RUDIMENTARY PENI Vinyl & CDs

Review: Uglier than their profound peers in Crass; British anarcho/aggro/noise punk outfit Rudimentary Peni were an equally vital staple to the scene. Their second full-length 'Cacophony' marked their return following the first of several extended hiatuses, and served as a cataclysmic 30-track nightmare of avant-punk chaos, directly inspired by the works of cosmic horror visionary H.P. Lovecraft. With elements of spoken word, concrete noise and feral bursts of hyper-intense noisecore energy, this is punk at its most gothic, ambitious, intricate, ugly and experimental, while simultaneously serving as the group's most challenging work yet finest representation of their demented sonic ethos.

Review: A lot of bands have mystery and mythology surrounding them. Few can command the same level of interest as Rudimentary Peni. The British anarcho-punks have been going since 1980, and in that time put out just four albums and a handful of EPs. Oh, and a live recording from a gig in Derby, England, in 1993, released 12 years later by Sheffield Tape Archive.

All of which is besides the point when you realise how hard it is to find any photos of any band member, and how little they've courted press or anything tied to the music industry at any point in the past 40 years. Cacophony is their second LP, landing in 1988, and straddles nosebleed metal, tough garage rock, mind-melting punk, and some stuff we can't really think of words for. Frantic, fun, and more than a little mad.