THE EXPLOITED — Beat The Bastards (review)

THE EXPLOITED — Beat The Bastards album cover Album · 1996 · Crossover Thrash Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Vim Fuego
Punk was a mouthpiece for the disaffected of the late 70s which got hijacked by bored middle class teens. While most bands broke up or changed directions in the early 80s, an energetic anger filled young outfit was just starting out. Fifteen years after their humble beginnings in the punk underground, The Exploited unleashed the aural hurricane of ‘Beat The Bastards’ on an unsuspecting world.

Margaret Thatcher and the Tories were history. Unemployment was not the problem it had once been. Britain as a whole seemed a much happier place to live in than in 1981. But was it? After 15 years in the anarchy business, Exploited main man Wattie Buchan had developed anti–rose coloured glasses, seeing problems and societal decay where others saw happiness and light. The police were still getting up Wattie's nose. "There's a law for the rich/A law for people like you and me", "Nazi law, Tory law/It's just the fucking same" and "Police TV/Categorising me" leave the listener in no doubt of Wattie's feelings toward the old bill and the justice system. And while Maggie Thatcher was no longer in power, the Tories still were. Crime, corruption, poverty, unemployment, even depression all came to bear under Wattie's astute semi–sociological gaze.

The Exploited were never going to be a band to go pop, like say The Clash or The Buzzcocks. Instead, the sound has been beefed up considerably for this album thanks to a Colin Richardson production job. The riffs here are simple and as punk as ever, but the added depth and crunch in the sound lead to a thrash metal feel to the whole thing. There is the odd sparse solo, and some excellent scene setting samples (especially on “Massacre Of Innocents”), but the music is really just a backdrop to emphasise Wattie's distinctive well worn shout. And what a shout it is. None of the anger had dissipated from his voice after 15 years. If anything, the vocals were stronger and clearer than ever.

Always consistent and always angry, The Exploited produced one of the most memorable albums of the mid 1990s. Punk's not dead. There's plenty of bite left in the old bastard yet.
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