All I want for christmas is Oi!

Alright, the year is almost over and Christmas (or Jul as they say here in Sweden, because yes, fuck you christianity) is here ! First I thought I would do something about christmas songs in Oi! music, but that already has been done like a million time, and it's boring. So instead I'll give tou a little Top 5 of the best stuffes that came out this year according to me (which is not much more original, but it has never been done by me so far) ! There might be some stuffes that I haven't reviewed in the webzine, either because I didn't had the time or because I'm lazy -your choice- but whatever. No particular order, but anyway, here we go !

Top 5 12"

Battle Ruins - S/T

Eh, you really need an explanation on this one ? I guess this one's not a big surprise, since I kept repeating all year long how awesome it was. Still listen to it several times per day, and it's still as brilliant ! Review here

Urban Savage - Let Thunder Roar

Really good lyrics and brilliant music genre mixture ! Perhaps the swedish answer to bands like Hammer and the Nails ? At least they're as good ! And more is coming from them soon as well. Really good end-of-the-year surprise ! Review here

Hard Evidence - Last One Standing

Excellent debut album by the St. Louis band. Melo as fuck streetpunk band, their song "Rising Sun" is one of my favourite from this year.

Noi!se - The Scars We Hide

After 4 long years of waiting, Noi!se finally released a full-lenght, and it's actually a great one. Not as "Oi!" as they where in the beginning, but still, great release !

Boston Strangler - Fire

Wow. Even better than their first LP, and that was not easy to do... This album is pure fucking genius ! The song "Slow Burn" itself is the best reason to get that gem !

Top 5 7"

Justice Blocc - S/T

New band from Colorado Springs, and the proof that the USA are not done with giving us great bands ! Can't wait for the 7" to be out, since the tracks were so far only released digitaly.

Sabotage - Betraktelser från Staketet

Brilliant music, brilliant lyrics... In brief, brilliant band ! They have a 10" coming out next year, which is gonna be a blast ! Here you can listen to the first extract of it ! Review here

Reconquesta - S/T

Really good first release for these Barcelona guys, I saw an album was going to be out soon, great news ! Here's a preview. Review here

Syndrome 81 - S/T

2014 was definitely a good year for the Oi!-influenced punk hardcore/punk hardcore-influenced Oi! (call it how you like) genre, and that was definitely partly thanks to Syndrome 81. Probably the best new band from France right now. Good news, they are working on a new 7" ! Review here

Damaged Head - S/T

We don't have much in Uppsala, but we have great HC punk bands, and Damaged Head is a great example of that !

Top 10 best songs

Some albums might not have made it to my (very strict, indeed) top 12"/7" of the year, but they have some gems that deserved to be mentionned. A top 5 was to short for that, so it'll be a top 10 instead.

Battle Ruins - Coming of the Beast
Maraboots - Ils Sont Partis
Ouka - Basara
Violent Reaction - Dead End
Hard Evidence - Rising Sun
Last Crusade - Deadbeat
Sabotage - Blå Linjen Blues
Lion's Law - Our Generation
Stone Dagger - The Siege of Jerusalem
Justice Blocc - Time

Glory Days - S/T tape (Self-released - 2014)

Something like a week ago I got a mail from Piotr, guitarist of the Warsaw-based 3-piece band Glory Days, asking me to review these guys' debut tape. I agreed, because I usualy don't refuse to review stuffes (unless it's really bad, it's hard to write bad stuffes about a band, there's not a thousand way to call a shit record a shit record), and also because I pretty much know nothing about the polish scene, and the eastern european one in general (never got a deep interest for it, for no particular reason). I also saw that these guys got litteraly destroyed by Maximum Rock'n'Roll. Well what a fucking surprise, MRR generaly doesn't like Oi!, so nothing new here.
Let's talk a bit more about Glory Days itself. They're a melodic mid-tempo Oi! band, with nice solo guitar additions, some nice gang vocals and all the package. Once again, it don't really know how the scene is in Poland, and what they sound like, but Glory Days sounds pretty "western european". I hear 80's english Oi!, and more modern bands, like Alternate Action (yep, they're canadians, and Canada is not in Europe, I know thanks), Perkele (the Från Flykt till Kamp period) or, to quote their fellow eastern comrades Saints & Sinners from Czech Republic (both musicaly and the vocaly, in that case). Also they sing in english. On the one hand, that's good because then I can understand what they're singing (my abilities in polish are pretty much inexistant... kurwa ?), but on the other hand, I like when people sing in their native language. I guess it's easier to express yourself and transmit your messages in your mother tongue, but whatever, that's not the problem here.
So, on that tape Glory Days give us 4 tracks, "Reality Check", "Glory Days", "The Line" and "Out of Sight", all dealing with kind of topics : trying to escape reality, which hits you right back in the face, living for today without forgetting the past, or telling people trying to use and abuse you to get lost. Best songs being, for me, "Out of Sight" and "Glory Days" (even of the two other ones are more than ok).
So, nothing revolutionary here, Glory Days obviously doesn't break the "Oi!-mould", but they fit just right in it, at least to me. That's an honest band, giving us a nice 4-tracks tape, I actually have a hard time understanding why MRR hated it so much ?
Anyway, give these guys a listen, you can stream 3 of their 4 tracks through their bandcamp, with lyrics included.

