| 2016: PAGE 1 |
| STEVE IGNORANT WITH PARANOID VISIONS 'Now And Then...!' Over152CD CD October 2016 Last time I heard anything by Dublin's Paranoid Visions was 2011's 'Outsider Artist' 45, which boasted guest vocalist TV Smith. This time around its gone one better with Steve Ignorant of Crass infamy, doing the honours on this 10 track album, out on Overground Records. On paper it sounds an exciting prospect (having not been familiar with their previous 2013 collaboration "When...?"). Straight away the presentation is good. I love the artistic pallet of the sleeve design and a whole batch of lyrics are included to guide us through, and don't we need em! What I do know is Paranoid Visions never make it easy for us to get in or around their dynamic, but often confusing sound. Before I slot in the CD, I'm left wondering if Steve Ignorant's vocals could be as cutting as in his Crass hey day? Will Deko Dachau be as anti Pistols as ever? Or will Aoife Destruction (come back Sarah Bellum) nick all the glory as per usual? The sinister 'Look Mummy Clowns' kicks things off and is not a tribute to that old anarcho punk outfit, but does give us Mr Dachau's level best Nick Cave impersonation on this brooding opener. Paranoid Visions these days do the slower more menacing numbers best. And even when Mr Ignorant contributes with some heartfelt tones, he manages to nick all the best lines, while Aoife adds that neat simmering heat. 'Loudmouth' ups the anti and aggression, as violent thugs on the street gets a seeing to. Love the lyric "I'm the type of fucker who will whack you in the mouth" which is barked out to good effect. It's also funny, coz its real. Call me thuggish if you like, but its full on tracks like this that have a bigger effect, and I suspect is more of what the buying public and die hard fans will want from the Visions. Deko Dachau's lyrics are akin to some 21st century James Joyce of the Dublin punk scene, and certainly a major influence on Paranoid Visions songs. He writes the fuckin' lot, even the ones he don't quite deliver as good as he probably should. The haunting 'Strange Girl' is their most radio friendly number, with Aoife Destruction, the bands best vocalist giving us her bewitching croon, before it kicks in with a triple by-pass of Deko rants and Ignorant chants. Which are more of a hindrance than an enhancement. I think this track would've benefitted more if the male vocals lost those annoying effects in the mix at least. Musically its verging on... dare I say it indie rock! 'Something More' is a PV oldie resurrected from '84, as you can tell by its anti bomb lyrics, which sound pretty dated now terrorism is the new threat, but is where Deko's snotty delivery works best. Religion from an Irish punk band and ex Crass member is always a must hear subject matter. On 'Fan The Flames' we bare their guilt, we feel their anger while the nymph like Aoife steels the limelight and Deko mumbles on in purgatory as the priest fiddles. 'Where Is love?' signals Steve ignorants first full foray and is an updated version from the Stratford Mercenaries track, which sounds good as Stevie boy opens up his heart and shows us his tender loving side. I'd like to hear the original to compare, but its a good one to start with. 'Bleaktown Revisited' features the full three vocalists who thankfully this time merge well together, as we revel in the bleakness of nowhere places which we all come from, well most of us do. However with Paranoid Visions based in Dublin, it beggars the question, would any of these fuckers know fun if it hit em in the eye? Surely there must be room for one track on this album that could've been slightly humorous, even in a ultra dark way? Because all this arty intensity is great fun when your young and lean, but quickly becomes pretentious and a little sad when it's performed by the jaded looking individuals in the centre spread. Meanwhile 'Art And Craft' sounds fantastic! Musically it's just like a movie score from a Paramount Pictures production. I suspect it's also a superior version to the Swartzeneggar original? However Mr Ignorants vocals don't quite ram it home. It has to be said his delivery these days ain't a patch on the nasty, powerful performance he can and should've mustered from previous recordings. You get the feeling he's had a minimal rehearsal, then just gone in the studio and dropped the vocals. Or even more scarier, he truly has lost the anger and the hunger? However, I do like the lyrics as he puts us right in the picture concerning the scary Masonary corruption in the higher echelons of society. 'No More Running' is a lot more like it from the Stratford Mercenaries era. The lyrics are throwaway but the overall vibe is what we really needed on this album...a more upbeat number to pogo our brains out to. They end things with another mammoth FOAD production number called...shock horror 'War'! Which is a Paranoid Visions reworking from 1988. It often makes me wander how many more songs about 'War' can we hear with integrity? But to be fair, they quickly steer us clear from the nuclear blast, to war on the streets, as the Babylon feel the lash of the Visions cosh. And if that ain't enough, we get some neat skanking and a good guitar sound, before being injured by some over the top heavy metal solo's. The combined trio of vocals really do work well, and even chuck in a bit of 'Banned from the Roxy' just to really confuse us. On the whole 'Now And Then...!' boasts a great production, with good ideas, but we are left a little disappointed overall as this could've been so much better. The album is released in a limited edition of 700 purple vinyl pressings with CD. WORTH A LISTEN! OVERGROUND RECORDS |
