Well, growing up as hardcore kid in the nineties I can totally relate to this book. This is a really big book which tells about David´s adventures as a guitarist for touring bands. What I always loved reading in fanzines is tour diaries and this book reminds me of just that. Touring. All the troubles, all the joy, all the problems with promoters, sound, van breaking down or having a puncture, job worries. David is best known as guitarist for UK melodic punk band Couch Potatoes but also being a part of the UK hardcore punk scene for more than three decades now. This book is in fact a document of this life and work, but also a tour de force document about history of UK DIY hardcore punk scene in the nineties and all the bands, I must admit that I found couple of that I never heard before and will definitely investigate and have a listen. This book is just hardcore from the heart, written by hardcore kid for hardcore kids. More than 600 pages topped with superb photographs and also flyers and gig posters. A document about time which may have passed but remains in heart, also a coming of age story.
Long time no crust hardcore punk on the pages of this zine. So, it is time for me to correct that mistake and I can safely say that Malatesta are best band for that. These guys are hailing from Munich, Germany. This brand new opus contains eight songs. Lyrics are in German language and deal with inner struggle and battling inner demons, machoism, sexism but from personal side of things. So, that means lyrics are not your usual d-beat crust punk about war, nuclear terror, post apocalypse and similar merry themes, though there is nothing wrong with that. Malatesta play d-beat hardcore crust punk but guitars create lots of melody that sounds so great, haunting and melancholic, so I can say there are also, or at least I hear it, some black metal influences in guitar work, I can hear some Darkthrone in their crusty albums in some guitars but I can tell you, this album contains great songwriting and does not get boring, that means not every song is similar, like it is often case with bands that play this kind of music. This is energy, melody, melancholy and darkness in eight opuses. I would so like to see this band play live, I am sure their show is energy pure. Go check this one out. You will not regret it.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 