While a lot of bands go on to influence the people coming up behind them,
Discharge are one of the few bands with their own genre. While their signature sound, d-beat, would become a staple of punk for decades to come, the band's shift into a heavier sound in the early '80s would lay the groundwork for the gnarly sludge of crust punk. It's that sound that is explored here on
Protest & Survive, a two-disc collection that finds
Discharge moving their sound in a heavier direction, and combining their driving backbeat with buzzing, blown-out guitars that found them pushing the limits of punk. For the punk fans out there,
Protest & Survive makes for some essential listening that will quickly reveal itself to be a crucial part of modern punk's DNA. ~ Gregory Heaney