Description
Discharge are a British hardcore punk band formed in 1977 by Terence 'Tezz' Roberts and Royston 'Rainy' Wainwright. The band are characterized by a minimalistic approach to music and lyrics, a heavy, distorted, and grinding guitar-driven sound with raw, shouted vocals similar to a political speech, with lyrics covering anarchist and pacifist themes.
Discharge's 1982 debut album, "Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing", saw instant success and went to number two on the UK Indie Charts and number 40 in the UK album charts. In the early 1980s, numerous singles and EPs bothered the top 10 of the UK Indie Charts, including the 1981 EP "Why ?" (number 1) and the 1982 single State Violence State Control.
"Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing" paved the way for thrash metal, black metal, crust punk and grindcore and various extreme metal subgenres, while the genre of d-beat is named after Discharge and their distinctive drumbeat. Numerous line-up changes followed and the tempo of the band's songs also steadily increased melding punk with the incessant, heavy drumbeats and "wall of sound" distortion guitar pioneered on the "Overkill" album by Motorhead.
The new, harder-edged style also tended to use much darker, more nihilistic and violent lyrics, while emphasizing the grisly effects of nuclear warfare and the social ills caused by capitalism. The band also expressed its political and social themes in its albums' artwork, which depicted the horrors of war using an iconic black-and-white photography style. 1986's "Grave New World", a mainstream metal album with a glam sound from Morris's high-pitched singing style, saw the band split shortly thereafter. However, the band's influence on modern day metal continued to grow - the likes of Metallica, Anthrax, Sepultura and Machine Head all covered their songs.
By 2001 fan demand was so great that the classic line-up of Morris, Roberts, Roberts and Wainright reunited after meeting at a party held by original bassist Bamford. In 2002 they released their self-titled album "Discharge", a return to their early 1980s style featuring political commentary and aggressive playing.
Now, in 2016, with original drummer Tezz Roberts back in the band but now on rhythm guitar. Discharge's debut for Nuclear Blast, sees the band at their snapping, gnarliest best with songs like New World Order, End Of Days and Raped And Pillaged standing up against anything from their early '80's prime. Arguably, the band's lyrics are more relevant now than they have ever been - this is not the end of days for Discharge.