Record of the week 10/7/2024
Maybe it's odd that our first record of the week is a repress, but that's 2024 for you. Insane politics and surveillance, genocide by governments getting more money than disaster refleif, and meanwhile we'll all looking at RSD pushing $70 records you can find in a $10 bin. A record that came out in 1984 couldn't be a better choice.... If you're familiar with bands like Crass, Flux of Pink Indians, and Discharge, you've probably already heard this one - a classic combination of autonomous philosophy and hardcore punk. Can't say you've dropped in on much 80s Anarcho punk? Antisect might be a great starting point. They successfully pieced together a balance between hope and despair when talking about social issues and animal rights.
"Who are these people who support the cause of war
And use their false morality and label it as law
Who are all these people who change happiness to pain
And turn the suffering of one into another's so-called gain."
Lyrics from 40 years ago, that could easily have been written today. 100% analogue pressing, re-cut directly from the original master tapes. All vinyl editions come with huge foldout poster sleeve, as per the original edition, scanned from the original artwork. Also includes an 8-page booklet.
The word ‘legendary’ is bandied around far too lazily and conveniently these days. But, in the case of Antisect: legendary is precisely what they are! As a band/collective, they sit right up there with other great names from the raging era of early 80s true ‘anti-establishment’ punk rock such as Discharge, Flux Of Pink Indians, Subhumans, Rudimentary Peni and even Crass, in terms of the impact they have had over the years. This, their debut album was released forty years ago in the paranoid year that was 1984. It is, without doubt, a classic combination of autonomous philosophy and hardcore thrash. But there is more to the album than just that. Aside the obvious musical influence of Discharge, Motörhead, Black Sabbath, Venom etc, there was a creative and atmospheric musical backdrop behind the recording that set them apart from everyone else at the time. It was a very ambitious concept, which successfully pieced together the balance hope and despair within the realm of sound and projection. In Darkness, There Is No Choice, is finally reissued as a fully authorised edition for the first time since its original release.
