Capitalist Alienation - ST

Tracks

Side 1

		Track Name	Length
	1	Braindead	01:11
	2	Drugs Saved My Life	01:02
	3	Butchery	01:51
	4	Capitalist Guard Dog
	5	Norms	01:03
	6	To Welv	00:58
	7	Mad Lookers	01:59

Side 2

		Track Name	Length
	1	Makes Me Shit	00:51
	2	Nuclear Trash	01:25
	3	Rambo Desperately Seeking Madonna	00:47
	4	Montreal's Water Double Talk	02:05
	5	Peter Popoff Miracle Industry
	6	Capitalist Alienation	00:58
	7	Hsart Raelcun	03:14

Photos

Videos

No Video

Information/Write-up

Capitalist Alienation emerged from Montréal’s mid-1980s hardcore underground as one of Québec’s rawest and most unhinged thrash outfits. Formed around 1985, the group grew out of the city’s hybrid punk/metal rehearsal-room ecosystem, occupying the same basements, lofts and cheap industrial lockouts that helped shape early Voivod, Overdose, and the city’s tape-trading metal scene. What set Capitalist Alienation apart was their speed—absurd, breathless, abusive speed—and a streak of black humour that cut through their otherwise caustic worldview.

The earliest known lineup featured Joel Tremblay on bass (later of Overbass), drummer Chano, guitarist Martin, and vocalist Tamiko, whose presence gave the band a distinctive edge in a scene dominated by male front-persons. By 1986 they recorded their notorious Makes Me Shit!! demo—fifteen minutes of ultra-core thrash that circulated widely through Montréal punks, tape traders, and Voivod’s circle. Copies were often handed out through rehearsals, local shows, or passed directly from band to band; according to one fan, at least one copy came straight from Voivod drummer Michel “Away” Langevin.

That demo became the basis for their lone LP, released in 1987 on Alienation Records (UR-1244). Self-produced, rough, and recorded straight to the red, the album captured the band in full chaotic form: sub-two-minute blasts like ‘Braindead,’ ‘Drugs Saved My Life,’ ‘Mad Lookers,’ and the title track ‘Makes Me Shit,’ alongside their cult classics ‘Nuclear Trash,’ ‘Peter Popoff Miracle Industry,’ and ‘Mtl’s Water.’ Away of Voivod illustrated the front cover—an early sign of the respect Capitalist Alienation earned among heavy Montréal peers. Only 1000 copies were pressed, distributed mostly through DIY networks, independent shops, and word of mouth. The inner sleeve offered a mash of photos and lyrics, reflecting the unfiltered, blunt humour that ran through the band’s material.

Their scene reputation grew less from touring (which was limited) than from local mythos: filthy lockout jams, punishingly loud shows, and the sense that they were always a little too fast, too noisy, and too reckless even by hardcore standards. Their songs blurred punk, speed metal, and early crossover, but remained primarily rooted in Québec's homegrown ultra-core aesthetic—rawer than D.O.A., stranger than most East Coast thrash, and filled with absurdist commentary on capitalism, TV evangelists, social norms, and decaying urban life.

In 1988 they contributed ‘The Safe Side of the TV Screen’ to the Kitsch En Squatt compilation tape, one of the better documents of Montréal’s squatter-adjacent DIY culture of the era. Not long after, the band dissolved, though members resurfaced in later projects—most notably Joel Tremblay in Overbass, where he revisited and re-recorded ‘Montreal H2O’ (a reworking of ‘Mtl’s Water’) and ‘Nuclear Trash.’

For decades the original LP became a whispered collector’s piece, its reputation spreading through hardcore dealers, European thrash fanatics, and Québec completists. That underground demand eventually led to a full archival discography LP, remastered by Will Killingsworth (Dead Air Studios) directly from original sources and produced in collaboration with Joel Tremblay. The set brought together the entire 1986 demo, the 1987 album, the compilation track, a 12-page booklet, a poster, and—via download—a previously unheard live show from 1986 recorded by Martin Dolbeau of Fox Records. Away returned to contribute artwork for the new edition.

Crude, violent, and very fast, Capitalist Alienation remain an essential outgrowth of Québec’s 1980s punk/metal mutation—one of the province’s most extreme, least-documented hardcore fires that somehow survived long enough to leave a single LP, a notorious demo, a comp track, and a legend that kept growing long after the band itself burned out.
-Robert Williston

Musicians
Tamiko Watanabe: vocals
Martin: guitar
Chano: drums
Joël Tremblay: bass
Carl Bouchard
Eric Bourque

Production
Lacquer cut by: Disques SNB Ltée.
Lacquer cut by: AD (SNB)

Artwork
Front cover illustration by Away

Notes
First pressing limited to 1000 copies

Comments