False Prophets “Invisible People” 1990. Konkurrel Records. Hardcore punk (mostly) from NYC. Allmusic describes their sound as “hardcore as cabaret, complete with lyrical passages, a cappella sections, and song structures rivaling progressive rock dinosaurs.” The Invisible People EP is all of that; it was their last release – they had two previous LP’s on Alternative Tentacles in the mid-80′s. My first exposure to False Prophets was their track on the ‘84 P.E.A.C.E. comp and I then saw them play a show sometime in ‘86 in Green Bay at a tiny venue, possibly the old ABC Boxing Club. False Prophets are a political punk band, their songs anti-war and anti-violence along with heavy criticism of the western capitalist society. I also get the feeling that they may have been kinda religious – at least on this EP – but it’s not super-obvious, more between the lines and kinda old-school Jesus in that they decry the plight of the poor, criticize the rich, cruel and powerful and take target at the “morally perverse” (from the song “Never Again, Again”) (there’s also that fish symbol on the record label). On “Plenty of Death For All” they sing “People in bread lines waiting for food, but there’s plenty of death for all. I need a home, what do I do? There’s plenty of death for all.” The track “Shadow Government” the chorus is “Shadow puppets of the shadow government, our lives are made by their hands. And behind the cloak, a mountain of coke, the snow-blind scale at command.” The title track “Invisible People,” about the homeless, is surprising musically – it’s more folk-rock than anything else.