yesterday was exactly 9 years since the 1st post here.. oh man, how the time flies.. honestly, I don't know what's still pushing me to update this monster more or less regularly but let it roll while it's going..
on that occasion, it's time for some unusual post here - the list of my favourite "epic" crust songs which was part of this wonderful journey by crust waters all those past years..
first of all, to make things clear here will not be about epic crust like the genre, but with word "epic", because I can't remember any other word on English which will be more appropriate, I just wanted to describe those songs that stuck in your head already after the 1st listen of some new band or album and years after it is still the best to you, the song that usually stands out from the others on the album, the songs that becomes classics of the genre over the time or it just will in the nearest future, whether because of some special intro, some wicked solo, extra good riff, some scream on the beginning or whatever but you immediately know - this is the one!..
at first this was intended like some top 10 but in like 10 minutes I remembered 30+ songs and can't decide which to choose and soon realised that ranking them doesn't have much sense so they will be listed in alphabetical order..
maybe important thing to mention, this is not some "serious musically expert" cataloguing of crust songs, it's all just based on my personal music taste and preference.. also those aren't strictly the best crust songs ever to me, just the songs that have this something.. also, here aren't included all those awesome crust stuff from the ex-yu area from 90's/early 00's with which I started and which are still my favourite part of anarcho/punk/crust field and reason why is simply because this list would be a way too long..
okay, let's go, hope this will be fun to you also as it was to me..
AFTER THE BOMBS - Spoils of War
- it got everything above described songs should have - great short "Doom a like" intro, fucked up solo which is slowly cutting your skull and is just ready to painfully touch your brain, great vocals, fun and recognizable catchy riff, really short slow part just to dramatise a little while the rest of the song is in pretty fast tempo, all that together packed in 3:45 long track - just perfect and this easily can be sample of what kind of songs will be listed here..
AMEBIX - Axeman
- it will be strange that neither one of Amebix's songs didn't finished on this list, there's probably more of their tracks which deserve to be here but I choose Axeman, simply because it's about one of the most bad ass crust (or metal, punk, whatever - call it as you want) songs of all time.. from this scream from the beginning to those slow shredded tempo, then lyrics... it's actually scary song and that's what it makes it nastily beautiful..
ANAEROBA - Scars So Old
- in my modest opinion Aneoroba was in it's path to become one of the best "modern" crust bands in the world just before they split up and stopped playing, despise they were well known in Europe, they were meant to be one of the most recognizable crust bands out there.. almost every single song they ever made was crust anthem and "epic" in it's own way, but to me somehow the best always was this one.. perfect amount of speed and slowness combined together and completed with those awesome dark and full of depression lyrics - this song is just so good it hurts!..
ARGUE DAMNATION - Ainu Moshiri
- this was the 1st Japanese crust band I ever heard and since I buy their tape from one of the local distros this song stay carved in my memory, probably forever.. wake me up in the middle of the night and play me this song, I will recognize it in first second.. maybe doesn't have so much "epicness" but it has a lot of famous Japanese madness, speed and distortion which is enough for me and enough for this track to finish here on the list..
BxCxM - Allein
- heheh, what a hell of a memories this song, actually the whole demo brings back to me.. some of the toughest parties in my life were always spiced by listening this demo from tape or in more cases from mobile phone.. it's about not so familiar drunks from Germany who were playing some rough hardcore punk crust, or comedy crust as they themselves call it, just check the song
Jau Pla Pour Moi and maybe you can get some picture..
CAMPUS STERMINII - Be Yourself
- for intro in this song from their only one LP "Life Is Nightmarish Strugle" released in 2009 they use famous talk from movie Fight Club so this make it epic from the beginning, but hey what a powerful song!.. how many time I screamed beeeee yourseeeeeeeelf!! in my room listening to this.. also I was watching them live, what madness was during this song is even hard to describe.. classic metal punk anthem!..
COP ON FIRE - Creer En Nada
- it's time for one band that is often called and labeled as neo crust, but they always had some kind of old school crust feel in their sound, just something more melodic (especially in this song) or at least I experienced them that way.. probably their most known song, originally from split 12" EP with Visions of War from 2005..
CRUTCHES - Mangeling for Freedom
- while almost all songs on this list are pretty old it's time for one new.. released just few months ago and recorded especially for awesome Dis Is Malmo compilation LP.. one minute long spoken word intro which is really subtle to British and US anarcho bands from '80s/'90s transforms into typical Crutches madness inspired by classic Swedish hardcore and Japanese crust/noise all together creating perfect d-takt crust raw punk insanity.. one of my favourite bands at the moment, one of the best live acts I ever saw and this songs kinda stands out from the rest of theirs.. more than enough to be on this list..
DETESTATION - Your Choice
- legendary band from legendary town and scene, Portland's Detestation is one of my all time favourites same as song Your Choice which is an opening track of their, also legendary self titled LP..
one of my friends who is into crust music and love the music part but can't listen to them because of vocals, well for me the vocals are a trademark of this band and I absolutely love them.. I mean, what's not to like at this perfect thrashy, crusty hard core punk masterpiece!?.. in one word - legendary!..
