Reviews

Sanctus Propaganda

Hazard Profile Slime EP

Snotty hardcore from the UK that immediately reminded me of CHAOS UK and the more contemporary PI$$ER, and as it turns out they share members with both, as well as FUK, the WANKYS, and a slew of others. HAZARD PROFILE plays jangly, wanking blasts, kind of like a looser HARD TO SWALLOW meets SUICIDAL SUPERMARKET TROLLEYS with the maniacal energy of PLEASANT VALLEY CHILDREN. The attitude and grimacing is over the top, and this is a great pint-drinking, loud night kind of EP. Five tracks of boot-stomping, slightly crossover slam punk with blasts and palpable negativity. My favorite track being “Rubble & Bones” (“Nothing fucking matters / Nothing fucking matters / We”ll soon be…”), which starts out with a moment of THIN LIZZY-like intro soloing and immediately dominates into a nihilistic beating. HAZARD PROFILE is ugly, cold, and prickly on the ears; I imagine a live set to be significantly more embittered.

Instigators 1993 Demo N Live LP

Giants of UK anarcho-punk in the 80s and early 90s, and we get to hear a re-release of their last push in the studio and on stage before disbanding after a ’93 European tour. Side A contains the six-song demo with some really catchy tunes—”Never in a Million” almost feels like a BAD BRAINS track, but ya know, not quite as fast; it’s an anthem to the disenchanted and is my favorite of the demo. Side B, a live excerpt from the Huddersfield gig, starts, as Side A does, with “Suckerpunch,” and then delves into older songs, sung entirely with a vocal echo. The echo remains for the rest of the side, so when Tez speaks between songs you hear everything twice, which must have been a little maddening in the crowd, but does well to invoke chaos through the speaker. With so many changes in labels and members (and subsequently styles) over their career, the INSTIGATORS have a history and discography worth the dive down the rabbit hole, and this album is a great display of that career and ultimate progression.

Disaffect / Sanctus Iuda Fuck All Borders split LP

To many punk veterans, this one will feel like a ’90s wet dream, like a time machine to a different—and yet not so different—DIY punk scene. I am a little too young for rose-tinted glasses since I got into anarcho-punk in the early ’00s and both DISAFFECT and SANCTUS IUDA had already split up, although I was aware of both band’s relevance and importance. DISAFFECT was quite popular in France and definitely a favourite of mine, and even though I don’t play them that often these days, I was a very happy (not to mention emotional) lad when they played in Paris this year and realized I still knew all of the words. If you have never heard the Scots, they epitomise all that was great about ’90s political punk, and if you were to illustrate what that sounds like, just introduce DISAFFECT: genre-defining fast, thrashing hardcore punk with anarchist lyrics and absolutely brilliant dual male/female vocals (Lynne’s voice is so unique). It also works with HOMOMILITIA, FLEAS AND LICE, or ANTI-PRODUCT. Of course, this new recording sounds cleaner than their old material, which makes sense as you cannot really expect people to stay exactly the same as they were 25 years earlier with the very same instruments and gear and even shirts and haircuts. DISAFFECT’s songwriting is pretty similar, maybe a little more tuneful and intricate which is a wise choice, and does not sound like a parody of itself. At times, the modern production is a bit too clean for my taste, but overall it still sounds aggressive and angry enough as the band has not lost any of their bite and politics. A solid first side. On the other side is SANCTUS IUDA, who belonged to the same generation of cracking Polish crust bands in the ’90s as the aforementioned HOMOMILITIA, SILNA WOLA, or HOSTILITY—a prolific scene and one of the genre’s major strongholds in Europe at the time. On this new recording, SANCTUS IUDA (who I incidentally also saw after they reformed) do not sound as openly anarcho-Eurocrust as in their glory days, as they lie more on the dark hardcore side of the spectrum with an ’00s epic vibe that is almost reminiscent of Spanish neocrust. You can sense the anger, but the band loses me a little with this change of direction. Don’t get me wrong, SANCTUS IUDA is still at home with the crust punk sound and aesthetics, and I enjoy the global moodiness, but I suppose I was expecting something different. Both bands have meaningful lyrics and the title of the LP, Fuck All Borders on both sides, could not be clearer. Fuck the borders indeed. Refugees welcome.

Wolfhead59 Power is Not Yours LP

I, for one, am always appreciative of any band in the punk world that attempts to break the guitar/drums/bass rock band format. The recently reissued SCREAMERS demo is a prime example. WOLFHEAD59 is a UK duo that plays hardcore techno punk, which at its best can be compared to L.O.T.I.O.N., LE TIGRE, and ATARI TEENAGE RIOT. At its worst, it’s shitty video game music overlaid with distorted, shrieking vocals. I’ll say this one’s about half and half. They do a really interesting cover of AGNOSTIC FRONT’S “Gotta Go” and I enjoyed some of the trippier numbers like “Na Zawsze,” but this is hard for me to get through in one listening, much as some of the late ’90s clubs I suffered through in order to score hard drugs. Overall worth a listen, though.

Zero Again Out of the Crooked Timber of Humanity… EP

ZERO AGAIN from Bristol are an anarcho band consisting of members of UKHC veterans such as WARWOUND, DECADENCE WITHIN, REGRET, BRING TO RUIN, and others. Perhaps due to the use of modern instruments and higher level of musicianship, it sits on the metallic side of anarcho-punk, maybe even a tad modern metal-sounding for the fans of Ian Glasper’s publications (he is a member of the band). Yet the songs are still not unlike the mid-’80s UKHC/anarcho-punk sounds of SACRILEGE, ICONS OF FILTH, RUDIMENTARY PENI, or WARWOUND, if they used modern gear and recorded on DAW software. Fierce anarcho-punk songs driven by a world of emptiness, frustration with endless police oppression, COVID isolation, etc. Songs reflect the same angry, dark realities of the world that have yet to be really improved since the first WARWOUND demo was recorded.