Syndrome 81 - S/T (Offside Records - 2013)

I've been mentioning this guys quite a lot lately, so it seems kind of obvious to review their first 7", even if it has been out for like a year now. And moreover, first french review here, and I don't think it could have been a better first one than this.
Syndrome 81 is made of members from french hardcore bands like Thrashington DC, Night Stalkers and Police Truck. So you might think these guys have not much to do with Oi! But just listen to that 7" and you'll see that you're wrong. this is definitely one of the best french band I have listened to lately, mixing HC punk (Negative Approach seems like an obvious influence here, especially since the band cover one song of them) and Oi!/Chaos punk (think about bands like Kidnap, Trotskids or Komintern Sect, I would actually also name Tolbiac's Toads because these guys play so good and kind of faster than your usual french Oi! band, the hardcore influences and background explaining it a lot). Extremly melodic mid-tempo songs, perfect solo guitars, nice lyrics and vocals, gang choirs and morever a kind of dark/depressed feeling to it all... This is just fucking awesome.

That Negative Approach cover is just brilliant, I mean even the translation kicks asses !

But the whole "Chaos punk" thing isn't just about the music. You can feel it in the lyrics as well : talking about the dark side of everyday's life ("Une Vie Pour Rien", which is not a cover of Camera Silens' song with the same name), their city (Brest, in Britanny, which already has a glorious punk past with bands like Al Kapott, Les Collabos or the more controversial but still classic Brutal Combat) like "Recouvrance" and "Brest la Grise", and even a kind of a surprising song about the french war in Algeria and the use of torture during that war, with "À Coup de Gégène" (myself being french, I can't really think about any punk song sharing the same topic, apart maybe "Un Pays à Défendre" by L'Infanterie Sauvage). And of course the Negative Approach cover in french, exclusive to the vinyl version of that release. A great anti-P.M.A. song is how you can describe that cover. Fuck your positive attitude, the future is not bright.
That record came out in different version, first a cassette limited to 81 copies (what else ?) and then, hopefuly on vinyl (a regular black version and a special artwork and grey vinyl version limited to 100 copies). All that with an artwork that match the dark ambiance of the songs, a really D.I.Y.  insert with band photos, lyrics and thanklist, but moreover, 6 fucking brilliant songs.
These guys have already toured Europe now (even playing in Sweden, where I unfortunately missed them) and are going to play in Paris with the legendary band R.A.S. soon. If you can go to that show please do so, because you don't want to miss it, this is just gonna be epic.

Syndrome 81 is bloody fucking awesome, I read that they were on their way to record more stuffes, and I can just be happy with that ! Vive la France, vive them and I hope I'll be able to see them live soon !

Urban Savage - Let Thunder Roar (Savage Records - 2014)

It is time to head back to Sweden, more precisely to Malmö, aka Crime City, home of the best falafels of Northern Europe, good hardcore bands and Urban Savage, which is today's subject.
How can I describe Urban Savage to you ? I would say that they are a Oi!/UK82 sounding band, with obvious hardcore and rock'n'roll-ish/cock-rock influences. They seem themselves not to care much about what they are labeled as (they describe themselves as "hardcorepunkoirocknroll or whatever" according to their facebook page), and that's good, who the fuck needs a label anyway. What's important is that the music is good. And Urban Savage is good music, let me tell you that.
No-compromise songs driven by strong bass lines, with powerful vocals backed by good gang choirs is what you will get here. The sound is changing through the songs, for example songs like "When the Day Comes" and "Those Who Go & Those Who Stay" are more rock'n'roll-ish (here you will here that cockrock influences I was talking about), while "Minimum Wage/Maximum Slave" as a more Conflict feeling to it all, and "Fight to Win Fight to Lose" is definitely sounding more Oi! In the end it reminds me, once again, a lot of that whole Boston-Oi! scene (namely Battle Ruins, Hammer and The Nails or Tommy and the Terrors), or bands like Hired Goons and Syndrome 81, mixing musical genres to end up with a great sounding result.

But the most important with Urban Savage is definitely the lyrics. I hope you like songs about drinking beers and being a smartly dressed skinhead. Because that's absolutely NOT what Urban Savage is about. These guys will bring you back straight to reality, reminding you what life really is. And it's dark and hard according to them. And they're right. The lyrics deals with what's wrong with society, how you get fucked up by it and how you should not give up and fight back. For that matter I would definitely associate them with Hammer and the Nails, because they deal with the same kind of subject (and have kind of the same sound influences, to me) : everything that is wrong with the modern world. If I had to choose my favourite song on that 12", it would definitely be "Wolves", the bass line, the dark ambience, the lyrics... Everything is just perfect to me in that song. But once again, every songs are good on that album.

As the band said themselves, this records includes "no download codes - no silkscreened cover - no free lollipops". Everything is straight to the point, DIY insert, plain black vinyl, good "let the thunder roar in Malmö" (I guess the cover is depicting Malmö ?) looking artwork (it's self-released by the band through their own label, Savage Records). You don't need more than this and you will anyway not get anything better than this. Because Urban Savage are just fucking brilliant. If you want to listen to something more than just "Oi! Oi! drink beers wear boots", if you want reality to punch you right back in the face, and if you're into great music, then Urban Savage is made for you. If you don't, you can still continue listening to Evil Conduct. But that's your problem.
Anyway, it's always good to see that Sweden is producing some of the best actual punk bands, I mean, between them and Sabotage, both producing great music with clever and socialy aware lyrics, it just doesn't get better than this.
I read that these guys were going to have a new song on the upcoming volume (number 8 if I'm not wrong) of Turist i Tillvaron (which is a great swedish punk compilation serie. If you want to know what's going on in Sweden right now, get these records, because they're great and they give a wide perspective of the swedish scene), and I can only be glad with that because I want to hear more from Urban Savage. This is definitely a record you want to have, so make yourself a favor, contact the band and get this 12". I can assure you you won't regret it ! This record is going to be the prefect soundtrack to my winter ! Here you can listen to some of the songs included in the full length.

