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Bringing you the sound of “urgent tribal grindcrust”, Resistant Culture is one of the few recent truly anarcho-grind bands that follow in the sonic audio wake of Napalm Death and Terrorizer, and also gives a salute to the Discharge/Antisect/Doom crust boys in terms of social criticism and pure audio genius. |
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| Based out of L.A. this band is a blunt force strike against society in support of environmental issues and Native American/indigenous rights and cultures, including womens rights against sexual violence. The fact that this grind/death music is so reactive and pyrogenic, it should come with a warning label stating that, “upon listening this album may spontaneous combust.”
This release is the perfect slam to your head but also serves a real purpose and grind/death metal is the perfect medium to spread the aggression and bring about some insight into issues that do actually matter, not too mention the appearance of Jesse Pintado (RIP) of ND/Terrorizer on this recording. For a brutal band the lyrics are clearly audible and the infusion with tribal /Native American chants and even the occasional tribal instruments thrown in behind sound samples of military choppers in the background really creates an angst that takes a real message away from the mosh pit, but is undeniably mosh material.
This is some of the best grind/anarcho stuff that I’ve ever heard actually, it’s sophisticated yet completely brutal and throbbing. I’m always for giving the finger to bullshit and flushing the turds that run society through ignorance and greed like the giant hot steaming mass of shit that they are, and this is the anthem to do it to. Brains and real opinions done with some of the most intense and extreme music styles, blast beats meet the streets and desecrate them. AWESOME!!!!!!!! Please check this band out, they have several releases aside form this one and they are all flawless and equally as gnarly, bands this good need to be heard and definitely felt. by Janet Willis
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Now tragically without ex-Nalpalm Death/Terrorizer man Jesse Pintado, the reservation's most fearsome tribal crustgrind collective soldier on regardless under the leadership of the "Darker Days Ahead" Terrorizer vocalist Anthony Rezhawk in a war on the great callous, concrete devourer that's gobbling up liberties and livelihood, and shitting out pollutants and poverty. |
The songwriting's far tighter than its predecessor, which seemed to stop far more often than necessary to have lovely, haunting flute moments as if it were taking in a picnic spot on a long motorway journey. Instead the chants, hooting owls(!) and traditional Native American instruments are absorbed into some orthodox Bolt Thrower-brand grinding death. The lyrics, which take big spoonfuls of tribal spirituality and indignant anarchopunk only add to the fearsome, atmospheric and apocalyptic end result; the soundtrack to the world you've just destroyed.
-James Hoare in Terrorizer Magazine #182
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Call me a hater, but being one who generally avoids scabies and bedbugs, I tend to avoid the crusty-punk panhandling masses. I prefer Shih Tzus and expensive microbrews over pitbulls and Sparks, thank you very much. After all, one doesn’t have to get in their van (the one that’s broke down behind your favorite taqueria where they just ate your leftover bits of burrito out of the dumpster) to enjoy the power of the D-beat!
Totally kidding! Say what you will about crust culture’s hygiene practices; their DIY, anarcho-punk political stances and long history of extreme punk metal hybrids are to be admired. And longtime crew Resistant Culture are one of the smarter and more respected of the pack: grindcore-flavored punk rock with constant pit-circling streams of D-beat goodness, but mixed with unexpected moments that pack in “tribal” bits such as Native American flute, percussion and chanting.
The L.A.-based band is led by Anthony Rezhawk, who may be best known for his killer vocal work on Terrorizer’s comeback album, Darker Days Ahead. The group also featured guitarist Jesse Pintado (the sadly recently deceased ex-member of Napalm Death) in a part-time capacity. Both these albums are smart and streamlined grind, featuring short and to-the-point blasts (meaning usually under three minutes, closer to two) of government-hating fury. Welcome to Reality, the faster and more ballistic of the two, is a re-release that features Pintado on axe (plus a killer Discharge cover of “Hear Nothing, Say Nothing”); All One Struggle, their newest, is equally as killing, just more varied in tempos. Potent high-grade crust explosives—pull the pin and run!
—Shawn Bosler |
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Resistant Culture has claims to fame in guitarist Jesse Pintado (RIP), who, post-Napalm Death, was working with the band before his untimely passing, and vocalist Anthony Rezhawk (aka "Tony Militia"), who did the last Terrorizer album alongside Pintado.
