THE OLD FIRM CASUALS - "WARTIME ROCK & ROLL" (2017)

THE OLD FIRM CASUALS - "WARTIME ROCK & ROLL"
(Running time: 17:03 minutes; 5 songs)
("Rebellion Records"; 2017; CD):

Oh yes, they are (hm... or were... anyhow what's correct I think you get the point) back: THE OLD FIRM CASUALS delivered us in 2017 with their "WARTIME ROCK & ROLL" mini-CD one hell of an outstanding offering and these smart and fine gentlemen 'once formed around' RANCID's very own Lars Frederiksen himself delivered here via the almighty "REBELLION RECORDS" one absolutely amazing and fantastic release of one of the very best American Oi! brews these days. It's really, hm, yes, it's really nothing but amazing how great they are today, yes, I mean despite all the bullshit 'fake and sell-out or so' cheap talk back then when they started done by some tough and proud internet keyboard warriors and self-proclaimed ''Skinhead'n'Oi! DieHards" THE OLD FIRM CASUALS were right from the get-go one damn massively ruling band and over all the years they only got better and better and so now they play their "WARTIME ROCK & ROLL" on such a breath-taking level of skills and quality and identity and they just take anything and anyone/everything and everyone by storm in a massively overwhelming way and manner and they gave us one of the very, very best releases of 2017 and it just does nothing else than totally and absolutely ruling supreme and this I do mean in the most supreme way. This is sharp edged and hard hitting, dustdry and heavy and yet still damn very ctachy and with a great melody work shining American Oi! of the most supreme kind and with a very strong and huge own identity and of a highly unique charisma. This is dirty and snotty, strong rocking and also even stronger rolling American Oi! very much of ist very, very own and that's maybe best somewhere to be located very loosely and on a position totally of its own between the immortally larger than life THE ANTI-HEROES and the all-time almighty outstanding PRESSURE POINT and this all heavily mixed through with huge loads of dirty and hard Rock & Roll somewhere between the nasty and 'bluesy' AC/DC (especially their earlier years) and the 'punky' street-raised angry and in-your-face Sleaze Rock of (the early) GUNS'N'ROSES and all is delivered by very, very skilled musicians that wrap it all up with a fantastic and exciting songwriting full of intense arrangements, rousing compositions of the verses as well as the refrains, grapping pace variations, powerful organic grooves and loud'n'proud hymnal sing-a-longs, truckloads of energy and dynamics, and exciting and nicely diverse and varying rhythm structures and this all on a massively overwhelming level of quality, hell yeahr, so, yes, this is the absolute real deal and definitely the complete package. The guitars deliver a very hard edge and sharp cutting and harsh sawing rhythm work while at the same time delivering also one hell of sweet melody-lines via brilliant leads and great little-big solos non stopp and the guitar work, no matter at what part of it we look in particular, really'n'truly rocks massively from start to finish. The lead vocals... nah... do I really need to say more... hell, absolutely first class, topp notch, highliest charismatic... damn, we are talking about Lars Frederiksen, the man himself, so I think that I really don't have to say more about it here and now anyhow anyway. The loud, full, and powerful backings only add up to it all. The buzzing and powerful rumbling bass work and the heavy hitting and hard smashing drumming then finally round it all up perfectly. To say some last words about the very strong and fresh Rock & Roll influences then just let me say that the majestic AC/DC back then with the divine Bon Scott couldn't have done the opening riff of the boneshaking opener "HELL'S A LOT BETTER" any better than the OLD FIRM CASUALS did it here and they still deliver it all their very own way and style; and especially the verse arrangements and also the intonation, accentuation, and delivery of the verses and the vocals in general of the just totally outshining fantastic "1312" breath a lot of GUNS'N'ROSES' attitude and spirit just think of their "LIES" era, yes, and Axl Rose himself didn't sound that much more pissed off, snotty, angry, and nasty back then than Lars Frederiksen does it today. And then we also get with "SEX CASE" and "SANCTUARY CITY" two first class straight forward dustdry American Oi! slashers of the highest grade, yes, and with the phenomenal-masterpiece title-track "WARTIME ROCK & ROLL" itself then THE OLD FORM CASUALS serve us the total and absolute anthemic'n'hymnal über-hit of the album, yes, it's absolutely fantastic and phenomenal and definitely one of ist very own kind. Then we also get fantastic lyrics, outspoken, critical, and direct, a gorgeous artwork, and a great earthy and warm and yet still heavy cracking production sound on top of it all. This little silver shining disc is one of the very, very best  albums of 2017 and also one of the very, very best ones in and also probably for years, oh hell yeahr, and so I will now close this review with saying loud, clear, and precise that you definitely and desperately need to have this brilliant stand-alone masterpiece in your collection - and then play it loud, play it damn loud - and again and again. Cheers & Oi! Oi! Oi!

(10 of 10 points)

https://www.facebook.com/TheOldFirmCasualsOi (-the link to the facebook site of the band)

THE OLD FIRM CASUALS - "WARTIME ROCK & ROLL" (2017, "WARTIME ROCK & ROLL")