Labels: Boss Tuneage – Does Everyone Stare
Review by: Tony Era
This is the first album I’ve got in a while that has made me really, really excited. If you haven’t heard their first two seven inches then you have already missed out. Absolutely incredible British punk rock that takes notes from Britain and America from the 70s, 80s, 90s and still manages to sound totally original. How many new bands can you honestly say that about? The ones you can are the ones that matter. There are many great British punk rock bands at the moment but in my opinion K-Line are the only ones that truly matter.
However, I wanted to listen to this properly and completely before reviewing it. I ignored how I thought it should sound, ignored how I should like it and ignored their previous releases. Most of the guys here are even punk stalwarts but I forgot that. So after listening to this record open minded and with a disregard for anything else I can still say this is the album of the year.
K-line play fast, loud, tight frantic punk rock. It reminds me of everything and nothing. Bands that come to name are Fugazi, Mohinder, Leatherface, Bad Religion and even Quicksand. These are all amazing songs, simple yet effective at getting their point across. The sound is also brilliant with sharp blazing guitars, thumping bass and multiple vocalists singing shouting and screaming along without relent. It has a very live feel, the kind of tightness that isn’t achieved with editing but with practise. The songs are rarely slow except in build ups which explode everytime into a barrage of anthemic hardcore. Also I’ve said this before but I really like it when bands retain their Britishness and despite the American aspect to the sound K-line manage this effortlessly. Pointless picking stand out tracks as they are all part of a cohesive whole and one wouldn’t really work well without the others. Although the intro to track one does make me go silly with its greatness.
Seriously this is an independent piece if british punk history and if I can help one more person pick this up then I can feel proud having played my part. Boss Tuneage sometimes overload us with pop-punk records most of which are great but with The Milwaukees, Blocko, Despitado and K-line they show that branching out and taking a chance can pay dividends in the long run.
You need this like oxygen.