Anti Ritual

Photo by Louise Petersen

The Copenhagen hardcore band Anti Ritual is ready with a new EP titled 80 Years. The title and its corresponding opening track refer to the eighty years that have passed since the great defeat of fascism — and to the time it has taken for this destructive ideology to return to the political stage and once again poison people’s minds and hearts in a chaotic world.

Compared to previous releases, most recently the 2023 EP Green Terrorism, blast beats and grindcore have been completely cut away, with the focus instead turned fully toward D-beat, dissonance, and the band’s epic guitar melodies. This approach has served as the EP’s creative dogma, and with it, Anti Ritual has created something both familiar and new — both within their own sound and within the traditions from which the band emerges. During the making of 80 Years, an internal joke among the band was to call the new material “stadium crust” — a term that actually makes a certain kind of sense when hearing the four catchy, direct, and fiercely aggressive compositions that make up the new EP.


The return of fascism and ongoing genocides form the core theme of the title track. Today’s suit-wearing demagogues are given a scathing commentary in Emperor of the New Truth, while Days of War, Nights of Love serves as a reminder that we are in a fight for our society’s survival that transcends minor disagreements: “Cultural wars are for peace times, these are not peace times.” However, it’s not just fascist currents and their parliamentary representatives that come under fire from Anti Ritual this time. The U.S. government’s commodification of the suffering of political opponents and scapegoats is also flayed on the track Deportation ASMR for Gil Scott-Heron — a nod to the hip hop pioneer’s famous words that “the revolution will not be televised.” But this one is.

80 Years will be released on 7” vinyl in a limited edition of 150 copies and on digital formats on September 5, 2025 via Indisciplinarian. In the DIY spirit of Anti Ritual, the EP was produced by the band itself, recorded and mixed by bassist K.B. Larsen, while it is mastered by Brad Boatright/Audiosiege, and features artwork by visual artist Neel Krogholt Bjørst.

Members
Marco Malcorps – Voice
Jacob Krogholt – Guitar
Nikolaj Borg – Drums
K.B. Larsen – Bass

Discography
80 Years (EP 2025)
Green Terrorism (EP 2023)
Expel The Leeches (Album 2021)
Anti Ritual (EP 2014)