Random Records with Steve O

The Shell Corporation - Fucked

So I was reading an interview with Slugdge, that rad, slug-inspired death metal band where they put the idea of being fucked into a really nice, cosmic box. Who’s fucked, you may ask? “Not our stupid Western civilization, or our ridiculous notion of our nation state. Our entire species [emphasis theirs].” (It’s a really cool interview that you can read here).

And that totally somewhat-relevant tangent will lead to the latest release from Southern California’s the Shell Corporation, the aptly-titled Fucked and not remotely death metal at all. The Shell Corporation previously jumped onto our radar with 2014’s fantastic Mandrake, which placed, and even won a round, on our yearly bracket. And then I didn’t really hear a whole lot from them for a while. But they have returned triumphant with Fucked, a record that, right from opener “Kumbaya,” makes clear that this is a response to the current time and place – “it hasn’t been like this before”. And for a half-hour, in an extreme blast of melodic, catchy, quick-paced, sing-along pop punk, the Shell Corporation remind us how fucked we are. “Make It Rain” laments our changing climate and the refusal to acknowledge the stark reality that repeatedly keeps hitting us over the head. “Not Funny” echoes this same idea, which is part of what makes being fucked so sad. “Take a selfie as the ship begins to sink / Comment and tweet / while the lifeboats leave / Post memes as we drown and / our lips turn blue.” Pretty accurate assessment.

Elsewhere, “Cold Reason” calls out the hypocrisy of judgmental evangelicals, “Fighting For” looks at the division between management and labor in a more modern, big-business context (“All the crooks behind boardroom doors / know exactly what they’re fighting for”), while “Von Braun Waltz” analyzes the misuse of science in military operations and the blind eye turned by those scientists through the interesting case of Wernher von Braun, a rocket scientist (literally) in Germany during the Nazi era and later brought to the US to work on their developing missile program. Perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise for a band named off a Propagandhi reference, but Fucked is a political record and there are some really good political stories here.

So go take a listen to Fucked over on the Shell Corporation’s bandcamp. I recommend following along with the lyrics too, as there’s definitely a message to get here, one that’s pretty apparent amongst the speedy laments of our world in 2018. We may be are fucked; but at least with Fucked we get a good soundtrack to the demise. I’ll see you at the bracket again, gents.