Holland has a great tradition in street punk/OI bands and Bent ouf of Shape just released their new debut full length. What do we have here? There are 10 songs plus two bonus tracks on my copy and the music is just the way I love it. These guys play street punk/OI with some hardcore and street core influences but remaining more into street punk side of things than fast hardcore, meaning more songs in punk rock tempo being harsh yet melodic anthems. Lyrics are great, I can totally relate to my personal favorite Places to Go, there are some football oriented themes like Never Went Away, but also humor in Ozzy was a Skinhead hehe. Vocals are harsh, strong but totally fit to songs and you can understand what is being sung about and the singer can pull a melodic one but also hardcore shouting, so this is another plus for this great band. One other song I must absolutely mention is Good Old Memories with anthemic melody, fantastic lyrics and it gave me goosebumps on my skin and tears of pride in my eyes for last thirty years I am in this scene. Great album, have a listen.
Croatian hardcore scene is alive and well with so many excellent bands delivering their music. Shin are no strangers to the pages of this zine, this Zagreb based hardcore punk band was already featured in Kraykulla. This time, Shin graced us with their new record containing 8 songs. What to say? The band continue with their vision of melodic hardcore but I can say that the band never sounded more tighter and songwriting on this one is just fantastic. Fast and energetic melodic hardcore punk with superb interplay between singer Tea’s screamed vocals and more melodic singalong backing vocals. I must also say something about lyrics. The songs are in English language and lyrics of this band have always been great, smart written and mixture of personal battles and global battles on the big picture of things. This is probably best hardcore release of Croatian scene in 2022 and I heartily recommend this one. I also advice you to see one of their shows because they will blow you away live. My personal favorites: Set Sail, Hell Is Not That Cold, Days Years Decades.
Ten Foot Pole are legends from the nineties and all those Epitaph and Fat nineties melodic punk bands that ruled the Earth when I was a kid growing up and which I still love and listen to and sing along to their lyrics and songs.
Thanks to Dennis Jagard, frontman and mastermind, this band still exists and has released two great studio albums in last couple of years. This new one contains 13 superb alive and kicking songs, just made for listening to all over and over again. What I love is upon first listening that this album is better than the last studio effort with fine mixture of up tempo and really fast skate punk songs, but somehow there is behind that energy also a melancholic feeling that continues to connect all the songs. Lyrics are personal and great vocal lines besides fine songwriting is what makes this album a superb punk rock listening must and one of the greater albums of this year that have come out. Special mention must be made of Dennis’ vocals which are gentle and sweet, but they fit so nice to the songs. I love the opener Can We Stop Trying To Win? bein an instant classic and I am sure it will fit nice into the live set list. Some songs like Bogeyman or I’m No Good At Sharing reminded me a lot of Swedish nineties school of melodic punk and Millencolin especially. One other mention must be made of great drumming which is like a human metronome. My personal favorites are more faster songs like Take Back Your Voice but the album as a whole is a worth listening. This band is one of the rare nineties skate punk legends that still play and I didn’t catch them play live somewhere yet, hope it will change in next festival season somewhere. Until then, check this one out.
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