Last Crusade - Demo 2014 (Self-released - 2014)

Alright, next thing we'll be talking about is Last Crusade, a new band from northern England that just released a 4 tracks demo through their bandcamp.

These guys are playing an awesome melodic mid-tempo "bootboy rock'n'roll" as they say, think Templars (mainly for the guitar sound I guess), french Oi! (both 80's bands -like Warrior Kids, which they cover, Tolbiac's Toads or Snix- and more recent bands like The Veros). Light-boostered guitar, straight to the point music, raging vocals (it sounds like there are two singers, as the vocals are different on "Morally Bankrupt" as on the other songs, but I might be wrong), gang choirs, all that in english (which is kind of not surprising coming from a UK band), except a cover of "Personne" from Marseille's Warrior Kids, sung in a perfect french (probably because of the singer being from Canada, and from the Québec area I guess). They kind of remind me in a way of the french band Syndrome 81 (great band, check them out if you didn't already).

As I said, 3 great songs in english, called "Deadbeat", "Morally Bankrupt" and "Cycle of Terror", and a cover from Warrior Kids. That last cover is brilliant, different from the original, maybe a bit more "aggro", but still pretty good. A cover shouldn't be the exact copy of the original song, in my opinion, because then why listen to anything else other than the original ? Plus "Personne" is one of my favourite song from Warrior Kids, so great job here. Please keep making songs in french in the future, people in England probably don't give a fuck about it but it sounds great !

A very good surprise, that's what Last Crusade's debut release is. I definitely want to hear more from these guys, and I hope this demo will be released in vinyl soon (but I don't worry too much for them about that, as I am pretty sure it will be). Anyway, you can (and you should) listen to these songs on the band's bandcamp, and even download them by paying the price you're willing to pay for it.

Hired Goons - Demo 2013 + Demo 2013 Part II (Nobody Cult - 2013)

You've probably figured it out by now, I'm now a very punctual guy. I rarely talk about stuffs that just came out. But I guess the majority of people reading this are not after "fresh news of the scene" (they're easy to find on other websites/pages anyway), but rather for what I think about bands I review (or at least I hope that, because otherwhise I don't understand what you're doing here), even though I try to talk about relatively "new" releases.
So no exception, the material we're going to talk about tonight (the night fell at least 2 hours ago here in Uppsala) is not that fresh. But still, it's good as fuck. We'll be talking about Hired Goons, from Ontario, Canada. I'll be killing two birds with one stone here, and talk about their two demos that came out respectively in April and November 2013.
What we have here is an Oi!-influenced hardcore punk band (or hardcore punk-influenced Oi! band, put it as you like), playing mid-to-slower tempo straight in your face rock'n'roll, driven by strong basslines, no-compromise guitar and shouted, powerful (but no tough guy/gangsta hardcore shit involved) vocals, sounding a bit like Sheer Terror. Basically it sound like a more punk hardcore version of bands like Hammer & the Nails (they have been reviewed here earlier), Tommy & the Terrors, or these NYC 90's Oi! bands that all sounded pretty hardcore influenced on the Oi! side, and Negative Approach on the hardcore side (I'm not that much of a hardcore punk guy, so I, unfortunately, lack a bit of references here...). Their seconde demo as, though, some kind of a Templars feeling, mainly because of the solo guitar lines and the guitar sound in general. It's more melodic, sounds more "melancholic" sometimes. Which, in my opinion, make it even better. The songs are hardly longer than 2 minutes (and a minute and 45 seconds on their second demo), so no time for bullshit here, it's hitting you straight and hard !

A song from the band's second demo, and probably one of the band's best song

If you didn't bought their demo tapes yet (because yes, both demos came out as tapes), then you're, like me, probably fucked because they seem to be completely sold out. But rejoice, they're both available (digitally) through the band's bandcamp for the price you're willing to pay for it. Nice gesture, that's another reason for you to check these guys out if you haven't done it yet. If you're into that kind of music you will definitely like it, if you're not then broaden your horizons !

Broken Heroes/The Guv'nors - Keep on Drinkin' (Contra Records - 2014)

We once again, after the Templars/Agent Bulldogg split 7", will be speaking of the two areas that I review the most here : America and Scandinavia, more precisely U.S.A. and Denmark.

So here we go with Broken Heroes from New Jersey and The Guv'nors, hailing from Aarhus (as Last Seen Laughing, that I review earlier here). Both bands grant us two songs, each band having a very different sound. 

Broken Heroes are a hard-hiting Oi! band, they have a very american sound (well, especially the singing sounds very american to me), straight to your face and with shouted vocals and choruses. I would compare them with their forefathers Niblick Henbane and The Wretched Ones (both also being from New Jersey, do we have a "local sound" here ?). I can see a logical link between their two songs, the first one, "Violence is the Answer" is about the necessary use of violence when you have to defend yourself or what is yours in some situation, and the second one, "Witch Hunt" is an anti-PC song. Given that the use of violence is, you will agree on that, not regarded as something good or PC in nowaday's society, that second song is basically saying "hey, you didn't liked the first song ? Why don't you just fuck off ?", or at least that's how I linked them.

