Carcinogen // "Kure" // Life Is Abuse // 1992
Very similar to the band they would soon become, Carcinogen's demo is raw, nihilistic, and malformed. Pure hatred expressed through metallic crusty hardcore. Formed in 1990 by future-Dystopians Todd Keisling and Dino Sommese (plus a third member whom I don't know), Carcinogen built the foundation for the Life Is Abuse method and ethos.
Carcinogen and Dystopia are somewhat hard to pigeonhole into an exact sub-genre. In a sense, they are their own beast entirely. All you can really do is cite the chemical makeup. They're the more brutal and evil sides of metal, but with the approach of punk and hardcore. You get the slow and heavy, the weird array of effects-laden instrumentals, and angry bursts of blast beat hardcore. Typically when we see such a massively appreciated band (at least in their own niche/realm) a massive bombardment of copycats follow. I don't think I've ever really said "Wow, this band sounds a lot like Dystopia." Well, aside from Carcinogen, but that doesn't count...and really I guess Dystopia sounds like Carcinogen rather than vice versa.
I would like to point out one track here, and I basically just want to mention this because it made me laugh. It's track #6: "Reconcile." The song opens up with a heavy phaser-induced riff leading into a black metal croon. Get ready for it. Once the song starts to pick up speed and prepare for the first verse you'll hear one of most diseased black metal ewwwwwwwoooowwwww's ever. It's one of those moments that's just so absurd yet perfect you can't help but laugh.
That's it. Love Earth, hate people. Do drugs, sound evil.
Carcinogen and Dystopia are somewhat hard to pigeonhole into an exact sub-genre. In a sense, they are their own beast entirely. All you can really do is cite the chemical makeup. They're the more brutal and evil sides of metal, but with the approach of punk and hardcore. You get the slow and heavy, the weird array of effects-laden instrumentals, and angry bursts of blast beat hardcore. Typically when we see such a massively appreciated band (at least in their own niche/realm) a massive bombardment of copycats follow. I don't think I've ever really said "Wow, this band sounds a lot like Dystopia." Well, aside from Carcinogen, but that doesn't count...and really I guess Dystopia sounds like Carcinogen rather than vice versa.
I would like to point out one track here, and I basically just want to mention this because it made me laugh. It's track #6: "Reconcile." The song opens up with a heavy phaser-induced riff leading into a black metal croon. Get ready for it. Once the song starts to pick up speed and prepare for the first verse you'll hear one of most diseased black metal ewwwwwwwoooowwwww's ever. It's one of those moments that's just so absurd yet perfect you can't help but laugh.
That's it. Love Earth, hate people. Do drugs, sound evil.
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