Today I’m bringing you a trio of EP’s from three bands that only released one record a piece. I suppose there are various reasons for their respective lack of output. But despite the bands’ limited discographies, each of these short records dish out an absolute sonic beat down. Real Oi! is alive and kickin’! Let’s get this party started.
Condemned to Combat is an Oi! blog, so don’t expect anything new from it. That being said here’s the EP It’s Nothing New, by Colorado Oi! band Justice Blocc. While they do not, in fact, deliver anything new, they do indeed drop three tracks of stone cold Oi! The A-side features a couple of tunes about aggro, drinking, violence, and standing tall skinhead style.
We’re outta control / And ready to brawl / We’re liable to cut you / In the bathroom stall!
These tracks hit like well-placed body blows. The music is solid, slower punk type American Oi! with raspy, pissed-off vocals. On the B-side is the single track Time which is rightfully isolated to it’s own side of the record because it’s a stand-alone song. Without straying from the brickwall credibility they established on the A-side, Justice Blocc proceeds to lay down a heartfelt ballad that catches you off guard like a high boot to the solar plexus. A father-to-son message – it’s honest, it’s emotional, but it still has brass balls. Not an easy feat to pull off for an unabashed Oi! band. I’m not sure if this was more of a project band, or if they only had the three songs in ’em. Either way I say Justice Blocc did what they came to do, and put one short and sweet slab of wax into the Oi! archives.
American Standard, from the Keystone State’s On Trial, is up next with another EP. Some RAC for the USA. A note on consistency: While these boys have been playing and recording for over a decade now, all their other records were self-released. And I’m not counting tracks on compilations, so this record still fits the theme of this post. On Trial has officially released three full lengths in digital format, but I have so far been unable to find any of those. Much to my chagrin. And why the four songs featured here are the only ones that anybody saw fit to press to vinyl is beyond my comprehension. On Trial fucking stomps! They keep it bass heavy, they keep it mean and ugly, and they keep it classic Oi! Nationalist and Drop the Bomb on the A-side let you know right up front what these guys are all about. Tough stuff.
We are right / you are wrong / Fight to keep our nation strong
On the B-side you get Traitor and We Own Tonight, a pair of tunes with time honored themes in American skinhead music. On this one record On Trial demonstrates they deserve a spot in the Oi! pantheon. They’re grasp of the genre is on point, and they bang out a sprawling bridge with a martial drum beat and walking-out bass line like the titans of old. Alas, like so much in this maligned musical niche, they are doomed to obscurity by being unrepentant of their skinhead ways. But I don’t expect you’ll hear any complaints from these fellas. Grind this record in your blender and chew it up. It’s Oi! superfood.
This somewhat bizarre, but definitely gnarly, conver art graces the front of the S/T EP by the somewhat mysterious band Hard Pressed. Alternately known as the On the Streets EP after the opening track. There’s also something somewhat hardcore about this record. Whether it’s the aesthetic, the music, or the band members’ stints in other outfits, I can’t quite say. Nonetheless, this one-off record by the trio is assertively Oi! With two tracks to each side they give us punky, energetic, angry music. Riling you up with charged riffage, spitting venom at politicans, pummeling you with the mid-tempo rythm section, and lashing out in disillusion at the meaningless work-a-day world. I don’t know where they came from or where they went. But Hard Pressed bequeathed this musical treasure to the boot boys of tomorrow. Mind your manners and say thank you.
UPDATE: 2/16/2020 – LINK REPAIRED!
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