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Heresy
Posted by Laila Hanson on 21-May-08 @ 03:38 PM|
FILE UNDER: UKHC YEARS OF EXISTENCE: 1985-1989 RECORD TO START WITH: 20 Reasons To End It All (2007, Boss Tuneage) AFTER THAT, CHECK OUT: Face Up To It! (1988) and Heresy-1987 DVD (both on Boss Tuneage) GO DOWNLOAD: "Everyday Madness Everyday," "Follow Suit," "Mentally Conned," "When Unity Becomes Solidarity," "Consume," "Make The Connection," "Never Healed" THE MUSIC, THE MESSAGE: In the winter of 1985, as other English teens stared at the mirror, molding their hair while enthralled by Wham!'s "Last Christmas," a band of high-strung misfits in a Nottingham studio were scolded by their bewildered sound engineer: "Drums weren't meant to be played that fast." Note to Guinness Book Of World Records editor: This is nearly half a decade after GBH and Discharge doubled the speed limit of all previous Britpunk. Heresy, like no band before them, harnessed the hormonal force of American hardcore and spiked it with metal-tipped UK82 punk. While other punks got caught in the Hüsker Dü mania sweeping the English scene in the late '80s, bassist Kalv Piper, drummer Steve Charlesworth, singer John March and original guitarist Reevsy had scant patience for melody and only "matured" enough to get their bile across without a lyric sheet. The band's 1987 split LP with like-minded locals Concrete Sox was the first record ever released by future grindcore/death-metal powerhouse Earache, but it's Heresy's final output-compiled on the new 20 Reasons To End It All, including the four-song 7-inch manifesto Whose Generation?-that rates as their true peak. With hysterical riffage and equally uncompromising doses of idealism and disgust, the disc stands alongside Gorilla Biscuits' Start Today as one of the few articles of post-golden-age HC that still scorches the shorts off most of the early '80s stuff. PUNK ROCK RELEVANCE: There'll always be a vocal contingent of punks who'd sooner defile their ears with Kylie Minogue than take a milligram of metal in their hardcore. Heresy is the secret cure for this phobia, with fewer wanky side effects than better-known contemporaries like DRI or successors like Converge. Even in the thick of physics-mocking tempo shifts and speedball solos, their music never trades its raw humanity for macho poses or bullshit theatrics. CURRENT WHEREABOUTS: 1980s hardcore made a fetish of short songs-short careers were a rarer virtue. When Heresy's hormones began to plateau, they made a wise decision too few of their peers could stomach: Rather than trudge through the phases of commercialism and shameless nostalgia, they called it a day. Charlesworth and Piper went on to form Meatfly and now clobber out 21st century thrash with Geriatric Unit. Guitarist Baz (who replaced Reevsy in 1988), was also the guitarist for UKHC legends Ripcord, and formed the more melody-minded Can't Decide with March in '89; he currently plays in Violent Arrest. Boss Tuneage just completed its series of Heresy reissues, including live and Peel Sessions tracks, and the feverish concert footage of the DVD, Heresy-1987. -Andrew Marcus |
