Reviewed by a RAIL comrade
Bane's first CD release is a re-release of their previous 7"s in digital. Musically, you can't ask for more in a CD. It's fast, heavy, in-your-face hardcore from MA, that really gets the crowd movin.
As a positive hardcore band, Bane's lyrics focus on personal struggles and relationships and of course, the scene. In "Count Me Out" they proclaim their dedication to hardcore as others move on. In the same vein, "Scared" describes a fear of growing up and selling out. "No you are the king of killers / I've seen what you do / Carving through the hearts / and souls of many." While Bane doesn't bring a revolutionary message with them, this song rings true. As the intro to the punk/hardcore reviews describes, youth play an important role in changing the world. Once people get married, get a job and move to the suburbs you can bet they won't be fighting oppression in their spare time. We've all seen people sell out, and those of us who haven't are scared of it happening to us. That's one reason why when it comes to political change, organization and discipline are so important. Through the study and application of dialectical materialism and practicing democratic centralism, MIM provides that central stability that is necessary to keep the movement on the right path.
Keeping with the subject of youth, the one political stance Bane seems to take is against the oppression of young people. The detrimental effects that substance abuse has on children is addressed through personal experiences in "Both Guns Blazing" and "Lay the Blame." Meanwhile, they criticize the verbal abuse that children in our society are forced to put up with in "Forked Tongue," which specifically addresses a womyn who publicly humiliated her child in the street. "And if this is how you do it / right in front of me - I cannot imagine / what must go down at home." In the song, the witness merely turns his back and walks away, as we so often do. This just shows how trained we are to "respect other people's privacy," even if it results in the harm of other people. In our society privacy is used by the patriarchy to enforce its power in the privacy of the home, or even in the middle of the street. The old saying goes, it takes a whole village to raise a child. Under socialism this will be put into effect, eliminating the ability for individuals to oppress their children and discouraging the view that they are personal property.
"Superhero" is about all those people who say, "Oh you're straight edge, that's really cool. I wish I could do that." The song points out that we're all human and we all have the strength to live free of drugs. This goes for other struggles as well. Young people, especially wimmin, are taught that they don't have the strength to do what grown men can do and as a result are often timid to take a strong stance. This is something we need to help each other overcome through education and struggle. You learn by doing, and the sooner you start, the better.
"Every Effort Made" is a song about hardcore and why it is so important to many people. Hardcore is more than just a style of music because it has political content. "Ideals that won't fade...chewing on words but spitting out actions." Many people such as Bane embrace this culture without taking a strong stance of their own. As discussed above, this is where organization comes into play. For those who are serious about changing the world, MIM is currently organizing to do the most effective work possible for the cause of ending all oppression.
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