Conflict earned recognition as one of the most prominent and productive British anarcho-punk acts aside from Crass. The group delivered raw, unadorned punk rock marked by a harsh, forceful drive, while their words delivered vehement attacks on warfare and social hierarchies alongside endorsements of anarchist ideals and animal liberation. Vocalist Colin Jerwood launched the band, which set its pattern with the 1983 album It's Time To See Who's Who. Although the musicians explored denser arrangements and intricate sound montages on 1986's The Ungovernable Force and 1989's Against All Odds, their uncompromising intensity remained constant over the years, pairing sonic aggression directly with political convictions.
The original lineup assembled in 1981 within Eltham, a South London neighborhood, with Colin Jerwood handling lead vocals, Steve Gittins on guitar, John Clifford on bass, Pauline Beck supplying extra vocals, and Francisco "Paco" Carreno on drums. After building visibility in London's underground punk circuit, Conflict received crucial support when fellow anarchist punks Crass enabled the release of their debut seven-inch, the four-song EP The House That Man Built, on the Crass Records label. The affiliated Corpus Christi imprint put out the 1983 EP To A Nation of Animal Lovers, which addressed the harms of animal testing and featured guest vocals from Crass singer Steve Ignorant. Pauline Beck had already departed by the time Corpus Christi issued the band's debut full-length, It's Time To See Who's Who, and by the arrival of their second LP, Increase the Pressure, in shops during 1984, Conflict had established their own Mortarhate Records imprint. In 1986 the group put out two concert documents: From Protest to Resistance, a self-released nonprofit LP whose proceeds aided a fund for jailed anarchist activists, and Only Stupid Bastards Help EMI, issued by New Army Records. That same year Steve Ignorant performed live with Conflict, alternating vocals alongside Jerwood, while 1987's Turning Rebellion Into Money captured another stage recording with Jerwood delivering Conflict material and Ignorant covering songs from the Crass catalog. Ignorant also contributed to the 1988 studio album The Final Conflict; at that stage only Colin Jerwood and Francisco "Paco" Carreno remained from the founding roster, as multiple musicians rotated through the lineup.
The 1989 album Against All Odds took an atypical shape, its title track stretching beyond fourteen minutes to occupy the entire first side of the original vinyl pressing while five shorter pieces filled the reverse. The progressive-rock touches evident in the expansive "Against All Odds" resurfaced on 1993's Conclusion, a studio recording that retained Conflict's aggressive stance yet adopted cleaner production values and heavy-metal guitar tones. With 1994's It's Time To See Who's Who Now the band revisited its origins by re-recording twelve songs from the debut. No further studio albums appeared during the remainder of the 1990s, although a consistent stream of live discs and reissues sustained interest, and Jerwood and Carreno maintained an active touring schedule, with the drummer also working alongside Inner Terrestrials. American listeners gained access to much of the catalog once the U.S. punk label Go-Kart Records partnered with Mortarhate Records to reissue most Conflict titles domestically. Conflict waited until 2003 to unveil new material on There's No Power Without Control, which contained the divisive track "An Option," interpreted by some supporters as advocating closed U.K. borders to Muslims while others viewed it as Jerwood adopting an unreliable narrator's perspective. The set marked Conflict's last studio recording with Francisco "Paco" Carreno, who died on February 20, 2015. Jerwood continued leading various iterations of the band on tour through Carreno's final years and afterward, although no additional studio tracks surfaced. Cleopatra Records issued the three-song vinyl seven-inch The Serenade Is Dead in 2023, featuring the classic Conflict numbers "C.R.A.S.S.," "Might and Superior," and the title track.
