The Ex - ‘They Shall Not Pass’

“Los facistas no pasarán. No pasarán!” 'They Shall Not Pass', the first track from The Ex's 1936, The Spanish Revolution double-single and book is a razor sharp avant-punk celebration of the Spanish anarchists' fight against Franco's fascist forces. 'Don't die on your knees, live on your feet, for no-one is a slave, for no-one is a slave,' barks GW Sok over Terry Hessel's buzzsaw guitars and Katrin Bornefeld's industrial motorik rhythms. From being a retrospective lament, the song honours the revolutionary spirit of the 1936 anarchist revolt by speaking to contemporary struggles. The EP it comes from is one of the Dutch anarchist punk band's finest achievements, a total artwork in which the music (which includes a great version of the Republican anthem 'Ay Carmela') is accompanied by a book of essays and previously unpublished photographs of the 1936 revolution.
Stewart Smith