PUNK BEHEMOTHS IN ‘CONCEPT THRASH’ SHOCK!
Two of the biggest beasts in British hardcore punk this week revealed their love of progressive rock by releasing a sprawling concept album. Fans were left shaken after hearing the news.
According to the ONS (Office for National Statistics), when news broke among the hardcore punk fraternity, requests for talking therapy increased by 0.001%, a figure not seen since 1983. It is thought that the increase then was caused by anarcho punk band SUBHUMANS releasing From The Cradle To The Grave album, the title track of which was almost seventeen minutes long. We take a look at this latest bloated epic, limited copies of which come in a pretentious snow-white vinyl, in direct defiance of the genre’s standard red or black.
These two bands shared last years’ cute Discipline 5″ single. In an exercise in brevity, both bands managed to squeeze three songs in a minute onto their respective sides. By contrast, here they each take on the task of crafting an eleven-plus minute piece.
You’re old enough now son, you really ought to know the score, Life is pain and life is fucking war!
No Life (THE DOMESTICS)
THE DOMESTICS are up first with an ode to educating ones’ self from the factory floor, only to find that self-doubt and a class inferiority complex conspire to stymie progress at every turn. An astonishing slow burn with discordant strings and tight, rat-a-tat drumming, it soon explodes into the furious DISORDER meets OUT COLD frenzy the band are known for. No Life plays out in compelling style, returning from various forays – misgivings in the spoken interlude, complete with strings, a quickfire, military drum call-and-response section – back to the chorus of “No Loife!” and the overriding riff that underpins the whole piece. The production allows the band space to cut loose, and Bri Doom (1in12) knows this stuff well. Comparisons to SUBHUMANS’ masterpiece From The Cradle To The Grave may be inevitable, chiefly due to that anchoring riff, but this is crucial UK hardcore in 2020. Stunning work.
When Orwell’s finest work is no longer fiction / when Huxley’s A to E comes to fruition / when Atwood’s hangings are commonplace / when the door sign flips to closed and we’ve fucked the place / you maniacs…
This Is Your Life (PIZZATRAMP)
Flip over the heavy duty white vinyl and it’s the turn of PIZZATRAMP to challenge our collective attention spans. Lyrically, This Is Your Life zooms out from the micro of THE DOMESTICS’ individual class crisis, as they take on the ghastly state of the world today. Hinting at 9/11 as a springboard for the shit-chute the world is currently hurtling down, they take on corrupt governments, pollution, apathy, death, famine and war. it is a desperate, beautiful thing to behold. The usually jokey PIZZATRAMP have really had enough, expanding on the sentiment in their earlier song Pollyticks, in which they confront the inescapable reality of the world becoming so fucked, it could no longer be ignored.
It’s startling to hear a band who usually sing about drinking, puking and sweating goths sounding so brutally honest and incensed. After the heavy, churning intro with just a pinch of metal, they’re away with what can only be described as searing thrash. Akin to a heavier STUPIDS, they hold the piece together with returning riffs and variations in pace. On-point gang shouts, siren sounds and a perfectly placed George W Bush Iraq War/Coalition speech up the intensity to almost unbearable levels. The production carries serious heft, their best yet and quite remarkable for a DIY release.
This release should be a game-changer, at least among the underground punk scene. In the right place at the right time, both from a personal and a political perspective, this is one of the best releases I’ve heard in a long, long time. In these days of choice without end, it’s rare to find something you just want to keep playing until you know the thing inside out that I flip a record over and replay until I know it inside out, particularly in this world of endless choice I just want to keep playing it until I know the thing inside out and that doesn’t happen often in these days of endless choice. Bring the concept-thrash!
OUT NOW!
Order here: https://kibourecords.bigcartel.com/product/the-domestics-pizzatramp-no-life-this-is-your-life-split-12
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