However, this band more than stands on its own, and I'm astounded that I didn't hear of it earlier. This CD kills. It's crusty grindcore with tribal influences - but the latter are truly tribal, working in Native American drums, chants, and flutes. The riffs are crushing, the recording is crisp, and blastbeats strafe the mix powerfully and precisely. 16 songs, 31 minutes, none less than fierce.
Rezhawk's vocals are strong and amazingly understandable: "Clear cut the heart / Strip mine the soul / Nature for profit / It's all out of control." These are sentiments I can definitely get with. The lyrics come in a simple, legible font, and the liner notes fold out to a bad-ass poster. I don't say this often - this CD truly touches my soul.
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MSN Music Heavy Metal Superfan Blog
-L.A.-based Native American crust/grind/d-beat/thrash punk-metal band Resistant Culture is on tour with UK crust-punks Hellbastard throughout September. Resistant Culture are one of my favorite bands - they combine the sound of Discharge and Napalm Death with Native American instruments and vocal chants, and their lyrics are ecologically conscious and politically aware without being strident (OK, without being any more strident than your average punk band). Vocalist Anthony Rezhawk also sang on Terrorizer's 2007 reunion album, Darker Days Ahead, and Terrorizer/Napalm Death guitarist Jesse Pintado (RIP) played on Resistant Culture's Welcome to Reality album. Both that disc and the follow-up, All One Struggle, are fantastic; if there's a drop of punk-rock rage in your blood, you should own both.
Here are the tour dates:
Sep 3 Studio Seven Seattle, WA
Sep 5 Satyricon Portland, OR
Sep 10 The New Oasis Sparks, NV
Sep 11 924 Gilman St. Berkeley, CA
Sep 12 JMC Club Los Angeles, CA
Sep 13 Chez Monieux Tempe, AZ
Sep 16 Blast O Mat Record Store Denver, CO
Sep 18 Emo’s Austin, TX
Sep 19 Rubber Gloves Denton, TX
Sep 20 Hi Ho Lounge New Orleans, LA
Sep 21 Greencup Books Birmingham, AL
Sep 24 The Barbary Philadelphia, PA
Sep 25 Europa Brooklyn, NY
Sep 26 AS220 Providence, RI
Sep 27 P.A.’s Lounge Somerville, MA
Oct 3 The Black Hole Chicago, IL
-Phil Freeman
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It’s good to know your strengths. Case in point, Resistant Culture specialize in tribally bolstered crust grind. Nowhere in there would you read the members boasting any particular marketing acumen. Turns out the band quietly released their second long player, All One Struggle, (third if you count 2003’s Ancient Culture, put out under the name Resistant) back in October but never bothered to tell anyone until ads started popping up in your favorite metal glossies recently for their impending tour with Hellbastard. But all that really amounts to me bitching about them being too DIY and not conforming to today’s overly commercial metal scene – like that’s a bad thing.
With All One Struggle Resistant Culture focus more on their crust and punk influences than on grind-inflected that characterized Welcome to Reality, one of Jesse Pintado’s final recordings. Remaining guitarist Katina steamrolls any notion that Pintado’s absence represents a setback for the band within the opening 20 seconds, filigreeing a guitar whorl within the first bars of “Beneath the Concrete” before laying into the jackhammer tone that dominates All One Struggle.
In the band’s trademark use of sampled tribal chants and native instruments is back on display with greater (“Beneath the Concrete”) and lesser (“Mending the Hoop”) degrees of success. Resistant Culture also forage new territory on All One Struggle with the Amebix-ized Moonspell goth gloom of “Runaway.”
The only knock I can lay on the album is with Tony Rezhawk. The guy could give postgraduate grind seminars on balancing power and clarity in your vocal performance. Lyrically, the same themes of environmental stewardship and tribal autonomy get another once over, but All One Struggle largely lacks the kind of singalong hooks that made Welcome to Reality stand out. That aside, Resistant Culture further refine their unique attack on All One Struggle,but the man's passion for native causes remains as focused and powerful as ever. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to dig out some back issues of Jason Aaron’s Scalped. |
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Resistant Culture/All One Struggle
CD Review
Jamison Mahto/Reporter
Indigenous in the News
www.iicoc.com
jamison@iicoc.com
It’s raining outside but I’m dressed and riding. Thanks to the winter from hell, I’m rusty, the cadence isn’t on time, my rhythm is off, I’m 12lbs. over weight and out of shape but none of it really matters because I’ve still got leg strength and I’m out here bumpin’ to the Resistant Culture CD All One Struggle.
