Band : Refuse Resist
Album title : Socialised
Label : Thorp Records
Distributor : I Scream Records – Rough Trade Benelux.
Release date : 17/05/2010 (EU; US= Jan/ Feb. 2010)
Release : CD

This Boston Area Hardcore Punk act (I know, I know, the Thrash Metal fans among you thought the bandname was possibly a reference to a Sepultura-ish act, but you were wrong, see?) was formed in late 2006 with the aim to revive a time when music was life, and life was music, a time when people communicated with each other face to face, a time when Love, Respect, and Unity were the ethical rules a Hardcore Punk abided by! In essence, Refuse Resist wanted to bring back the Hardcore Punk sounds and ethics of the ‘80s, when that scene was at its top!

Guitarist Mike Barone and drummer John Mehlman were at that time already jamming together and had sent out an ad through MySpace for a singer and bassist. Shawn Resist was actually looking to join a band as singer, but wasn’t very much into the current Boston Hardcore. As a last resort he eventually wound up on MySpace, to find an ad from a couple of musicians into exactly the kind of music he wanted, the kind of music he grew up with! In January 2007 the line-up was completed, at least temporarily, with the addition of bassist Nick Smith. Temporary, because in March 2008 he was supplanted by Brendan White, with whom the band went into the studio to record their debut album Mind: Yourself (released through the Rodent Popsicle label that same year - before that release, the band saw it’s song “Still In Massachusetts” contributing to the Rhode Island Rejects 2 compilation), and went on their first tour outside Massachusetts (or actually their first tour ever) in October 2008. Still, White only stayed until July 2009, and it’s with The Welsh Boys’ Mark Powers that the band rehearsed and recorded the Socialized album (songs for which were nevertheless partly co-written by White) in August last year. Since then, the band had been looking for a full-time bassist, until…nah, that’s for later!

Meanwhile, we get this new 12-track album, see? Engineered and mixed by Richard Marr at Gallaxy Park in Allston (MA), the album has everything you would expect from a band claiming to bring back the vibes from the ‘80s. Simple and to-the-point music which is a blend of Punk and Hardcore (like having Minor Threat, The Circle Jerks, Dead Kennedys and Blood For Blood making a love child), and the lyrical in-your-face lyrical topics to match. “Socialized”, for instance, is about how people have their lives taken over by all these “social networks” on Internet, “IRS” is a venting for Shawn about having been screwed by the taxmen, etc… His vocals, by the way, are really gritty shouts, sounding like he’s been force-fed on fresh lime juice and whiskey. Yet there’s a couple of moments when he goes into a “softer” mode, doin’ the occasional “spoken word” bit, suggesting that hiss singing voice and his speaking voice are indeed quite different. Shawn is apparently also the most active member when it comes to getting the band local support slots, co-organizing shows with band he’d like to play with (ain’t thàt clever, because that way RR has already done supports for the likes of The Casualties, Leftover Crack, Joe Coffee, Lower Class Brats, The Business, Stigma, and tons more). With track lengths varying from 52 seconds (the very anthemic but short “Shoulda Been Aborted”) to just over 3 minutes (album opener “Middle America”), the average length of the songs is only about 2 ½ minutes, making the album pass by in only 26 minutes! Well yeah, the velocity of the tracks is such, that no longer is needed to portray the messages entailed within. The obvious advantage of such a short album, is of course that those who are into this kind of music (and by all means count me in!) can listen to the album more than once in the same hour!

To find out whether you’re into this band or not, there’s 3 songs off the new album (alongside 6 off the debut) at myspace.com/refuseresistband for you to sample (at least, I hope so, because with the site’s new restrictions on having the music player activated…?). All that’s left for me to do before closing this review, os to tell you that after a long search the band has opened 2010 with the addition of a new bass player, named simply Don, to their line-up. Also, to improve the live sound, the band has granted fulltime membership to guitarist Steve Risteen, once an original member of Slapshot. I dó hope this comes out on vinyl some day soon…it just feels like it should, doesn’t it?

90/100

Tony.