This compilation has two songs by each of ten bands (including 25 ta Life, Indecision, Skarhead, Sons of Abraham, in addition to Candiria.) One of Candiria's tracks, Statistics, features some guest rappers making this a hip hop song until the breakdown at the very end. Mixed in with the lyrics lies a message against the U$ government as well as its police force and the religion that supports it. The message is fairly militant as the first vocalist says: "TRADE MY CROSS FOR A BOMB"... "NEW VIETNAM / NEW YORK MURDERERS VS. US"... "WORKING MIDDLE CLASS / IT'S TOO LATE THEY'RE LOSIN IT." He seems to be saying to take up arms against the repressive forces of the NYPD rather than turn the other cheek. MIM agrees that violence is necessary to overcome the oppressors, but maintains that armed struggle should only occur at a strategic point when the imperialists are weakened enough at home that success is attainable. The final line agrees with what MIM has been struggling with people over for years, both within the imperialist United $tates and abroad. The fact is that the working class within the U$ imperialist state currently benefits from imperialism rather than being exploited like the people of the third world. While we encourage people to commit class, nation, and gender suicide and join the communist struggle, the majority of the white nation are not likely to ally with the revolutionary struggle at this point in history.
Another line of Statistics is, "GOT SOLDIERS REPRESENT / PREPARE FOR COMBAT / GOVERNMENT GENOCIDE." Once again they are calling for armed resistance, this time in opposition to the genocidal practices of the U$ government. MIM has proposed that "genocide should be accounted for as an historical and continuing debt."(1) Blacks and First Nations possess less today as a result of the genocide they faced for hundreds of years, and this is part of why these groups are potential allies to the revolutionary struggle against the white oppressor nation. The song refers to U$ genocide of Blacks again while rejecting conspiracy theory for the reality of the occupational forces that clearly exist within the Black neighborhoods: "READING TOO MUCH WILLIAM COOPER / BEHOLD THEM PALE HORSES / THE FRIENDLY FORCES / FUCK ME LIKE THE CULTURE OF MY HUMBLE PEOPLE IN THE NAME OF GOD." (2)
The members of Candiria seem to take a scientific approach to the world: "I STUDY MY ENVIRONMENT MORE THAN THE GEOPHYSCIST." Here they point out that studying the world around you isn't just for a few elite scientists, its for everyone who wants to understand it and make things better. In an interview with MoM (3) members of the band said this:
MM: You have to constantly evolve. Once you stop evolving,
you're dead. Every day that you're alive, you evolve into
something different whether it's something that you can see with
your eyes or not, you're still changing constantly. Every single
day is a new learning experience and a new step- It builds up to
who you are. The band is like it's own living entity made up of 5
people so we're going to constantly change.
CC: Even with
yourselves, every 11 months, your cells regenerate so you're not
the same person who you were last year. It works the same way
mentally. If you observe everything that goes on around you,
eventually you'll be on a new mental plane by next year because
you're observing more and learning more. It's the way of the
universe, everything keeps going and going. (3)
On the inside cover of the CD booklet it says "Observation, Analysis, Solution." This is similar to the scientific method of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, which encourages the analysis of the material world around us in order to find the solution to our problems. In On Practice, Mao Tse Tung describes the cyclical process through which Perceptual Knowledge is analyzed to form Rational Knowledge, which is used to direct Revolutionary Practice, from which new Perceptual Knowledge can be gained. The main difference being that here Mao has integrated action into the process of knowing.
The other song Candiria released on this comp. is Pull, which can also be found on their new album, Process of Self.Development. This song is somewhat unique for Candiria in that it has a strong theme throughout, which is anti-TV and mass media: "TELEVISION / THE MEANS OF WORLDWIDE INFECTION...MILITANT ADVERTISING / RAPING DEEP WITH THE GIFT OF DESPERATION." Justin Brannan and Tom Sheehan(formerly) of Indecision do chapter 2: "A TRADITION / BASED ON INTIMIDATION / OF DESTRUCTION / MAUL THE OPPOSITION / AN ILLUSION / OF DEMOCRACY / NO CONCLUSION / LONG LIVE THE LEGACY." This chapter depicts the senseless destructiveness of capitalist competition. The song goes on to compare TV to drugs, since they produce the same zombie-like state. They also sing about the effects of TV on the family and its ability to manipulate the ignorant. The fact that Amerikans can spend so much time watching TV is just another indication of the decadence of imperialism. MIM doesn't go as far as some people do to say that everyone in the U$ is just brainwashed and need to be woken up from their stupor. There are economic reasons why Amerikans would rather watch TV than work to change society. But we do recognize the power of the corporate owned media, and the necessity to build independent media to combat the propaganda of the imperialists.
notes:
(1) On the internal class structures of the internal
semi-colonies. MIM Congress resolution, 1998
(2) Behold a Pale
Horse, by William Cooper is a conspiracy theory book
(3) Metal
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