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 !