Victory - Laced Up (Oi! The Boat Records - 2013)

Now that we have landed in the Land of the Free, let's stay there a bit. We'll go further west all the way to St. Paul, Minnesota, and we'll talk about one of America's most promising new band, namely Victory. The band, that includes some members from Pist & Broke and 86'ed among other bands, is playing a fast and furious (Paul Walker joke anyone ?) Oi!, but yet really melodic, in a very Templars style with a more grave voice perhaps, a shit load of singalong, brillant rolling bass and perfect simple and ultra efficient solo guitar on top. To me that sounds like the perfect blend, every ingredient to make great songs are there. And Victory won't disappoint you, believe me. Every single track they've done so far is an anthem. 
Let's take a look at their first 7" called Laced Up. Here we have four songs : "Laced Up" (which is all about the skinhead pride) and "American Nightmare" (about the failure of the american dream and the oppression that the working man undergoes, brilliant lyrics by the way) on the A-side, "Glory Days" (a kind of tribute to to the golden age of Oi! and of the scene, wonderful bass all over the song and great singalong part) and "Real Heroes" (a song that deals with the soldiers that have fallen in battle fighting with much bravery). To be honest I can't say which of these four songs is my favorite, they're all just so brilliant. I could probably play that 7" a whole week without being bored.

Here you go with one song of the band. the word you're looking for is "brilliant".

Those four jewels are delivered in a gatefold cover (there's actually two different cover, depending on if you have the first or the second press, the cover above being the one from the second press) with all the lyrics and a long thanklist inside and a band picture on the back. As always with Oi! the Boat, you have a digital download code included.
I guess you can still find that record somewhere on the internet, but it sold pretty fast (the first pressing was sold out 90 minutes after being released... Yep...). Anyway, if you find it, buy it, that's my advice. you really don't want to miss that band. I was already very enthusiastic with all the american new bands (Sydney Ducks, Noi!se or The Broadsiders to name a few), but this record confirmed that something good is going on in America. Clearly one of the best record I bought this year, that's for sure !

Tattooed Mother Fuckers/Offensive Weapon - Split 7" (Mother Fucking Sounds/Skinflint Music - 2013)

Time to go back to some warmer (and more rainy) shores. Let's talk about the split EP between England's Tattooed Mother Fuckers and NYC's Offensive Weapon. I guess everybody knows who's involved in T.M.F., so there's no need to remind it here or to talk more about it, and you might want to note that Offensive Weapon's line-up includes members from bands such as Oxblood or First Strike. The last production from T.M.F. I had listen to prior to this was their Hey Ho! Let's Go! 7" (no Ramones cover involved) that left me a good impression, and I discovered Offensive Weapon through their marvelous self-titled full length probably a little more than a year ago. So that split sounded like a nice promise to my ears.
So, two songs per band, one band per side. The A-side is T.M.F.'s, and starts with the song "Welcome to the Greyzone", which is about saying things as they should be said and not kneeing down in front of anyone, the second one, "Fuck Off and Die" which is basically a middle finger to anyone who talk down the band, opened by a nice bass intro. Brutal mid tempo in-your-face and no compromise sound and songs, with singalong choruses and kind of metalish sounding solos. I like the first song more I must say.
The Offensive Weapon side includes the song "Legion of '76" about the loss of the values and traditions their forefathers fought for in the various wars America was involved in. The other one, "Change the Law" is an advocacy in favor of death penalty for rapist. Yep, no compromises here as well. While the first track is slower than the usual Offensive Weapon stuffs (it sounds more like their great ancestors Youth Defense League), the second one is a fast-paced one and sounds perhaps more "punk" for say (a friend of mine use to qualify them as "a right wing punk band", I don't care much if their right wing or whatever, but well that ain't false, you can see it as patriotic punk with a strong skinhead attitude). Anyway, it's still the great fast, angry and hateful american Oi! style sound that I liked so much in the band's 12", and I'm glad about it.
This split was released with two different covers : one for Europe (see above) and one for America (it's coming). To me the american one is way nicer, but that's my personal opinion. 250 black vinyls and 250 white vinyls for the Old World version, 150 red, 150 blue and 200 white copies for the Land of the Free. Both versions come with a lyrics sheet and a digital download code (nice initiative !).

