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.