Anarchist Wolves - "Kill the Fascist Seed EP" (2017)

ANARCHIST WOLVES - "Kill the Fascist Seed EP"

Year: 2107

Genre: Blackened Crust/Grind/Thrash

Country: USA

Tracklist:

1. Smash the Fascist
2. Malignancy
3. Smoke Out the Rats
4. Interlachen
5. No Empires
6. Post Truth
7. Plight of Insurrection

Bandcamp

Another brilliant solo project, this one from anonymous artist "Wolf Boy" in New Mexico.According to the artist, the album is intended to "fuel your outrage, to soundtrack your organizing and agitating, and to propel you into the streets to stop fascism." Worthy goals all round. 

The album is aggressively lo-fi and anti-commercial in all the finest traditions of the punk and black metal scenes that spawned it, paying homage to the greats of the genre with a clear influence from the Norwegian second wave. The dark tremolo picked intro to "Interlachen", resolving into furious crusty riffing, perfectly enacpsulates the violent mood of the album, along with its wide range of influences. The longest track on the album, "Plight of Insurrection" similarly utilizes mournful minor key ambience before shattering the atmosphere into shards of raw crust punk and militaristic drumming.

What I found particularly interesting was the blend of hardcore elements into the mix, with breakdown-esque sections surrounded by blast beats, punky riffing, gurgling screams, and the kind of tremolo picking in minor keys that is normally found in much more traditional black metal. That being said, this is clearly a black metal release, not a punk one. The warlike aggression in the music, the militant drumming, the incredibly provocative and threatening lyrics, and their vicious delivery all combine to make Anarchist Wolves an expression of not just antifascist rage, but the kind of revolutionary art this genre is so exclusively brilliant at producing.

T.G.