Lee from This Is Not A Drill hit me up on what my parents would no doubt refer to as ‘The Facebook’ the other day to see if I’d be able to review their recent EP. Contrary to popular belief, I’m actually a decent enough person, so I said yes.
This Is Not A Drill are from Sheffield, and play fast political hardcore punk. Their ranks are made up of members of local crews Chewed Up, Trioxin Cherry, Brainfreeze and Truth Decay. I’m sure this is probably a good thing. However, renowned as I am for refusing to leave the house, these bands have alas passed me by, no doubt to my own detriment (as per usual).
The art work is pretty much your standard anarcho punk black and white affair, with military style stencil letters around a circular image depicting the socio-political issues of the day. Typically I expect bands with this style of artwork to sound like a shit version of Crass or Conflict and stink of stale piss and spilt Frosty Jacks (or other cheap cider that’s been nicked from the local offy). Thankfully they do not sound as my preconceptions would have led me to expect. Conjecture: probably therefore have some respect for personal hygiene.
OK. Joking asides, what have we got, then? Eight songs in 14 minutes: that’s the no fucking about box ticked. A fair spread of well-placed and satirically humorous socio-political sound bites: check. Song titles that show they definitely have something worthwhile to shout about: check. Alright. Let’s fucking go.
So how does it sound? It’s got a nice, lean stripped down feel to it, which is as it should be. Bells and whistles are not required. I’d probably liken this to sounding somewhere between the Oi! influenced Boston hardcore of The Trouble, Born Against and Discharge. There’s also overtones of the belligerent hardcore punk of the s/t Nerve Agents EP. There’s also a fistful of songs that take the punk scene to task over its short comings (rape apologism, rape culture and a tendency of the scene to either gloss over or completely ignore issues that it should be addressing head on. It’s good this. Vigorous, violent, unrelenting. A class act.
Tony of Nurgle rating: 8/10
Check it out on the bandcamp player below:
You can get this from the This Is Not A Drill bandcamp page on a pay what you like basis (but, y’know, bung ‘em a couple of quid mate – don’t be tight).
