Burning Civilians
Demo 2006 CD-R
(Imaginasi Records)

Burning Civilians is from Perak (I think they from Kinta or somewhere nearby) and I like the name a lot! Been seeing the moniker on some gig flyers recently, so I’m quite excited to get this demo at the Terengganu Raya gig.

There are nine songs here, all rendered with clear recording but they are all weakly-played with not much meat in it. I think the band has enthusiastic singers and band members but they lack a certain spark that would make it special.

I’m also quite disappointed at the quality of the songs. They are all largely uninspired re-threading of old-school-style fastcore, mostly starting out with mid-tempo intros (usually with a bassline or two) and then they would go for fast parts with screamy dual-vocals. Nothing new or nothing special about it, but I like the ol’ fastcore myself, so re-threadings would be fine with me as long as it’s good BUT this one needs a lot of work.

As the band said it on the last tune here, (We Love Fast Music), the band likes it speedy BUT there’s a problem with that if your band is not that tight yet. I think Burning Civilians is on a good trip but all the good fastcore bands I heard since the early 80s are mostly highly-inspired, if not very good musicians. At the very least they were good with keeping it snappy to the tempos and able to stop on a dime when they have to.

Burning Civilians attempts to be like one but I think they are a lot more rehearsals away from being “ok”; and I’m not even talking about the songs just yet. There’s also no lyrics-sheet for me to pore over and singalong too, so that’s another minus point.

Anyway, the band also has a song called “Butoh Kepada Otai” (a bit like, Fuck You! Oldtimer!); which could be a song dedicated to me (not that I’m 70-years old, mind you! hehe)! So what do I know? Get the CD-R and listen for yourself lah.

Imaginasi Records
c/o Mohd Khalil, No. 70, Hala Meru 8, Taman Meru 2B
30020 Ipoh, Perak, MALAYSIA

email the band
myspace.com/imaginasirecords