Impotentie, Leopold II Is Niet Dood Genoeg (Roach Leg, 2020)
I remember learning about the Congo Free State in school. Leopold II, King of Belgium at the end of the XIX century, ruled over the colony with exceptional cruelty and disregard of basic human rights. The whole country and its people were considered his personal property. He could and would dispose of ‘em however he liked. For a long time, Leopold II was seen as a slightly eccentric but still important figure in bringing “civilization” to Africa, and statues of him still stand in various cities in Belgium.
This kind of baggage is something that many Europeans carry with them, and the recent uprisings and statue-dismantlings have brought a lot of this internalized trauma to light. Of course it’s incomparable to the pain suffered by all the people that were (are) sucked dry by the European and capitalist big leech—but yeah, there is hate mixed with shame mixed with fear in our hearts.
Long intro for a record that is barely 20 minutes long, huh? At a first listen, Impotentie’s Leopold II Is Niet Dood Genoeg (Leopold II Isn’t Dead Enough) sounds raw and sloppy, like it was recorded in one take in some squat in downtown Brussels. But listen again (and read the insert), you’ll find out that their songs have a little more depth than it seems, and also that the band is from Canada.
What’s cool is that these songs were written with intention, not only because the lyrics are all about king Leopold The Number Two (that’s a shit joke), but because there’s a cool instrumental intro with a callback on side B, and layers and instrumental interplay that bring to mind post-punk stalwarts such as Warsaw or CCCP, bolted on a hard, rugged Oi! shell similarly to what Camera Silens or, more recently, Syndrome 81 did.
The fight for decolonization has only just begun and it’s all very complicated from the European point of view, but resentment and the desire to piss on a monument are all certainly part of it. This mini-album is the right soundtrack for that, so turn up the volume, drink plenty of water and fuck all royalty forever.
Click here to listen to Leopold II Is Niet Dood Genoeg on Bandcamp.
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