Iskra | |
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Origin | Victoria, British Columbia, Canada |
Genres | Black metal, crust punk |
Years active | 2002–present |
Labels | Black Raven Records, Mercy of Slumber |
Website | http://iskracrust.com/ |
Members | |
Wolf(Guitar) Danielle (Vocals) Cody (Drums) Anatol (Guitar) Jean-Paul (bass) |
Iskra is a Canadian anarchist, thrash, and black metal project founded in Victoria, British Columbia in 2002. Their name means "spark" in Russian (искра).
Iskra performs and contributes to the anarchist underground musical tradition, which emerged via punk in the late 1970s/80s with bands like Crass, Amebix, Antisect, and Conflict. By blending elements of crust punk, black metal, Iskra say they have created their own sub-genre: "blackened crust".[1] Iskra includes former members of the anarchist crust band Black Kronstadt, who in the 1990s also described their music as "blackened crust", thus coining the phrase.[1][2]More recently, Iskra has changed their style and prefer to call their music "Anarchist Metal".
Lyrically, Iskra's early material followed, more-or-less, in the anarcho-punk tradition with regard to topic and theme. Such topics include a criticism of government, war, and economics as well as social issues such as homophobia, sexism, racism, and the struggles of indigenous peoples. The effects of political organization (both right and left wing) is also a common theme. Some songs discuss the global effects of capitalist institutions such as the World Trade Organization, World Bank, the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Independent Task Force on North America, to name a few.[3]
More recently the band has changed lyrical style to a more poetic, but still very seditious, attack on political structures. Current lyrics also concentrate on exposing the deeper control mechanisms used by the modern state, and corporate structures, to rule people and manage resources.
As anarchists, Iskra promote self reliance, self organization, and the power of the individual over large scale political structures. They view politics as a practice that emerges locally, and is variable depending on the wants, and needs, of those directly involved.
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