There’s a streak of honest self-awareness in how The Ape talk about “Anticrats.” “Nothing original about it,” the Norwegian post-hardcore act says of their new single.
“It’s just a big F**K YOU to MAGAs, Zionists, Putinists, and the like.” They’re right on the first count, and that’s almost the point — this isn’t a song that just wants to be loud, fast, and aimed directly at a list of targets the band doesn’t bother dancing around. “It’s fast, hard, and a joy to play live,” they add.
Lyrically, the track works through contempt and taxonomy. “Benchwarmer fascists / Second fiddle subjugators” — the people in the background, cheering from the sideline while something rots.
Lines like “cadaver with the red hat” and “double digit minds / Like moles, mostly blind / They climb the rotten vine” build a picture with blunt specificity that needs no explainer. The chorus — “Infectious rats, we’re the ANTICRATS” — is taunt and rallying cry.
What keeps it from landing as simple agitprop is the flip side the band is holding out. “It’s also a heartfelt salutation from us to every loud and sane person out there,” they write.
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“The song is about the good practice of loathing the people who’s wrecking absolutely everything, as well as hope — and community with the good kind of humans. WE ARE THE APE, YOU ARE THE APE.”
Guest vocals from Oda Førde Branaas of Utflod — who the band calls “absolutely furious” — add a second voice that undercuts any suggestion this is the work of one disgruntled performer. Branaas is a familiar face in Norwegian hardcore, and her contribution feels built into the architecture rather than added after the fact.
“Anticrats” was produced by Johan Fredrik Bolli and Johannes Amble. The full lineup: Bolli on vocals and drums, Amble and Simen Trippestad on guitars, Kristian Leonhardsen on bass. Mixed and mastered by Simon Dolmen Bergseth; artwork by Bolli, Amble, and Marius Svenningsen.
It’s the second single leading into the band’s debut album, due in 2027 on Loyal Blood Records. Fans of IDLES, The Armed, Mspaint, Show Me The Body, and Honningbarna should pay attention.
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