Vicious Mistress Records – “Boot And Rally OI! OI! OI! Vol. 2”
This month is the eighth year TNB has existed.
And this is the eighth compilation we’ve reviewed by Vicious Mistress Records, a small record company from Connecticut, that does have bands from all over the country and sometimes all over the world. But because they are based in New England and that they mainly, review some of the best music we love and cover- punk, hardcore and Oi- we love to review them.
And that’s because it’s always high quality stuff. And besides, they’ve done releases of the best band out of Connecticut since we’ve existed- Damn Broads!
So, enough chitter, chatter, chitter, chatter about smut and smut and smut- as Mick Jagger might say. Let’s check out these Oi-ing sounds:
Reckless Upstarts “Call To Arms,” is an energy pulsed, rock’n’roll rush with growling vocals that lead into a nice, melodic chorus. The middle part slows down, drastically, with ringing guitar chords. Then we race back into the ecstatic energy of the beginning. A rousing, full of fun, great Oi song.
“I feel there’s a storm coming in.” No need to fret as it’s merely Rough Cuts and their song “New Breed,” which has an over abundance of energy and shouts of “Oi! Oi! Oi!” And wallops us with rockin’ beats and perfectly poised, power and passion.
Brix’N Mortar is an Oi/hardcore band from Massachusetts that features Troy, from the great, now defunct band Razors In The Night. Their song “Fresh Cut” moves along in a moderate pace but is intense, powerful, hard hitting and melodic, as well. And it kicks ass in an anthemic, rock’n’roll way.
Starting with a driving bass line, “You Better Shoot,” by Priorities is soon met with a terrific, Buzzcock like guitar lick. This song is an evenly paced, anthemic, Clash-like tune with tremendously, thoughtful lyrics. “Give it all you got, don’t be afraid to make mistakes.” No mistake that this tune succeeds on all levels.
Time For Choosing’s “Clean State,” spins out like a sixties, classic garage song with hardcore/Oi vocals spouted above. An echo-ey, melodic guitar lick is answered by guttural, gutsy vocals. “We’re taking our cities back.” This song is about heroin addiction and thwarting the rise of it. And besides being a noble cause- it’s also, a great tune.
The Dusters “Marginalize Me,” starts out with a funky intro but soon we’re into a hardcore romp with some psychedelic guitar licks shooting out at us. This song rocks much like as if The Dictators were an Oi band.
Radio Hate’s “Riot Act,” leads off with what sounds like an early English punk band’s song intro with it’s nice, chiming guitar lick. And as the chorus comes colliding in we’re thrust into pure Clash/SLF territory, for sure. This is my favorite song on this release because I feel it could stand along with songs by those legendary bands I just related. And the energy level goes through the roof at the end making it the perfect, traditional punk song for me.
With propulsive drums and a cool, ringing guitar lick- No Man Lands, “True To Myself,” blasts out like a musical rocket headed towards your ear’s nirvana. The rhythm guitar on this song is so blisteringly, great- you wouldn’t need all the other wonderful elements here to put this energetic tune over the top into greatness. Second best on this release.
I don’t really believe there’s anything such as a vicious mistress. Sure, I believe there’s women who work as dominatrix’s who only want to take advantage of men and even take joy in causing them physical or emotional pain. But that probably has more to do with their unfortunate life experiences with men during their profession, a kind of understandable revenge.
I feel women have a natural instinct to nurture and help, to be more thoughtful and civilized then men.
But then I do put women “on a pedestal” that is caused by my submissive nature towards them.
But I still feel that I’m being unbiased in my observations of women being superior to men. I feel strongly that if this planet is going to survive much longer, that it will be the women saving us.
The history of “mankind” has been might over right- I feel we’re slowly moving towards ideas instead of violence and that women, unlike the men (who are far more prone to murder, rape and aggression), are more than capable to lead the way.
I hope I’m right in my evaluation and prediction.
And I’m confident in my evaluation that this is one of the best releases I’ve heard this year. And that it has a great chance of being in my top ten at the end of this year.
And until the demise of the planet or the emergence of women we can at least have a good soundtrack to go along with either our redemption or demise.
And as the ship sinks or the world blossoms, a good choice to make would be this compilation by Vicious Mistress records. And actually, any of their comps would be a good choice to check out.
And you may ask, well, how do you know this?
Just check it out. I think you’ll agree.
(Slimedog)
