Choking Victim – No Gods No Managers

There are many bands that classify themselves as maintaining both Ska and Punk influences in their music, fusing both styles to create what most call "Skunk". While Choking Victim is a band well known for combining both genres in their music, their style and method is unlike most "Skunk" out there. The majority of Ska out there sustains both upbeat natures of what makes Ska: upbeat tempos and upbeat lyrics. What separates Choking Victim from the majority of Ska bands is both the lyrical content of the band's music, and even the musical nature. Released through Hellcat Records in 1999, Choking Victim's stand on everything that is wrong with America and mankind is manifested through the music found in "No Gods No Managers".

The lyrics found throughout "No Gods No Managers" appear to possess a "Crust Punk" nature, but the band's music is anything but. Choking Victim constantly challenges authority and the ideals of society that seem to corrupt individuals and morality more than anything else. The band uses satire, humor, and irony in their lyrical content to demonstrate their anarchistic point of view and enlighten anyone who's willing to listen. Throughout the album, the band uses excerpts from speeches by political scientist Michael Parenti to further push the ideas of the songs. "No Gods No Managers" purposely provides anti-Christian lyrics and even Satanic artwork in the album for the mere function of offending people. Witty, informative, and enlightening, "No Gods No Managers" possesses ideals of its own which are persuasive and even oddly logical. The album ultimately provides what most music today fails to administer to its listener: truth.
 

 

-Stephanie M.-
Big Wheel Online Magazine
 

 

 

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