Antidote - One Does Not Sell The Earth Upon Which The People Walk (1986)

Antidote - One Does Not Sell The Earth Upon Which The People Walk (1986)

No, not the New York hardcore powerhouse that gave us 'Thou Shalt Not Kill'. This is the British/Dutch collaboration between Chumbawamba and The Ex.

A bit of an oddity, Antidote are basically like early Chumbawamba. Good shit for sure, but while the Chumba records were known for longer, inter-weaved, tracks, none of the songs on this EP even reach one minute!

To say the guitar work is the highlight would be disrespectful to the other instruments. The guitars have that great mix of both chords and catchy lead melodies (Think Chumba's 'Revolution'), the bass bops along-with melody, groove and atmosphere, the drums range from spastic polka blasts to piercing stabs, and the vocals are antagonistic, bratty, and overlap in that classic melodramatic Chumba way.

The way they crafts their songs is incredible. While none of the songs reach the one minute mark each track is memorable, with certain tracks like 'Instrumental', 'The Sun' and 'R.T.Z. & B.P. ...Why?' offering ample twists-and-turns throughout the 8 minutes of anarcho fury.

Overall, this is an essential addition to the 80s Chumbawamba collection. Great, weird, experimental punk!

One Does Not Sell The Earth...

Life Cycle - Myth and Ritual (1988)

Life Cycle - Myth and Ritual (1988) 

Imagine a political punk band in the vein of Crass. Now imagine what would happen if the guitarist
got a tape with Celtic Frost dubbed on it from his pen-pal Hugo, or Gustav, or some Swedish named mofo.

Okay, so that's not too hard to imagine, i know. Hellbastard, Generic, and Deviated Instinct are all great examples of Celtic Frosty punks. But Life Cycle are a bit different...

Life Cycle were from Bridgend, Wales. and played a rad combination of punk and Tom G. Warrior style metal. In their time they put out two records 'Myth and Ritual' in 1988 and 'The Weight of Tradition' in 1989. Vocally there is the female anarcho vocals of Marie and the brutish shouts of guitar player Neil Morgan. Its a cool mixture for sure. Guitar wise all the tracks have Tom G. Warrior all over them. All the riffs are sludgy, bass-ridden, mid-paced, menacing, and repetitive. The repetition bludgeons the listener into a bloody pulp, devoid of shape, a 'thing' that only
HP Lovecraft could describe. To top it off, the tracks melt into each other giving no time for the listener to regain consciousness. I think the reason this record has never been re-issued is because its dangerous. The riffs are heavy, man. Too heavy for humans to comprehend, bro.

If Captain Caveman was holding  a guitar instead of a club, i'd be convinced that he played the guitar on this record.

What separates this record from many other crust bands is the focus on condensing monumental riffs into short songs. Unfortunately, 'The Weight Of Tradition' isn't a carbon copy of 'Myth and Ritual', the guitar work is much more Prong-like as opposed to the obsessive Tom G Warrior guitar madness found here. With that said 'The Weight Of Tradition' is pretty rad, so definitely check it out.

If you want to be mentally murdered in 7 minutes, check out 'Myth and Ritual'

Youtube for the entire 'Myth and Ritual' EP

Linky Link:
https://mega.co.nz/#!ZcAn1aSa!49gsqzRt9SysPgrAgyKcFn0XgPjFtb43306I_RSz1Ik

Cheers to 'Mad Blasts of Chaos' for the album art and music. For some background info on the band, check the comments section for this record here:
http://madblastsofchaos.blogspot.co.uk/2007/11/life-cycle-myth-ritual-ep-1988.html