Royal Scum Human Gallantry EP
This is a perfect example of a cover being a poor illustration of the music included on the record. In terms of semiotics, using a rather gruesome black-and-white picture of a horse being hung on a deck points to growling, nihilistic grindcore, but ROYAL SCUM from Hamburg does not belong to that school, rather playing heavy and dark crusty hardcore with some moody melodies. The band is actually more of a collective and does not have a fixed lineup, so I do not know if the members of this version of the band were around in the ’00s, but I would bet they were because ROYAL SCUM has that typical quite well-produced neocrusty sound that was so popular back then. It would be far-fetched to claim that they stand as an all-out FROM ASHES RISE-type band, but early/mid-’00s ACURSED or UNKIND come to mind, although they do not sound quite as bleak, and the vocal delivery in English—as well as the use of several angry singers—makes me think of US bands (like ANTIPRODUCT, maybe?). With ROYAL SCUM being pro-vegan, I assume the cover is meant to reflect human cruelty toward animals, and I would guess the band is not too keen on the monarchy (even if Germany, besides Franz Beckenbauer, has not had a king for a while). On the whole, Human Gallantry is a pretty solid listen if you enjoy this sort of politically-driven, heavy, angry hardcore with dark melodies, and the EP works well and does perfectly what it set out to do.