Throat Lotion – Scheiß Kranke Welt EP

I’ve been hopelessly addicted to 1753’s output lately. This DIY studio and tape label based in Boyle Heights, California, has become a staple for anyone needing their fix of scuzzy, degenerate punk from the Los Angeles area, which is burning with riots against ICE kidnappers and the National Guard.

1753 already blessed my raw punk addiction with rippers from the likes of Flesh Trade, Pyrrhic, Tortür, Purgatorio and a gang of other LA noise-mongers, but Scheiß Kranke Welt blindsided me with a glorious twist. Not only is this record titled in German (it means “Shit Sick World”) but it’s sung in Deutsch too, from a crew made up of a German, an Ecuadorian, a Mexican, and a Salvadorian.

Right from the crack and hiss of a beer can opening, “Throat Lotion” launches into a rampage of über-corrosive, world-leveling punk that’s as ugly and relentless as the cartoon street gangs you see in some busted ‘90s vigilante flick. The vocals are shredded to ribbons, drunk, snotty, and menacing, like they’re about to swing a chain in your face, while the rest of the band nails a non-stop barrage of speed and tight, clattering drums. It feels deutschpunk-inspired, but not the melodic ’80s type or the Oi-inflected kind from bands like SS-Kaliert or Oxymoron. There’s way more of a brutal, end-of-days rawness here, closer to the crusty vibes you might hear from the Skuld bands like Assrash or Fleas And Lice, but even that doesn’t really box them in.

Every track crashes in like a brick through a window, loaded with sneaky hooks and killer drum fills that keep you reeling back for more long after your ears are wrecked. Lyrically, Scheiß Kranke Welt tears into political illusions and manufactured obedience (“WHYD?”), paints a bleak picture of personal alienation (“Dunkle Gedanken”), and mocks the ignorant minds numbed by fascist state propaganda (“Keinen Störts”). It all gets a twisted sense of release in “Liver Made of Krupp-Stahl” and the 43-second ripper “Frei Bier vom Fass,” ending in a dark-humored celebration of drunken escapism as the world around us burns in a self-destructive death march.

Throat Lotion’s demo is a collision of nihilism, defiance, and hopelessness, paying homage to punk’s universal filth while reeking of LA’s riotous fury. Keep an eye on this band, ‘cuz this shit is really that sick.