Last year I discovered by accident (and pure luck) the local punk and hardcore festival HVNk PNkRCk in the city where I live in Finland. The bill existed mostly out of some of the top of Finnish punk and hardcore bands for 2 days of great underground music (for the report go here). There was one “black sheep” in the family though: the punk rock outfit Bogans, all the way from North Wales… They played a steaming set with their vocalist Adam literally on the loose. When talking with him I got to hear that they basically never played a live show before. This made me convinced that these guys might have a bright future in the punk rock world, so I’m taking the time with love to write up a little review of their debut EP Uno Mas!
Straight from the beginning you get an introduction of what you can expect from these guys: UK82 punk (otherwise called “street punk” or “British hardcore”) with a touch of skate punk fun served in a healthy sauce of melody. [Redacted] is mostly on the melodic side with quite groovy drums and bass with the typical straight-forward guitar riffs. Adam‘s voice sounds gruff and graveled as if it’s been aged and soaked in an ashtray filled with hard liquor. Throw on top of that the regular use of more clean contrasting backing vocals to open up the songs a bit and you get the perfect recipe for a bit under 15 minutes of punk fun.
The rest of the album picks up the pace quite a bit compared to the opening track, really bringing it on the level of song writing and overall energy. To What End cranks up the use of backing vocals to add more melody to counter the much higher and harsher punk rhythms. With Grandad those backing vocals evolve to more shouting and has cool breaks, leaving room for the guitars to shine with some solo work within the very limited time of a punk song. Dumbskulls drags you immediately in at 100 mph with driving drums and a spotlight moment for a rumbling bass. Simply great modern punk that is simple yet complex enough at the same time.
With Murdoch (U.S. of Murdoch on some versions of the EP) you get a typical uncompromising punk protest song you can shout along to, taking the piss on the annoyingly right-wing media all around the world. And lastly they round up the release with the bonus song Buckin’ Bronco; just over a minute of hardcore punk pummelling (and live most likely pogoing).
Bogans really hits the mark on street punk with this little EP of barely 15 minutes long. Uno Mas! fists you rather hard in the face (or whenever you don’t like it) with straightforward hardcore punk attitude but stays very accessible because of loads of melody. A really strong first taste of a promising career within the punk community by this band of misfits. Their music on record almost manages to embody the craziness that goes on when you see these guys live.
Release date: June 23rd, 2017
Label: independent
Tracklist:
1. [Redacted]
2. To What End?
3. Grandad
4. Dumbskulls
5. Murdoch
6. Buckin’ Bronco (bonus track)
