Album Review: Destroy The Machines (1995)
Welcome, one and all, to the first entry of a new album review series here on the KSSU blog! We’re kicking things off with an album that recently celebrated its 30th birthday– Destroy The Machines (1995) by the legendary vegan straight edge hardcore group, Earth Crisis. Officially formed in 1992, Earth Crisis ended up being one of the biggest figures in the still-extant vegan straight edge hardcore movement. I’ve actually had the privilege of seeing EC at 924 Gilman out in Berkeley, an intensely historic and super small venue that practically birthed the CA Bay Area punk scene. At this life-altering show, I somehow got to personally meet EC and have a brief conversation with them. Even though they got up to some crazy stuff during their heyday in the 90s (Google “hardline hardcore bands” if you want to learn more about that…), they were really down to earth (ha) and seemed genuinely interested in the conversation we had. It was insane.
Anyways, as mentioned above, the two main tenets of EC’s messaging are veganism and straight edge culture. Veganism is pretty commonly understood on a base level of “not eating animal products”, but most people sort of associate it with health nuts who think that eating meat is going to send you straight to an early grave. Alternatively, veganism is driven by a sense of spirituality and/or desire for ecologically-centered justice for a lot of people. This latter interpretation of veganism is what Destroy The Machines focuses on, along with most of Earth Crisis’s work. Straight edge is a little less well-understood by the general public, and I could write an entire blog entry alone just on what straight edge means to me, and I might… but, for now, I’ll summarize it as best as I can. In simple terms, people who identify with the straight edge movement choose to abstain from any form of substance use (alcohol, marijuana, tobacco, etc) along with a few other things that are believed to alter your mind in a negative way. The main drive behind this abstinence is the idea of wanting to live as your true self without any sort of prohibiting factors, making you a clear-headed, fully thought-out individual who has the capacity to stand up for themselves and their community. This desire to be able to fight for what you believe in without any sort of barrier is sorta what makes veganism go hand-in-hand with straight edge– that being said, not all edge kids are vegan, but if you’re into hardcore and you’re vegan, you’re probably straight edge, if that even makes any sense…
Alright, I think that sets the stage for us to finally get into the music. The formatting of these blog entries might change based on how much I know about the artist/album (or how much effort I put into doing my research…). But for now, I hope to do a bit of artist explanation, maybe get some thoughts/statements from other people on the artist or album, and then I’ll go track by track, rating each song on a scale of 1-10. A score of 1/10 means “I never want to hear this song ever again for as long as I’m alive”, and a 10/10 means “after I finished the album, I went back and listened to this track around 5+ times”. I’ll also share any thoughts I have and include a particular set of lyrics I thought to be impactful or have stood out in some way. Feel free to leave a comment if you have any suggestions on how I could make these more reader-friendly, or message me on the evil app that is Instagram at @against_thegrainkssu.
WORDS ON EARTH CRISIS FROM OTHERS
“I first got to listen to Earth Crisis in a computer lab in 1999 because the school actually had fast enough internet to stream an MP3. Hardcore has always been about lyrics for me… that and there wasn’t a guitar solo stretching for half the song. Earth Crisis lyrics didn’t have half measures. I’m pretty sure you were put on a watchlist when you bought this record! Their ideas about environmentalism and veganism are very serious and important enough to act upon to whatever ends necessary. There’s vegan fast food restaurants, and I can choose different milk alternatives based on their environmental impacts. 30 years later, you cannot deny them their due credit.” – Daniel Pfarr, CSUS biology dept. support technician (greenhouse), vegan straight edge for 20+ years
“Earth Crisis is one of the most important bands to me. Despite being a vegan straight edge band, the first song of theirs that really struck a chord with me was Unseen Holocaust. Hearing such an unabashedly anti colonial song was very impactful to me. Not being wailed like tracks from Iron Maiden or Anthrax, but instead featuring screams of disgust. ‘History means nothing if nothing’s learned from past mistakes’. Overall, Earth Crisis embodied Edification much more than anything I had heard before.” – Isaac Wells, fellow KSSU DJ (Constant Headache), good friend, and fellow modern straight-edge kid
THE ACTUAL REVIEW
Track 1: “Forced March” (3:37)
10/10
Comments: Great track to open with. The opening guitar line sets the dire tone that carries through the rest of the album, and the lyrics set the mood really well, too. One of my favorites.