The american cover's artwork

Well, both sides are good, but in the end to me, just as in 1783, America wins it all. I'm now really looking forward to the release of Offensive Weapon's next 12", that, I guess, should be out sometime during next year.

The Prideful - United Voice (This Means WAR - 2012)

Let's stay in Scandinavia if you don't mind. Our marvelous trip to the land of ice now takes us to Finland. Unlike the danish scene, I know a little more about what's going on in Finland (especially given that they have more bands up there), but then again, I won't say that I'm an expert (far from that...).
Here's another record that I bought more or less randomly, I'm talking about The Prideful's United Voice 7" that was released on the spanish label This Means WAR last year. The band comes from both Helsinki/Tampere/Jyväskylä (according to their soundcloud) and had done a 4 tracks self-released demo (in 2011) and appeared in 2 comps prior to this. They play a right-in-your face mid-tempo Oi!, rough, raw and simple, with a voice that actually reminds me of the infamous Paul Burnley (yep... Doesn't mean it's good or bad, just made me think of him, though i must say I kinda like it). Think about 80's UK Oi! (The Last Resort's early recordings, Gary Hodge's 4-Skins, and a lot of The Die-Hards actually) and you pretty much got what The prideful sounds like.
The record contains four songs, namely "United Voice" (about the pride of being a skinhead and how we will never be shut down), "Act of Ultraviolence"(a classic Clockwork Orange-inspired song about street violence), "Kings and Queens" (one more about the skinhead way of life, and this one was featured in their demo as well) and "Treading the Path"(a cover of the same-titled song by Loyalty, with lyrics adapted to the finnish national football team, but be realistic guys, you won't win the cup in the end hehe !). Probably not the most original lyrics you'll ever read, but it never hurts anyone to listen to some more classic texts from time to time, does it ? One strange thing though is that sometimes some lyrics don't rhyme... Well, why not ?
All that comes in a nice black and white cover including some classic skinheads illustrations (boots & braces, beer and football) and viking traceries, with a leaflet insert including the lyrics (good initiative there) and a band picture. 250 copies made, 20 of which are test-pressings with a different cover artwork.
A good and honest record that worth to be checked, they have a couple of songs over the internet so help yourself and give it an ear ! But you already know well that when it comes down to This Means WAR prods, it's always good stuffs !

Last Seen Laughing - S/T 7" (Randale Records - 2012)

After talking about Agent Bulldogg, let's go a bit more south, in Denmark to be precise. I must admit it, I don't know much about the danish scene, but my feeling is that it ain't so big (or at least I never hear about any band coming from there). They don't seem to have much, but at least they have Last Seen Laughing, from Aarhus, Jutland. I believe some member of the band were before involved in the bands Hoolies and The Outfit (the only two other danish bands I know). Still, I was nicely surprised when I bought (totally randomly) Last Seen Laughing's first full length (called Where We Belong, which would be in a cold and heavy-drinking country as far as I remember Denmark). So I didn't hesitate much to pick this 7" when I saw it in my local record store. This 7" was supposed to be a taste of their upcoming (and published earlier this year) 12" As True As It Gets, including the song on the A-side ("Critics"), the song on the B-side ("Me & Mine") being exclusively on this single.

So, two songs. it starts with "Critics", which is about people bitching and shit-talking but on the meantime being to afraid to afraid to go out and do something. The second one, "Me & Mine", is about how you feel in your life, how it will turn out to be (eventually not the way you thought it would), but hey, don't complain too much about it, you're still happy. Nice lyrics on that one.

When it comes down to the band's sound, I would qualify it as a more rock'n'rollish version of Evil Conduct (and, me not being a huge fan of Evil Conduct, surely less boring...), lots of singalong going on, angry voice, nice bass,... These guys know how to keep it simple, rough, but still pretty melodic and efficient. That's how Oi! should sound to me, straight in your face but still melodic. Well done !

This 7" is packed in a simple green cover with the band's logo on the front. Lyrics aren't included, unfortunately... Note that a 100 copies come with a green vinyl, the rest is in plain and simple black.

To sum it up a bit, nice single, and that's good to see that there's kind of a living and active seen in Denmark. If you don't know them, check them, they worth it. Dejlige !

