Offering up three short bruising shocks to the system, Violent Society is the new EP from UK quartet Felons; an encounter providing all the reasons why punk rock still gets our juices going like no other genre.
Southend based Felons have a sound which scowls like a mix of Crass, Angelic Upstarts, and The Varukers. It is old school hardcore punk bred but anything other than a dated trespass on ears and enterprise. Already this year the foursome of vocalist Jay, guitarist Josh, Bassist Lew, and drummer Pike have uncaged their debut EP, Creeps; an encounter receiving strong support and plaudits. Violent Society springs another threesome of attitude driven trespasses which will surely follow suit in success and in taking Felons to a broader and eager landscape of attention.
Who’s In Debt To Who? opens up the Dan Bazan recorded and produced EP, the track following its initial welcoming hook with a furious holler of middle finger raised defiance and observation as imposingly infectious as it is unapologetically irritable. Whipping the imagination back to the late seventies/early eighties whilst stirring up its own modern individuality, the track effortlessly incited inner dissent whilst stirring an ever eager punk appetite with its irreverent exploits.
The following Pacing offers up a mere 47 seconds of sonic subversion but a fleeting time as untamed as it is instinctively manipulative and all infernal goodness. The dual vocal attack inflames an already organic dissonance, a combination spewing fractious incitement within an unbridled tetchy attack which needed little time, which is lucky considering the length of the trespass, to ignite ears and appetite.
The release closes with its title track; Violent Society slowly, in comparison to its predecessor, enticing ears with a bass grumble as the guitar flirts from time to time before breaking into a deliciously nagging stroll with a Disorder-esque glare to its choleric breath. In no time it announced itself as the best of three irresistible infestations of sound and attitude, reinforcing its claim by the second
Violent Society is our introduction to Felons and, with hindsight and a just as enriching meeting with its predecessor to support its declaration, installs its creators as another of punk’s new exciting perpetrators giving reason as to why the genre can still incite and arouse like it did way back.
Violent Society is available now @ https://felonspunx.bandcamp.com/releases as a name your price digital release and on CD.
https://www.facebook.com/felonsband
Pete RingMaster 14/11/2018
Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright
The band embraces more hard rock like hues for next up Johnny Demented, its raw sonic haze magnetically tempered by Coulson’s angelic tones. The song did not quite raise the roof as its predecessors in appetite and the passions here yet from start to finish it is a full captivation raising the ante as its holler and breath erupt across its eventful body.
The following Two Sides (of Hope) has a just as catchy lilt and swing to its tenacious swing shaped by a more intensive attitude. There is a defiant edge to every twist and turn, a rousing wind fuelling its incitement as the track swiftly got under the skin; a success more than matched by the contagious antics of Let Me See Now. Another which has a sense of an old friend returning with a new identity and intent, the song quickly had hips and feet doing its bidding as melodic and imaginative endeavour nurtured its brief but highly manipulative exploits.
Recorded by Franz Schedlbauer at No Moss Studio and across its quartet of songs lyrically inspired and linked by the emotions and desire leading to Rose’s resettlement in German from England a couple of years ago, the EP swiftly reveals bolder imagination in sound and enterprise through opener Gambler. From an initial bike throated rumble, the band’s new single swaggers in with a hungry groove and rapaciously swinging beats. That grooving continues to bait as things evolve, getting under the skin as Rose’s distinctive tones bring their equally compelling invitation to the hook loaded rock ‘n’ roll incitement. Also spilling a horror punk scent over its punk ‘n’ roll instincts, the track provides a web of old school nurtured but intrusively fresh confrontation while increasingly building on its creative hand.
Something akin to 999 meets The Vapors, Hurtin’ Boys provides another major highlight in nothing but across the album; its jagged stroll swift and a constant incitement on body and spirit before new single Suckin’ In Your 20’s entangles raw seventies power pop with modern day indie dissonance to similarly manipulate hips and throat.
The EP opens up with Right To Life, a shimmer of guitar caressing the immediately striking presence and voice of Millie as the song rises slowly but purposively to its feet. Its sepia jazz kissed sound is alluring enough, Lewis Slater’s guitar winding up the temptation, but it is just a smouldering kiss before the boisterous carnival of its stomp to come. A flick of its hips and the spontaneous burst of dancing flames from the trumpet of George Alan and the tenor sax of Dom Walker spring the track into contagious urgency; ska punk instincts entangling its more spiky rock endeavour as the track bounds along like a mix of Sonic Boom Six, No Doubt, and The Selector. Yet even with those easy to offer references, song and sound swiftly proves its own uniqueness with Millie herself vocally as individual as they come but with a great whiff of Brody Dalle in league with Imelda May and Pauline Black.
The following Lawyers For You stomps around like a fusion of The Adicts and Dirt Box Disco, laying down gentle teasing lures which rise up into irritable charges, moments which will undoubtedly echo every time you see those infernal TV ads. As with most tracks, the song’s title tells you all you need to know about the focus of attention, Disabled Parking another delicious example. Again hooks and grooves become a fresh addiction as rhythms get the body up to misdeeds, Al Sation a magnetic roar poking at the relevant targets. All that is needed is someone to invent a way to have this blaring out every time someone encroaches on spaces they are not eligible for.