DISAFFECT - A Plea For Life
- okay, this maybe isn't strictly into crust but I consider them as one of the finest 90's crusty hardcore/anarcho punk bands.. m/f vocals like born for such kind of a music and incredibly good and contagious guitar make this track, to me as one of the most recognisable anarcho punk songs of all times..
DISCLOSE - Mass Death Destruction
- this band is like holly to me, 10000 times better and more important than Discharge, no matter how contradictory this may sound, and have special place in my heart, brain and ears forever, so dis list (heheh, dis list. get it!?) couldn't be without them.. maybe nothing too much of epic in this song, but it's one of the dearest to me and probably the most known by them and definitely the most covered one by other bands.. simply, raw, filthy - mas death destructiooooon!..
DISRUPT - Domestic Prison
- if this isn't one of the most known and the best songs in extreme music history then I don't know which is.. period..
DOOM - Exploitation
- there's no way to describe how I like Doom.. band that definitely determined my music taste.. one of their simplest songs, little bit slower than most of the others but with bad ass sounding spoken intro and just typical Doom riff, drumming and everything.. this song, actually is Doom..
EKKAIA - Sombras del Progreso
- at the beginning I told that this will not be about the genre that's often called epic crust, but I must make expectation with this one 'cause I listened a lot to this band as a kid and this songs always remains in my memory and when I was thinking about this list this also was one of the first that came on my mind.. if you don't know Ekkaia were neo crust/screamo hardcore band from Spain really well known and esteemed among fans of the genre.. want it admit it or not, song is epic in every way and it's pretty addictive..
EXISTENCH - Pointless
- one more not strictly tight to crust, Existench from Canada, more grindcore sounding maniacs who were back then when I buy their tape definitely the most extreme band that I ever heard.. I remember how I couldn't believe that this vocals and drumming comes from human being.. Pointless was definitely song that was outstanding and I remember well that I really liked lyrics which I still today remembers and could recite them at any time..
GUN MOB - Minimum Existenz
- how many of you knows this band!?.. I can bet not so many.. one of the bands I discovered back then during myspace era, even this song was in the music player embed on my page for a while.. crust punk band from Germany with m/f vocals, reminding me on a little slower version of Disrupt.. anyhow great song with somehow weird, kinda unfinished ending..
HIATUS - Home Street Home
- Belgian crust legends must be here on this list and I pick this song with great name which is pretty different and slower from their other stuff, but it's stuck in my head since forever and it's one of their biggest classics ever.. song Down With The Ballot Box from the same s/t album could be easily here also..
HIBERNATION - Intro + The Fire of Life
- this is what I'm talking about.. perfect song and intro by those Greek veterans, to me one of the best crust songs ever, don't ask me why because I can't explain, it's just like that.. all together a little longer than majority here, but not boring even in a single moment..
HOMOMILITIA - Police Story
- opening track of their album "Twoje ciało, twój wybór" and it's actually a cover of the same named The Partisans song but in their recognizable style.. one of the most known Polish band with typically '90s east european crusty anarcho punk sound..
KONTATTO - Conspirazioni
- one of the most epic here on the list.. I was extraordinary lucky to have a chance to see those mad max crusties live few times and they sure are one of the dearest band to me.. probably their most known song, one of those, every time when they play it live (especially in Italy), the audience gets mad, grabs microphones and complete chaos and singalong starts.. it have everything, epic and slow intro, a lot of melodies, wicked solo somewhere close to end but also the dirtiness and apocalyptic stench, things this band is known for..
LA CASA FANTOM - Stillheten Skriker
- for me, with this one is easy, take all La Casa Fantom discography pick one random song and it can be here.. unbelievably intense and atmospheric band, incredible live act, amazing diy philosophy... crust opera..
LAST LEGION ALIVE - From Birth Enslaved
- perfect sample of perfect stench core song, From Birth Enslaved from their 2009 demo CD.. so heavy, powerful and dirty in the same time.. one of the recent bands which split up that I'm really sorry cause they aren't active any more and they were so promising and have so much to give, also outstanding live..
LEBENDEN TOTEN - Near Dark
- I think there's no need for any introduction here, their somehow unusual song, but I belive the most known at the same time.. can't describe how I like this band and the song, of course..
LETHARGIE - Intro/Im Herbst
- band from Germany, (from Leipzig actually, same as BxCxM, what are the odds, hehe) not so well known, one more I discover while having myspace.. it's about two and a half mins intro + 1st song from s/t LP released in 2007.. I like everything in this song - intro, vocals, atmosphere, even the german language sounds cool...
