This is Condemned to Combat, back and stronger than before. After a great public outcry and the clamoring of the shaven headed legions, I have returned to dish out more of the world’s worst music. Up first is the last full length record (I think) by Concrete Elite from Texas (I think). These guys first came around during that last wave of Oi! that saw so many other up and coming bands fade away without a trace. But they managed to survive and now they’re stronger than before, and on Iron Rose, it shows.
Released in 2017, the album opens with the song Stronger Than Ever Before, and you will be too after this album pummels your earholes. The rest of the album proceeds to expand on that same concept using a hardcore vibe (minus the erratic tempos) plus a gritty intensity applied to streetwise newschool Oi! This band was originally called simply Concrete before later changing it to Concrete Elite, so bear that in mind if you dig into their earlier discography. Songs like the opener, She’s a Hammer and Last of the Gang to Die all kick me in a certain part of the brain that reminds of classic RAC tracks. Not to mention that cover art – fuck yeah! I know I’m just making connections that aren’t really there. Or am I… Anyway, if you wanna get tougher, surmount the odds, destroy all obstacles, and be stronger than ever before, give this one a spin.
And now I’m gonna dig deep and take you back to 1986. Here’s the debut album from RAC icons Brutal Attack, Stronger Than Before. This record kicks off with – that’s right, you guessed it – Stronger Than Before! And features other stand-out tracks like We Only Came to Dance, Let It Burn, and The Return of St. George, among others.
The band and the album have no problem speaking for themselves, so I won’t go on about this one too much. But I will say something on the genre in general: I’ve heard Oi! and RAC described both as forms of folk music and as a style which mainly serves as a vehicle for the delivery of the vocals and lyrics. I think both are accurate. And while there are countless straight Oi! tunes that knock the wind out of me with their message, one thing I’ve always appreciated about RAC is its no-bullshit lyrics which make it crystal clear what the bands believe and what they stand for. Yeah, plenty of people find those messages totally heinous, but at least the RAC bands have got the balls to lay it all on the line. You’ve gotta respect that. And one thing that gets really annoying after listening to enough skinhead music is someone prattling on about “beat em down” and “smash the scum” without ever saying just who the hell they’re mad at. Brutal Attack does a great job of illustrating this principle on Stronger Than Before by being straight up and in your face, skinhead style. And they’re certainly one of the bands responsible for setting that standard.
I’m gonna close out this post with a note on this blog itself. I know I went an entire month without making a post which is pretty weak in the blogosphere. But I offer the following sorry excuses: First, I worked like 27 days out of the month of September. Second, my brilliant pontificating and connecting of dots through the glorious history of skinhead music is really the time consuming aspect of this venture. So to make up for the more widely dispersed discourses in Oi! genius, I’m gonna start throwing up random posts of just music in between. So suck on that.
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stronger than B4 is better than anything brutal attack did after. Although the song rock against communism on the 2nd l.p is the best song they ever did!
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