New York hardcore band Cro-Mags shared a video for their song “Life on Earth” off December’s 2020 EP. Like the rest of the release, the song was written about the current events that happened over this last year.
“Life on earth is fucking insane/Everyone is feeling the strain and the pain/Political racial tension at an old school high/Gotta wear a mask or you might die,” frontman Harley Flanagan chants. The short song has some crossover thrash guitar with some loudly rumbling bass and drums underneath his aggressive vocals. It ends on a foreboding note, “No one cares/Till affects them/By then you’ve sealed your fate/And future generations.”
The music video switches between negative and naturally-colored film as it shows footage of protests, flooding, hungry children and burning money. There are some clips of Cro-Mags thrashing through the song on stage and Flanagan menacingly lip-syncing into the camera mixed in throughout. The video is a bit mixed between 2020 footage and sad scenes that could be from any recent year.
2020 is available for physical pre-order through several stores. There are limited edition box sets, vinyl and CD versions of the release soon to be made available on April 9, 2021.
Cro-Mags also put out their first new album in 20 years last year, called In the Beginning. Like the 2020 EP, it’s a lot more crossover thrash-inspired than their old hardcore stuff was. They’re a historically respected band in the New York hardcore scene who have enjoyed critical acclaim for many of their albums, including The Age of Quarrel (1986), Best Wishes (1989) and Before the Quarrel (2000).