LIE DETECTOR - Victims of Bomb raid
- band from Philippines and their cover of Anti Cimex classic which in their version sounds pretty different and way more chaotic and under produced, just the way I like it.. first time I heard this song on awesome compilation which I still have on tape but unfortunately I lost its great cover, comp was called, if I remember well Scattered Surprise Attack, don't remember who released it just remember it was international with bunch of great known and less known bands from Philippines, Japan, Croatia, US, etc... but I remember that Lie Detector and this song were the best to me..if someone has it and could scan the cover that would be cool..
LIFE POSSESSION - Trest Bez Viny
- Life Possession were great crust punk band from Czech R. with strong influences from late 80's/90's Scandinavian and UK crust punk bands, but creating this somehow already famous east european crust sound.. song is from the same named cassette and CD which were their 1st release if I'm not wrong.. just check the sound of those drums man.. Awesome..
MISANTROPIC - Raise the Gallows
- one of the most politically engaged crust band that I know and is still active.. coming from Sweden, but this time not the classic Scandinavian way of crust but more UK/USA influenced if I may notice.. great energetic song same as all from awesome Insomnia album from 2010..
MISERY - Mother Nature
- one of my friends who is more into metal but was going with us often on hc punk/crust gigs noticed this thing and ask me something like: "what the fck is with this Tragedy and Misery t-shirts, every 2nd person has them.. if you don't wear Tragedy you must wear Misery or what?" I didn't really noticed it until then, but he was so right, those are 100% 2 most common t-shirts you can see on crust gig.. well if I were a fashionable punk I would always choose Misery.. I love their early work same as newer stuff.. this is from one of the latest albums From Where the Sun Never Shines (2011)..
MRTVA BODUOCNOST - Terror Davu
- (on 7:56 min of this video) first crust/grind (or anything close to those two genres) thing back in the days I ever heard was Mrtva Budoucnost/Dislike - split tape.. after the 1st listen I thought something's wrong with the tape and put it aside.. but my curiosity about this one was too strong so later I gave it few more tries and started to realise that all those noise has some sense.. luckily, because this tape was the trigger and this is how my love to such kind of noise was born.. more poverviolence/grind band but with it's roots in crust punk or at least I considered them like this since always, which doesn't mean I'm not wrong..
NAUSEA - Cybergod
- no need to say anything here, one of the biggest bands ever.. a lot of their songs (actually all of them) could be here but I choose Cybergod, absolute anthem with now more then ever actual lyrics..
NUCLEAR DEATH TERROR - Total Annihilation
- same as with Spoils of War by A.T.B. perfect example of what type of songs was in my mind when thinking about making this post.. very dear band to me, play me this song in any time of a day or night I will recognize it..
PISSCHRIST - Punk is Love
- short, energetic bomb by those Aussie raw punks.. some rumours say they are/will be active again..
SACRILEGE - Life Line
- one of the bands I discover only after I get internet connection, didn't hear about them before in handwriting letter era.. and what a band!.. I still can't believe that this is recorded in 1985.. band that was a decades ahead of it's time.. absolute classic and probably the most perfect crust song of all times, even if it wasn't called crust back then..
SCATHA - I Am One
- anarcho punk classic from Scotland.. this is how you do it!.. band which with Disaffect and Sedition makes holy trinity of 90's Scotland crusty anarcho punk and in the same time shares some members with those bands..
SCHIFOSI - Half Lit World
- very interesting band from Australia.. I think well known, but to me they was always somewhere around but newer here, if you know what I want to say.. I don't know much about them and never really seriously listen to, but this song stays cut in my memory since the first time I heard it..
SENSELESS - Pax Americana
- I told in the beginning that I won't put here any Croatian bands because this list will be a waaay too long, but I can't avoid this song.. can't really describe how I feel when I hear this, I get chills every time.. legendary..
STATE OF FEAR - Violation
- so simple and yet so complex song, fast but in same time sounds kinda slow.. probably everyone here knows about State of Fear so... just why don't today's bands play like this any more!..
STORMCROW - Enslaved in Darkness
- for Last Legion Alive's song I said that it's perfect example of stench core, well this is also.. there's no better thing than sit in warm room and spin this heaviness from vinyl while outside is snowing or heavy raining.. darker than the darkest depths of hell..
VISIONS OF WAR - Found and Emptied
- first time I heard about this band at Balkanika Core festival in 2008 (hey it was exactly 10 years ago) and they were probably the best band to me, even if there also played Agathocles, E.N.T., Wolfbrigade and Mob-47 among others.. and I exactly remembered this song, no matter how drunk and wasted I was, I remember it like it was yesterday.. the most melodic song by all of theirs so that's probably why it stick out.. anyhow today, ten years later they remains one of the best crust bands to me, band whose work I follow and respect.. also was watching them live few more times and always was a real mess and great party, hehe..
WOLFBRIGADE - Outlaw Vagabond
- or earlier
Wolfpack's maybe even better.. well similar like with earlier mentioned Misery/Tragedy thing to me there's something also with Wolfbrigade and Warcollapse, in that case I would always choose Warcollapse without thinking, but this song has huge amount of "epicnes", especially when they perform it live so here it is..
