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 !