System Of Slaves return with their second full-length, and this new material feels less like a sequel and more like a sharpening of knives. Their new record, Live Not by Lies at One Time We Dared Not Even Whisper, documents fury, conviction, and refusal, a blistering extension of hardcore punk’s most uncompromising traditions, pushed through the filters of crust, metal, and D-beat until it becomes something dirtier, nastier, and truer to the times. You hear echoes of Sacrilege or Nausea’s metallic abrasion, of Discharge’s relentless propulsion, of the best anarcho-punk records that made righteous anger sound like a survival strategy, but System Of Slaves are not stuck in reverence. They fold in metallic crunch and thrash-inspired rhythm shifts, pulling from the harder edges of ’80s metal without losing punk rock’s economy, resulting in a sound that hits with immediacy while revealing details, the basslines that carve out haunting counter-melodies, the guitar riffs heavy but unencumbered by excess, and the tribal and sharp drumming.
And there are female-fronted roars that give the defining presence to these songs. These words, screamed into existence, carry weight because they sound lived. When System Of Slaves rail against sexism, corporatism, capitalism’s chokehold, they don’t posture, but indict. The lyrics match the music’s concision, direct, brutal, and uncompromising. The production, handled by Stuart Mackaye and Jason Livermore, gives this record heft without gloss. It’s chunky, grounded, and unpolished in all the right places. This is an album that thrives on texture, on the clash of jagged riffs and pounding drums. Polishing it too much would blunt its edges, but the sound breathes and bleeds here. You can almost feel the sweat and grit of the rehearsal room in every moment. On one level, there is the aggression, the speed, the sheer physical force in these songs, but listen to it closer and you find a sophistication in arrangement and atmosphere that lifts the record above genre exercises. The vocals are powerful and commanding, gutiars roar with sheer brutality, the bass guitar deliver precise low-end notes, and the drums keep everything together while dictating groove and pace.
This album is also a statement of continuity. The members, drawn from bands like In The Shit, Social Experiment, Zero Again, Stitched-Up, and others, bring decades of experience in the underground. They play with the authority of musicians who know both the history they’re part of and the urgency of the present moment. Nothing here feels tentative, and everything feels earned. Live Not by Lies at One Time We Dared Not Even Whisper refuses to go along with modern punk rock cliches. It’s a record steeped in anger, but anger directed with precision. It confronts sexism, capitalism, and corporatism not with vague slogans but with sharpened intent, and it does so with bone-crushing music, built for sweaty clubs/squats and a restless crowd. System Of Slaves have delivered an album that does not flinch, does not compromise, and does not waste time. At just the right length, it leaves you exhausted but alert, as good hardcore punk should. In their hands, music is not escape but confrontation, and Live Not by Lies… is one of the most vital confrontations of the year. Head to Engineer Records for more information about ordering this gem on CD.
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