Epileptic Terror Attack ‘No Faith’ review

Epileptic Terror Attack ‘No Faith’ review


Having a genuine lack of understanding regarding European culture, it’s a commonplace reference to say, “Those crazy Norwegians” or “Those crazy Swedes”. This is almost always a case of misunderstanding of differing cultures, rather than one culture being peculiar and one being straight-laced; however, the statement “Those crazy Swedes” applies rather accurately in regard to their punk music. Swedish bands are just…more notable for their intensity and dedication to their music. Scandinavian death metal is one prime example of this, and another is Swedish hardcore, best exemplified by irrationally intense, committed heavyweights Epileptic Terror Attack in their full-length LP ‘No Faith’.

Fucking furiously fast youth-crew thrashcore with simple, yet decipherably difficult calls to action; little more to describe this album is necessary, but short album reviews are never fun. Within this album are thirteen tracks about an individual’s struggle with the world, and one cover of a Circle Jerks song. “No Faith” is about a lack of trust in others, and sometimes even one’s self, “Identity Crisis” is about the search for one’s ideal existence of being, “I Don’t Believe in Unity” lashes out at the calls for unity in a manic scene, and “Skate Fast Die Hard” is a celebration of a punk rock pastime. These are just some of the phenomenal anthems ETA has to offer the listener, musically and philosophically. The vocals are traditional 80s hardcore mile-a-minute rants, a mix of clean youth crew shouts and rapid-fire rebellious rhythmic rants of Keith Morris, the guitar is whiplash-fast grinding along the frets, and the rhythm section is just… Those crazy Swedes have something serious to hold over U.S. hardcore. It’s really, truly difficult to pull off a sound this speedy and subvert the thrash metal or powerviolence branch out, and these guys walk the line with style to spare. No punk rock album has been as philosophically stoic and stalwart; it’s a subliminal call to arms for the individual man and woman within us.

Not too many albums in punk rock fight to bring the instinctive humane distrust and individual empowerment out into the airwaves. How rare it is to find such an album of sheer musical and philosophical intensity; no other album will encourage one so strongly to stage-dive off a stack and into the raw philosophical independence of Nietzsche and LaVey alike.

-Aunty Social