(Hardcore Punk/Metal) UTILITARIAN - Fight War, Not Wars. Destroy Power, Not People album review

Release date May 1, 2020 (Bandcamp)

Next up for review is the U.K.'s Utilitarian with their Fight War, Not Wars. Destroy Power, Not People release. Hardcore leftist in its political stance and just as hardcore in its punk metal delivery, here we have a band vehemently behind its cause, as all of the album's income is being funneled toward a homeless shelter charity. Tracks such as "Profit or People?", "Greed Is A Hunger That Can Never Be Fed" and "Wall of Debt" only clarify their anti-capitalist stance.

Musically, the core of this is speedy hardcore punk, however, there's enough metal riffage interspersed to appease metal punkers as well. Jon Crowder's vocals are a highlight throughout, spat out in that snotty English punk manner we all love, but with lyrics miraculously discernible despite the malevolent approach at the mic. Altogether, Utilitarian have created a bracing release that deserves to be heard by the more musically extreme amongst us.

Note: Includes two covers - Napalm Death's "Instinct of Survival" and Woody Guthrie/Wilco's "All You Fascists".

(8.5)