Rudimentary Peni - Death Church

Sealed continue their Rudimentary Peni flex with this remastered edition of the band's now legendary John Loder-recorded debut from 1983. First released on Corpus Christi, the Crass offshoot imprint who you might also know for the Omega Tribe and Annie Anxiety records, Death Church has been out of print for close to a decade now, but the context of its original release is a good means of understanding the RP universe: birthed from/standing apart to... RP were both a product of that first wave of punk - sorry to be basic but you can hear Rotten in Blinko's vocals at times here - and forming their own world adjacent to it. Before they got harder and heavier, helping to pioneer thrash in the UK (and beyond), their main stated difference was in presentation. Blinko's madness-infected monochromatic line drawings took up six panels of a fold out sleeve - which Sealed have rightly recreated this time out - and it was imagery that reflected well existential, death-riddled religion-baiting lyricism that's unconventionally poetic for both form and era (although the animal activism is an always welcome right-on crust trope characteristic of the genre). Melodic, powerful, fearless - what more could it be? Straight up best of its kind.