Before I
came across the band Lotus Fucker, my only real exposure to hardcore punk was
from the classics of the genre (Black Flag, Minor Threat, etc.). And while those
seminal bands were known for their raw intensity and aggression, I remember
being thoroughly surprised by ugliness of Lotus Fucker’s music (complimented by
an equally ugly band name), something that I was not accustomed to from my
brief foray into the genre. Never before had I heard something so noisy and
scathing. I eventually came to learn that they were influenced by Japanese
hardcore bands (like Confuse), and that the underground hardcore punk community
was thriving with similarly visceral and unpleasant sounding bands (I say this
only in the most positive sense).
After the
release of a 7” split with Penis Geyser in 2011, things seemed to go quiet on
the Lotus Fucker front (or at least I didn’t hear anything about them, not that
they get too much publicity to begin with). Fortunately, at the beginning of
December last year, I got word that the band had just released their 2nd
12” record, Forever My Fighting Spirit. The record fits right in with the rest
of their material, offering up 20 minutes of noise-drenched hardcore. Keeping
in line with their other releases, the songs titles offer up more ridiculous
zen nonsense (“Walk on Water, Run in Place,” “Berserk (Being Lost On The Road
Of Life)”), and most of the recognizable lyrical content of songs comes from
the singer simply screaming the song titles.
With the
release of Forever My Fighting Spirit, it is safe to say that Lotus Fucker is
back. And as if to make that fact all the more clear, tacked on to the end of
the 9th song on the LP, “Berserk (Being Lost On The Road Of Life),”
there an entire minute of the band yelling about “being the gods of noise” and
about how “they are never going to stop.” It is hilarious and helps to make the
record all the more enjoyable.
The album
was released as a joint effort between three labels: Katorga Works, SPHC, and
RSR. Katorga Works has even put it up for free download here. If you like what
you hear, make sure to support the labels and the band by buying it.
Berserk was possibly the funniest song of last year! Hope to see them in Baltimore sometime soon.
ReplyDeleteYeah,it cracks me up every time.
ReplyDeleteForever My Fighting Spirit was a good way to end 2012, and was amongst my favorite hardcore releases of 2012 (alongside Natural Law's Find the Flock).