Their promo says “Resistant Culture is. . .tribal music that has weaved the indigenous flute, rattle, tribal drum and chant into an organic and flowing tapestry with extreme contemporary punk and metal.” In their own words RC refers to their self created sub genre as “tribal grind crust.” It is reminiscent of Henry Rollins and Black Flag at the height of their first national road tour.
The band line-up consists of the founding member and vocalist Anthony Rezhawk who growls more than sings the culturally referenced lyrics which are backed by hard and fast rhythms played with precision.
Interestingly, the guitarist, Katina is a classically trained musician who rocks as good as she wants and can hang with the best of her male counter parts. This style of music relies on the dynamics of a bass player and drummer who can keep up the driving energy like disgruntled machines over-running people and their mundane lives. Rafa on bass thunders like he means it, while Ben Axiom is solid on drums. I am impressed at the creativity required of musicians moving into a style that brings the politics of survival to an audience that probably doesn’t come in contact with these kinds of sentiments.
You will need to work at it if you’re going to get it. Otherwise go home and listen to your ABBA eight tracks. Cross generational, multi-genre virtuosic versatility is the demand of the times. If you work it, you will be rewarded with the lyrical gems that lie in the debris and chaos of RC’s post modern anti-commercial jet liner decibel level. Just like our parents probably objected to the grease and hips of Elvis, or the hair and boots of the Beatles some will not get this sound.
The first trac Beneath The Concrete is an apocalyptic message about how mother earth can not be destroyed and will once again rise to cover the earth in green that Includes a traditional tribal chant. It uses a rain stick rattle segue to the next trac Life Givers which is a song of respecting women and certainly not the type of sentiment that is so prevalent these days.
The title trac All One Struggle states “an injury to one is an injury to all no more separatism all one struggle” which recognizes that regardless of one’s place in the universe we are all connected in our struggle for survival.
The song Animal Nations pays homage to our four legged, two legged, winged and finned relations. A couple of songs on this CD could be considered a call for a vegan/vegertarian life style or more humane treatment in our food gathering procedures. It seems unusual if not unique given the overall thrashing sound of the music.
A Wolf howl sound byte segues to the following trac Community a song that speaks about how we can all survive with dignity if we come together in community and learn to respect the sanctity of each individual. These guys are not fascist hate mongers dressed up in rock and roll. Quite the contrary they are very pro life, cultural identity and individual autonomy.
The trac Warning Civilization Ahead provides us with some dark humor that asks us to question the concept of something that is assumed by the dominant culture. You call it civilization when we can over run a foreign country under false pretenses? Hell that’s as ancient, brutal and savage as anything we’ve seen in recent history.
I particularly enjoy the lyric of the song Stagnation “lessons learned the hard way, never forget your failure is your success if you grow from it.” This is important and potent advice. Stagnation is followed by Rise Above Despair, a lyric that tells us to “sever yourself from hatred, rise above despair.”
One of these days I’m gonna load my trailer with my tent, sleeping bag and fishing pole, start rolling and get myself free, discard the laws of man and learn to live according to the laws of the land. Until I get there, I will resist with every ounce of my breath the domination and injustice of this society, cloaked snuggly in the beauty of my culture and rise above the despair. Let’s Rock! |
Resistance Isn't Futile
By Falling James
The local outfit Resistant Culture are one of the weirdest grindcore/hardcore punk/metal bands of all time. They have the requisite super-fast tempos and darkly growling vocals married with sinister guitars, but what sets them apart is the way they blend classically trained guitarist Katina's brutal, chord-shuffling attack with Native American musical influences, including tribal drums and indigenous flutes. Singer Anthony Rezhawk's commitment to tribal issues goes beyond the band's throttling music; since their start in the late-'80s (when they were called Resistant Militia), they've agitated for a number of leftist and Native American causes, including the effort to free Leonard Peltier and the fight to stop the relocation of the Navajo people from Big Mountain. Resistant Culture's 2005 CD, Welcome to Reality, frothing with consciousness-raising anthems like "Ecocide," was reissued this year, and the band recently finished recording their long-awaited follow-up, All One Struggle.
