Album Review: Discharge – Protest And Survive: The Anthology

An influence on bands as varied as Metallica, Napalm Death and Against Me!, the importance of riotous Stoke-on-Trent punks Discharge cannot be overstated. Boasting that they made “Noise, not music”, they even spawned their own sub-genre, D-beat. Forty years on from their brutal Realities Of War EP, this whopping 53-track collection of what one might call ‘hits’, demos and alternative versions shows just how caustic their music was, and remains.

Songs such as Protest And Survive, the harrowing A Hell On Earth and the two-fingered salute of Ain’t No Feeble Bastard are exercises in intensity and volume, while the messages against war, racism, class division and state control have only become sharper with age.

Meanwhile, the demo material here is somehow even wilder than the album material, detonating like furiously thrown petrol bombs. If you’re looking for punk at its most snarling, you still only need Discharge.

Verdict: 4/5

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