Distemper is the first non-compilation album by The New Christs. It reached #1 on the Australian Alternative Charts.

Reception

According to Sydney Morning Herald, the album received critical acclaim upon its release. Trouser Press noted the "dark, brooding" and "apocalyptic tone" of the album, writing that it is "nothing short of a 40-minute call to emotional jihad."

Legacy

Louder than War described the album as "rabid [and] incredibly feral", calling it "a classic case of an album being so definitive that it was hard to see how it could be bettered, despite the consistently high quality of subsequent New Christs’ albums." Mark Lanegan of The Screaming Trees named the album as an influence on his music, calling the album "catchy in a really weird way and [Rob Younger's] singing is so out there and unique. He works around the music and he’s really aggressive." The US website Fast 'n' Bulbous ranked it 83rd best album of the 1980s.

Track listing

Tracks 11 and 12 only appear on the CD.

Personnel

with