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 !

Battle Ruins - S/T 7" (Rock'n'Roll Disgrace - 2010)

Well it's been a while since I published something for the last time, but not much new records coming didn't really help. Now this one was out a few years ago, but it was only recently that I finaly got it (kind of hard to find, but fuck, it definitely worth the time spent looking for it), and as you know I try to review only records that I own.
So here we have USA's Battle Ruins, a project involving members of various HxC/Oi! bands (Rival Mob, Mind Eraser, Lovely Lads, to quote a few), playing what they call skinhead rock'n'roll, which to me sounds like a mix of Oi!/metal/hard rock. Now I must say that I'm usualy not a fan of metal stuffs in Oi!, far from that, but damn, that whole record sounds just perfect ! The whole thing is dark, glaucous, violent, that's pretty much Middle Ages made music ! And the title of the songs just reinforce that feeling, like "Blood Eagle" (a form of viking torture, if I'm correct), "Heart of Fire and Stone" (a song that has a pretty Black Sabbath feeling going on, in my opinion). Awesome bass in every songs, powerful drums, choruses going up (that's probably the best thing in these songs, i just love it), it just goes straight to your face, striking you like an axe in the chest. As a matter of fact (and as the guy behind US of Oi! of Sweden rightly pointed in his own review of the 7") there's a pretty 90's UK RAC feeling all along the record, obviously by the way it sounds and absolutely not due to the lyrics. In the end, even if these guys are from the US, they might just have done an anglo-saxon version of Sweden's Viking Rock (which would definitely be another influence to that band, reguarding the "epic" side of it all, I think, for example, about the song "Ensamt Öga" or "Ragnarök" by Ultima Thule), which would be, once again, Medieval Rock. I want more of that.

"Blood Eagle", the best song on that EP, in my opinion

The best songs, in my opinion, are "Blood Eagle" (great solo in the end, and awesome break between the verse and chorus, that's just brutal) and "Warpaths Ahead". It just make you want to pillage and plunder the place you're actually in.
So that was released in 2010, 500 copies made but long sold out, hard to find. If you have the occasion to get it, don't hesitate, that's a pure masterpiece.
From what I've read, those guys are about to release a full LP soon, that can only be  good news. Here's a preview of that upcoming album, to me it sounds just as awesome as the rest of their work. Really looking forward to it, and you should too !

"Regain and Conquer" from their upcoming LP