The Exploited; Death Before Dishonour

The Exploited; Death Before Dishonour

 1987

Rough Justice Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Anti-UK  2. Power Struggle  3. Scaling the Derry Wall  4. Barry Prossitt  5. Don't Really Care  6. No Forgiveness  7. Death Before Dishonour  8. Adding to Their Fears  9. Police Informer  10. Drive Me Insane  11. Pulling Us Down  12. Sexual Favours





 
Sorry I haven't posted at all this month...

Y'see, the United States recently elected 2013 WWE Hall of Famer and Game Show host Donald J Trump to the office of the Presidency, so I decided to stowaway on a steam boat to Canada, where I am currently in hiding...

I am currently deep in the wilds of New Brunswick,  living off of Beaver Tail and Ketchup Chips. I have tied this blog post to the leg of a Canadian Goose and I am hoping this message makes its way to the internet...

Here it is. All the way from Canada. A few random sentences about "Death Before Dishonour" by The Exploited:

There are entirely too many man asses in the inside cover of this album. If I wanted Man Asses, I would have bought a Stephen Stills album!

 The front cover is pretty dope, though (of the Exploited album, not the Manassas album).

 The Grim Reaper embracing Maggie, plotting the demise of many young citizens, no doubt.

As for the music on the album, it rules. The band are pretty squarely into punk/metal territory at this point. The album's method of operation becomes apparent right from the very first seconds of the very first track, "Anti-UK." It's all about Wattie shouting himself hoarse over big slabs of grey, muted crunching guitars and rushing drums. Wattie seems to get less melodic every album. At this point, he's so hoarse, gurgly and ugly sounding that you sort of have to admire the slovenliness of it all..

It isn't as immediate as the catchy chant-alongs of "Punks Not Dead," but once I became acclimated to the samey, blurring bleakness of it all, it became apparent to me that I probably prefer this era of Exploited to the early stuff. I have no idea why I find this war-torn battlefield of sound so fascinating. Maybe it's because you don't often find lyrics as terse, blunt and unadorned as the list of grievances on "Drive Me Insane." It just kinda wallows in its own anger and hopelessness. Stuff like "Scaling the Derry Wall" is just so  pissed-off and Discharge-y, that I can't not love it. The only bit of weirdness is the closing track "Sexual Favours" which suddenly pops in with a 60's shimmy bassline that you can sorta imagine hippies dropping LSD and twirling around to.  It eventually turns into another hoarse shouter, though.

All in all, another good album by the band. Like I said, it'll probably blur right past you like it did me for the first couple listens, but if you value pissed-off punk/metal as much as I do, the grey blobs will eventually come into focus. I haven't really explored the band's discography much past this album. Last I heard of them, was 1996's "Beat the Bastards," which was freakin' industrial metal or something...I haven't heard it in a couple decades so it's a bit blurry...Not sure what happened to them after that...I'm sure they're still out there grinding away on some tour, while mohawked kids hurl themselves off the stage in ecstasy...

Let's listen to some Exploited...Here's "Drive Me Insane"...Enjoy...