Los Angeles, California: MDC, the acronym that has launched a thousand interpretations, have now added a 1001st to the list, as the Legendary Austin-based warriors unveil their latest album, The Last War - or, More Defiant Covers as they laughingly refer to it.
The much-anticipated follow-up to 2023’s incendiary War is a Racket, The Last War finds the notoriously radicalized punk rock provocateurs rampaging through 80 years of musical history, all the way back to Woody Guthrie’s 1944 composition “All You Fascists Bound To Lose.”
From there, they revisit artists as disparate as The Rolling Stones (“Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker),” from 1973’s Goat’s Head Soup) to The Staple Singers’ “Freedom Highway” - previously covered by Rhiannon Giddens, although MDC’s version could not be more different!
Berkeley hardcore legends Fang’s “Here Come The Cops” is one staggering highlight; Thatcher On Acid’s “No Fuckin War” another. Whoever’s record collection they plundered for this set, it’s a good ‘un!
Especially as it also included Stevie Wonder’s 1974 album Fulfillingness' First Finale, and it’s his “You Haven’t Done Nothin’” that marks the album’s first single. Just leave your memories of the original at the door, please, although the song nevertheless means a lot to MDC frontman Dave Dictor. He says, "I was fortunate enough to see Little Stevie Wonder at Madison Square Garden along with Three Dog Night... This solidified my desire to fight hard to make my life in music."
SINGLE: https://orcd.co/mdc_youhaventdonenothin
The Last War is as volatile a brew as you could hope for. Who but MDC, after all, could swing so effortlessly from a brain-charring re-envisioning of Iron Maiden’s “Asesinos,” to a take on The Angelic Upstarts’ “Police Oppression” that surpasses even the original’s violent outrage? Or lift The Heart Attacks’ “The Last War” to an entire new level of ironic anger - “We’re so bored and so are you, there’s a war, something to do.”
And then there’s Slayer’s “Americon,” faster and more fiery than even the original could muster. This is NOT an album for the faint of heart. But if you’re ready to fight for what you believe in, this is the soundtrack to all of your plans - an outspoken hardcore firestorm of Modern Day Commentary… or, if you prefer, a Magnificently Deafening Cacophony. Either way, it’s MDC. What more you could ask for?
CD/VINYL: https://cleorecs.com/search?q=mdc+the+last+war
DIGITAL: https://orcd.co/mdc_thelastwar
Track listing
1. Think For Yourself
2. Police State
3. Lost Causes
4. Take the Blame
5. Asesinos
6. The Last War
7. Freedom Highway
8. Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)
9. Here Come the Cops
10. No Fuckin War
11. Americon
12. Police Oppression
13. You Haven't Done Nothin'
14. All You Fascists Bound To Lose
