The past years I have
been less vocal about punk, something I do not enjoy defending that much
anymore. Shying away from the punk label, particularly after seeing the opening
ceremony to the London Olympics where dolls bobbed their oversized heads to Pretty Vacant, commenting that
they do not want cheap comments. I just wanted to call the punk attitude quits.
Most punk bands have transposed
their style, appropriating a more sanitized image. The milieu is scattered with
essentially rock bands, few bands playing heavy music that is not metal. The
ethos and attitude of punk are transplanted to something very trendy or it is
invisible. Crust Punk bands are only nostalgically referred to today.
Crack Rock is a positive
pole to punk’s recent clean image. Dirty, vulgar and anti-capitalist, true
Crack Rock bands are the dirtiest punk can offer. I think Corporation is a
Crack Rock band, with a healthy lenience towards rock contained within its
finer sounds. The album contains powerful chords with full-bodied, memorable
songs. The 2009 album Return
of the Corporation was an
awesome album, high on my list of favorite punk albums.
Bank Korrupt opens the first 20 seconds with a weird
intro that spill over to familiar riffs and heavy vocals. The song is about
being bankrupt and the bank being bankrupt, with a long sample about debt. Quarter Life Crisis is a melodramatic and anxiety
ridden song to have as a second song. Venom contains 4 vocal parts with 31
words between no vocals parts in 19 seconds.
I Hate the Radio’s intro is more than a minute long. The
chorus is gang vocals of “I hate the radio” repeated 4 times embedded between
two bi-vocal verses that serve as anthem. The song progresses to a weird reggae
bridge with final chorus and outro. Fuck the radio, I fucking hate the radio.
The radio is an advertising medium with no altruism that works tit for tat.
9 to 5 sings anti-work and anti-capitalist
sentiments, such as “would you let your child self beat the shit out of you?”
The lyrics reiterate the plea to not sell your soul for cash “9 to 5 are you
even alive?”. Menstrual Envy is a very weird song. It is the
longest song on the album, with a hypnotic and angry feel.
Jesus and Santa is a 180 degree change in mood to
happy-clappy street punk. The songs’ carrying bass and trumpet sounds
beautiful. It is skater music with attitude, unfortunately only 1:25 long. You Lose contains fast riffs and furious
vocals. It sounds a lot like previous songs, such as Land of the Free. An anxious
beat presses down on the vocals.
Last Calls’ brass section qualifies the song with
jazz-ish elements inserted with rocking guitars. An organ builds to full-on
fast and happy skater music. The song is about fucking up songs while drinking
till last call and passing out. A cheesy 10 second guitar solo is followed by a
solid 10 second bass solo. Consider
this my Resignation starts
with a very fast intro with clean 90’s type punk vocals. It is a classic punk
song that ends the album, probably the most archetype punk song on the album.
The album leaflet
states the album was recorded in basements. With 10 songs that span over 28
minutes, it did not take long for me to familiarize myself with the structures
of the album. I predict a quick decline in listening of this album and I soon
started skipping Quarter Life
Crisis and Menstrual Envy.
I don’t rate this album as impressive as Return of the Corporation was on the first couple of listens.
Nonetheless, this is one of the best punk albums this year.
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