| BLACK DONNELLYS 'Orchestrate A Disaster' 5 track CD EP February 2016 Canada's best kept secret, if your looking for punk rock with suss, power and delivery. You really do have to check this mob out (who I'm ashamed to say id never heard of previously?). This 5 tracker exhumed from 2005 should definitely be your next port of call. The Black Donnellys (not the gruesome local family of legend) but an equally decrepit band of punks out of London, Ontario are sadly no more, they split shortly after these recordings were put to tape. But a reunion is not ruled out if the enigmatic singer Dan don't orchestrate another disaster. Guitarist Al Hate and now producer seems like he would love an opportunity to put this right, but the hard to deal with Mr Rudball is another matter. For a sound check imagine what the Offspring would sound like if they hadn't any Californian sun and/or exuberant LA lifestyle, because the Black Donnellys sound like the real street deal! This unlucky crew are dirtier, grittier and way more realistic. London Ontario certainly ain't no LA and we wouldn't want it any other way.Their surroundings are like a mini London with its own river Thames, and like the original London punk scene they sound like they have a lot of pent up frustration and fuzz guitars are our introduction to the 5 tracker via 'Dead And Bleeding' before Al Hates guitars histrionics kicks in on this song about a love sick kid'. 'Bugs And Twigs' could've come right off 'Smash'. I can't see the Rotten comparisons in Dans delivery sound wise that were bandied about in the promo's, but attitude wise its definitely there in this tale of finding a dead body in the woods. The pivotal track 'Lucky Man' is a really strong contender for a wider mainstream audience than the scummy punks who frequent this site. Especially with its catchy chorus and the great way they incorporate different aspects on guitars. Mr Rudballs vocals and potent delivery really draws you in on this track. The dark lyrics convey a very unlucky demise but the sound they create doing it is infectious as hell. 'Away' keeps up the insanity to escape "this skin I'm in, the sin I'm in". Mr Rubball is an angry almost disturbed man, but we wouldn't' want it any other way.They end with another anthem 'The Great White Way' which is probably my fave track of the bunch, slightly slower but a lot more sinister with a great dropout on this identity crisis song. It all comes with a big juggernaut of a production and needs your attention fast! WORLD CONTENDER! BLACK DONNELLYS |
| SOCKS FOR COCKS 'Fast Fun Punk' (self released) CD April 2016 Socks For Cocks is not the best name in the world to call your band, but don't be put off too much. This trio started out in 2013 and are pretty well known in the Russian underground. They are the Rusky (Podolsk to be precise) hybrid of the Toy Dolls. If Podolsk was Sunderland these would be the bastard offspring of the original inspiration its that much of a close call. 'Fast Fun Punk' is their 2nd album and features on some of the tracks renowned showbiz guests like Qualcast Mutilator of Lawnmower Deth (UK) fame and Staffi from Rumble Militia (Germany). Both of whom I'm not at all familiar with, but who cares, coz luckily for us it's all sung in English and not Russian. And most of this crazy endeavour is all the brainchild by a mad bespectacled yank called Dimitri Rotten, who is the loving father of 6 children! So how the fuck he manages to conjure up so much energy with the vocals and guitar playing is anyone's guess? He even manages the band fer fux sake! Socks For Cocks ain't a tribute but come scarily close, with zany songs and an even zanier guitar sound which is a carbon copy of the originals they ever so lovingly emulate. But these fuckers possess even more manic energy dare I say it. The silly song matter moves down a level with 'My Hair Is Longer Than Thine'. But with two albums written and recorded under their stripy socks they continue to gig like madmen across the Siberian expanse. There are currently more than 1300 fans on their CIS social media page so they're doing something right. It's one of punks craziest ideas and something you'd imagine coming outta Japan maybe, but Russia lol. The strange thing is it actually works despite no sign of the usual negative missing Russian sense of humour. The guitar is a combination of a theatrical heavy metal wizardry in a previous life, but is totally brought back down to earth by the blitzin speed and zany punk riffage. On tracks like 'Surgeons Bride Loved Goregrind' you even get a deranged Rudimentary Peni vibe slinking into the proceedings with the muddy vocals and blood curdling lyrics. 'A Troll From Tirol' is another standout with features some hilarious yodelling. The lyrics are funny too, even the ones written in semi broken English. Dima Rotten the lead singer is an American throwback which makes this whole escapade even more unique especially with his numerous personality disorders he displays throughout his whole singing technique, it just has to be heard to be believed. The title track actually has some bass high up in the mix for the first time on this album, but its yet another fast instrumental with the emphasis on mental. The brilliant 'Tenor Terror' track is probably my favourite of the bunch, which combines a punky tenor activity on a grandiose scale along with a suitably brutal gruff chorus of..."He is an opera sucker, sings like a motherfucker..." 'Fast Fun Punk' takes the whole genre of 'punk pathetique' to a whole new frenzied level and makes a marked contrast from the run of the mill street punk, Oi! and Ska punk genres that are usually peddling their wares throughout the punk scene! WORTH A LISTEN! SOCKS FOR COCKS |
