Cop Shoot Cop
Release

1987, New York has finished being the cradle of the no wave movement, so by using the term "post-no wave" you can afford to indicate a whole series of bands born as a consequence in the underground environment of the big city, including the CSC. Violence, danger, nihilism, and "dirtiness" (inherently quoting the Swans) serve as a background for Tod Ashley, Jim Coleman, and companions to express in a decidedly brutal manner their (if they can be called so) ideals. Realistically, in its most figurative and illustrative conception, the CSC talk about a cruel world, not wasting time philosophizing, eliminating descriptive allegories and depriving space for good hopes and complacency. The world, the reality they describe is cynical, nihilistic, just like their music, just like them.

"This ain't no place for ideals, this is no time for change."

1990, they sing thus, opening their first LP, "Consumer Revolt." A direct message, a manifesto I would say, no word is superfluous. For them, it's a fact, and the worldview is conveyed without compromise, just as they see it. New York thus becomes a microcosm with which to describe (negatively) a much wider reality, and through high expressionism, they tell of pessimistic awareness. With them, provocative messages are not lacking, starting with the name of the band, which can refer to its literal translation or a slang expression to describe the vicious circle of drug addiction (inspired by the decadence that surrounded them every day near their rehearsal room). The reality they describe is one of fears, strongly dystopian, but undeniably real. Their music perfectly imprints the declared message in the mind: two basses with raw sound, percussed metallic objects, dissonant samples, and a ruthless singing style represent the stylistic core of their frescoes. Condensing the concept for those who have never heard anything of the CSC, in their artistic legacy you mainly find industrial widely marred by noise, experimentalism, and very little rock (a style with which they have always refused full identification). Characterized by a career that has musically evolved always with the same trend, after having given birth to a sound cathedral of real "non-music," they arrived in the mid-90s with a style more accessible to most.

1994, in the two years preceding their breakup, the CSC close their discography career with their most musically accessible album. With "Release," the music becomes more listenable, but this remains a relative adjective, still being industrial music inevitably marked by the cacophonies that represented them more in the past. Compared to previous works, everything experimental and avant-garde has been lost. The echoes of Foetus and Swans are no longer heard. Not only that, from a technical point of view the use of the guitar, for the first time in their career, cannot be overlooked, and this perfectly exemplifies merging and orienting towards a normalized alternative (it may seem an oxymoron, who wants to understand, understand). In the previous album, someone might have slipped in a "Monkey Trick" by Jesus Lizard and no one would have noticed, which is impossible in this case. With this album they have thus normalized their music, but from a more mathematical point of view of the term, as if in handling an equation you try to have it in a simpler and more adaptable form. There are the pounding rhythms, the industrial ambushes, but at the same time, they flirt with the most rock attitude of their career, and their accusations, protests, and screams have never been this euphonic. All this in a very controlled manner compared to their old standards of cannibal expression. Besides, as stated in a 1993 interview, their intent was to focus more on melody than on pure noise-rhythm interweaving (which often left one more than stunned). It is therefore a wanted, thought-out, quite inspired, and never trivial thing. Clearly, the result doesn't hold comparison with the past, but it remains something still energetic and captivating, albeit too "good" and not violent enough to be a product branded Cop Shoot Cop. However, a peculiar and personal work by a primarily industrial music band deserving a conceptual association decidedly biased towards people like Foetus, Swans, Jesus Lizard, Cows, Scratch Acid, Sonic Youth ("everybody is scared, society is a hole") rather than Ministry, Skinny Puppy, Nine Inch Nails, etc.
With this their last effort, they finally lay a stylistic bridge to singer/bassist Tod A.’s future project, Firewater.

It is therefore a point of arrival, easily predictable during a chronological listening to their discography and perfectly in line with the band’s stylistic evolution. It is not a stunning album, but for a group that has released (in the opinion of the writer) three unique masterpieces out of four records, closing the career this way is much more than dignified. Nowadays, it remains the best industrial music band I have ever heard, having now become a cult.

"I think we were signed by a major because all the labels are looking for the new Nirvana; we are not that, but they don't know it yet" [Tod A.]