Boshet 003 Smartut Kahol Lavan - Magnetic Storm CD

Includes one of the singers from Dir Yassin, but is more thrashy, with an old-school west coast sound. The lyrics are just as angry, but more personal at times.

Recorded in June 2003 at the Mapakh by Moshe Grushka. Released about a year later. 300 factory pressed CD-Rs printed in total, limited edition came in a special box and included a poster, patch and button. Second edition: 50 factory pressed CD-Rs.

(Hebrew, with translation) (4.5 Euros/$6/25 shekels)

Track list:

1. Concrete Slab
2. Beaten/Humiliated/Defeated
3. Like a Thorn in the Side
4. Softness
5. Usurer
6. Fiberglass Totem
7. White and Blue Rag
8. Magnetic Storm
9. Anthem
10. This is a Recorded Message
11. May God Avenge Their Blood
12. Fire

Reviews:

Vendetta online zine
It's safe to say that I'm not this Israeli band's target audience, the english translations are provided by the record label who even had to stick the band's name on the cover in a manner to make it readable to the non-Hebrew speakers among us.

Not as accesable as their label mates Nikmat Olalim in both attitude and sound, Smartut Kahol Lavan play a particularly savage brand of thrash-hardcore with many tracks struggling to reach over a minute, this makes the release a little on the short side with a total running time of just under twelve minutes.

Even the english translations of the lyrics force me to fire up google to get clarity of the finer points of Israel's cultural and historical background; "You are willing to die for Eitam's wet dream..."

I couldn't even begin to understand the significance of this until a search filled me in on the details, Effie Eitam being a politician for the National Religious Party, the voice of the religious right in Israel. But so much is still wasted on me, I suspect a trawl through the Guardian's online archives may be what it takes to really get something out of 'Magnetic Storm'

Intense and alien, this is most definately not a band for the casual listener but one that with a little work might yet yield some interesting perspectives.