Labels: Phobiact
Review by: Gareth L
Many years ago, back when HMV was still relevant and interested in selling music, a friend of mine had a job interview there and afterwards he told me that one of the questions was to name five punk bands. What a question to be asked! At the time I thought this was ridiculously easy but the more I thought about it, almost every band I came up with could either be questioned as a being a ‘proper’ punk band or have their punk label diluted by having words like ‘pop’ ‘hardcore’, ‘melodic’, ‘gruff’, ‘ska’, etc. etc. come first.
Cruelster are punk. Not something-punk. This is probably the most punk record I own. This is maybe the most punk record I have ever heard. And it is absolutely awesome. Everything about it just works. The blown out, throat-straining vocals, the raw killer riffs, the funny, slightly out of place samples…I really can’t fault this LP.
Perhaps it’s because I don’t speak fluent early 80s punk and know next to nothing about the Cleveland scene that this feels so fresh and exciting to me. But who cares. Every track is a winner, especially ‘Boys in the Biggest City’ (which, although coming after a short instrumental intro, is one of the best ‘side one, track one’ songs ever), ‘I’m Too Small’ and ‘Release My Body’.
I can, and will, be playing this regularly forever. And If I ever have a job interview at HMV I’ll have a partial answer to one question at least.