Labels: Sub City
Review by: Russell Opie
Anthemic emotional punk rock. This might take you a few listens before you appreciate just how amazing this album actually is. This band write songs about political topics. But that doesn’t get in the way of the music. The punk remains catchy, rocking and very, very listenable.
But actually I personally prefer music that has something to say rather than just mundane lyrics about girlfriends and bubblegum. They tackle topics such as the inadequecy of the government, racism and homelessness. The song writing really is excellent. Take “Land” for example. I just can’t express how this song grabs me. It strikes a chord with me somewhere deep inside. Talk about music invoking emotion. Wow. This takes the prize.
As an interesting aside, the inlay contains a couple of pages about the american governments FBI program COINTELPRO, which is basically a corrupt organisation set up to neutralise independent activists and politcal groups in the US. Money is donated from every release on Sub City to a non-profit of the bands choosing. In the case of Fifteen, the money is donated to the funding of a court case against the FBI, of which a side effect will be the uncovering of COINTELPRO.
So thats my politcal rant over with. I’m probably going to be targetted for assassination now. Eck. Oh well. And I bet that me rambling about that other stuff has probably distracted your attention from the music. And its hard to make any references to other bands, because Fifteen have a very unique sound. So lets summerise using this simple equation:
(political + melodic) * (punk + rock) = bloody good