Stingray’s new album Fortress Britain out now on LA VIDA ES UN MUS DISCOS is a bliding fucking good album that sounds UNREAL! What I love most about this record is how it makes me think about all of the global atrocities that have been committed by Britain in the name of the Crown. Songs like “Blistered Skin” hit me the same way that Crucifix’s “Skinned Alive” hit when I first heard it in the ’80s. As I read the lyrics of Stingray’s “Blistered Skin,” I can’t help but think about all of the Palestinian kids who are having their flesh burned away by Israeli bombs filled with white phosphorus. The putrid riffs of their song “Laughter” make me think about how Britain is at the center of the conflict between Palestine and Israel, because it was Britain who “gave” the Zionists stolen land — somehow in the discourse right now, the UK government has been let off the hook for their past sins!
Cursed to carbon flesh, Bounds to remain A frozen corpse Of nuclear shame Kicking screaming Heaven and earth Kicking screaming A mourning star
Stingray
Stingray is a band that reminds me of my love of punk as a young Black Teenager in SoCal during the 80s — it was always rooted in the political foundation of the movement. As a young punk back then, I knew that Crass, Dirt, Discharge, and Subhumans all were vocally against the racist regime of South Africa. Fortress Britain is one of the most important Hardcore Punk records of 2023 because it’s a sonic reminder of how the foundation of British culture is racist to the core. Most of us will never be able to walk the halls of Buckingham Palace, but we all know that the relics of white supremacy hang in that house of horrors! The UK government does not give a fuck about brown or black, because the MP Richard Drax still owns and grows sugar on the same Drax Hall Estate in Barbados that made his family’s fortune. His family wrote the manual on how to train a Caribbean slave, and they made millions trafficking in black bodies and misery! As I blast Stingray’s blistering anthem “Mercy Killings,” I can hear the ghosts that still haunt the Drax Hall Plantation.
Those who survive Envy the dead, Those who remain wish it was them. Earth dies screamingly,
relieved of all life.Fatal wound the end is nigh Now Like a thousand times
Stingray “Mercy Killing”
You bet your life
Against the final cry
For a mercy killing
What really has fucked up the nation of Britain is classism. The powers that be have made the working class believe in the myths of race and racism — a tactic that they use to divide and conquer and distract. At the root of all council estate culture is Yardie Culture (that’s a whole other story LOL). Stingray’s songs are not easy listening tunes, and that’s why I fucking love them because they are weapons of sonic action aimed at our common enemies!
All of the city’s corrupt to the core The hounds of hell will have their fill All of the city corrupt to the core The hounds of hell will have their fill and more.
Stingray “Inner City”
Hardcore Punk is supposed to say fuck authority, and Stingray’s Fortress Britain does that and more! Respect DUE!
Richard Drax still owns and grows sugar on the same Drax Hall Estate in Barbados that made the family’s fortune.
The letter that led to the founding of Israel
