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Punk Obituary *** Released on Conflict's Motorhate label 'Punk Obituary' does for anarcho punk music what 'London Calling'(The Clash) did for the first wave of punk music.It redefined a way forward for a scene where musical stagnation and rigid thrash punk had become the norm. This heavily blues influenced album features superior versions of songs from the earlier eps and a flowing collection of heavy melodic punk,blues rock and English folk & gospel.The highly personal,emotional politics of most songs combined with a broader  historical outlook reaffirmed the distance between The Apostles and any other political punk band.At the time it seemed this would be the first and only Apostles album and the experience gained from dozens of self-released eps and cassette only albums resulted in this timeless minor masterpiece.

 
 

Lives And Times Of The Apostles **** Heavy aggressive hardcore punk riven throughout with melodic punk blues riffs.This sounds more 'punk' than Punk Obituary. As usual its as much the sentiments in the lyrics which distinguish  these songs from all other punk music of the time.  Highlights are the mighty 'House Of Horror' with its off kilter jazz blues riff- possibly the best ever Apostles song.This album is full of frantic, harsh songs including superior pounding,angry versions of Skin Deep and The Masterace.

 

Acts Of The Apostles In The Theatre Of Fear **½ A mixed affair.There are polished heavy pounding punk anthems The Dispossessed,Social Scum and Heavy Metal which all get **** top marks.Then decent versions of older Apostles favourites 'F*****g Queer.Then several Apostles songs get murdered.Pigs For Slaughter,Alien Asian,A New World In Our Hearts and Libertarian Youth are inferior to earlier ep and demo versions.

 
 

How Much Longer? **** An explosive return to form - from the Simon & Garfunkel style ballads Pale Blue Eyes and The Island to the spoken word experimentalism,the tributes to Mark Perry and Alternative TV ('How Much Longer') to the heavy political punk anthems they excelled at - The Witness,Burn The Witch and the exhilarating blues riff laden  Punk Squatters and Motorway Madness.

 

Equinox Screams *** The murky dirty sound quality suits the nihilistic tone of this controversial album.Vigilantism,decaying societies,class war and emotional confusion all feature on the powerful punk songs Stop The Rot,Nazi Baby,The Agenda,Tomorrow Belongs To Us etc which make up most of this album.Less impressive are the meandering,tedious 'experimental' tracks.The punk songs get **** while the rest merits *.Overall 3 stars.

Ahe Theatre Acts Of The Apostles In The Theatre Of
 

The Other Operation *** Only 7 songs here on one side of an LP shared with STATEMENT. There are 2 good Groundogs and the old Apostles anti- religion epic 'Absolution Of Guilt' finally gets the release it deserves.The album ends with the extended blues punk of 'A World We Never Made' - a song which  lyrically and musically sums up what the Apostles were about.

 

Reviewed by Rob Basak

 
 

The Apostles excelled at making blues infected hardcore punk music.They literally churned out hundreds of songs but sometimes wasted too much time on  unlistenable experimentalism.

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