Legendary street punks Total Chaos are back with their new studio full length album and it is a blast! There are 12 songs on this beauty and while it is not ferocious as first two albums ‘Pledge Of Defiance’ or ‘Patriotic Shock’ back in the days it blew me away how brutal and harsh this album is. There is trademark harsh vocals by singer Rob Chaos who founded this band in 1989, so next year there will be 35th birthday for these guys. Considering the music, Total Chaos play street punk, mainly fast and strong with some punk rock mid tempo anthems thrown in for good measure like ‘No Peace In The City’, but for me real beauties of this album are fast street punk anthems like ‘Street Punx’, ‘Rise Up’ or ‘I Will Not Break’. This band plays hardcore punk but there are some blistering almost thrash metal influenced guitar solos courtesy of guitarist Shawn Smash, so I think the ideal tour pack for Total Chaos would be The Exploited, The Casualties, Acidez and similar bands. Lyrics deal with war, pollution, staying strong, street life, against nationalism….so all the right themes in the right places. This is not their best album, but I would put it right there above between top three albums after above mentioned first two albums. Great album by legendary band!
INSTILL released this new demo with five songs and it is a blast! I mean really, a lessson in fastcore, hardcore punk powerviolence with all songs being under a minute reminding me of Senata Fox and similar bands. Screaming vocals, blasting drums, distorted bass and thundering sound, this one has it all. There is not much to write about this one, because it is such a short one, but if you are a fan of powerviolence hardcore punk you won’t regret if you check out this demo.
In May 2023, DARKO (UK) tripped to Signal House Studios, Hatfield to record a live session with Tim Kramer, the result was two brand new tracks, and one re-imagined from the 2017 album, Bonsai Mammoth.
“The guys had just finished working on some new material and they were keen to try it out live in the studio. DARKO and I go way back from when I was playing in Drones and it was revitalising to hear them bring so much fresh energy to the table. I was stoked to hear the new songs, and you all should be too.” says producer Tim Kramer.
“We had heard Tim’s top work on the Drones and Midwich Cuckoos records and knew he would knock this out of the park, however, it was then down to us to get a solid performance of the tracks. Whilst we wanted to focus on new material, we thought it would be nice to include a track from our back catalogue that we had been performing in our live set and ‘Life Forms’ seemed like a great choice. It was good to be given the challenge and the payoff of a great recording we can share with our friends.“ says guitarist Rob Piper.
‘Life Forms (Live at Signal House Studios)’ is streaming now on YouTube and listeners can expect more tracks from this session coming late 2023 showcasing brand new material, following the band’s 2022 EP SPARKLE.
BAND BIO
Over a raucous decade, DARKO have by definition, become veterans of the UK Punk scene and it is not uncommon to see them standing as an essential name within the intricate and complex world of contemporary Punk and Hardcore.
The band, urgent and charged with conviction, are set to continue championing and contributing to the health of the very scene that birthed them as they pen the narrative of their new chapter.
In 2020, longtime voicebox Dan Smith returned to his native Australia and parted ways with the band after so long in the vox seat. Dan’s evocative, emphatic and emotional lyricisms have left quite the legacy throughout the band’s releases. Darko’s four other noisemakers have curated a backdrop of vicious, hybridised Skate Punk and Melodic Hardcore that has been pushed beyond itself across thirty countries.
Darko have now enlisted longtime touring compadre Tom West of UK shredders, Almeida. The band have never hid from what ails them or the society they inhabit but with West at the vocal helm now and forgoing the complacent societal padding forced upon us all, his lyrical discomfort has spurred the band’s most unbarred barrage yet. There is nothing hidden here, nothing soaked in distracted metaphor or softened non-confrontational rhetoric, Darko are making full use of their scene privilege and challenging people who look akin to them to unleash their own salvos. But what of the backing? These are stops that have also been beyond pulled.
Darko’s evolution is tied to their past but with threads so long that there is an abundance of slack to play with. Notes of Polar Bear Club, Mastodon, A Wilhelm Scream, Protest The Hero, Rise Against and Propagandhi can all be savoured in their contemporary flavour profile. Serrated, lacerating Thrash and metallic digressions contrast the meandering guitar lines rooted in Skate Punk classicism. Writhing, emotive and complicated Post-Hardcore structures supplement the “techy” displays they are known for as an overarching and indisputably Punk-charged Prog-aesthetic allows the versatile and varied vocal range to seamlessly traverse the entirety.
Rob, Chris, Karl, Andy and now Tom have come together to the highest degree, poised and proud to show you a reimagined, powerful and determined Darko.
Lockjaw Records is an independent European punk and hardcore label. We are proud to be part of a thriving international music community, built on friendship, social-responsibility and a mutual love of punk rock.
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