotia band Alternative Action. The group is helmed by Fragment’s guitarist Steve Earle, and Alternative Action’s 2020 Attack cassette offers 4 minutes of 100% uncompromising d-beat and ultra-distorted kängpunk. Much like Serial Mass Destruction above, 2020 Attack is pitch-perfect for gauging exactly where your tolerance for genuinely abrasive punk lies.
Hellknife – Dusk of Doom
German band Hellknife released their mammoth Dusk of Doom LP back in late December, and if big and beefy crust à la Wolfbrigade is what you’re after, you’re in for a treat. Mixed and mastered by Fredrik Nordström (At the Gates, Skitsystem, Martyrdöd, etc) at Fredman Studio, Dusk of Doom sounds HUGE. Tracks like “Violence,” “Burn it Down” and “Nation Impalers” mix stampeding d-beat and crusty hardcore with blast-force metal. Graveled vocals and melodic eruptions seal the fist-pumping, stadium crust deal. And if you enjoy the trampling tones of Victims, Martyrdöd, and M:40, rest assured that Dusk of Doom serves up similar heavyweight hybrid hardcore.
Scarecrow – Revenge
Straight outta Raleigh, North Carolina, and picking up on plenty of far-flung “mängel up your ass” influences along the way, Scarecrow’s 7” vinyl debut, Revenge, is a non-stop rampage of foot-to-the-floor hardcore. (And Scarecrow’s label, Bunker Punks, sold out of 7″ copies of Revenge in the blink of an eye for very good reasons.) The band’s primitive approach is punishing as hell, and Revenge‘s inflammable tracks sculpt grim scenes with relentless energy and unwavering intensity. Sure, Scarecrow aren’t reinventing the wheel, but the band strip their songs down, discarding every last trace of superficial filler. Revenge duly hits like a fucking heat-seeking missile wrapped in barbwire.
Fractured – Demo
Canadian band Fractured features members who’ve played in Parasytes, After the Bombs, and Primer Regimen. Fractured’s 3-song self-titled demo buzzes with the in-your-face energy and punchy velocity of UK82. Caustic crust and d-beat are here, too, and with Broken Bones and English Dogs cited as inspirations, you can also expect plenty of smashed-teeth street punk ugliness. If you’re down with the bands listed above—or if you dig The Varukers, GBH, Chaos UK, and kin—you’ll likely enjoy the path Fractured are following. The band’s demo promises much while delivering a riotously good time. Fingers crossed for more music soon.
Dažd – Krv I Seme
Every release thus far from Serbian trio Dažd has featured a heady mix of ritualistic “Promethean crust” and a mountain of lysergic weirdness. Dažd’s latest LP, Krv I Seme, melds the upfront influence of groups like Amebix and Killing Joke with echoes of avant-garde artists like Current 93, Nurse with Wound, or Swans. Much like Dažd’s last (self-titled) LP, Krv I Seme is drenched in psychedelic esotericism, which is then soaked in a primordial soup of sewer crust. Definitely an album for open-minded crusties, Krv I Seme marries ceremonial-like occultism to atavistic earth-worship and blood-and-thunder metalpunk.
Asocial – Föralltid Underground
Swedish mangel masters Asocial originally formed in the early 80s, and a couple of years back they returned from a lengthy absence sounding fired up and ready to man the barricades on their Död Åt Kapitalismen LP. The band’s latest release, Föralltid Underground, is even angrier, and Asocial sound deadlier than ever. Thickset distorted riffs wind around vitriolic vocals and driving drums, which is amplified by Föralltid Underground‘s raw albeit armor-plated production. Plenty of steamrolling propulsive power stokes the flames of Scandi punk right here. Full-strength; full-noise; a full-on blast of mangel mania. A+.
Massakree – Happy Static Pogo Nightmare Noise
Happy Static Pogo Nightmare Noise is the debut vinyl release from head-splitting UK noise punks Massakree. Clearly indebted to legendary Japanese maniacs like Confuse and Gai, Massakree’s 7-song EP hurls (((maximum-reverb))) street punk at a deafening wall of lawless noise. Disorder reigns supreme with short, serrated tracks awash in fuzzed-out distortion. If the catchy albeit unruly clatter of fellow UK noisecore crew The Wankys appeals, Massakree’s rip-roaring racket should prove equally alluring.
The Annihilated – Demo
The Annihilated extend NWOBHC’s reach by including members from London’s (sadly defunct) Arms Race alongside similarly wayward musicians from Canadian noise-mongers S.H.I.T. The Annihilated’s self-titled 2020 demo is rough as guts and a belly full of brute-force fun. With a raft of hot-button political and social issues brewing at home, The Annihilated’s rejection of nationalism, isolationism, and xenophobia rings loud on hammering tracks like “National Anthem,” “Push Me Around / Abuse of Power” and “Never.” There are definitely plenty of gut-felt, old-school influences at work here, but the throat-ripping power of this demo is clearly fueled by contemporary raw hardcore that’s aptly obliterating.
Cesspool – We Hide Among You
Over the last dozen years, Danish label Adult Crash have released a treasure trove of neck-wrecking hardcore. In fact, the label released a couple of 2019’s best albums in the shape of Larma and Deformation’s self-titled LPs. Equally off the chain (and also a prime example of truly breakneck hardcore) is We Hide Among You, the first 12″ from multinational—albeit Copenhagen-based—outfit Cesspool. If pummeling firebrands like Blood Pressure, Warthog, or Concealed Blade float your boat, then prepare for a similarly pummeling encounter. We Hide Among You‘s concussive production, lacerating guitars, and hard-bitten vocals deliver 20 unbroken minutes of bombarding hardcore that I’m betting sounds absolutely decimating live.
