You’ve Got The Fucking Power

(Digital Hardcore)
by Scott Hefflon

With eight songs, 33 minutes of digital hardcore, this should be called You’ve Got The Fucking Power To Give Me A Fucking Headache. If you’re looking for the ultimate record to annoy, well, everyone, this is it. And it’s a DHR label sampler, which means it’s only $2. Digital Hardcore may be the true test of the old rockism, “If it’s too loud, you’re too old.” I can listen to snakespit black metal first thing in the morning, but I have to be in a certain mood for this stuff. Funny that an entire genre can be defined and named after a record label (or vice-versa), but there is nothing quite like digital hardcore. For those who’ve never heard Atari Teenage Riot (the most popular of the howling bunch), think of the skin-crawling repulsion of the most tuneless, noisy metal you’ve ever heard, now blur it until it’s the continuous sound of a chainsaw ripping away your eardrums. Then add a beat only a hyperactive epileptic could dance to. It has the aggression and violence punk and metal are supposed to have (without a hint of pop or sell-out in sight, not to mention no melodies to hum, guitar licks to play, or choruses to decipher and “sing” along with). This is revolution music for the millennium – techno is for pansies, breakbeats are for beginners, this is the sound of your trash compactor chewing up all your old CDs cuz they’re all shite anyway. Those responsible: Atari Teenage Riot, Christoph de Babalon, Shizuo, Ec8or, Patric C., The Curse of the Golden Vampire, Bomb 20, and Alec Empire.
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