The Templars/Agent Bulldogg - Split 7" (Templecombe/Randale Records - 2013)

Let's continue with the Templars. Here's their last work, a split with the legendary Stockholm stolthet aka Agent Bulldogg. From what I know (and actually, as explained on the record's back cover), that split 7" should have seen the light almost ten years ago, but fell apart for some reason... Well whatever, now it's out !
So, one song from the Templars and two from Agent Bulldogg. The Templars give us their version of Agent Bulldogg's classic "Livsstil" ("lifestyle", from their first 12" that has the same name), sung in english and recorded in 1994. This version is way softer than the original, pretty different I must say (which makes it a great cover, because there's no point of recording a cover if you're gonna do the exact same as the original one), but as good as the swedish version. As always, that particular melodic sound that makes it all so great, top song for me.
Agent Bulldogg's side (with a line up, back then, including 2 original members and 3 guys from their compatriots Antipati, only 2 nowadays) start with a cover from the Templars' "Vision of a Future" ("Framtidsvisioner" in swedish, originally released on Templars' Beauséant 7") with a nice addition of saxophone (the french touch maybe ?), great cover as well. Their other song is a new one called "Storebror" ("Big Brother") about us being watched by cameras every single second of our lives (though I guess the reference to Orwell's 1984 was quite obvious, regarding the song's title). Once again pretty strong and melodic, as often with swedish Oi!. What we have here is a strong come back from the swedish bulldogs !
All that comes with a nice cover (including all pictures of both band members together on a Templar cross/Swedish flag background on the front and, as I said before, a short explanation about that split 7" and how both bands got in touch together back in the days) and includes an insert with the lyrics (for the Agent Bulldogg songs only though) and thanklists from from both bands. Please note that 100 copies of the record come with an orange-colored vinyl, the rest are in regular black.
Nice split between two great bands, this is definitely a must have, especially if you're into melodic stuffs (which I am, actually). Only fools and deaf people won't like that one !

The Templars - Right To Work (Templecombe/TKO Records - 2012)

The first review of this blog will be one of the "recent" (you'll see why the quotation marks after) production from NYC's finest, I'm obviously talking about the Templars. I guess everybody knows them by know, otherwise it's probably time for you to do something with your Oi! culture.

Here we have a one song single-sided 7", the B-side being nothing less than a nicely etched side (representing the logo of the "Templars Club"). Not the most common thing in your usual Oi!/Punk record, you'll give me that one.

So the one song we have here is called "Right To Work" (that you can also find in the band's first 7" Poor Knights  of Acre) in its "Acre Version" (if I remember well, the so-called "Acre Studio" is the name of the singer's basement, Carl, where the Templars record most of their stuffs, and obviously a reference the the once templar city of Acre, located in the Holy Land) and was recorded back in 1994 (here's why it's not so "recent"), but yet unreleased, and mixed in 2012.

What we have here basically is a typical Templars song : the now (in)famous clear "Skrewdriver sound" mixed with the rawness of the usual Templars work (that's probably the special "Acre Studio" addition), mid-tempo melodic guitar, classic Oi! lyrics (here about unemployment and its consequences) sung with a voice as melodic as the instruments. Add to that a nice guitar solo in the end of the song and I'm happy. These kind of things always work with me, and as I'm a Templars fan I wasn't disappointed with that Anti Disco Classics

The 7" comes in a oldschool style drawing on the front cover and includes lyrics and the usual thanklist on the back side, pretty nice artwork going on there. Note that the record is limited to 666 copies (which lead me to think that the NYC knights turned into a black metal band recently), and 200 copies out of these come with an embroidered patch (which is basically the same design as the etched side of the record).

Here you go with the limited patch, I unfortunately didn't got it with my record !

Pretty nice record in the end, some might think that one song is kind of a rip-off, but it worth its price, not only you have a good song, but a nice object as well. Fans won't be disappointed, and non-fans can go get fucked anyway !

Introduction

This blog is yet another one that will be mainly about reviewing various records, mainly from the Oi!/Punk genre (but expect some more "exotic" things as well), and giving some news about what's going on in the scene.

Note that I will only (well, let's say most of the time) review records that I own. There's not gonna be any download link here, if you like it, support the bands/label and buy it.

I'll try to update this as often as I can.

Of course, any suggestion about any band/record is more than welcome. Don't hesitate to share your stuffs with me.

And last but not least, let's keep politics out of here, everybody will be happier...