Review by Carl on October 20, 2024.

I don't remember in what magazine it was I read it, but I was completely stoked about this crossover thrash band that had members of Agent Steel, Bodycount, and Détente among its ranks. I had of course never heard any shred of their music, but I just knew I had to have that. Shortly after, I found out they had a full-length coming through Dave Rotten's Xtreem label, so that was convenient. When it arrived, I could not wait to shove it into my player to finally hear what this group of illustrious gentlemen had to offer, and well ...

... at first, I was disappointed somewhat. This album turned out to be coarser than I initially expected, hanging more towards a thrash-y hardcore style somewhere between the old releases by bands like Verbal Abuse, Septic Death, D.R.I., and Agnostic Front. Where I had hoped for a crossover hybrid between thrash metal riffing and hardcore power, I got something simpler, less technical, and way grittier than I expected, so yeah, it was a bit of a let-down. But I kept returning to it, and the more I heard it, a certain appreciation did start to grow.

If we strictly talk music, Obscene Gesture play a highly energetic form of old-school hardcore with a thick metallic edge to it, making them related to those acts mentioned above. The songs are short, aggressive, mostly fast, and simple yet effective in their execution. Intricate riffing or complicated composition isn't really of much concern to these guys, despite what their impressive resumés might have us believe, and that is both the strength and weakness of this band. While the majority of the music speeds on at straight ahead velocity and with bulging amounts of blunt anger, kicking some serious ass throughout, it also gives me the idea as if I'm listening to the same few songs over and over again, a feeling not helped by the forced vocal delivery of the late Guy Green. His cranky hoarse bellow is a good addition to the fast thrash-y old-school hardcore on offer, adding a Sheer Terror touch to proceedings, but overall his voice sounds a bit same-y throughout. Unfortunately, this results in the album coming off a bit one-dimensional sounding in its entirety, despite the high level of energy and menace at play.

Despite my critique, I do want to stress that this is not a bad album. The music speeds on through in the best 80's USHC fashion, and the execution is simple yet precise, being effective and well on point. In the form of some ripping leads and slower Black Sabbath-y sections we get some metallic variations injected, adding some necessary hooks to the attack on offer, which helps break the monotony that somewhat looms over this release. What I especially appreciate is the gritty streetwise attitude this band emanates, making it feel that the anger here is real, adding a truly genuine edge to the thrashcore presented.

"Living in Profanity" is an album primarily of interest to those into metallic hardcore bands from the 80s, even if this album might sound a bit too glossy sound-wise. Still, if your thing is acts like Loss for Words, Crucifix (SF), Hirax, early Crumbsuckers, and the bands mentioned earlier, give this one a try perhaps. It's not the best one in the genre, but the pros outweigh the cons well enough to make Obscene Gesture's debut a sufficiently enjoyable one for any punter into the style.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Review by Vladimir on April 24, 2023.

The turn has finally come to talk about some Ukrainian black metal. The subject of today’s discussion isn’t just any band from Ukraine, but instead one of the veterans in the scene since 1995, the band Lucifugum. You may or may not have heard about this band, but they have always been prominent in the Ukrainian black metal scene while also being shrouded in mystery all throughout their existence. The two leading members Khlyst and Stabaath are still very much in charge of this beast for the last 28 years, and their misanthropic message just keeps spreading. Their eighteenth official full-length album Anaphora Lithu Actinism was released on November 11th, 2021 via their own label Propaganda.

The first track 'Парад пепла' is an unusual intro track but nevertheless sets up the tone, while the second track 'Эклиптика отделения' gives us exactly what we came for. From here on, it’s raw and misanthropic tremolo riffing all the way with mid-tempo and double-bass drumming, and on top of that, the hideous harsh singing vocals that sound as if he’s choking in his own blood. The strong point on this album would definitely be the vocals by Khlyst, deserving extra points for sounding demonic and rotten at the same time. As for the album as a whole, I must say that I am totally uncertain what to say about it since it leaves a lot to be desired. All the songs on this album are somewhat confusing and unusual since the song arrangements are random at best. Arrangements have unexpected breaks where guitars are constantly playing but the drums just suddenly stop and continue playing a few seconds later, which is a frequent feature in every song from start to finish. As for the riffs, they are pretty misanthropic and blasphemously sounding, but the overall riff placement or riff arrangement so to speak, is really mind-boggling from time to time and does seem more like every song on this album is nothing but a riff salad, rather than a well-structured song. Production-wise, the album sounds raw and cold with its rotten guitar tone and vocal mix.

The album doesn’t leave a really strong impression to be honest, mostly due to its execution which didn’t captivate as much as I wanted it to. I must admit that Lucifugum’s previous works were indeed much more enjoyable and engaging, aside from the hilarious music videos they put out, but this album really didn’t do anything for me other than make me question their songwriting skills. If you’re still asking yourself, should you check out this album or not, I’d say that you should approach it with very low expectations, but in case you are someone who is unfamiliar with Lucifugum and you would like to know more about their work, I suggest that you check out their earlier albums when Stabaath was still handling vocal duties.

Rating: 6 out of 10

Review by Vladimir on April 24, 2023.

The turn has finally come to talk about some Ukrainian black metal. The subject of today’s discussion isn’t just any band from Ukraine, but instead one of the veterans in the scene since 1995, the band Lucifugum. You may or may not have heard about this band, but they have always been prominent in the Ukrainian black metal scene while also being shrouded in mystery all throughout their existence. The two leading members Khlyst and Stabaath are still very much in charge of this beast for the last 28 years, and their misanthropic message just keeps spreading. Their eighteenth official full-length album Anaphora Lithu Actinism was released on November 11th, 2021 via their own label Propaganda.

The first track 'Парад пепла' is an unusual intro track but nevertheless sets up the tone, while the second track 'Эклиптика отделения' gives us exactly what we came for. From here on, it’s raw and misanthropic tremolo riffing all the way with mid-tempo and double-bass drumming, and on top of that, the hideous harsh singing vocals that sound as if he’s choking in his own blood. The strong point on this album would definitely be the vocals by Khlyst, deserving extra points for sounding demonic and rotten at the same time. As for the album as a whole, I must say that I am totally uncertain what to say about it since it leaves a lot to be desired. All the songs on this album are somewhat confusing and unusual since the song arrangements are random at best. Arrangements have unexpected breaks where guitars are constantly playing but the drums just suddenly stop and continue playing a few seconds later, which is a frequent feature in every song from start to finish. As for the riffs, they are pretty misanthropic and blasphemously sounding, but the overall riff placement or riff arrangement so to speak, is really mind-boggling from time to time and does seem more like every song on this album is nothing but a riff salad, rather than a well-structured song. Production-wise, the album sounds raw and cold with its rotten guitar tone and vocal mix.

The album doesn’t leave a really strong impression to be honest, mostly due to its execution which didn’t captivate as much as I wanted it to. I must admit that Lucifugum’s previous works were indeed much more enjoyable and engaging, aside from the hilarious music videos they put out, but this album really didn’t do anything for me other than make me question their songwriting skills. If you’re still asking yourself, should you check out this album or not, I’d say that you should approach it with very low expectations, but in case you are someone who is unfamiliar with Lucifugum and you would like to know more about their work, I suggest that you check out their earlier albums when Stabaath was still handling vocal duties.

Rating: 6 out of 10