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A.O.A. debuted on vinyl with Who Are They Trying To Con? 12″ in 1985. A year later they returned with the split LP with fellow Scots better known as Oi Polloi with an album called Unlimited Genocide. The trilogy of albums is closed with Satisfactory Arrangement that was recorded in 1986 and 1987 and finally released in 1988.
This is relentless anarcho punk/hardcore with a message. It runs at 200 mph and takes no prisoners. Their nickname ´the Scottish Discharge´probably tells you everything about the ferocity of their music. Lyrically, AOA blast at everyone, from big corporations, to animal testing laboratories, to capitalism, to the situation in Northern Ireland, to police brutality and more.
The reissue of this 80s classic comes completely remastered on 180 gr vinyl in gatefold sleeve containing all the lyrics, plus a download code.
Our take: No Plan Records brings us a reissue of the 3rd and final LP by 80s Scottish anarcho-punks A.O.A., 1988’s Satisfactory Arrangement. I think A.O.A.’s first 12”, Who Are They Trying to Con?, is a supremely underrated record, an energetic and intense slab of ultra-fast UK hardcore. No Plan mentions they were sometimes called “the Scottish Discharge,” and I while I haven’t heard anyone say that myself, I imagine that comparison rests largely on that first 12”, which is a leaner and more to-the-point record than Satisfactory Arrangement. I think Satisfactory Arrangement is excellent, mind you, but the band has evolved and (dare I say) matured since their first record. The music is still undeniably hardcore punk, but A.O.A. sounds more flexible and confident here. One thing I appreciate is that they’re able to play locked-in when the situation calls for it—the early Amebix / Killing Joke-esque parts on here are suitably crushing—but they can change gears and sound really loose and wild as well. More metallic songs like “Acceptance of What” have some of the off-the-rails vibes of Venom or early Bathory, and other parts find them going full gluebag chaos mode a la Disorder. A new wrinkle on Satisfactory Arrangement is two tracks that feature spoken vocals over gentler instrumentation, and while (particularly by 1988) it wasn’t anything no one had heard before on an anarcho record, it adds even more depth and variety here than A.O.A. had on their earlier stuff. Plus, all this is transmitted through a much clearer, more professional recording that highlights just how good the band was. I know everyone has a soft spot for a band’s earliest, rawest material, but I think Satisfactory Arrangement is a logical outgrowth of that earlier material that’s a little more subtle and refined, but still powerful.