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No. 10026
Anonymous
1st May 2016 Sunday 4:54 pm
10026
Life Cycle - "Myth & Ritual" - Celtic Crust
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtsRhe58P1c
If you can imagine The Poison Girls spending their days listening to Celtic Frost and Deviated Instinct before getting stuck in a k-hole, you'd be getting much closer to describing Life Cycle. Feminism was hardly a foreign concept to Britain's Anarchopunk movement, but rarely had any band been so inspired to make it sound heavy. Life Cycle's brand of Crust sounded very distinct even for its day. Full of droning, menacing riffs which rumble along at a sludgy mid-tempo, Life Cycle's debut EP "Myth & Ritual" stands out as one of Anarchopunk's best kept secrets.
Unlike the infantile "kill all rapists" or insufferable self-pitying "woe is me" plaguing virtually every artform branded "feminist", each song has its own identifiable persona with very personal motifs that still sound reflective, introspective and tastefully subtle. Printed on the interior is an essay from bassist, vocalist and songwriter Marie Sheard elaborating on sexism, society and gender roles. She's obviously read her share of Germaine Greer and Laura Mulvey, admitting as much on the following EP's essay found in "The Weight of Tradition" and interweaving the male gaze and neo-Freudian poststructuralism in the lyrics. Agree or disagree with her views, the sincerity and conviction can be felt and appreciated by the listener.
Punk sensibilities in hand, the band establishes an exceptional Metal platform full of gritty rhythms. The production is fittingly murky and dirty yet all very powerful and dense, affecting how virtually every instrument sounds. The riffs sound droning and dirty which stay from slow to midpaced, but not so that they sound monotonous or gratingly dirge like. The band will jam on a riff for a while then sidewind you with something as unexpected as it is groovy. Occasionally, they'll belt out a chaotic solo, but its lack of polish suits the established soundscape. It's quite obvious they listened to "Morbid Tales", but they still manage to be fresh and not horribly derivative like the vast majority of the genre.
Another distinctive feature is the dueling vocals from Marie and the guitarist Neil Morgan. Marie's shouted vocals are loud enough to be heard through the chaos but with enough restraint to keep her from squealing obnoxiously. Neil, on the other hand, churls out throaty, harsh rasps quite reminiscent of Hellbastard's Scruff, keeping the overwhelming grittiness in line. Both of them keep a balance so it doesn't sound dissonant within the dissonance.
It's a shame the band couldn't do an encore performance for the follow up "The Weight of Tradition", which pales in comparison to this monument of oppressive crust. A live bootleg split would feature all three songs as well as some which never made the studio. Worth listening to just to hear the audience banter among themselves.
The band has now since moved on with their lives. Allegedly, Marie Sheard has since become a school teacher and has a daughter who enjoys Harry Potter
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