Dirk's been busy in recent weeks writing me a few reviews, you've seen some, some are queued up ready to post and one you're getting today...
Impotentie - Stille Rebellen (from Leopold II is niet dood genoeg, Roachleg Records/Nosebleed Records, 2020)
Impotentie (no translation needed for that) are two guys living in Montréal.
A Canadian that would adopt the name "De Paljas" (Fool/jester/clown) and a Belgian (sounds like an Antwerp accent to me) going by the name "De Spoiler".
De Spoiler in fact is no one other than Kevin Alen, known in Belgium for being in Justice, that were very active during the first decade of this century. He relocated to Canada, and has been in many more bands during the course: Omegas, Sadistic Bomb Fuckers, Sanction A, just to name a few.
So back to 2018, when De Paljas asked the Belgian to put some singing on recorded tracks, which resulted in a tape release initially and later on Drunken Sailor recs put out those tracks on a 7".
On that release the tone was set: very political lyrics in Flemish and a kind of 80's Europunk vibe in the music.
FFW to June 2020 to this new release on 12" vinyl by a DIY Brooklyn, NY label and on cassette by Nosebleed Records, here in Belgium (a guy that is in the magnificent band called CLCKWS!)
the two Quebeqois residents kept the concept of 80s punk and Flemish political lyrics.
On his facebook page De Paljas wrote: "In Belgium, a growing movement has risen to destroy statues of King Leopold II which still stand across the country. Leopold II was a colonial mass murderer (edit: this was in the colony now known as Democratic Republic of Congo) who reigned as king of Belgium from 1865 to 1909."
Indeed so: this was all over the news in our little land, even more so, this iconoclasm, inspired by the Black Lives Matter protests, did not only happen in Belgium but in other countries too.
Stille Rebellen (Silent Rebels) is a wakeup call for us to keep remembering and resisting the upcoming right wing in Flanders, as the song goes:
"Keep resisting/Keep alive/
Don't reach out a hand to nazis in our land/
they are back/ a bullet in their head"
Further on, Spoiler questions why there are no statues for 3 Belgian resistance during WW2, who saved 115 lives from being deported to Auschwitz, while still all our towns and cities have statues of Leopold II....
The music of this song sounds very 80s Belgian, in fact a band called War Risk 3 comes to mind, or even Zyklome A's punkier tracks on those early recordings on one of the legendary Punk Etc tapes.
Excellent stuff, if cassettes are your thing, get them here: https://nosebleedrecords.bandcamp.com/album/leopold-ii-is-niet-dood-genoeg
This is Stille Rebellen...
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