(2) Attrition was also a short lived US Hardcore band from Washington DC
(3) Attrition is also a Canadian war metal band formed in 2017.
1. Attrition are pioneers in a darker electronica. Formed in 1980 in Coventry, England, influenced by a mix of punk ideology and experimental art aesthetics, they emerged as part of the early '80's UK Industrial scene alongside contemporaries Coil, Test Department, Legendary Pink Dots, In The Nursery, Portion Control et al.
Founder Martin Bowes has steered the band through a 25 year career, fueled by a succession of critically acclaimed albums...
The band has regularly toured Europe, North America and Mexico, appeared at major festivals and had their music included on a number of film soundtracks.... (most recently two of their songs are included on the US cult film “Mint in box” alongside the Pogues…)
Through their career Attrition have worked with musicians as diverse as psychedelic veterans The Legendary Pink Dot’s to punk legend TV Smith to Franck Dematteis of the Paris Opera.
Attrition’s music has featured on countless releases - from 1984’s “Bullshit detector” on Crass records to the hugely successful “Animal liberation” album alongside Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Smiths, Nina Hagen & Lene Lovich etc…
Recently their song “Acid Tongue” featured on KTEL’s Industrial story CD - a who’s who of industrial music with Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle, Ministry, Nitzer Ebb, Neubauten et al…
In Germany Orkus magazine’s Best of the 90’s collection featured their darkwave classic “A girl called harmony”…
Attrition’s work been remixed by underground artists from an eclectic mix of genres including Chris n Cosey, Martin Atkins, Dance or Die and UK drum n bass act Rascal & Klone…(featured on the first Grand Theft Auto game soundtrack..)
Martin’s increasing studio production work has included mixes for The Damage Manual (Martin Atkins, Jah Wobble, Geordie Walker, Chris Connelly et al…), Die Form, In the Nursery, Black tape for a blue girl, Emilie Autumn and more…
He has contributed a song for the new Pigface album and is recording the narrators voice to an upcoming US horror film, “C for Chaos”…
2012... Invocation is the bands first full length film score...composed for US cult horror movie G.H.O.S.T.
2013... The Unraveller of Angels is the all new album...
(2) Attrition was also a short lived US Hardcore band from Washington DC
2. They existed from January 2005 - May 2007 and played a progressive style of emotionally charged, metallic hardcore influenced equally by screamo bands such as pg. 99 and Majority Rule, noisecore bands such as Converge and Botch, and more straight-forward hardcore bands. Their lyrical content approached issues such as anarchism, feminism, straightedge and veganism (an interesting similarity to their UK counterpart), but from a personal, anecdotal perspective, focusing more on alienation and frustration than on prescriptive politics. They toured the US once (partially with North Carolina crust band Requiem) and the East Coast once with Philadelphia vegan straightedge hardcore band Kingdom and self-released two CDEP's named, respectively, "Preface" and "Chapter One: We Are Fucking Serious". "Purist", from the second EP, was featured on "Open The Cages: SHAC 7 Benefit" on Catalyst Records and the previously unreleased "No Control" appeared only on "Keep Singing", an animal-rights benefit CD released by Exotic Fever Records. Their entire discography is available for free download at attrition.dead-city.org/.
Pendulum Turns
Attrition Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Never learns
She dines while the pendulum turns
Forgets what she earns
She travels in the back of a black car
Goes so far
She went to Sarajevo
She dines on white wine
No time
For crying on white lines
Stress lines
She dances on stone floors
Forget the war
They call her Marie
She needs the law
She fiddles while Rome burns
She dines while the pendulum turns
I'll see you in time
I'll meet you
Greet you in '89
I'll see you in Mexico
Don't go there
Heads roll
Take me to the '45
Who smiles at war trials
Who lies
When their hands are burned
When the pendulum turns
They call me roundhead
When the pendulum turns
They call me deathshead
When the pendulum turns
The lyrics of the song "Pendulum Turns" by Attrition are quite intriguing and leave much room for interpretation. The song starts off with the image of a woman who fiddles while Rome burns, indicating a sense of apathy and indifference despite the chaos and destruction happening around her. The woman seems to be someone who lives a luxurious life, dining while the pendulum turns, forgetting what she earns. The pendulum turning could symbolize the constant sway between good and bad times.
The second verse talks about the woman's travels in the back of a black car, going so far, even to Sarajevo, but no one wants to know her. This could indicate her lack of empathy or compassion towards others, as she only thinks about herself and her own pleasures. The lines "She needs the law" could mean that she needs a sense of order and control in her life, which may explain her inability to empathize with others.
The third verse talks about the woman's lifestyle, where she dines on white wine and dances on stone floors while forgetting the war. The line "They call her Marie" could be a reference to Marie Antoinette, the French queen who famously said "let them eat cake," indicating a similar sense of detachment from the common people. The last line "She needs the law" is repeated, indicating the woman's need for structure and order in her life.
Overall, "Pendulum Turns" seems to be a commentary on the apathy and indifference of those who live privileged lives, those who are detached from the reality of the world around them. It also seems to be a commentary on the cyclical nature of history, the constant sway between good and bad times, and the need for empathy and understanding during times of war and chaos.
Line by Line Meaning
She fiddles while Rome burns
She engages in trivial activities while disasters are happening around her
Never learns
She doesn't learn from her mistakes
She dines while the pendulum turns
She enjoys life without considering the consequences of her actions
Forgets what she earns
She takes for granted the things she has and forgets the effort it took to obtain them
She travels in the back of a black car
She travels in luxury
Goes so far
She goes to great lengths to get what she wants
She went to Sarajevo
She traveled to a place where a lot of conflict and suffering occurred
They didn't want to know though
Her presence in that place was not welcomed by the locals
She dines on white wine
She indulges in expensive and luxurious food and drink
No time
She is too busy enjoying her luxuries to care about anything else
For crying on white lines
She doesn't show emotion or empathy, even when she is consuming drugs
Stress lines
She is tense and anxious, but tries to hide it
She dances on stone floors
She enjoys parties and social events
Forget the war
She doesn't care about the consequences of conflicts and wars
They call her Marie
She has a privileged and aristocratic name
She needs the law
She needs the law to protect her privileges and interests
I'll see you in time
I'll meet you eventually
I'll meet you
I'll come across you
Greet you in '89
I'll welcome you in the year 1989
I'll see you in Mexico
I'll meet you in Mexico
Don't go there
Don't travel to Mexico
Heads roll
There are severe consequences for certain actions
Take me to the '45
Take me back to the year 1945
Who smiles at war trials
Someone who is unaffected by the horrors of war
Who lies
Someone who hides the truth
When their hands are burned
When they are caught and punished for their actions
When the pendulum turns
When the consequences of their actions catch up with them
They call me roundhead
They refer to me as a person from a certain period of history who held specific political views
They call me deathshead
They refer to me as a symbol of death
Contributed by Cameron A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.