Decadence Within - Reflections

UK Hardcore at its best

There was a time when the UK circuit was crashing and crackling with a raft of punk and hardcore bands, touring from pub to pub in unsuitable vans, with boxes of 7”s to sell and swap with their compatriots. The songs were mostly short and aggressive, the lyrics hefty and political.

One of the bands at the forefront of what was, essentially, an anarcho-punk circuit, was Decadence Within. The difference between DW and lesser acts was in the ability to back up the highlycharged, far-left anti-establishment and anti-politics, highly political lyrics with actions. This album of 49 mostly unreleased demos, live tracks and rare recordings bashes along with relentless intelligence of riff and deed, hammering out a massive, rhythmic belief in the power of humans to protest and thrive. The lyrics may have had an occasional naïvety about them, but the legacy of the forerunners of the UKHC movement is that music can still be a uniting force in the face of injustice. The fact that it’s one hell of a lot of fun to jump up and down to is a happy bonus.

Boss Tuneage | BTCRS 026

Reviewed by Joe Shooman
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