Photo Credit: Jake Alldread
You’re at that bit in the slasher movie when the naïve teenager is racing away from the killer. The lights are strobing, your heart is in your mouth and you’re as tense as the soon-to-be doomed protagonist. That feeling you were feeling right then is the Vicious introduction to the new EP from Strange Bones, Blitz Pt.1.
The opener is Vicious both in name and in nature. This track is absolutely feral. Immediately it’s demanded you know that though this is the same badass Blackpool foursome that brought you We The Rats back in 2018, they’ve kicked thing’s up a notch…and that was a pretty intense EP as it was. This elevated sense of undiluted rage is to be expected though; Thomas Mitchener (formerly of Frank Carter and The Rattlesnakes fame) mixed this bad boy.
The quick-paced Give Me The Sun is in your face punk rock that has a really attractive indie-rock hook. The track is short and sweet and is absolutely born for radio rock shows. There’s familiarity in the punk rock chords of this track and the EP’s closer, 24 Calibre, but Bobby Bentham’s harsh vocals pull the music out of the mundane. What’s more the combination drags the EP, as a whole, kicking and screaming out of the realms of ‘just another record’. There’s something special here and it’s really no surprise that Strange Bones are now being mentioned by the likes of Daniel P Carter and BBC Introducing.
If you don’t mind being taken to dictionary corner for a hot sec: the word Blitz, German for lightning, in English is often closely associated with Blitzkreig – lightning war – a type of warfare that focuses on the annihilation of just everything. This is exactly what this EP is, a lightening war, an absolute assault on the senses. But if this is a war on the listener, then you might end up finding yourself a sadist, because Pt. 2 can’t come soon enough!
8/10
Standout Tracks: Vicious, Give Me The Sun
For Fans Of: Frank Carter and The Rattlesnakes, Retro Video Club, Black Flag
Written by: Michael Roberts
