### Atrophy: Socialized hate

#### 21/09/10 || sly

In an era of an overabundance of thrash metal, many of the bands began to sound the same. Only the ultra thrasher nerds scrambled to collect every release in order to discover the ten out of thirty that were actually good.

Atrophy’s debut album, “Socialized Hate”, came out in 1988. It was full of energy, the name and logo were good, and the band was pretty solid.

But the fact of the matter remained, it wasn’t anything particularly new.

Atrophy didn’t exactly strive towards originality. Or maybe they did, and it didn’t work out so well. Either way, it basically sounded like a few high school buddies liked to jam together, and lucked out with a label and a tour. But it certainly made for a great tape to throw into a bulky Walkman and ride some BMX.

Even though the music was just a notch above mediocre and the vocals were a bit disappointing, an aspect of Atrophy that really stood out was the lyrical content.

Living in Buttfuck Arizona, aka Tucson, these boys were subjected to the ruling of a right-wing, immensely conservative, goddamn Republican/Christian state. In such circumstances, one is almost forced to shout out against the political scumbaggery that drowns out any decent visage of the place. In fact, the lyrics of the title track were about the “pseudo-Christians” and their racism. And, in light of the recent legalization of racial profiling (by Republican/Lutheran governor Jan Brewer), how pertinent are these lyrics?

The hatred that you planted is still with us today No longer simply slavery manifests in different ways Keeps people in dead-end jobs, reduces education Maintains our racial stereotypes Encourages segregation You propagate injustice saying They’ve done it to themselves You lock them in your ghettos Deny them any wealth The dogma you’ve created makes sure you never see That underneath a different color They’re just like you and me Socialized hate Formed by modern state

Aaaaand nothing has changed…

But in addition to the predominately political songs, they also threw in a much more frivolous track- namely “Beer Bong”.

Beer bong – suck it down Beer bong – don’t do it wrong Beer bong – don’t take too long Or else you’ll drown Beer bong – gulp it down Beer bong – if you can Beer bong – make it vanish If you’re a man

See? Even the doltish boys who want to pretend they have hair on their infinitesimal balls can enjoy this album.

The best songs are probably “Killing Machine”, “Matter of Attitude”, “Preacher, Preacher”, and “Socialized Hate”.

If you like thrash and you like beer, and you’re looking for a solid release that’s kind of been forgotten, pick it up. And if you’re a fellow Arizonan (howdy!) and want to see a band responsible for the propagation of the local music scene, (along with Sacred Reich and Flotsam and Jetsam), you should definitely check it out!

ALL HAIL ARIZONA!

- Information
- Released: 1988
- Label: Roadrunner Records
- Website: Atrophy MySpace
- Band
- Brian Zimmerman: vocals
- Chris Lykins: guitars
- Rick Skowron: guitars
- James Gulotta: bass
- Tim Kelly: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Chemical Dependency
- 02. Killing Machine
- 03. Matter of Attitude
- 04. Preacher, Preacher
- 05. Beer Bong
- 06. Socialized Hate
- 07. Best Defense
- 08. Product of the Past
- 09. Rest in Pieces
- 10. Urban Decay