Antisect The Rising Of The Lights

True legends never die. One of the most influential of all the bands to emerge from the febrile anarcho-punk scene of the early ‘80s, Antisect’s notoriety and extraordinary impact on the sound of fast, furious and heavy music far outweigh their lowly status in the history books. Emerging from the wave of intensely political punk rock bands that grew from the subversive triumphs of Crass in the late ‘70s, anarcho-punk always offered more than mere bug-eyed polemic: instead, via records like Antisect’s seminal 1983 debut album In Darkness There Is No Choice, it brought artistic depth and aesthetic focus to a punk scene that was otherwise flailing around in its death throes. A wild and subtly inventive step forward from their first efforts as a more straight ahead hardcore punk band, Antisect’s debut is now widely acknowledged as one of the most important punk albums of its time. Meanwhile, the original band’s last official release, the two-track Out From The Void EP in 1985, brought a more metallic edge to their sound and hinted at heavier and darker things to come. By 1987, however, Antisect had disintegrated and silence reigned, the band’s reputation as anarcho-punk legends growing steadily in their absence. Now, the seemingly impossible has become the very real. Antisect return in 2017 with a new album that could hardly be a more righteous soundtrack for humanity’s spiralling demise. The spirit of ’83 is very much alive and its most potent protagonists are once again kicking doggedly against the pricks.