Here's a (short )preview of what you'll find inside that 7"

The Guv'nors are playing a kind of rock'n'roll-ish Oi!/skinhead rock'n'roll, though much more hard rock-ish than bands like The Clichés (which I reviewed here) or bands like Suede Razors or 45 Adapters. Lots of choirs here as well, and really nice guitars, all that driven by stomping drums and rolling bass. Both songs are about alcohol, but that's no suprise given that the Danes are a bunch of alcoholics (says 99% of the population up here in Sweden). The first song, "Get Out" is a drinking and party anthem. I could easily have imagined handclapping to that song, it would just have made it even more party-ish and awesome. The second song, "Love in a Bottle", is a love declaration to alcohol, talking about it as it was a woman. Funny and well-written, hats off !

These four nice songs are packed in a gatefold sleeve containing the lyrics and band logos. You'll also find a download code in it. I basically don't ask for more, good production ! 380 copies in black vinyl and black and white cover, and 134 in red vinyl with sepia cover.

Really good split 7" of two bands that I heard before but never listened to deeply, I will definitely fix that. If I had to choose a winner it would be the Guv'nors, I just like their songs more, but Broken Heroes sure deliver two really nice ones as well !

The Clichés - Bovver Boots (Randale Records - 2014)

After a short pause, here I am again. And so is the band we'll be talking about tonight, namely The Clichés, from Norrköping, Sweden (yes, again).
Last time I heard from The Clichés was through their 2012 LP Streetrock for the Working Class, which was, as its two older brothers, insanely good.
But this 7" is not the same as the band's previous releases. First, correct me if I'm wrong, the singer Dennis is now all alone (though there's a guest vocalist and pianist on this release). Second, the sound as evolved. A lot. In a very good way. Sure, you will recognize the band (assuming that you have listened to them before, if not fix that mistake right now you fool !), but the style is quite different. You will, here, clearly hear glam rock/pub rock influences, they were there before, but now they've been pushed to the max. They have a genre for that in Sweden, which is called gubbrock I think ? Anyway, think Slade, Sweet, or to take more recent bands, the great Giuda, Suede Razors and basically that '77 Chiswick sound. You got it, it can't be wrong (it's anyway never wrong with The Clichés). Excellent vocals and backvocals, rock'n'rollish flaming guitar gimmicks and there's even some piano on the second song, "Riot". You will want to dance to these songs I promise you that. And of course, still a lot of clichés in the lyrics (basically, beat the shit out of everyone with your mates).
All that is wrapped in a nice old school cover (great artwork !), which, once again, remind me of some of Giuda's artwork (less old fashioned perhaps). No insert, and so no lyrics (too bad for me). There are 100 copies in orange, the rest is in regular black.
I'm kind of happy with the return of that glam-ish/pub-ish sound all over the world. Sweden didn't really had it so far (or maybe with The Manics, also from Norrköping, but they sound more power-pop, not much Oi! influences there, but still, they're really good as well. Excellent comeback by The Clichés, definitely one on of the best releases so far this year. The only bad thing with it is that it's so short ! I hope we'll get more soon !

Thunder and Glory - As the Ocean Churns (Stratum Records - 2014)

Yet another american band this time, Thunder and Glory from the city of Philadelphia. If i'm not wrong, the band is kind of new, but includes an ex member of The Boils (which you should check if you don't know them, really good band).
So these guys are a five-piece band and play a mid-tempo ("To Kill and Conquer", "Out of the Night") to faster-paced Oi! ("Attack and Kill"), with raging vocals, shouted choruses (that sometimes sound kind of hardcore to me), driven by battle drums, powerful guitar solos. Compromiseless, in your face but still melodic. I don't ask for much more. Though I had a hard times with the voice on the first listening, these songs grew on me and now I appreciate them as they are : awesome battle songs.

Because yes, that's what this record is all about. War, battles rage and fury. Just to give you an example, the first song, "To Kill and Conquer" is about some kind of a viking raid (they talk about the fjords, so I guess it must be that) coming to storm your land, conquer you, burn your wifes and rape your churches. Basically these guys are here to fuck you up. And the same goes for the two next songs, the record being closed by a cover of "Soldier 76" by... Soldier 76. Nicely done cover, even though I like the original better (hard to beat the singer's Combat 84-like voice). Me still being into my Battle Ruins madness (this is not gonna stop soon, know it), these battle anthems are pretty much all I want right now. Great !
That record, which was released earlier this year, came out in 300 copies, 200 being in blue/yellow colors with a Philadelphia flag-like based artwork, and 100 copies in black with a different - and very japanese- artwork which is a falcon holding a katana (that's the one I have). Lyrics are included, with a painting of Odin's Wild Hunt in the background (this viking raid thing that I have been talking about becomes more and more obvious).
Really nice release, if my review didn't convinced you, you can listen to the whole EP on the band's bandcamp. But trust me, this is a solid record !

Sun City Skins - Viejo Orgullo, Nueva Gloria (Vinyl 4 Bootboys Records - 2014)

Alright boys and girls, let's head back to the other side of the ocean. But this time (and for once) not to the USA. We'll go a little further south, to Mexico and the city of Hermosillo, and we'll go loco with the local band, Sun City Skins.
First I have to say that it's probably the only record of a band coming from Mexico that I own. I own and have listened to many other latin american bands (mainly from Argentina, Chile or Brazil), I had heard about the mexican scene before (especially when the italian band Asociale went there to play, in 2010 if I remember well ?), but this is, in the end, a pretty new scene to me.
Back to the band itself, Sun City Skins are a three-piece band coming from the city of Hermosillo, as I said before, and started to play in 2008, but that's actually their very first release. They play some kind of melodic up-tempo Oi!, with a lot of nice rock'n'roll-ish guitars, powerful vocals (in spanish, of course) and a lot of gang choirs. You could think that these guys would sound more "american" (by that I mean hardcore-influenced Oi!) given the geographic proximity with the USA, but to me they sound pretty European, you can clearly make a connection between their sound and bands like Decibelios, Zakarrak, Ultimo Asalto or in a greater extent, 80's/90's european Oi! influences.

