Since the election of Donald Trump a little over two years ago, the Western world has become even more polarized than it was before. Political gray areas are fading fast, forgotten in favor of extreme ideologies, radical action, and rage-fuelled social media posts. In these troubled times, actively encouraging hatred, discrimination, and division can turn you into a global celebrity—or even President of the United States of America.
As the political landscape splits in two, smaller splinter groups have been busy recruiting members and declaring war on each other. Each side constantly works to expand its vocabulary with terms like “cuck” (defined on Dictionary.com as “a weak, effeminate, unmanly, or inadequate man”) and “neckbeard” (a heavily opinionated troll with no social skills). If you want to keep up, you’ll need to start checking Urban Dictionary on a daily basis.
No matter how politically aware you are, you’ve doubtless heard the term “alt-right”, which according to Merriam-Webster is “a right-wing, primarily online political movement based in the U.S., whose members reject mainstream conservative politics and espouse extremist beliefs and policies typically centered on white nationalism." But what about the “alt-left”? Isn’t that a thing?
The most common consensus (outside of alt-right circles and Trump’s Twitter feed) is no. However, “anti-fascism” is a real thing, a thing that’s rapidly gaining popularity by positioning itself in opposition to the alt-right as defined above. Hence the title of Neckbeard Deathcamp’s WHITE NATIONALISM IS FOR BASEMENT DWELLING LOSERS, the mini-album snapped up for official release via Prosthetic Records.
Hailing from the French city of Bordeaux, Neckbeard Deathcamp assembled through a Facebook status – and it’s pretty obvious where they fit in politically. It also didn’t take long for the internet to fall in love with them; after gaining traction on Reddit back in July, Neckbeard Deathcamp swiftly sold every physical copy of WHITE NATIONALISM IS FOR BASEMENT DWELLING LOSERS, topping Bandcamp’s official chart for more than a week. That’s pretty impressive for an album that took only two weeks to make.
Listening to WHITE NATIONALISM IS FOR BASEMENT DWELLING LOSERS, you might be surprised that it even took that long. It’s not exactly a compositional masterpiece, and production-wise it’s as rough as a bag of lo-fidelity assholes, which shouldn’t really shock anybody. That said, each performance is impressively tight, and you do get the sense that Neckbeard Deathcamp really did put some serious effort into what is, ultimately, a satirical work.
Lyrically, Neckbeard Deathcamp mash up as many references to alt-right figureheads, liberal and online culture, and Nazis as they possibly can, leaving the dedicated reader to figure out what the hell it all means. This band’s most fanatical supporters doubtless already get it, have memorized every word, and repeat each polemic like a mantra as they go about their daily business, but it’s hard to imagine the average onlooker digging below the surface. Still, when a band’s logo merges a Nazi eagle with a micropenis, and one line involves white supremacist Richard Spencer being simultaneously “beaten to death” and “drowned in piss,” is that really such a big deal?
When somebody inevitably writes a doctoral thesis about this album, expect it to be covered here on Metal Injection. I can’t wait to read it.
Score: 7/10
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