Bad Breeding: Divide 12" (new)

Bad Breeding from Stevenage return with their second LP in less than a year. In that time the world has become a melting pot of hate, absurdity and on the brink of destruction and Bad Breeding have made a record that sums up these dark, dense and claustrophobic times. Once again the relentless rhythm section drives the sound with guitar work that is squealing and immense alongside vocals that spit bile and razor-sharp lyrics. Standouts include The More the Merrier - which sounds like prime Icons of Filth from 1985 whilst last track Endless Impossibility is a five-minute-plus dirge that hits hard like Killing Joke but with more noise and chaos. On Divide Bad Breeding have upped the intensity and made an even stronger album. Rather than being self-released, they have now joined La Vida Es un Mus in Europe and Iron Lung in the States.

Our take: Much-anticipated second LP from this killer band from the UK. Their first one was a total enigma… it seemed to come out of nowhere, and before I could really get a handle on it everyone had snapped up the copies that we got in the store, so I feel like I never really got to live with that record in the way that I wanted to. However, I’ve been full-on feasting on this new one. I guess the big question—as it is for just about any sophomore effort—is, “is it as good as the first one?” This has been the subject of a lot of conversation around the shop, and while most people seem to prefer the first one, as of right now I’m coming down pretty hard on the side of Divide. I mean, sonically speaking, not much has really changed. Bad Breeding still sound like hardcore that’s gleefully unaware of all of the genre’s cliches. It’s basically heavy, intense music that sounds like it was made by people who either aren’t steeped enough in the genre’s conventions to be influenced by them, or they’re so talented that they’re able to avoid those conventions. As a result, there’s a sense of freshness to Bad Breeding that very few bands have. And that freshness doesn’t just come from sounding like an old record that still sounds fresh, but rather just because it seems like Bad Breeding is doing something genuinely new. What is that thing? I mean, basically it seems like it’s taking the more experimental end of anarcho-punk—stuff like Flux of Pink Indians and Crass at their slightly more out-there moments (though thankfully Bad Breeding never copy any Penny Rimbaud beats, which can be a little too on the nose for my tastes)—and make it way heavier, infusing it with a big and burly guitar sound that’s sort of like Killing Joke playing through some heavy AmRep band’s equipment. Anyway, there’s no reason why you wouldn’t love Divide if you loved the first album, but I think that this one benefits from a little more concision and focus. It’s the kind record that can appeal to you if you’re a die-hard hardcore person, or if you just like weird and experimental music… if you took my recommendation on the great Housewives 12” from a while back, I could see this catching your ear in much the same way. Any way you slice it, though, Bad Breeding is one of the best bands going and this is a total must-hear record.