Reviews

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Beyond Description Calm Loving Life / Live in Germany CD

There was a time when you just had to see the name BEYOND DESCRIPTION and you knew that uncompromising Japanese crust was in your near future. And you were pumped. These recordings are more than 20 years old at this point…and I’m (still) pumped. Tokyo’s BEYOND DESCRIPTION delivers brutally fast political HC/crust, and time has done nothing to make 1997’s Calm Loving Life session sound any less intense. The three cuts from the Live in Germany 5″ however….holy shit, these dudes are absolutely insane live. Just pure speed and relentless hardcore, two things I could use a bit more of in my life.

Crimex / Skitklass Disrupt the Order / Snutsvin split EP

SKITKLASS is a Japanese band playing in the ’82 Swedish style. The song structure is from the SHITLICKERS/AVSKUM/ASOCIAL/DISARM era and vibe of Swedish hardcore. But the guitar tone is actually kind of undistorted, more like UK82 or a band like TST. I love it when Japanese bands do these sorts of homages, replete with lyrics in Swedish etc. I think the bondage mask motif is a bit overdone, resurfacing on most of their releases. I didn’t get a lyric sheet, but judging from the song titles it’s rather tongue-in-cheek chaos punk fare about drinking and raising hell. This kind of thing is great fun, if not a super serious work of art. CRIMEX from Olympia play straight forward raw punk their vibe is perhaps a bit less contrived. They are on the faster and more furious end of the raw punk spectrum; I love the searing vocals and that classic ramshackle bass sound. Some solid riffs and cohesive delivery. Would have loved to see this band play a basement show or sweaty warehouse practice space with their friends in attendance, but they’ve since broken up.