ANTIchildLEAGUE – Infect Your Gut Infect Your Thoughts.
2018. Cassette. Bacteria Field. Bacteria Field 061.
A1. Infect Your Gut.
A2. Breath in Breath
Out.
A3. Infect Your
Thoughts.
A4. Resilience.
B1. Spineless Class
War.
B2. Your Truth Won’t
Make Me Free.
B3. Human Symbolism.
B4. Resilience (Baby
Rats Mix).
I discovered the work of ANTIchildLEAGUE
years ago via a blog. By then the project had done a demo, batch of singles and
it’s first CD album. I’ve been a fan ever since and done a round up of the
whole discography here there and everywhere. I liked the first demo a lot, the
singles were great, and the album showed a lot of development. The eventual trilogy
of albums was strong: The Father, The Son and The Holy Ghost.
What’s followed over the last
three years is even better -a batch of Cassettes – Holy Spirit, Bruises and
Bites (split w Cronaca Nera) a split with The Rita and this album Infect Your
Gut, Infect Your Thoughts. Throughout these recordings, the project has begun
to mutate and form into something a lot nastier. It is as if a label says “Hi Gaya
we want to release a cassette of your work, can you do something for us?” and
Gaya says “Oh, cassette, brilliant, I’ll go even more apeshit than I do on CD,
make my vocals into raw noise and I can really lose my shit big time!”
That’s exactly what’s happened,
one of the angriest, most tortured, torturous ACL releases yet. It has
traditional industrial elements that serve as the base for the horrid vocals
and noise to kick in. The use of noise as urgency is stronger and more alarming
throughout the album. There are times when the tracks seem to go on too long,
however this technique makes the repetition and noise more punishing as if
forcing the work to do its work better – making it work harder until it is
exhausted and finally ready to die. There are bits of spoken more coherent
dialogue, but it’s the abstraction of voice where the voice is strongest. You
can hear ACL straining at its limits as a project across Infect; this adds
manic tension.
There was recently a gig in New
York, what was it like? Was it as good as this? Seeing acts like this is so
hard and rare in the UK, it’s like a release when you do. Performances or Shows
become urgent, explosive actions – violent acting out. If it doesn’t work to
this effect, it tends to serve as an excuse to go home early. That’s what makes
Power Electronics so taboo here in the UK, so underground and still unique. So,
part of this review is a call to action.
Along with Hellworm and The RITA
split this is the strongest ACL work to date.
Choppy Noodles 2018.