Hellbastard: Ripper Crust 12"

This pioneering UK crust band's 1986 demo repressed on vinyl.Our take: When I first heard Hellbastard’s legendary 1986 demo tape, Ripper Crust, in my early 20s, I totally hated it. I had no sense of what crust was or what to expect, but I thought the band name and album title were so badass that it had to be the most ripping and crushing thing ever… I suppose I thought it would sound like G.I.S.M. or something like that… or at least something super gnarly like Extreme Noise Terror. That’s not what Ripper Crust is about, though. It’s brooding and primitive, equal parts Amebix and Hellhammer. The rhythms are dirge-like and uncomfortable, rarely even reaching early Discharge tempos. Even the fastest parts don’t sound raging thanks to the drummer’s paddle thrash beats. The songwriting and arrangements lean into this, repeating riffs and motifs way more times than I would expect and stretching the songs to sometimes punishing lengths. The production is also very lo-fi, with muffled sounds o