Here you go with a sampler of what that record has to offer

On this EP the band offers us an intro plus three songs, "Tu Realidad", "La Vieja Escuela" and "Frente in Alto", dealing with the pride of being a skinhead, the way of life, etc... Nothing revolutionary but all in all in nicely written and really well played.
The artwork of this record is kind of... special in my opinion, I'm not a big fan of it. But never judge a book by its cover, as they say, and especially for this record you shouldn't, because you would be missing a great band. So, back to the thing, it's a gatefold cover, with, inside, the lyrics, band photos and a thanklist. 300 hundred copies were released (100 in black and 200 in gold, the golden version being particularly nice according to me).
If you don't want to miss a great band, then you should give Sun City Skins a try, I'm sure you will like it, I was very surprised by these three songs, really good ! I hope I will have the occasion to hear more things from them, and actually I will because I saw that the would be releasing a split EP with the great italian band F.A.V.L. soon. That's good news !

Reconquesta - S/T 7" (Disco Nightmare/See You - 2014)

The only european country which is not from Northern Europe present on this blog so far is Spain, and it's not gonna change. Well actually it might change, because Reconquesta (do yourself a favour if you look for the band on internet and write their name right, if you write it Reconquista you will only find a shitty spanish WP band, and by shitty I mean that this made me want to burn a paella plate, yep, it was that bad) are from Catalonia, and I know that catalonians are pretty touchy about their own national identity. So let's say it's not Spain.

These guys were, as a matter of fact, more or less uknown to me, I bought their 7" (which is also their first vinyl release, even though they seem to have started the band in 2012) pretty much randomly, given that I only had heard some demo songs on youtube before.

Well, that was a good random purchase if you want my point of view. Now those who know me (and those who have read the KnockOut review) know that spanish Oi! is not really my cup of tea, even if the catalonian scene is kind of an exception given that one of my favourite record of 2012 (and probably my favourite iberian band) is Secret Army's Crush the Remains. But anyway, I'm open to new bands, and giving a chance to Reconquesta was everything but a mistake. These guys are playing a melodic but still hard hitting Oi!, with great bass and solo guitar all the way, topped by  equaly melodic but still in your face vocals. Through and through it is really strong.  From what I can read on their Facebook page, they list their influences as english, french and american Oi! from the 80's/90's. Well, you can't go wrong with these (especially with the french one), but to me they sound actually much more modern than this, even if you can obviously hear these influences in the two songs on this single.

For some reason Blogspot decided to be a piece of shit and couldn't find the studio version of their song "Gloria". But look for it in Youtube. Believe me, it's worth it.

These two songs, to name them, are "Gloria" and "Reconquesta". I must admit that I am actually not familiar at all with the catalonian language, but reading the lyrics of "Gloria" on internet (they were clever enough to write them in the description of the song) helped a lot, since catalonian is pretty close to french (more than I thought actually). So basically, this song urges you to be proud and to never look down. The lyrics are not going to change your vision of the world, but is that what you expect Oi! to do ? Probably not. Instead they make you feel proud, strong and free (to quote Stars and Stripes), which is, to me, pretty much all I want to hear. Their second song, "Reconquesta", is not as melodical as the first one, maybe more straight forward, but is still great. It actually gives you a balanced single, with a melodical song and a more in-your-face one.

All that comes with a great artwork, which is the logo of the band (a feather and a sword) in a shield with a dragon in some kind of parchment style (it's the brown tone of it all that gives me this feeling I guess). The only thing I regret is that there's no insert but that's only a little disappointement given the quality of this release. Note that this record comes with a big central hole, which is kind of unusual nowaday I guess given that the only records I have like that are from the 70's to the 90's. 300 copies of that record were released, 100 in black, 100 n brown and 100 with a different cover. My advice is that you should buy this record, because by doing that you will not only get 2 great songs, but you will also support a young band which deserves it. So you know what you have to do !

Edit : you can now listen to both songs of the 7" on the band's bandcamp and download them (as a name your price download) ! 

Out of the Darkness on Facebook

Out of the Darkness in now also on Facebook, give the page a like here

Battle Ruins - S/T LP (Rock'n'Roll Discgrace - 2014)

Finally the waiting is over. It's here. I'm obviously talking about the record I've been the most looking forward to get this year, namely Battle Ruins' LP. And it does not disappointed me, even if there were no surprises listening to it, since it had leaked on the internet some times ago, but still, hearing these songs on vinyl is even better.
You might remember that I reviewed Battle Ruins' 7" some times ago so you should know them (in fact, if you don't know them that's kind of a problem because these guys just kick asses). They play that Boston Oi! I've been talking about in my Hammer and the Nails/Butcher Boys split 7" review, but they had to it a nice dose of heavy metal. And they do it even more on that 12", which makes it even more dark, powerful, violent, straight out of the dark times of the Middle Age, and, basically, awesome. You still have epic lyrics about battles, violence, vengeance and all these stuffs, they still use these going-up back vocals/doubled vocals/vocals in general, and it still makes you want to destroy everything and slay your enemies with a morgenstern while wearing a plate battle armor. Nothing more nothing less. I won't talk more about how they sound, because I already talked about it (and tried to define it) in my previous review about them.

That's how epic this record is.

