We believe in HEAVY DRINKING, 'cause THAT'S what we do best!!! Oi! Oi! Oi!

MADDOG SURENDER - "BETHLEHEM STEEL" ("Neck Records"; CD):

Here is a very fine piece of ass kicking and hard hitting, very strong American Oi! music. MADDOG SURRENDER are playing a heavy cocktail of dirty and thirsty Streetrock & Roll the way it has been cultivated by the great THE WRETCHED ONES and of the hard knocking East Coast Oi! Oi! music like (for example and just to name only one band) THE 86'ED, all rounded off by some Streetpunk influences that are maybe comparble to the WEEKEND BOWLERS, that's pretty much a well suiting description of what you get from this guys here. The song are dominted by the tough guitar work, and also by the vital, forceful, and dashing vocals (brought to you by two singers, if I get it right). The rhythmsection is working very bulky and massive, so that you will find no blind blot, no blankspace in the songs. So if you're into some grumpy and heavy, very well done East Coast style American Oi!, then do yourself a huge, huge favor and check these guys out!!! What sucks is that the CD comes in no real case, just in a folded paper sheet, on which the artwork (the cool looking and well fitting cover and backcover, including the tracklist) is printed, but you will find no lyrics, no pictures, no bandinfos, no what-so-ever. It sucks, even because of that the CD is very cheap. So I can't really tell you something 100% proofed 'bout the lyrics, but for what I understand they are also good stuff, a lot of Working Class and / or Blue Collar issues, fine songs about (heavy) drinking, and a lot of more topics. Ah, and okay, the sound is really damn good, very dry, dirty and heavy, it suits the songs perfectly. On top we do also get a cool cover of the THE WRETCHED ONES classick "Going Down The Bar", which doesn't top the original one (okay, but that's somehing no one ever seriously could had thought!!!), but it is still a damn good tribute to the legends from New Jersey. The rumors and also the official announcements had always been (since nearly two years now...) that there will come a LP version of this record on the german label "Dim Records", but, like I said, it's a while now since then, so I have no clue if this LP version will truly be coming or not. But this gem would be more than worth it, to come as a proper release, with all the stuff that's been missing here. Cheers & Oi! Get it!!! (9 of 10 points)

(Contact: http://www.myspace.com/maddogsurrender)