Cripple Bastards – “Age of Vandalism”
TRACKLIST / CONTENTS:
Deluxe 4x digipack boxset including all Cripple Bastards’ tapes from 1988 to 1993, plus unreleased tracks and pre-CB thrash material from 1986. Includes the 4 official demos, the Violent Headache split 7″ session (with extras), the full 1988–1991 collection, side-projects, and 1,036 songs total.
A journey into the late ’80s/early ’90s ultra-DIY noisecore scene: tape traders, TNT & Records, Psychomania, lo-fi cassette abuse and no snare drum nitpicking allowed. 90-page booklet with liner notes, flyers, demo art, interviews and more from Giulio and Alberto.
REVIEW (Decibel Magazine):
USA’s Decibel Mag gave it 9/10 and reviewed it as it follows:
The Age Of Vandalism box set compiles the output of Italian grindcore act Cripple Bastards from 1987 to 1993. It spreads 1,036 songs across four lavish digipacks. Can you imagine MP3-tagging that sonofabitch? Luckily, a CD can only hold 99 tracks, so the box set bunches up wads of songs into tracks. Ergo, track titles like “94 song demo, Nov. 1992” and “Side B of ‘From 88 to 91’ collection tape (281 songs!)”
But this isn’t just “You Suffer” for hours. Sure, it’s a rush to hear micro-songs fly by. But this collection of filth is surprisingly compelling. Much of it comes from when Cripple Bastards were a two-piece. When teenage delinquents Giulio the Bastard and Alberto the Crippler weren’t terrorizing their hometown of Asti with vandalism, they were vomiting their frustrations on tape. Grunts, screams, blast beats, Italian horror movie samples, even a show bootlegged by cassette ‘from the back of the audience’ – it’s a hell of a mudbath.
The liner notes are even better: a booklet for each digipak, plus a big, thick one for the set. They include essays, flyers, historical photos, demo tape artwork and incredibly soulful, thoughtful interviews. Age of Vandalism is really a giant audiovisual zine tat documents the early history of Italian grindcore. Cripple Bastards are a bona fide band now; they construct music, and they do it well. But back then they deconstructed their existence with tape recorders, Xerox machines and even an axe. This box set is their amazing legacy. (Cosmo Lee)
QUOTES:
“Italy’s CRIPPLE BASTARDS write the best very short songs. We’re talking two or three chords, maybe a change, possibly a riff.”
– Decibel Magazine
Includes sessions from legendary 7″s like the Violent Headache split – also featured on Sanctuary Records’ Grind Your Mind comp (with Repulsion, Napalm Death, etc.).
The most complete CB early-years archive: demos, live sets, side-projects, pre-CB recordings, all remastered and supervised by the original members.