Crust For Beginners

I stumbled upon this head-slappingly bad listicle about "crust punk" that was published during the pandemic lockdowns. I don't want to bag on the writer (I suspect that she wasn't paid for any of her work, so there's no need to rub salt in the wound), but there's so much wrong with this that I was compelled to issue a corrective.

I'll admit that a lifelong hesher like myself is a questionable authority on the crust/d-beat/anarcho punk genre - but I've been a fan since I first discovered the Distortion Records roster in high school, and used to make weekly trips to ABC No Rio. So I figure my metal-centric take on what's essential has some merit. And hey, I'm not getting paid for this either so [shrug emoji].

[Plus, the world is once again forced to live in fear while nuclear superpowers engage in a dick-measuring contest, meaning that the cold war nihilism that defined crust is more relevant than ever.]

Top Ten Canadian Metal Albums

In honour of Canada Day, here is a list of the best metal albums from our friends in the Great White North. [It's aboot time, eh.]

Horror Film Music 101

Hesher Christmas is quickly approaching. Being the antisocial kind, I'm not going going out this Halloween week-end, preferring instead to hole myself up in my bunker with a bunch of old friends like Evil Dead and Reanimator. [Also I'm in Malaysia, where there's zero percent chance of running into slutty Laffy Taffy.] But before I hit play on my Panasonic reel-to-reel, some thoughts on horror movie music.



The music in a horror movie sets the mood, builds tension, and drives home the scares. At their best, horror film scores stand separate from their film counterparts as albums/songs of their own merit. Here are ten of the best - most of which have been used by metal bands in one form or another.

Grindcore 101

Rich Hoak of Brutal Truth/Total Fucking Destruction

Considering half the people I know in KL are in grindcore bands (some of them in two or three), I thought I'd flex my cred as someone who's followed the genre for 20 years, and seen most of the movers and shakers play live (some of them two or three times - suck it, Malaysia). Grindcore has a long history littered with thousands albums that anyone can (and will) argue for - but these are the ten most essential.