Doom – "War Crimes (Inhuman Beings)" (Peaceville – VILE 4) 1988

With the haunting image of a dead young woman probably reaped and murdered, lying in a street in Ukraine,and driven over by several Russian tanks operated by laughing Russian murderers lingering in my thoughts.One wonders what possible music from within the barricades of the rock idiom could encapsulate the horror and anger generated by these inhuman war crimes,and still be able to dance to it?

Of course I reached for Doom's debut, and cranked up the amps.

Yeah,it sounds like a crustier Discharge with different vocals,and i'm not too much of a fan of that Growly " Your Grandmother sucks cocks in Hell" vocal style so beloved of Grindcore, but......there's something relevant within the dark walls of this relentless high speed bludgeon that is the perfect accompaniment to this ,among many such evils perpetrated in the current Doom laden situation we find ourselves falling into.

This blog started during the Credit crunch,and flourished through the insane Pandemic voluntary imprisonment years,and both of these are still with us to some extent...especially the debt,debt slaves which we are.Now,we have a very real nuclear threat like it was the 80's again.....not a bad thing in someways?.....World leaders with the IQ's of a slug pushing a malformed idiot's philosophy,in the words of one slug brained idiot....the rise and rise of Semi-Fascism.

On top of all that,galloping inflation, and an energy debt crisis spiraling exponentially out of control,where energy Bills are close to being more than a living wage.Its expensive, but strangely they don't seem to be running out of the stuff....if you've got the dosh there's an unlimited supply apparently!?

Environmental change is forgotten as priorities turn towards obtaining enough food to eat,and we're burning our houses to keep ourselves warm again.As our delightful Russian chum's are burning off 10 million dollars of unsold methane gas into the atmosphere every day!?.....we've never had it so bad,and are catching up World War 2 fast.

Here's the best part....and it's gonna get worse!.....We're DOOOOMED!

(see what I did there?)

Tracklist:

Gloom Side:
A1 Confusion (Intro)
A2 Life Lock
A3 Slave To Convention
A4 A Dream To Come True
A5 Drowning In The Mainstream
A6 Same Mind
A7 Relief
A8 After The Bomb
A9 Stop-Gap
A10 Scared

Shroom Side:
B1 Sick Joke
B2 Natural Abuse
B3 Exploitation
B4 Beat The Boss
B5 Money Drug
B6 Fear Of The Future
B7 No Religion
B8 Phobia For Change
B9 Multinationals
B10 Obscenity
B11 War Crimes

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Ad Nauseam – "Demo" (Manic Tapes – Manic L.0.3) 1984

Ad Nauseam, from Portsmouth(keep that quiet!),were one of those generic UK82 hardcore bands who wanted to be Discharge,but were four years too late,so now they had to lessen their ambitions by just wanting to be the Exploited, mohawks and simplistic politics included.

To their credit, some attempt has been made since their earlier recordings, to 'progress' in some way.

There'a mixture of Hardcore styles on display here,if its possible to register any discernible difference whatsoever between the lot of 'em, apart from the fact that some of 'em play it better than the others.... maybe?

This tape has sections of Yobbed-up US Hardcore,a bit of D-Beat,lots of UK82 street Oi and even a melodious track (i suspect the beginning of track 2 was nicked from Fripp and Eno is it not? Closet sophisticates or wot?).All fronted by a potty-mouthed 'Wattie' clone.

Fripp,Eno and Wattie.....still waiting for that one.

 As much as I enjoy the music(?),for want of a better word, I find the lifestyle these leather clad hooligans lead,a tad nauseating,hence the name, claustrophobic,and more than a tad depressing.If i wanted to join the army or a cult there are better options,mainly a cult with a higher ratio of girls to boys for a start.Is there a tastefully dressed hardcore punk sex cult out there? The Davidians of Waco had a suitable PA system,it just needed some decent music to be played over it rather than just David "I'm Jesus me honest" Koresh. The group could have played as the building burned down,and out-done G.G. Allin,for one night only.

I would hazard a guess that the various members of Ad Nauseam,still dress like that,with receding mohawk hair cuts.....quite like "Wattie" himself,who, several heart attacks later is still the epitome of UK82 hardcore Punk from the British Isles.Now roundly exported to all corners of the known planet

That's entertainment?