Lyrics: “A slave to their own desires / Apathetic to those in need / Devoid of love / No peace inside / Blinded by their material greed”
Track 2: “Born From Pain” (3:17)
10/10
Comments: The guitar part for this entire track activates something deep in the back of my brain. As soon as I heard it for the first time, I knew that I had to try to learn it. And I did! It rips.
Lyrics: “Breathing life into my visions / Forcing them into reality / From paradise into the inferno / Into paradise, into paradise”
Track 3: “Destroy The Machines” (3:12)
8/10
Comments: Even though this is the title track, I feel like there are a lot of better songs on the album… the lyrics are definitely the best part, though.
Lyrics:“Earth liberation through ecodefense / To halt the insanity / Of the yellow death machines’ advance”
Track 4: “New Ethic” (2:53)
9/10
Comments: These lyrics get stuck in my head SO BADLY. ALL THE TIME. I’m not super upset about that, though, because they’re good. I could definitely get worse songs playing on repeat in my brain.
Lyrics: “This is the new ethic / Animals’ lives are their own / And must be given respect / Reject the anthropocentric falsehood / That maintains the oppressive hierarchy”
Track 5: “The Discipline” (3:47)
10/10
Comments: STRAIGHT EDGE! Something about this song makes me want to run around in circles while jumping up and down like a gorilla. Maybe that’s what hardcore is really all about… setting free the inner ape…
Lyrics: “Abstinence was the beginning / What’s important is what’s done with the freedom / Step by step I overcome / Alone I climb the staircase to edification”
Track 6: “Deliverance” (3:09)
9/10
Comments:The groove on this track GOES. I’m a sucker for good guitar parts (which you definitely already know, if you listen to my show…), and “Deliverance” certainly has that. The lyrical material is also fantastic, but… maybe I’m biased.
Lyrics: “Severed locks / Doors wrenched from hinges / The animals’ deliverance from torment and captivity”
Track 7: “Inherit The Wasteland” (2:50)
9/10
Comments: This track also grooves super hard. The end is top-notch, and I feel like the repetition throughout the whole thing really hammers in the point that it’s trying to get at… which is, no surprise, about eco-justice…
Lyrics: “Mankind’s will has been imposed upon the earth / As through we were along / And if our actions had no consequences / Man crushes all that bars the way / On his path to annihilation”
Track 8: “asphyxiate” (2:56)
9/10
Comments: I guess Earth Crisis just perpetually has guitar lines that satisfy the part of my brain that processes music (which is probably most, if not all of my brain space…). The opening bass groove is gorgeous. Halftime part leading back into a groove is great. The song is great. Another straight-edge anthem, at least in my book.
Lyrics: “Cashing in on a cash crop / Cashing in on your slow death / For their financial gain / They create then feed a carcinogenic addiction / That leads to self-destruction”
Track 9: “The Wrath Of Sanity” (3:51)
10/10
Comments: Got the microphone from Karl (the frontman) at the end of this song when I saw them live. Absolutely insane moment, AND Karl remembered me when I talked to him after the show. This one really does it for me, and I’m not 100% sure why.
Lyrics: “You have no respect for life / Violence you can understand / Your turn to feel the pain / Retribution, from my hand!”
Track 10: “Fortress” (4:27)
8/10
Comments: Solid song. The end, though, always catches me off guard because the volume increases SO much. I get the point, though… it does what it’s supposed to do.
Lyrics: “Time melts their false idols into pools of worthless lead” (x4)