I have to say that there's actualy one bad thing with that record. It's too short, mainly because the seven songs on it are all great. I mean, I can't think of any bad song on that record, I don't even think I've skipped a single one since the day I first downloaded it. If I had to choose my favourite songs on it, it would be pretty simple : every single fucking one, and probably twice. That's how good this album is (more seriously, "The Coming of the Beast", "Hate Wheel", and "Slaughtering the Wolves like Sheeps" are my absolute favourite ones on that record).
And not only the songs on it are good, but the whole artwork is awesome. I mean, that front cover fits perfectly to what the band is all about. Bloody fucking dark age violence. This come with an insert including the lyrics for "Regain and Conquer" and a picture of what is, I guess, a proper battle ruin. 413 copies came in a white/grey cover with black vinyl, and 111 came in a red cover with clear vinyl plus a poster (and are handnumbered). This record is obviously sold out since the day it was available, but Rock'n'Roll Disgrace said that they would do a second pressing. You don't want to miss that repress, believe me, because this record is nothing less than 2014's best record. Period.

Hammer and the Nails/Butcher Boys - Split 7" (Spirit of the Streets Records - 2013)

Remember last time when I said that you'll get some moer exotic stuffs than usual soon ? Well the time is now. As a matter of fact, I still had to go with an american band in that review. Again. And it's Hammer and the Nails. From Boston. Again. Yep, I definitely have something with that Boston Oi! thing (this is how it will be called here from now on. By that I mean bands like them, Revilers or Battle Ruins, that share some similarities, like HxC influences, but not sounding like that New York 90's Oi!, melodic, dark and absolutely fucking brilliant). But on the same time some Crocodile Dundee skinhead rock'n'roll will be involved as well, thanks to Sydney's Butcher Boys. So that's what you'll get with exoticism (if you were waiting for something like north korean RAC or pakistanese powerviolence, well no, that's not gonna happen, but that would be pretty exotic too).
Hammer and the Nails are, for those of you who don't know them (shame on you, you probably missed one of the best Oi! band from the U.S.A.) are playing powerful melodic and hardcore-influenced Oi!, with pretty agressive but not too tough vocals, always with great solo guitars. They actually have a sound and a style that is pretty easy to recognize (I don't think any band play like them), and you end up with a perfect cocktail of aggro and heavy Oi! with still an awesome melodical sound. Here they give us two new songs : "Kept Alive", which is probably one of their strongest song, and a cover of Straw Dogs' "Justice", played in the Hammer and the Nails style, which makes it even more powerful than the original one (and it's not easy, given how brillant Straw Dogs were). Good ones, as always in fact.

"Kept Alive" by Hammer and the Nails. As you can see, both of their songs are dealing with justice. And not a nice form of justice

On the other hand, the Butcher Boys are a two men band composed of two guys from The Corps, which is also a great band, playing what you could call Rose Tattoo-inspired Oi! (you can't go wrong with that). Spirit of the Streets described the band as a mix of Condemned 84 and Chiswick style. That's a pretty good description, and even if the singing is pretty close to The Corps, the music played is not the same. Much more '77 punk I guess (think early Skrewdriver, Slaughter and the Dogs and band in that vein), and even if I prefer The Corps, Butcher Boys give us two solid songs, and it's their first release (if I'm correct, they will do another split with the almighty Hard Evidence soon). I'd gladly listen to more things by these guys.
All that comes in a two-sided cover (one side per band, with their logos) and an insert (once again one side per band) that, unfortunatly, includes only the lyrics for "Kept Alive" by Hammer and the Nails. You'll also get a download code (I actually could only download the Hammer and the Nails songs with mine, no idea if it's the case for everybody or if I just had a fucked up code), which is always good. Oh yeah, 250 copies only, 125 in black splatter on clear vinyl and the other 125 in black splatter on clear red vinyl.
A pretty solid release, plus it's always nice to get some new songs by Hammer and the Nails (who have the best songs on that split EP), but you should also give a listen to the Butcher Boys, they're worth it. You can still find that record on the major european distros, so do yourself a favor and get it !

Arska & Hakkapeliitat - S/T 7" (This Means WAR/Hakkapeliitta Records - 2014)

And once again we're back in Scandinavia... Seems like I'm only reviewing bands from Northern Europe and America here (hopefully soon I will have some more "exotic" things for you), well, it must means that that's where the music is good (in my opinion at least). So, let's head once again to the cold but welcoming shores of Finland.
Today we'll be talking about the band Arska & Hakkapeliitat, which is the last of the many bands of Arska (who is/was involved in Skinboiss, Kalevalan Viikingit, Kareliaani, Ironbird and a bunch of metal bands -yep, the guy is pretty active). He (because I think that's actually a one-man band) described the music played by his band (and not only this one, but a bunch of his other groups) as "Hakkapeliitta rock" (the hakkapeliitta being a finnish light cavalry used by the swedish army during the 17th century, back when the two countries were one), a form of viking rock influenced-Oi!, which would be, I guess, the finnish equivalent of the swedish vikingarock, and when vikingarock is evoked, you know that it's gonna involve epic tunes, patriotic/historical/mythological-based lyrics and melodic music (and that you are going to offend pretty much any average swedish person). No exception with Arska & Hakkapeliitat, both songs on the present 7" are extremly melodical, in the music (even including keyboard I think) as in the way Arska sings, and actually sound pretty light compared to his other musical projects (which sound more Oi! and more "straight in your face", I'm especially thinking about Kareliaani and Kalevalan Viikingit, given that they are, in my opinion, the closest musicaly speaking to this band)., and it makes it even more epic if you want my point of view !

