Zone Infinie are peddling something sneaky and deceptive. The six tracks here, put very simply, represent some very excellent punk rock: spiky, catchy, and soulful in a way that’s both desperate and powerful. At first pass you could easily just lump them alongside countrymen Syndrome 81 – both bands are charged with a sense of purpose and know how to pen a song that lodges in your skull like a crossbow bolt – but while Zone Infinie’s music definitely suggests a fondness for scruff-of-the-neck oi there’s a lot more to uncover. Frequently, the sound harks back to the classicism of The Jam or The Clash, albeit dosed with the artier smarts of Wire or Gang Of Four. Elsewhere I hear Modern Machines, and at one point a song that reminds me, somewhat bizarrely, of Onion Flavored Rings. Rhythms snap and bounce, changing with the same sensation as being jolted awake after a few seconds of longed-for sleep. Melodies flicker furtively in and out of view, but rarely draw full attention to themselves. The focus, instead, is the song, the spirit and the holler. Everything else that takes place is in service to this broad, brash ideal, but all the unobtrusive detail nevertheless pays off and makes for something undeniably special.
