Exploding out of the blocks with the razor sharp guitars and throat ripping screams of the delightfully titled 'Cumpassion', Gay For Johnny Depp's debut full-length The Politics of Cruelty is a consummate lesson in uneasy listening. Bringing together twelve positively bile-infested chunks of molten hot hardcore in little over twenty minutes, it's a quite stunning statement of discontent. Fans of the band's well received EP's will be delighted to find that there's no concessions made here, with 'You Have a Theory, I Have a Gun' and 'Belief in God is So Adorable' being about as gloriously uncommercial a pair of singles as you're likely to hear all year, while closing track 'I Hate Our Freedom (Fuck You Gladys, I'm on Vacation)' is the kind of claustrophobic headfuck that will leave you nursing a migraine for days after one too many listens.

The notorious moniker and former glories of various band members may well have helped Gay For Johnny Depp garner a considerable amount of attention to date, but The Politics of Cruelty's unwavering quality proves beyond any doubt that they most definitely warrant it.

Rating: 4/5 by Dan Jones

Tracklisting

1. Cumpassion
2. You Have A Theory, I Have A Gun
3. Belief in God is so Adorable
4. Lights Out!
5. Noise
6. Point the Finger (Lucy's last $)
7. Happens
8. Very Little Good Happens Between 3 and 4 in the Morning
9. Delirium Approaches (Slut Dust)
10. To The Alcoholics: Life is Depressing
11. Here
12. I Hate Our Freedom (F**k You Gladys, I'm on Vacation)

Further links

Captains Of Industry (captainsof.com)

Home of the Durham-based indie label

Gay For Johnny Depp.com

Online home of the homoerotic mental cases