| FULL STRIKE 'Where Does The Wind Come From?' (Profan) CDEP March 2016 Indonesian hardcore band Full Strike are new to me, they formed in Lamongan, Indonesia in 2012. So its always exciting to hear punk from different parts of the globe and unexpected sources. They have released this their debut EP entitled 'Where Does The Wind Come From? via Profan Records, which comes in a Digipack CD. It looks like Indonesian punk is just filtering through to poxy webzines like this. The artwork looks very distinctive and middle eastern which makes a neat change from the usual hardcore imagery. Immediately you suss out these kids have a great powerful sound with crunchy guitars that I can't get enough of. And that along with some clever song structures and ultra catchy riffs are displayed to full effect on the opening instrumental track 'Intro'. Track 2 'Under Pressure' continues the addictive mid paced hardcore with even more big beefy chunks of guitar, but the vocals by O'ok seem pretty muffled and don't match the musical prowess of the band. If you read the lyrics they sound nothing like what is being sung? Maybe its lost in translation? But his singing and overall presence seems very one dimensional and quite flat on these recordings, compared with the juicy big riffs and confident song structures. O'ok needs way more of the fire and passion that his band mates generate. And if they're not careful it will inevitably start to let the music down. 'For The Hopeless People' has a neat dropout with ultra grinding guitars ripping through our speakers. Track 4 'Determinasi Bernayali' is even better, and maybe coz its sung in the local tongue and boasts a gang vocal which really adds to the tension. The riff builds up and explodes with some powerful drumming towards the end of the track. I liked the sinister slow grindy riffs on 'Golden Youth' best, but the vocalist again really does need to up his ante to compete with the top notch music which begs a more powerful rhythmic expression that could put this band on the international hardcore map. The live pics of the band in action look exciting, sweat drenched affairs and as they say themselves..."Their music comes from the heart, and nothing you can say or do will tear it apart!” So what the fuck do i know? WORTH A LISTEN! for the music, but could've offered so much more with a better vocal delivery! FULL STRIKE |
| RASMAN 'Stub' (Self released) January 2016 Italian punk here from Rasman. Not sure what it means? But what I do know is they let rip some neat grinding riffage, with emphasis on grind being the order of the day. Rasman from Rimini formed in 2014 by lead guitarist and singer Ale Tanda, bassist Emi Rossi and drummer Ricky Cama. They admit to starting from a purely punk angle, then later developing a much more noisy sound. In the mean time a new drummer Sanji Bon jumped on board. They have clear Nirvana influences, especially on this release with that defining grunge vibe, especially with the cryptic song titles and the whole downbeat scheme of things. There's not a solo in sight till maybe track 3, 'Get Married With The Sun'. Their sound is not something you could imagine coming out a city in the sun on the Adriatic coast. However they do have an ability to sound very similar and often quite as depressing as their Aberdeen anti heroes. But its 2018 now and Nirvana are not as copied or as influential as they were once upon a time or so we thought? It's not a carbon copy or as trite as all those obvious Cobain copyists who crawled out from under the floorboards during early 90's coz Ale's voice is a lot more mellow in comparison which is probably good. But it's definitely missing a Kurt like aggression and its certainly lacking the expansive edge to create something more anthem like. Which is a shame as Rasman don't seem to have that expansion to develop more ideas on this release. They stay true to their mid paced power chords which are great but that continuous grind screams for something a little more interesting to set alight the bleakness. Rasman's chunky guitar sound is ably assisted with some neat drumming and the inevitable low supportive bass mix. Standout track 'Punishment Before The Crime' is a little more intense and played at a higher gear than the rest of the album, complete with seagulls. Loved the intro to 'Bathfoam' too, and enjoyed the title track 'Stub' which was a 1.03 min instrumental. But I think Rasman need way more angst to compliment the compact sound scape they inhabit, which would make us wanna sit through a whole albums worth. With hindsight an EP would have been a better debut at this time in their career coz an 11 track album leaves you expecting and wanting more before it inevitably starts to sound samey. The band reckon this was released in June 2017 but on bandcamp it has Jan 8th 2016 date so not sure how old it is but it feels like an AVERAGE! release to these ears. BANDCAMP RASMAN |