(Andy Synn highlights three more short-but-sweet releases for you to sink your teeth into)
Between work, band, and my personal life I’m not going to have much time to write this week, hence this is likely to be one of only two articles you’ll be seeing from me.
Which means I’m going to have to do my best to make them both count… and what better way than by trying to stick to my ongoing (and continually failing) promise to try and cover more EPs?
So, without further ado, here’s three “short but sweet” bursts of Hardcore-inspired venom and vigour from Anti Ritual (Denmark), Backstabbed (Germany), and Harrowist (Austria).
ANTI RITUAL – 80 YEARS
Of the three bands featured here today Anti Ritual are the only one I’ve actually covered before, most notably their killer 2021 album Expel the Leeches (which remains a massive favourite of mine) as well as 2023’s Green Terrorism EP.
So, of course, it was inevitable that I was going to have to write something about 80 Years – whose title refers to the 80 years since the world came together to defeat the rise of fascism (while also serving as an implicit reminder that such victories are, sadly, only temporary) – which is set for release next week via Indisciplinarian.
Whereas their previous works showcased an amalgam of “blackened” Grind, Crust, and Hardcore influences, the four tracks on their latest EP strip away some of the more “extreme” moments – there’s nary a blastbeat or breakdown to be found, with the focus shifting more towards d-beat-driven rhythms and darker, doomier overtones – in favour of a hookier, more anthemic (though still rough around the edges) approach.
The opening title track, for example, is a punchy, punky, sub-two-minute shout-along in the vein of some of Martyrdöd‘s catchiest cuts (replete with some similarly infectious, though not quite as ostentatious, lead guitar work) that really picks up the pace in its final moments, while the darkly melodic approach adopted on “Deportation ASMR for Gil Scott-Heron recalls the moodier, gloomier side of acts like Disfear and/or The Great Deceiver (while still sounding unabashedly like Anti Ritual, through and through).
And while 80 Years is undoubtedly less “extreme” than its predecessor(s), the in-your-face intensity of “Emperor of the New Truth” and the climactic call-to-arms that is “Days of War, Nights of Love” prove that the band have lost none of their fire and none of their desire to inspire change (for the better, one would hope) through their music… if anything, their message is even more urgent now than ever.
BACKSTABBED – SELF-FULFILLING TRAGEDY
If Anti Ritual represent the crustier, gnarlier side of things, then Germany’s Backstabbed are arguably a much more “mainstream-friendly” alternative – which, to be clear, isn’t a bad thing by any means (I wouldn’t be featuring them here if I thought otherwise, would I?) – whose use of punky “who-oahs”, beefy breakdowns, and the occasional funky, hip-shaking rhythm should absolutely appeal to fans of bigger names like Knocked Loose, Turnstile, etc.
Don’t get me wrong though, there’s still lots here to appeal to our normal readership (that opening riff to “Self-Fulfilling Tragedy” is as catchy as it is killer, and the bass-lines help give the whole thing both a nimble flair and a hefty bottom end boom) it’s just that – with the recent mainstreaming of the Hardcore scene (and, again, I’m not positioning that as a negative, even if a lot of the bands getting the press and attention don’t always appeal directly to me) – Backstabbed sound like a band primed for bigger and better things.
“Out of Body Experience” is all shameless swagger and and crowd-pleasing gang-vocals that floats like a butterfly and sings like The Warriors at their anthemic best, while “Reborn” ups the aggression with a thrashier and more metallic attack that pushes the heart-racing riffs and righteous rage that little bit further into the red while also incorporating – whisper it – a dash of angsty, nu-metal-ish bounce into the mix.
And then there’s “Forgiveness”, which closes the EP with an injection of unapologetically infectious melody (that central chorus hook is pretty damn irresistible, let’s be honest) and some humongously hooky grooves that could easily make waves on the right radio stations without sacrificing any of the band’s pugilistic punch.
Definitely ones to keep an eye on, and fingers crossed we’ll be hearing even more from them (on much bigger stages and platforms) very soon!
HARROWIST – PLAGUE CONTINUUM
Unapologetically underground and uncompromising Blackened Hardcore bruisers Harrowist are another band who are new to the site, but one who fit in pretty seamlessly with the sort of thing we cover here… i.e. spiky, stabbing riffs and screaming, screeching aggression, backed up by a barrage of blasbeats, d-beats, and rumbling kick-drums.
Opener “The Preacher”, for example, is three-and-a-half minutes of chunky, churning guitars – all thuggish, down-tuned chuggery and dissonant, nerve-scraping chords – and weighty, hammering percussion, while “The Sculptor” is an even heavier (and appropriately harrowing) assault on the senses, whose erratic bursts of blasting extremity and punishing passages of grimy, gut-wrenching groove (along with the occasional injection of grim, gloomy melody) recall the gnarliest, nastiest moments of early Fall of Efrafa or From Ashes Rise with an even darker, harsher edge.
“The Last Flowers” – a personal favourite of mine, largely due to its ridiculously catchy, chug-driven chorus and its repeated “Down!” vocal hook – plays a series of twitchy, anxiety-inducing rhythmic games on the listener which hint at a willingness to think outside of the usual Metal/Punk/Hardcore box, after which (in what feels like a direct response to its predecessor) “Vengeance of the Landlords” showcases an even more stripped-down and straightforward approach that emphasises the inherent violence and savagery in the band’s sound while still (if you listen carefully) hiding a few subtly proggy proclivities underneath all the ferocious sound and fury.
Lyrically and conceptually inspired by the works of Hungarian artist Gácsi Mihály, whose pieces explicitly predicted (and warned of) the rise of autocracy and automation, Plague Continuum is a seething, scathing soundtrack to today’s dystopian age, and one well worth adding to your list ASAP.