| 2015: PAGE 1 |
| ANTIBODIES 'Happy New Year Zero' CD July 2015 (advanced copy) Fuck me, it's been nearly a decade since I last heard anything by the Antibodies. They were one of my fave modern UK punk bands from Harlow city limits during the late 90's - 2000's. So it was a welcome surprise to hear the concrete rockers are still breeding in one shape or form, and have a brand new studio album of urban hymns for the disaffected. Bass players seem to come and go in this outfit more so than premiership managers, but for this session Matt Compton is in the hot seat. The ever present Pete Doff's rancid vocals and brutally honest lyrical reflections of real life are still in place and make such a great accompaniment to his stabbing guitar attack. His partner in crime during this 15 tracker is still Warlock on those big heavy metal drums which are the ever present nucleus of this band and added backing vocal attack. Gotta say on first impressions I think its their best work to date, they've learned a lot from experience. The sound they have is punk rock just how we like it, with clever twists 'n' turns to keep our interest throughout. Although at times the usually proficient Mr Warlock's drumming does provide some irregular beats which knocks a couple of the tracks outta sync with my personal audio rhythm pattern. However on most he's as powerful and bombastic as ever. It's so refreshing to hear a punk band who sound like fuck all else peddling their wares in 2015. Not one Americanism in sight, or one pop punk harmony to be behold, or even a screamathon to hide behind no talent. What you do get is rabid, snarly, gritty and totally over the top sarc in the delivery, as the Antibodies universe falls apart all around as its blown up in our face by joy riding car bombers, and if that wasn't enough its kicked in the guts by shit house politicians! Standout tracks for me were the black humoured 'Drive My Car Bomb' with its infectious pounding drums and power chords. The addictive 'Last Train To Jonestown', which offers us a safe place mantra that we're "dying to live in". 'Madman' has one of those hypnotic riffs but the drumming lets this number down with too many fills, before giving us the illuminating punch line of "fuck knows?". The Antibodies have that old British resolve of this is what life offers us , but we sure ain't gotta like it! I do particularly like 'Degenerate Heart' about the unrequited love of some twisted "two and eight", which is fucking hilarious. This band can take the piss big time and have a wicked sense of humour amongst the desperate debris they continuously crawl through. Some of the tracks sound like re-working's of older numbers, but i could be wrong? Whatever the case I much prefer these versions as the production and power is spot on. 'Insult To Injury' is another fucking brilliant observation of the 'claim culture' and works really well. Stage fave's like 'Concrete Cancer' gets another airing as we hear the soundtrack of the demise of Harlow their stomping ground. And of course 'I Ruin Everything' is always gonna be the top of my shitlist, coz all that "negativity is our positivity". A newbie 'Shackled To A Corpse' is another corker of relationships gone wrong before ending with two covers and both are good for different reasons 'You Can't Fool Me Again' is an old Peter Tosh number but you would be hard pressed to recognise it apart from the anti authoritarian sentiment. And finally an obscure cover thrown in which is actually from Pete's early 80's punk outfit Obscene Toys and its called 'Tampax' which he wrote when he was only 15. The apocalyptic artwork by Mr Doff is always worth a butchers and reminiscent of Crass but in vivid colour and fits in neatly with this bands snotty ideology. WORTH A LISTEN! ANTIBODIES |