Epic as fuck is what you get with this record

So, two songs on that record, both are patriotic anthems. The first one, "White and Blue Thunder" is sung in english and is and ode to Finland, its beauty and its greatness. The second one, "Fenno Viikingit" is in finnish, deals also with Finland but in a darker perspective, begging the country to remember its roots and its past (note that you have an allusion to the swedish past of Finland and to Kalle Dussin, a.k.a. Karl XII a former king of Sweden extremly popular among the local skinheads - Agent Bulldogg, Midgårds Söner or Ultima Thule, to name a few, made songs about him - and his karoliner). To be honest, that second song is far better than the first one (even if the first one is still a pretty good song), the use of finnish language gives more power to it and makes it even more melodical and epic.
The artwork of the single fits pretty good to the music, because it's once again all about nordic and finnish mythology, with symbols, weapons and even an Ukonvasara, the finnish equivalent of Thor's hammer. The lyrics for both songs are on the backcover, so for once I'm not gonna complain about the lack of insert. 300 hand-numbered copies + 10 test pressings with a different cover.
Well, what can I say to end this review ? That's probably, alongside with Kareliaani, my favorite band featuring Arska, and if you liked his other bands, you won't be disappointed by this one. I will probably be reviewing more of thatt Hakkapeliitta rock in the near future, given that I have a few more records of that genre. Once again a good production by This Mean WAR, these guys seems to be releasing only brilliant stuffs !

Stone Dagger - The Siege of Jerusalem (Electric Assault Records - 2014)

Remember that time when I said that I would not be talking only about Oi! or punk here, but probably about a bunch of other stuff that I like ? Well, the time is now. With Stone Dagger. You'd better get that old leather jacket of your, the one covered with heavy metal band patches, from your closet (you're not fooling anyone here, you have one like this somewhere), 'cause these guys are gonna rock the shit out of you.
Even if musically, there's no Oi!/punk or whatever in this records, it is linked to it in a way, because it actually involves guys from Battle Ruins (yep, them again), who seem to have more or less a million different bands (I'm not gonna complain about it, they're all on a scale from very good to awesome), and that's not their first "heavy metal attempt" (because yes, Stone Dagger is pretty much as NWOBHM as you can get), if you consider bands like Magic Circle or even a song like "Cold Iron Death" from Battle Ruins (which had a strong Black Sabbath feeling, according to me).
Now I must say that I actually don't know much about heavy metal/hard rock (even if, don't get me wrong on that one, I can enjoy myself a nice Motorhead, AC/DC or Rose Tattoo from times to times), it's not even one of my so-called "guilty pleasure". I would probably not have given a fuck about that record if I didn't knew that the guys from Battle Ruins were involved in it. And I would have been wrong. Because that's actually a fucking awesome record.
The band members describe themselves this record as "for fans of Manilla Road, Dio, Cirith Ungol" (I actually don't know these bands, appart from Dio) and as "working class power metal". Once again, my knowledge about metal is poor, so I don't know if these references are accurate or not, but what I know is that you get, in that 7", two mid-paced to fast-tempo songs, with tons of awesome guitar riffs and over-the-top heavy metal solos, going-up vocals and all. It litteraly brings back that old school heavy metal (think early Black Sabbath or Iron Maiden I guess), when it was all about knights, witches and sorcery. That's just so fucking epic. I like that. And you should to. Because once again, this is just to good to be ignored (if you are open minded to that kind of music of course, 'cause if you're not you probably just think that I just spent too much time talking about a shitty 80's metal single).

Here you go with more than 10 minutes of studs and leather heavy metal

I would without a problem recommand anybody to buy that record, but I think it's tottaly sold out (it was first released in cassette and then in this format, got sold out and repressed but I guess that second press is gone as well). Anyway, if you have the occasion, buy that stuff. I definitely want to hear more of that. I will anyway get back to these guys soon with Battle Ruins and their first LP, which will be reviewed here as soon as the postman gives it to me.

KnockOut - Que Silbe La Guillotina (Crom Records/Sound of the Streets - 2014)

It's been a while since I wrote something here last time... Various travels plus me being lazy didn't really helped, I must admit. But whatever, here I go again now, and that's the only thing that count I guess.

To celebrate the coming of the summer let's move from Scandinavia (even if the nordic summer is just perfect to me) and go to Spain. Those who know me probably know that I am not (and never was) a big fan of spanish Oi! (I actually think their language sounds a bit like a german or danish version of latin-rooted languages, and that's not a compliment). The last spanish band I liked was probably Mercancias (which shares the same song topic - the guillotine- as the band we're going to talk about), and their last release was something like 3 years ago. Since that, nothing, or mainly things that didn't leave a strong impression on me. But things change, hopefully, and once again I have found a spanish band (and a real one, no Barcelona/Basque Country/whatever other separatist region you like the best) that sounds actually pretty good, namely KnockOut from Madrid. I bought that record last weekend, more or less without knowing what it was (I heard about the band but never listened to it before).

This 7" is the band's first release (on the young french/spanish label Crom Records then, working along with Bandworm's Sound of the Streets), and that's a pretty good start ! First of all, these guys actually sing in their mother tongue and NOT IN FUCKING ENGLISH (face it Spain, you mostly suck at english), so no strange accent involved. They sound pretty melodical but tough at the same time. In that way they fit pretty good in what you could call the "Mediterranean Oi! mould" (that would be Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece, I actually now pretty much nothing about the scene in the ex-Yougoslavian countries, so I won't include them in). Think Decibellos, Zakkarak, to quote some of their great spanish ancesters, or Banda del Rione, Bull Brigade, Bootstroke to quote some recent southern european bands. Compared to the recent spanish bands that the most of you know (that would be Ultimo Asalto and Glory Boys I guess), they sound less "tough", less Oi!-core maybe, which is just perfect to me.

