You may well have seen the live review of this albums launch elsewhere on the site. ‘4T2UDE’ has been available on download for a while but is also out on CD for those who prefer to have something of substance at hand. I will first do the hard sell and point out that if you like the sound of this it is available for just £5 from the Active Distro link below. The band actually gave it out for free at their gig too and any money made from sales of this are likely to end up in the hands of worthwhile causes. Active Slaughter are an Anarchist punk band and politically and ethically involved in a vast array of things from animal rights, to political injustices, anti rape, child slavery, corporate greed etc. They walk the talk 100% as well and if that sounds a bit too much for you and you prefer to believe what you have preached from the pages of the Sun you are in the wrong place.
An extensive booklet provides the all important lyrical messages here and the first thing that will strike, as the band effectively employed on previous album ‘Ave A Butchers’ in 2002, is the use of sampled newscasts and things from radio and TV. This was a method that Crass always used to get their message across and Active Slaughter are not even remotely looking for originality here but no doubt just realise this is a perfect way of doing things.
After the first of these we have the greatest song title missed by Discharge ever ‘Nothing To Hide Nothing To Fear’ This one is all about big brother (and not the TV show) and it bombs along with a really crusty bounce to it, vocals from Jake Slaughter flung out with contempt and a nice solid armoury from the instrumental section backing them up like a brick through a surveillance camera. I really love ‘Born Free’ what better way to bolster an anti hunting song than actually using a hunting horn on it? Perfect, separating the fox from the hounds in style and a flash of inspiration that I am surprised nobody else (to my knowledge has thought of).
Not caring to offend the powers that be, there are songs about mass protest and others that are not afraid to literally use the vocals to effectively throw bricks at coppers. ‘Ruling Class War’ has a sombre feel to it as it addresses war in the name of oil and the natural follow up to this is catastrophe in the form of ‘Chernobyl Waiting To Happen.’ Despite the fact the music here is not complicated (it’s punk rock innit) the message behind it is designed to make you think, so even when this has you drunkenly throwing your Special Brew around in the pit, the comedown might not be so pleasant.
‘Corporate Fascist (Berlin 1936, London 2012)’ says it all just in the title really, with the way things are going it is pretty obvious public unrest is going to get more prolific in the run up to the Olympics, the biggest waste of money at the worst time possible, all for the sake of our crumbling countries image. Hell I’m ranting now but this shit is enough to make you angry. Good song by the way. I love the crying guitar cadence and the nice thick bass here; won’t be drinking Coke whilst listening to it either that’s for sure. The sliding guitar of ‘R.I.P.’ invokes Conflict and the pace of the song bombs along and gets right in your face and the riotous ‘Leather And Studs’ is a great observation of the ‘punk rock circus.’
There are not many with quite such a dedication within the punk rock scene these days and there should be more considering that this is the day that the country dies all over again. Active Slaughter are not going to be silenced easily and if you want to do something, buying ‘4T2UDE’ is a good place to start. Not bad for a bunch of vegan bunny humping wankers!
http://www.myspace.com/activeslaughter
http://www.activedistribution.org
