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 !
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