Resistant Culture, Against Empire, Rotting Stiffs, SMD, Arbitrator, Ratas, Barrem, Blackwater
Date/Time:Fri., December 26 Key Club
Welcome to Reality: CD
I finally had the chance to see this band a couple of months ago. I was excited to see Tony Militia's latest music endeavor. People from the early 80s East L.A. scene might remember Resistant Milita (Jimmy?). Seeing a person from that far back that you know is always welcome. They put on a great performance. On recording, they are equally as exciting. Dis-crust meets metal. Self described as hardcore meets tribal grind, they pack a powerful punch with a message. On this recording, there is the addition of Jesse Pintado (Terrorizer/Napalm Death) as a second guitarist that was not present when I saw the band live. There was no loss though as main guitarist Katina held her own. Masterful and technical is the drummer Ben, who I believe played in the band Axiom in the past. Put all the parts together with bassist Ralph and they are one powerful unit. They also pay homage to Discharge by covering Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing. Metal fans and crust fans should find this appealing. I heard in the works is a new album by Tony Militia and Jesse Pintado resurrecting Terrorizer. I am excited to hear the results of that project. If you never heard Terrorizer's World Downfall LP, you are not a true grind fan. –Donofthedead (Seventh Generation)
| At first this could have been just another anarcho-crust/grind-band, with metal influences by acts such as Dimmu Borgir, or something alike. But after a few tracks into the record, L.A. based Resistant Culture shows us what they're made of. With melodic leads, indigenous instrumental harmonics weaved into the music, sampled sounds, spoken words and native Indian singing; all this combined with the dark pulsating punk/grind. The main doomy-vocals vary from deep growling to aggressive scream-ish singing. Always staying on the edge, the lyrics really sets off the music and are all very thought through. RS treats some serious topics on this record, and as stated about the record on their website: "This record reflects the state of humanity, the anxieties of a world where industrial civilization has penetrated, infected and devastated every sphere of life"; they really have some important things to say. The thing that impressed me the most was all the details in the background of the music, the more you listen to it, the more interesting it gets. I'd definitely recommend all of you out there to look this band up!
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RESISTANT CULTURE - WELCOME TO REALITY (SPIRAL RECORDS)
website
These L.A. based anarcho-crust standard bearers are masters of the darker metal punk pioneered by Amebix, Antisect and Discharge. Their grindcore assault, augmented by occasional nods to their native American roots helps the five piece produce a pulverizing sonic blast of sound that turns "Welcome To Reality" into a thing of awesome, menacing beauty. The downbeat melodies, doomy vocals and machine like drive propels things along with song titles like "Ecocide", "The Struggle Continues", "Forced Conformity" and "Civilized Aggression" telling their own story. Their fusion of anti-statist themes and the monumental searing power of the music make for superb bedfellows. When they also pull off with ease, a distinctive and memorable reworking of Discharge's "Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing" it becomes strikingly clear that this talented crew are purveyors of possibly the most consistently effective grinding anarcho-crust punk you're likely to hear today.
5 out of 5
Review by Sean McGhee
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On their homepage at www.resistantculture.com Resistant Culture writes, "With the world in a state of disorder as a result of the cancerous growth of industrial domination, we are perched at the brink of either great destruction or great transformation. Resistant Culture confronts this critical moment in history with sonic offerings rooted in the resilience of the human spirit."
Prior to becoming a fan of Metal I was heavily into Punk Rock. Bands like Discharge, Dead Kennedy's, Bad Religion, and Minor Threat have always had a profound influence on my thinking process due to their lyrics. When Punk Rock died in the middle to late 80's (Depending on who you debate) I had already began to make a crossover into Metal and early Grindcore with bands like Napalm Death, Metallica, Slayer, Exodus, Vio-lence, Death Angel, Death, Hallows Eve, and Carcass among a ton of other bands from Iron Maiden to Venom. Still, the lyrics to Punk Rock music always rang true for me, especially from Bad Religion. I carried a sort of recognized naive altruism, for I identified myself as a human living in a world of multinational corporation destruction, government oppression, war, famine, religious brainwashing, environmental pogrom, and I thought I could fix the world. Then at about the age of 24 I woke up and said, "Fuck it." Now I'm a misanthrope who detests everyone around me and I especially despise anthropocentric fuckers.
