Most people's perception of RP curtails when their brief yet fruitful affiliation with CRASS RECORDS and the associated anarcho scene petered out following the '87 release of "Cacophony". However, they've managed to sputter along under the radar, quietly releasing an EP every couple years. The second-most-recent of these, the "Archaic" 10", was my introduction to the fresher face of PENI. Drop the political affiliations and up the gloom.
The songs are short, simple blasts, often only utilizing one riff, with tortured vocals delivering plaintive laments of the pointlessness of everyday life. The words "the rain runs down their carved names" tear from Blinko like hopped-up hellhounds. They function more as nuggets of angst than polemic, many being just one sentence. Even though brevity is a trait fully exercised on this record (12 songs in 15 minutes, and nary a pause between any of them), since the songs are so repetitive and simple, it's easy to get the songs trapped in your head. Definitely one of the catchiest records fixated on mortality I've heard.
Listen.
Definitely one of the best bands ever!
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