Berlin-based dark punk four-piece Totenwald, founded in 2014 with members hailing from Russia and Italy, are just released their debut album “Dirty Squats & Disco Lights” via Plastic Bomb Records, Bat-Cave Productions, and Sierpien Records; an energetic and engaging take on the early 80’s punk, wave and deathrock, with an add of a drum-machine and a tasty sax.
The closing album track “Radio Free Europe” is a powerful and menacing, addictive gem, built on gallopping basslines, manic beats, and razor-sharp guitar riffs perfectly matching Jello Biafra-like female ranting vocals. The smart political lyrics about a Europe colonized by the fake US ‘big bother’-like oligarchic ‘democracy’, ending martially with the line ‘Yes, Sir, I will’, voluntary or not, the title of the bitter and raging 1983’s Crass album, enough for make them even more kindred to me.
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