REVIEW: JUNKIE KUT "Terror Rage & Liberty" reviewed at BassDistortion.net

BDZ interviewed Junkie Kut and Splatterkore Reck-ords last year. Now it’s time to take a look at Junkie Kut’s latest release Terror, Rage & Liberty, which was released in collaboration with D-Trash Records and Splatterkore. The release itself has already been out for nearly half a year as a free web release. A limited edition CDr version with a bonus track was released this year. The CD comes with some nice artwork, 2 Junkie Kut badges and a guitar pick.


Terror, Rage & Liberty is a story situated in a perhaps not so distant future where society has consumed itself. A terrorist group called Planetary Peace Protocol destroys all electronics on earth with the use of an electromagnetic weapon in order to bring the current capitalist system down and plans to create a primitive dictatorship. An opposing group of humans and machines rebel against these schemes and try to bring the new world order down. This sounds very much like the conspiracy theories that are going on now, but the story is not a direct copy of them. More like a combination of ideas such as NWO conspiracies (secret societies behind governments striving for more control using false flag attacks), the Zeitgeist Movement (machines and humans working together for a more balanced society), cyberpunk fiction and of course the underground tekno movement. You can read more about the background story here.

Junkie Kut’s usual style is a combination of distorted vocals, energetic speedcore beats with marching percussion, heavy guitar riffs, acid lines and peaceful ambient pads and choirs. The track structures are non-formulaic, constantly evolving and not leaving room for boredom. All the tracks, except the interlude and Land of the Cyborgs, use these elements more or less, yet in an original way. One of the genres mentioned on D-Trash’s site is digital hardcore, but this is even more hardcore than the usual digital hardcore bands, maybe the term “speedcore punk” makes more sense. The intro track starts with a war alarm siren, sounds of chaos and an introduction speech by Stelldogs. After the intro ambience the distorted bassdrums, guitars and vocals kick in with power. The first 2 tracks are more focused on guitar and aggression, but the third track, The Silent Majority, starts with some uplifting choir pads. After 3 minutes of speedcore the beats come to a halt, acid lines come in and the track becomes even more epic. The 4th track Chaostika, named after the Splatterkore symbol, is again more aggressive in style. The bassdrum distortion and guitar distortion sound like they merge together. After this there is a dark ambient/breaks interlude with a speech by Alex B. The next tracks follow the usual concept, except track 7 which is a short hardcore punk interlude/track. The title track starts with a mashup of Prodigy’s No Good (Start The Dance) before turning into despairful piano melodies and energetic beats. In conclusion the bonus track Anthropological CO2 Conspiracy is based on a more present day topic, the climate change hoax. Good intentions may not always be what they claim to be.

Although “story” releases are not so uncommon in core, most of the releases leave interpretation of the story to the listener by only providing track titles and sounds to the imagination. In this aspect Terror, Rage & Liberty delivers more depth through the use of a background story and lyrics. Hopefully this will be an inspiration to other core artists as well. Only minus I found in this release was that, intentional or not, the speeches in some tracks and interludes sound blurry making it more difficult to follow the story. Being tired of most of present day speedcore this release was really a positive surprise for me. A release that can still give goose bumps after multiple listens is something that doesn’t come accross very often. My favorite tracks on the release were definitely 3 and 8. Junkie Kut’s best work so far.. I’m looking forward to experience these tracks performed live!

You can buy the full album for the price of £7 + postage by contacting Splatterkore: store@splatterkore.co.uk
The free online version is downloadable on D-Trash Records: http://www.lunaticfringe.org/~schizoid/dtrashrecords/digitaldownloads/digitaldownload.php?ID=DTRASH151
The bonus track Antropoligical CO2 Conspiracy is also featured on the Extreme Sound Anti-Nuclear online compilation by Extreme Sound Forum. All proceeds from the sale of this release will be donated to help the relief efforts in Japan. You can buy the track with the entire compilation (recommended release) or separately at: http://extremesoundforum.bandcamp.com/album/various-extreme-sound-anti-nuclear-benefit-japan