Tracklist:

1 No Mercy
2 Undeclared Citizens
3 Who Are You
4 Wheelies One
5 Nausea
6 Destructadisc
7 Throw Down Your Crutches
8 Dog Od On A Sunstroke Pill
9 The Church Creates
10 Still Be Havin Fun
11 Monkey See Monkey Do
12 Ain't Gonna Be No Peace

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Anti Cimex – "Victims Of A Bombraid / Raped Ass" (Distortion Records - DISTLP9) 1994/1983)

More Swedish D-Beat from Anti Cimex,who basically played the same track,and wore the same clothes, for the ten years or so of their existence. They sounded like Discharge, looked like Discharge,wrote about the same things...or rather 'Thing' singular(i.e. Nuclear annihilation),as Discharge, and even supported Discharge whenever their heroes played in Sweden. Slightly more conventional, and far less brutal than Swedish faves The Shitlickers, but its still fun to listen,open mouthed, and wonder how groups like this ever came into being,and how they lasted for longer than one demo tape?

What was the game of the Arseholes?......Golf of course?

Tracklist:

A1 When The Innocent Die 2:01
A2 Warmachine 2:01
A3 Total Silence 1:50
A4 Cries Of Pain 1:16
A5 Raped Ass 1:13
B1 Desperate Hours 1:12
B2 Game Of The Arseholes 1:33
B3 Victims Of A Bombraid 2:43
B4 Set Me Free 1:21

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Shitlickers – "GBG 1982" (Expanded version) 1982

That Stoke-On-Trent look travelled quickly to our Scandinavian chums just across the North Sea.The American Hardcore dressed down image firmly rejected for that popular Northern English more Sid than Sid caricature that still pollutes the highways and by-ways of many a town from Santiago to Vladivostok (travelling clockwise of course!) . These guys liked Discharge....a lot.And who can blame 'em.Rather magnificent was Discharge for an album and a half at least.....But...This Shitlickers EP,now expanded from the same sessions, wins my personal award for the best Hardcore and its derivatives vinyl EP ever self-released by a bunch of scandinavian spikey tops this side of the north sea oilfields.

Only five years between Wire's seminal "Pink Flag",the LP wot started this ultra reductionist approach, and this bizarre racket is what Punk Rock had evolved into by 1982.Times moved fast back in them daze. Now the renaissance has finished,nu-forms are stuck in the quicksands as is time.

Your author has come across a fan review which included a fine description of the...er... music(?), served rare on this black vinyl platter.I think this sums up the sound most adequately indeed:

"Fantastic EP that sounds like it was recorded in a rusty garbage can covered in piss"(Unknown critique).....one of course concurs somewhat.

Tracklist:

1.Warsystem
2.Armed Revolution
3.Spräckta Snutskallar
4.Leader (Of The Fuckin' Assholes)
5.Silence
6.Desperate Scream From The Heat
7.The Night Of The Holocaust
8.No System Works

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Besthöven - "Os Mortos Insepultos" (Self-Released Demo) 1995

There aren't too many Shitlickers covers going around,but Brazil's D-Beat kings Besthoven did a cover of "Warsystem". Although this demo tape makes Shitlickers sound like they were produced by Trevor Horn.....well,not quite,but you get what I mean.

Who would have thought that a dressing style which once populated the grey streets of Stoke-On-Trent,uk, circa 1981 would crop up in the homeland of Bossa Nova in the mid-nineties?

Its brutal stuff but there's some much needed space in the recording,the clangorous knuckle dragging bass is audible among the six-stringed savage bees attack going on around it;and the drums surf atop,this wave of zero-fi cassette tape meltdown effortlessly.Making a disintegrating bespoke frame for the strangled vocals which seemed concerned very much with human disabilities,although not the disability for the average human to listen to fine music like this without getting a headache.

Just noticed I have yet to put any of the beyond great Shitlickers work on this blog!?....a glaring omission indeed.

Will rectify on next post......many apologies.

Tracklist:

01 Introduchaos - "Em Pesadelos Monstrusos..." Sem Esperancas
02 Seres Deformados
03 Chorando Guerra (Forca Macabra)
04 O Enterro Dos Mortos Vivos
05 Desgraca No Suburbio
06 Dias Cinzentos
07 Blind (Fear Of The War)
08 Septembro Sangrento
09 Medo Da Guerra
10 Warsystem (Shitlickers)
11 No Campos De Exterminio -Ontrochaos-'As Vesperas Do Final...'

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