So the guys from Knockout offer us four songs on this fine Que Silbe La Guillotina (you could translate that by "let the guillotine swing" I guess) 7", 3 original songs ("Guillotina", "Golpes" and "Viejas Costumbres") and a cover (in spanish) of "Wasted Lives" ("Vidas Perdidas"), originally from the canadian band Emergency.

As often with the southern european Oi! bands, the lyrics are filled with social claims, stories of everyday's life and the problems that goes with it, class pride and all (those of you who have an interest in the spanish/italian scene know well that politics is a huge part of it there) - I actually talked about this (by taking the example of the italian scene during reviews about italian bands) in my previous webzine, Vengeance. It's in french only unfortunatly, but I will probably try to translate this in english here) The lyrics are rather well written, the rythmic part is pretty melodic and strong (especially the bass, well done here !), solos are nicely done and pretty efficient, and the singing is full of rage, but without falling into bad metal vocal, hopefully.

"Golpes", the best song on this strong 7"

I actually like every songs in that 7", but my favourite one is surely "Golpes". Extremly good energy in it, and great guitars and lyrics, my least favourite would be the Emergency cover (still a pretty good version, but it would have been really hard to do better than the original).

The whole thing comes with a nice artwork (like medieval etching of an execution, illustrating the title of the 7" pretty well) on the front and a band picture on the back. Lyrics are included, and even translated in english. Now that's a proper packaging work, the production here is really good ! Great work done by the labels !

250 copies of that record were printed (150 in red and 150 in clear white), but I was released not so long ago, so it shouldn't be too hard to find.

A great surprise then, that actually make me a little more friendly to the spanish Oi! scene. I will probably try to get to know more about the nowadays scene there, if everything is as good as KnockOut that's fine to me ! So you'll probably here a bit more about Spain here in the future.

Oh, and before I forget, the band actually released this 7" on the internet for free, so don't hesitate too download it here, listen to it and buy it if you like it !

Edit : the record is actually not so easy to buy, was I just told, try to order it direct from Crom Records (or at cromrecords@gmail.com), they still have some copies left. Support them and keep the scene alive !

Stamford Bridge - Soltsice Demo '95 (Hammersmith Records - 2013)

After the dark-medieval kind of Oi! of Battle Ruins, lets stay in the past, maybe even further. Today I will take you to the glorious year of 1066, and the Battle of Stamford Bridge, the turning point in history which marked the end of the Viking Age. If I'm doing all that historical bullshit right now, it's because we're going to talk about one of the side project of Carl from The Templars (the guy has definitely something with history), namely Stamford Bridge (named after the battle then, don't mix if with the stadium of Chelsea FC, please).

I was introduced to that band a few years ago with their split (don't know if I should say "their" here, it's a one-man band if I'm not wrong) with Karlskrona's On The Job. I remembered being told that these songs had some kind of a powerpop feeling going on (I actually can't tell this myself, I know pretty much nothing about powerpop). That's absolutely not the case of that demo made in 1995, but released only last year. It still sounds kind of light (lo-fi and distortionless guitars), but if you want my point of view (and if you're reading that you probably want it), but no more powerpop here, it sounds a lot more like the early recordings of Ultima Thule, but with the a more Templars-like sound to it all. It sounds kind of neofolk-ish in a way (yep, Death In June, Blood Axis, I don't know what's your opinion, but I love these bands). It's really melodical, even melancholical. But still, it's viking as fuck. Well, with a cover and song titles like these, what did you expected ?

Can you imagine a three-years-in-a-row winter ? I moved from France to Sweden last year, and damn I had the impression of living that...

There are 3 songs on that demo 7", namely "The Longships" (known, for some reason, as "drakkars" in the country I come from), "The Mighty Thunderer" (I can say without a doubt that this one is about Thor) and last but not least "Fimbul Winter" (the three winters in a row just before Ragnarök, the end of the world). So yes, pretty viking. If you don't like norse mythology, you're gonna be bored. Hopefuly, I like that kind of stuff, so the addition of great music + great lyrics is just perfect to me. I must say that I like these tracks much more than the one on the split with On The Job. This dirty sound (it's a demo from '95 boy, don't expect a perfect sounding stuff) just give more power to the whole thing, it makes the atmosphere the band is building much better (reading that sentence again, I'm not sure it's clear, but fuck it, that's the best way I can express what I'm feeling listening to that record). Best songs are definitely "The Longships" (great ending !) and "Fimbul Winter" (that's what I meant with the whole neofolk thing, it reminds me in a way of Sol Invictus' album "Against the Modern World", and I love that album). "The Great Thunderer" sounds maybe a bit to "cheesy" to me, but it's still a good song anyway, just not as good as the two others.

The artwork is, as I wrote before, linked to the topic of the songs : it's a viking warrior embrassing the sun (that goes pretty good with the "Solstice" title), with runes, axes and other viking traceries going on. Well done here. The only thing it misses is an insert with the lyrics. Not being myself an englih native-speaker, I have a hard time understanding all the lyrics (the sound quality is not helping as well, but that's for the greater good, as I developed before). 500 copies in a red vinyl, and I think it was released kind of late last year, so it shouldn't be too hard to find.

All in all, that's, to me, a great 7". If you like the Templars, viking stuffs and you're not affraid of slower-paced, lighter sounding music than you're usual Oi! bands, you can buy that record with your eyes closed. That's pretty much what I did and I'm pretty happy with it !