Kev Rowland There is no doubt whatsoever that the diversity in the British metal and punk scene in the late Seventies is what led to the genre fracturing into so many sub genres as bands started to push what people thought was possible and began influencing others. Discharge were formed in 1977 and although they started off as punk they soon morphed into metal, and as well as being the single most important influence on what would become known as grindcore, they even had their own genre named after them, D-beat. They did go through many line-up changes during the first half of their career, but 2001 saw Rainy, Bones and Tezz get the band back together with singer Cal Morris and release an album which had them right back to their roots. By the time of this 2016 release Bones (guitars) and Rainy (bass) had stayed the course, while drummer Tezz had left the band only to return as guitarist in 2014, while his 2006 replacement Dave Caution was still there while it was the second album for singer JJ Janiak.

It does not sound as if it was nearly 40 years since this band started as they are still as angry and upset as they were in the beginning, with brothers Bones and Tezz locked in tight so there are times when it sounds almost as one, Dave providing the D-beat drumming pattern with Rainy locked in as always, and JJ providing the punk angst. 15 songs, less than 34 minutes long, here is a band who sound as if they walked into the studio, laid it down and then went down the pub. It has the brutality which one has always associated with these guys, raw and taking no prisoners. This is not meant to be pretty, it is meant to evoke a reaction which is visceral and there is no doubt the mosh is not a place to be if you are my age. Yes, it is quite repetitive, but this is something which is designed to be played loud and proud and for people to get sweaty to, not sit back and gently relax to it. They are a band who are refusing to grow old gracefully, a concept I wholeheartedly agree with. The guys got back together in 2001 as they were unhappy what had happened to the band in their absence, and here they are certainly true to their roots as they blast through yet again.

siLLy puPPy While some call the debut “Why” by DISCHARGE an EP, some call it the first full release. Whatever you call it, HEAR NOTHING SEE NOTHING SAY NOTHING is the followup to that release and more of a full album’s length’s anyway at 27:27, at least in the punk world. Like the band’s previous releases, this is punk gone wild! This is clearly punk music at its core with the same minimalistic approach in the songwriting with anarchist lyrics, but continuing their sound they managed to distort the heavy and hardcore grind of the guitars even more.

This album which keeps the tracks short and sweet has been described as “high-speed noise overload” and that pretty much describes it. Cal Morris has always shouted the lyrics but here he seems like he has even turned that up a couple notches. HEAR NOTHING… simply takes the sound the band had developed on their earliest recordings and perfected it. Gary Maloney’s D-beat drumming style is in its fullest of fury and it is evident why this band made such an impact on crust punk, grind core and thrash and black metal. Nothing in the metal world had this ferocious musical assault on the ears at this time.

This album has become a true classic and ranks as the number one punk album of all time by Terrorizer Magazine, but despite this being an early classic and a huge influence in the extreme musical world, DISCHARGE would wait a full four years to release their next album and would do the unthinkable in the punk world by radically changing their sound to an accessible glam metal sound. This went over like a birthday cake that got peed on by 100 rabid dogs and the band split up shortly after. Despite this musical faux pas, they released some excellent early hardcore punk albums with HEAR NOTHING… being the pinnacle of their career.

siLLy puPPy After a couple EPs the British hardcore punk unit known as DISCHARGE released their first full-fledged album which in the punk world means a staggering ten tracks reaching the play time of 14:26. DISCHARGE continue their aggressive minimalistic hardcore punk with D-beat drumming and lyrics firmly placed in the anarchic vision of the Sex Pistols turned up to 11.

There is really not anything different on this debut album that wasn’t angrily expressed on the previous releases but it does continue the band’s influential aggressive mark on history which along with Venom spawned a template for many a hardcore band to follow in the thrash metal, black metal, crust punk and grindcore words. The musicianship has evolved a tighter feel though.

Quick and to the point, DISCHARGE is truly a punk band of extremely noisy magnitudes but unknowingly unleashes extreme sonic forces beyond their comprehension. Not as influential as their second full album “Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing” but an essential prerequisite to that album’s development.

siLLy puPPy DECONTROL is the second EP from DISCHARGE of 1980. After dropping the bomb of “Realites Of War” which showed the world just how to assault the ear drums and how to refine unbridled anger into pure musical vitriol displaying pure fury and no compromise, the band released their second EP with another short run clocking in at only 5:40 but still a whole 50 seconds longer than the debut. That’s almost a whole song’s length in the punk world!

DECONTROL doesn’t display a huge leap in song structure. They lyrics are just as nihilistic and the basic punk song structure is the same but it does seem to have a bit more development in the musical department. Terry Roberts’ drumming seems more controlled and varied with more cymbal action at times displaying a growing mastery of the d-beat style he created. The production sounds a bit different to me as well not being as muddy as the debut but still raw and lo-fi enough to please all the dirty rockers with the full-on guitar buzz saw fury and shouted vocals.

As with “Realties Of War,” DECONTROL was originally only released on 7” vinyl but now is included as bonus tracks on the 2007 remastered edition of “Why.”

siLLy puPPy The year 1980 was pivotal in the world of extreme music. Venom released their debut album ushering in new shocking musical images of dark, underground and hellish realities influencing the soon to blossom worlds of thrash, death and black metal with their lo-fi and aggressively distorted metal fury. The NWOBHM was taking off full force with Iron Maiden, Saxon, Angel Witch and a gazillion others launching metal into the mainstream and then there was DISCHARGE who dropped their own musical bomb in the form of REALTIES OF WAR as a short 4:50 EP that in its short and sweet aggressive march through a less than five minute run ushered in yet another influential marker on both the punk and metal worlds.

DISCHARGE began as a punk band in the vein of The Sex Pistols and The Clash but something happened in the few years from their formation to their first release. They got really, REALLY pissed off and display it full force in the music. The music really amped things up from anything heard in the 70s. The music was now full-on headache music with wall-of-sound guitar motifs and the debut of the d-beat drumming style which was merely a tweaking of Motorhead but proved to be a highly successful adaptation and influential to much of the extreme metal styles to follow including thrash, black, crust punk and grindcore. Chaotic guitar buzz with relentless d-beat drumming and raging shouted nihilistic lyrics make this one of the earliest extreme releases which many a band would adopt from hereon and one that earned the band their very own place in the history books.

Originally only released on vinyl as a 7” it can now be found as bonus tracks on the 2007 remastered edition of “Why.”