Bad Breeding - Contempt LP

Not only do Bad Breeding fulfill the Hardcore Punk criteria at the most basic level, there’s a certain (wot do u call it?) noise-rock/pigfuck/sonically pummelling post-punk itch that is also thoroughly scratched.Have a friend who’s into Killing Joke, Venom P. Stinger, Zond, Low Life’s Dogging, or a bunch of those current sub-Future Of The Left NME Award nominee bands? Do the right thing, send them this way.

Bad Breeding’s sonic adventurousness doesn’t come with any ashamed-of-Hardcore smarty-pants baggage. In fact I’d say they’re the best example of considered-and-artful-core that doesn’t negate a Poison Idea propulsiveness since since my beloved noughties USHC favourites Condominium and Double Negative.

I’d like to be more measured and interact with the lyrical and accompanying zine content on a deeper level but will say that on a glance expands upon and adds a contemporary context to a positive history of punk socio-political analysis… a bit like the music aye. This year’s answer to The Proletariat’s Soma Holiday? Dense stuff, certainly a 2024 punk highlight! - Nic

Bad Breeding, the Stevenage-based hardcore unit, are set to release their fifth album ‘Contempt’ on June 14th with Iron Lung Records in the US and One Little Independent Records worldwide.

It follows 2022s ‘Human Capital’ which mercilessly attacked Conservative meritocracy and the exploitative forces of late capitalism. ‘Contempt’ ups the ante yet again and explores the continued effects that austerity has had on the working public and specifically capital’s destruction of the planet and its inhabitants. It’s released with multiple essays in an accompanying zine, one that follows environmental and humanitarian journalist Aidan Frere-Smith and another that tells the story of a homelessness crisis in a city full of unused housing. Utilizing a mix of propulsive rhythm and furious, explosive guitars to maximum effect, Bad Breeding have weaponised their anger in the fight for survival; “Because these days are ours to take / Seize them with union, love and rage”.

Christopher Dodd explains “Capital and its bourgeois foot soldiers hold nothing but contempt for working people and it’s in that contempt we can find solidarity with one another. Whatever story gets sold and packaged, contempt guides every move of the capitalist class. We see it every day - unspeakable destruction from war and government-sponsored genocide, exploitation of workers and the very gutting of the planet we live on. Only when we realise and utilise the utter contempt held for us can we reach a level of class consciousness that will provide an adequate challenge to capital”.

The associated further reading within ‘Contempt’ adds more fuel to the fire. ‘Towards an Uncivil Solidarity’ by Alasdair Dunn of Scottish metal avant-gardists Ashenspire attacks capital’s centrality in the UK’s homelessness crisis. It details and sources that at the time of writing, there are 248,000 long-term empty properties in England alone, and 3069 people sleeping rough. He says that “I believe, if everyone felt, truly FELT the horror of continuous rough sleeping, of the desperation and the hunger, we’d have a revolution within the week”. The second, ‘Mud, Metal and Moonlight’, tracks the movements of a radical group dismantling traps and sabotaging the badger cull, which has been proven time and again to do more harm than good to the environment. They are hard but necessary reads that give context to the emotion that pours from ‘Contempt’ and demand action.

The album’s artwork comes courtesy of seminal photomontage artist and prominent anti-war campaigner Peter Kennard, who has provided the cover art for ‘Contempt’ alongside a selection of images in the album’s zine and inserts. Described by the late John Pilger as ranking among the most important of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, Kennard’s art holds a mirror to the wars waged against humanity, creating challenging works that have informed the visual culture of conflict and crisis in modern history.

250 on white with opaque blue splatter and 250 on translucent green 150 gr vinyl housed in a 24pt jacket with multiple inserts and essays included. Recorded and produced by Ben Greenberg at Chapel Studios, Alford,U.K.. Assisted by Pieter Rietkerk. Mixed by Ben Greenberg at Circular RuinStudio, New York City, USA. Mastered and cut by Matt Colton at Metropolis Studios. Art by Peter Kennard.  - Iron Lung