Bastards of the Nation

by Demerit

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  • CD

    CD with booklet and lyrics. I'm waiting on some returned stock but currently I have one copy of this left in stock!!

    Includes immediate download of 18-track album in your choice of high-quality MP3, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire.

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  • Digital Album

    Immediate download of 18-track album in your choice of high-quality MP3, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire.

    9 bonus tracks with download purchase!

    Buy Now  $5 AUD  or more

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04:39
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03:01
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03:31
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03:13
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03:07
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03:36
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03:59
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04:27
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03:10
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03:59
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about

Originally formed in Qingdao in 2004, Beijing-based Demerit are one of the more forward-thinking Chinese punk bands, and their latest album "Bastards of a Nation (2008)" shows them mimicking the direction of the newly popular third (or fourth or fifth or sixth) generation of the oi / "streepunk" genre in the US -- diversified style and more complex song arrangements, but a return to the performing intensity of earlier hardcore and oi movements of the early 80s. And, of course, a return to the 70's UK punk uniform: leather G.B.H. jackets, dyed Mohawks, ripped t-shirts, bullet belts, bondage pants, etc.

An earnest, anthemic, and hyper-political hardcore album, "Bastards of a Nation" is, on first listen, pretty much in the realm of the current representatives of hardcore to the masses in the US -- A Global Threat, The Unseen, and The Casualties. Demerit keep it dense and heavy with metalish riff here and there, and break it up with melodic breaks, choral backing vocals, and even some clapping action in there ("Fight Your Apathy"). The arrangements were well-conceived and varied, and the musicianship is great -- particularly the guitar work -- and there's some interesting changes in there. Throughout the album I had the feeling that the guitarist learned his stuff doing Iron Maiden licks and then switched up when the singer lent him a Choking Victim album. I enjoyed it overall, and bits and pieces reminded me of Leftover Crack, particularity "TZ Generation," and "Fuck the Schemers." Fans of that band's many variations -- INDK et. al. -- and fans of the newer US east coast hardcore, won't be disappointed.

The song "Beijing is Not My Home" -- my favorite song on the album -- echoes the sentiments of displacement and marginalization many bands feel living in Beijing (or so I hear) and is a really powerful answer to another punk band's song "Come Down to Beijing" by Brain Failure.

credits

released 08 August 2008

tags

tags: alternative china chinese experimental hardcore indie math rock punk Sydney

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