Defiance

Defiance: Nothing Lasts ForeverNothing Lasts Forever (2003)
Punkcore Records

Reviewer Rating: 5

Contributed by: JanelleJJanelleJ
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on October 24th 2003Is it possible that Defiance's second album is even more visceral, scathing, and angry than their classic 1995 debut 'No Future No Hope'? Well, listening to Punk Core's reissue of this 2000 beauty and examining the biting, socio-politically aware lyrics, definitely is grounds for this surmise. .

Is it possible that Defiance's second album is even more visceral, scathing, and angry than their classic 1995 debut 'No Future No Hope'? Well, listening to Punk Core's reissue of this 2000 beauty and examining the biting, socio-politically aware lyrics, definitely is grounds for this surmise.

To wit, "Nowhere", the opening track on 'Nothing Lasts Forever', is simply brutal, featuring the gloriously treasonous lines, "Poverty and suffering is brought on by your fucking country/A country I won't support/A flag I fucking hate/A nation I despise, so fly your flag/And I'll fucking burn it." Oh my. And from here on in, it's just one scorching anthem after another. No doubt these guys have some of the most incendiary messages around. And that's to say nothing about the equally riotous music, which is sheer, raving, urgent streetpunk bliss. Defiance put a great emphasis on the bludgeoning, heavy rhythm section - just listen to those drums on "Nothing Worth Dying For"…I rest my case. Meanwhile, the exceedingly furious, incensed vocals aid in supplementing the messages that are so central to Defiance's continued relevance. And the pessimistic, downright contemptuous lyrics are inevitable - how can the band be upbeat when they're singing about all the injustices we face everyday, exposing social ills that seemingly will never cease?

The only two departures from the norm (subject-wise, not musically) are "You Don't Know", which is an attack on poseurs within the punk scene, and the one real positive offering, "Cheers". Oh and they also cover Motorhead/Girlschool's "Emergency".

In any event, a real sense of hopelessness, similar to that found on "No Future No Hope", the title track from their debut LP, is prevalent on a number of tracks like "Dead and Gone", as they shout, "What will fucking change?/Nothing at all" while musing that when they're dead and gone, "No matter what I've said and done/Everything will be the same/So why should I care, why does it matter?" This same feeling is mirrored in "Don't Want It", which features lines like, "I don't give a fuck if it all comes crumbling down/I have no faith or allegiance in your fucking system."

Yet then there are songs like "It's Never Gonna Change", which despite the disenchanted title, conveys the idea that there is a way to better our lives and to end the fact that for many people happiness in life only comes from "complete and blind acceptance," but only if we unite and fight for the same cause - freedom from oppression and to see the system "fall to its knees." Thus, this song acts like a rallying cry for all of us who feel the same way and want to precipitate change once and for all. Likewise, the phenomenal, foreboding finale, the title track, is along the same lines, warning that our corrupt system where the few in power "set the rules and control the laws" that "only benefits their rights and privileges" while they "exploit the poor" will eventually come to an end, because as these Portland, Oregon punks know, "nothing lasts forever"…

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

chelle (May 6, 2005)

i love this cd.....i give them a 10

Greenvandal (October 29, 2003)

Most are fashion bullshit. Just saying fuck this fuck that cuz its punk fucking rock.

Im not saying all bands are like that, not by a longshot! (you reviewed Subhumans BSD, so you obviously got one right there)

but shit like this definetly is.

BSD (October 28, 2003)

Everyone complains about bands being anti-establishment and not backing it up... But I know of more bands who do know their shit than ones that don't...

Greenvandal (October 28, 2003)

Hahaha, the dude below hit the lyrical subject right on the fucking head. There are two types of songs I am most sick off and they are...

1. killing girlfriend songs

AND

2. Senseless and baseless Punk RaWk anti-establishment lyrics.

I mean...TRY to put some effort into the subject if its so fucking important to you.

Anonymous (October 27, 2003)

Ahh... Defiance...
Since i've live in portland i've seen them, ugh.. How many times? Probably two or three? Wheni moved here i loved them. The 'no future, no hope' album is(still is!) fucking stellar... but the last time i paid to see them they got on stage too drunk to play, and finally the guy who was putting on the show just made them get off the stage. It was pretty sad. Politics are important, but if you're such scene royalty that you get on stage so pissed (or so HIGH) that you can't play three effin' chords then who cares? Defiance? well, they're anarcho-punk stylings are a young punk's game, and they've gotten to old and self-important to play it. whatever.
-paully

Anonymous (October 27, 2003)

You know who writes better political lyrics than that? Fucking anybody.

funkisdead (October 27, 2003)

janelle and bsd, you should still sumbit things here. it adds character to the site, and people get the choice of trying something new.
i'd much rather read about this than fucking something corporate or whatever. maybe i'd rather COMMENT on something corporate, but thats a different story.

Greenvandal (October 27, 2003)

The thought riot debut is DECENT...if only it was the same 2 songs played over and over again...bleh.

You write well, its just...I dunno, you never find any flaws in anything. Ever.

And I do reviews occasionaly...but I often dont have time to put the effort into typing up a review unless its something I really think people should hear me say (except that Thrice review...that was just me being first to the draw)

Can we at least agreethat the buzzcocks are way radical?