‘With no eyes to see, no mouths to scream, they were shot in the back, left for dead, Long time ago but I can still see, I can still feel, scars of the past’ (Scars)

Zealots, dictators, and demagogues of every stripe seem intent on plunging the world back into the horrors of global warfare to feed their imperial delusions, warped bigotries, or simple economic greed.  The new four-track EP from Burning Kross serves as a timely reminder of the often unseen costs of war, one’s that can poison the groundwater of a society for generations.

It constructed around life in the countries occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II.  It specifically tells the story of Oscar in Belgium who went into hiding to avoid being assigned to work for the Nazis.  He was betrayed and found himself imprisoned in a labour camp.  He kept in touch with his family by letter, letters written under Nazi supervision, which give a fragmented, knowingly distorted insight into the harrowing consequences of war beyond the bloodshed itself.

This the band’s third 7-inch and their vehement, d-beat fuelled hardcore provides a bleakly raw tableau to capture the pain of those under occupation – the paranoia, the humiliation, the isolation.  The searing opener Killing Time robustly sets the tone, and proceedings are closed out with a ferocious cover of Alles Moet Kapot (Everything Must Be Broken) by 1980s’ Bruges anarcho-punks, De Jeugd Van Tegenwoordig (Today’s Youth).

Considered and thought-provoking packaging rounds off the release.  Each record is housed in an envelope to mirror those that Oscar sent home, and on the reverse to the lyric card to each song is the sobering art of Keith Caves.