Though they've been around for a few years now, Anti Ritual didn't land on my radar until earlier this month when I added the title track to their forthcoming EP, 80 Years, to my New Hardcore Releases playlist. I'm glad I did because the Danish band's crusty hardcore punk hits the spot, both musically and lyrically.
The aforementioned title track for 80 Years refers to the decades that have passed since "the great defeat of fascism — and to the time it has taken for this destructive ideology to return to the political stage and once again poison people’s minds and hearts in a chaotic world."
On the stylistic front, Anti Ritual have streamlined their approach to a more straight-forward, d-beat-kissed attack, where their 2023 Green Terrorism EP went down more of a grind-minded path. Some might call what they're doing right now as "stadium crust," but I'll let you guys argue about that bullshit.
80 Years was a self-produced affair, recorded and mixed by bassist K.B. Larsen, with From Ashes Rise guitarist/vocalist Brad Boatright handling the mastering at his Audiosiege (Deadguy, Nails) studio lair:
For No Echo's latest entry in our Our Biggest Influences installment, Anti Ritual vocalist Marco Malcorps hooked us up with some of the records that helped fuel what he's doing on the Copenhagen-based band's ripping new EP.
Read on and don't sleep on 80 Years!
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Reagan Youth, Youth Anthems for the New Order (1984)
"Coming up in the local k-town hardcore scene watching bands like Amdi Petersens Armé, Asbest, No Hope For the Kids, Hjertestop, and the likes that took a lot of cues from early '80s American hardcore, Reagan Youth has been mandatory for me for as long as I’ve been into punk and hardcore. Something about their sound is just timeless, and with the current political climate Stateside, as relevant as ever."
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Lack, Blues Moderne, Danois Explosifs (2001)
"No one band has been as important to me as Lack. I played a few shows with them with my first band, before the release of their first full-length LP, so I’ve followed them almost from the beginning, and not a single time have they not delivered 100% both live and on record. I always apire to pen as intelligent lyrics as those championed by Lack."
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Miasmatic Necrosis, Apex Profane (2020)
"No list of records that influence me can be complete without grindcore, and Miasmatic Necrosis are unmatched in their game. This record is sheer perfection from end to end, and their live performances are equally brutal and brilliant. If I can ever be part of creating a record that possesses a fraction of the gore dripping vitriol of Apex Profane, I’ll die happy."
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Envy, All the Footprints You've Ever Left and the Fear Expecting Ahead (2001)
"A friend recommended I pick this record up from a distro at a show here, but upon my first listen I found it disinteresting and kind of forgot about it. Six months later I picked it back up and put it on, and my universe exploded. This is genre perfection, and neither the band or the genre has ever been this good before or since."
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Catharsis, Arsonist's Prayer (2001)
"This band ripped my face off when first I heard them. I remember reading the reviews in a lot of different zines at the time and being fascinated with it, even before I eventually got my hands on a copy of Passion. To this day though, their lyrical and musical high point was this monolith of a song, from their split with Newborn."
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80 Years will be released on 7” vinyl in a limited edition of 150 copies, and on digital formats on September 5th via Indisciplinarian (vinyl pre-order).
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Tagged: anti ritual, our biggest influences
