The Dumpers - Business As Usual (Cover Artwork)

The Dumpers

Business As Usual (2003)

Self-Released


Business As Usual is the only actual album to date by Queensland ska—punk act The Dumpers. They display a really heavy Choking Victim influence, keeping up the raw mix of ska and hardcore with the occasional scream—laden chorus. One can also draw lyrical parallels: police bashing (just check out the song titles like "Cop Killa" or the catchy "Let's Go Kill All The Cops"), drug consumption and so on. But, overall, the Dumpers have a more personal and tongue—in—cheek feel to them where Choking Victim can be preachy and dead serious.

The band manage to juggle between upbeat and feisty tunes like "Anti—Core" and more melancholic tracks such as "1, 2, Me" and "Life Sux Shoot Up" ("Sick of my life as I shoot up my death / Realize my life was just one big regret"). My personal favorite has always been "Ghetto" ("Take a walk down the alleyways / With the spray painted walls and the smashed bottles in the drains / Broken cars in front of run down homes / Broken windows fucked up lives you know that I call this home"), with its sick riff. Half an hour on in the album's closer, "Fight the Hate", the band lend their hand to the perennial call for unity.

A decade later, it still sounds fresh. You can pick up the re—release for free from Unknown Records.