Android – Chapter 001
The first-rate debut from Floridian band Android, Chapter 001, tells dystopian tales where the remnants of viral plagues and post-apocalyptic battles mix with Hardware-worthy cyberpunk. Influences like The Terminator and Blade Runner get a look-in as well, and a clanging industrial intro calls to mind crumbling skyscrapers and irradiated wastelands before Android’s unnamed vocalist shouts the title of Chapter 001‘s first track, “W.W.VI,” and things kick into gear.
More shouted song titles are followed by more stripped-down, distorted d-beat and hardcore. It’s all nomad scavengers, robot wars, and Thunderdome adventures, and while details on Android are scant, it’s more than obvious that Chapter 001 is a hugely promising debut. Here’s hoping more installments are set to follow very soon. (And FYI: pressing the entire story onto a 12″ with more lo-fi sci-fi cover art would be a very good idea.)
Plïsskën – Class Conscious
End Result – 2020 Raw 3 Track Demo
I’ve grouped Plïsskën and End Result together because both bands deliver truly nerve-shredding cacophonies. Kansas City’s Plïsskën serve up torrents of acidic noise on their Class Conscious EP, with warp-speed songs blending ear-splitting vokills, scalding guitars, and thumping drums. Wonderfully / willfully obnoxious, Plïsskën set to mangling and mutilating their songs with utterly gruesome glee.
Los Angeles d-beat band End Result do much the same. The band’s 2020 Raw 3 Track Demo is an ear-fucking nightmare, which is obviously a very good thing around this Discore-friendly neck of the woods. 2020 Raw 3 Track Demo is about as crude and as primitive as it gets, which perfectly suits both the tone and temperament of End Result’s bleeding-raw anarchic noise. Talk of an upcoming 7″ from the band sounds promising indeed.
Last Agony – S/T
Scared Earth – Poisoned WorldSvaveldioxid / Skeleton – Split 7”
One of my favorite purveyors of thundering punk is the Czech Republic label Phobia Records. Of the three label releases (and / or co-releases) below, I’ve only heard Svaveldioxid and Skeleton’s split in full. I have ordered Last Agony and Scared Earth’s respective releases, but they’ve yet to arrive in my far-flung mailbox, so I’m only reporting on the preview tracks I’ve heard, which are still well worth talking about.
The split 7″ from Swedish outfit Svaveldioxid and Canadian crusties Skeleton delivers differently accented (albeit equally acrid) råpunk and turbo-charged d-beat. Svaveldioxid’s Dödsögonblick LP was one of 2019’s crashing hardcore highlights, and much like that face-melting release, Svaveldioxid and Skeleton’s maelstrom split doesn’t require in-depth critical analysis. It’s visceral, instinctual, and mean as Hell. Get some, forthwith.
You might have heard about that new double-disc Discharge compilation that’s set for release very soon, but here’s a pro tip: save your pennies. There are plenty of other Discharge comps out there already, and you should spend your hard-earned cash on a Dis-charged outfit like Scared Earth instead.
The Swedish d-beat band features members who’ve played in 80s outfits like Svart Parad, Disaccord, and Dom Där. And from what I’ve heard, Scared Earth’s Poisoned World debut leans hard on anti-authoritarian motifs and heavy-hitting musicianship that call to mind Totalitär and peak-era Discharge. It’s old-school punk, for sure, but there’s nothing tired about the passion, energy, or gusto radiating off Poisoned World’s preview tracks.
Last Agony features members from revered Canadian raw punks Absolut and Toronto crusties IDNS. It’s fair to say that creative combination gives rise to high expectations, and the phenomenal preview tracks streaming from Last Agony’s self-titled vinyl debut do not disappoint. Plenty of barreling momentum (and full-bore savagery) will no doubt please fans of the brutalist raw hardcore. Even better, though, is the fact that this is some of the heaviest and downright evilest music that any members of Absolut or IDNS have ever produced. Fans of Stormcrow, Hellshock, Warcollapse, Sanctum, etc, dig in.
Metachrist – Conquered and Divided + Banished to the Dark
Tough-as-steel Canadian band Metachrist make no secret of their consummate crustcore influences: see Sacrilege, Misery, Hellbastard, Antisect, Abraham Cross, Axegrinder, etc. Metachrist have released two raw-as-sewage EPs in recent times, and both Banished to the Dark and Conquered and Divided are stacked with sledgehammering old-school stenchcore. Expect barked vocals, bludgeoning guitars, and a bulldozing rhythm section that’d do Doom proud. Bruising punk for those times when nothing but classic crushing crust will do.
Zudas Krust / Parötid – Desire of Destruction
The recent 7″ Desire of Destruction split from Indonesian noise-merchants Zudas Krust, and like-minded Malaysian duo Parötid, offers a raw dose of utterly unhinged South East Asian punk. Zudas Krust formed in 2008, and the band have a lengthy discography full of split and solo CDr, cassette, and vinyl releases. The Jakarta-based band add to that catalog of chaos right here with three relentlessly brutal tracks that stink (much like fellow Indonesian shitnoise crew Kontrasosial) of the sheer insanity of modernity.
Parötid are based in the Malaysian city of Perlis and the bass / drum raw punk duo make a racket that reeks of utter madness and mania. More lo-fi than fellow Malaysian punk bands like Appäratus or Osmantikos, Parötid contribute a grungy and (unsurprisingly) bass-heavy stew of berserker hardcore and chaotic noise to their split with Zudas Krust. Boiling tracks explode in a split second, and if you’re a devotee of caustically raw punk and psychotic d-beat, Zudas Krust and Parötid’s 7” is well worth checking out.
«»
