8 Jun 2012

Session III: [Antidrasi, Dry Lungs (compilation), Dapnom]




It's no surprise given Greece's tumultuous history that you'd get such a fertile scene which gave birth to a number of quality punk bands throughout the 80's and into the 90's. My personal favourite of the lot is Antidrasi (Reaction) with a vibe harkening back to the 80's hardcore/crust sound. Their sophomore 1991 release Enantia (Against) featured herein bore a notorious inscription on the cover in Greek which roughly translates to: "if only Christ should return now to see the fear inscribed upon the faces of His priests". And this is what characterises this band like any other punk ensemble worth its salt: unapologetic intransigence. Released by Greece's own safe-haven for alternative music, Wipe Out Records, which amongst others even released a Rotting Christ 7" back in the early 90's.



17 bands disparate in style and form yet unified against a common enemy: the cliché and the blasé. Dry Lungs (Placebo, 1985) is a raging cauldron of sulphuric tape manipulations and noise experimentations regressing into dadaistic nihilism. A decent chronicler of the early-mid 80's industrial scene whose only purpose was to push the boundaries of sound. Incidentally here's an interesting piece of trivia: the guy behind the release - Paul Lemos - besides being in the influential New York-based industro-experimental ensemble Controlled Bleeding (featured herein) was also one half of the duo behind legendary industrial metallers, Skin Chamber.



"The eternal silence of these infinite spaces terrifies me"
-Pascal

Known for drenching some of their tape releases in blood, Dapnom enjoy a sort of semi-cult status. Unio Mystica (Ars Funebris, 2007) is cosmic dark ambient with conspicuous religious overtones. Disquieting, "anxious"  and, most importantly, conducive to inner mental imagery, it makes for an engaging lights-out, headphones-on experience.

.eof

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