Now what the fuck does the personal paragraph above have to do with Resistant Culture and their album "Welcome to Reality?" From a lyrical perspective it puts me in a position to hate people, politics, religion, and environmental annihilation more than ever. From a musical and poetic standpoint it takes me back to my days of old when I thought my plastic protests and rebellion could make an oil tycoon into a philanthropist. Where I in a pit listening to these guys on stage with their blistering guitars, shouting vocals, and freaked out drums I'd swing away with more malice than if I was watching Chuck Shuldiner reincarnated before me playing tracks off of "Leprosy." I'd pummel fuckers in the pit knowing them for more than likely being stupid forms of carbon based wastage good for further intoxicating and polluting what is left of earth despite the petty trendy rebellion that finds them at the show… I might actually kill someone in a Resistant Culture pit.
Other killer things about the music from these guys is that it mixes indigenous music with Grindcore, Punk, and Hardcore. One moment the music is full of unreal fast riffs, then you socked in the sternum by a groovy tempo change or a native tribal chant! Totally awesome. Vocally the listener is subject to pure RAGE, and the drummer has enough speed and moves to make a top ranked welter weight boxer feel intimidated. As a group these guys work in great cohesion and have taken a genre of music filled with clones to another level of uniqueness with their injections of indigenous music.
They also have some damned twisted sound samples. The beginning to "Misery" is an excellent example. The song begins with a guy in a crowd yelling, "How many times have they kept one.. one promise! one promise! one promise they kept. They promised to take all of our land, and they're doing it." Samples of this kind are far more "heavy" to me than anything about porn, killing, gore, rape, or horror that seems to populate much of Grindcore music today. The reason is that theft of land encompasses REAL horrors like famine, racial cleansing, enslavement, torture, rape, homicide, religious indoctrination, democracy, and capitalism. Ask any indigenous person to north or south Americana for their perspective on land theft if you disagree with my brief assessment.
Yeah, listening to Resistant Culture gives me that youthful exuberance that screams, "I can make a difference." In some ways when I hear songs off this disc like "Elder Wisdom" the fire in me is rekindled, but then I think about the wastefulness of humans. Bottom line: This disc is an splendid amalgamation of Grindcore with Hardcore, Thrash, and indigenous music that is enhanced by profound lyrics where the emotions of the singer bleed into your brain and heart. I give these guys a lot of credit for being optimistic, angry, and frustrated about a potential humanity that some way may find a method for living in harmony between races, genders, and the earth. But the reality is that for every one person transformed into an intelligent citizen I can find ten thousand that would rather be little money grubbing George W. Bush style reprobates. Humans will be better off as index fossils buried in their own debris, but you can still crank up Resistant Culture and daydream about positive insurrection.
RESISTANT CULTURE
at the Knitting Factory, December 10
The spike-haired underground insurgents were out on the floor in their black stealth outfits: T-shirts, jeans, beat-up Vans, hooded sweatshirts with every imaginable local punk logo sewn on them. First to serve were Against Empire, a straight-up 1-2-3-4 crust-metal/punk band. The lyrics sounded really hard, if you could decipher them in the midst of the fierce pit that welled up. Next, Armistice changed up the look with lead singer-guitarist Norman in a Winnie-the-Pooh outfit and bassist Patricia in her Tigger, too. No Disney tales, though, just Wilmington refinery politics on "Ecocide," and social consciousness on "Mankind" and "Manufactured by the System."
Before Resistant Culture's tribal grind came a Native American blessing: Ofelia Rivas, an O'odham (Pima) tribal elder, spoke passionately on how the U.S. government is militarizing her people's Arizona/Sonora land by building a metal barrier "twice the size of the Berlin Wall" an appropriate introduction to Resistant Culture's "Land Keeper," a powerful instrumental with lead singer Anthony on indigenous flute. Then the Little Bighorn assault was mounted; on "It's Not Too Late," Anthony spat, "We're the past, we're the future/We're your nightmare in my dream/Your heroes are my enemies/Your philosophy wants us dead!" The set peaked with the battle cry "Man Against the Machine" as Katina scrubbed her guitar, a sweat-dripping Rafa banged bass, and Ben hurled himself into sick, mathematical double-kick drumming” it was a warrior unit that hit you, bam!, over the head with a tomahawk. The energy was so intense, for an instant it felt like we were all in the Badlands, riding with Crazy Horse.
-Ben Quiñones
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