This is the second release from French Oi! band TCHERNOBYL and, as is the case for a lot of the country’s Oi! for the past 40 or so years, it’s a winner! Ruff ‘n’ tuff but packed full of hooks and melodic guitar lines in the grand French Oi! tradition. I dig this slab of sound a hell of a lot! Three tunes of driving punk rock’n’roll done very well. Music to shave heads to.
This split has me wondering if I should shave my head. Each band offers up two tracks of hard-charging, tough-as-nails Oi! sung in French. Montreal’s FORCE MAJEURE tread the more traditional path of the two. From the razor-sharp jangly guitars and prominent walking basslines, to the clenched hi-hat drumming—this just ticks all the right boxes. Expectedly, the vocals are gruff and forceful, with just a hint of tunefulness. These lads would fit nicely on a bill with SQUELETTE or REĆIDIVE. Hailing from Paris, TCHERNOBYL pounds the pavement with boots of a darker shade. Chorus-drenched guitars lend atmosphere to what might be described best as “Oi! for a rainy day.” Building on the legacy of CAMERA SILENS, TCHERNOBYL are dour and melancholic in the best possible way, à la SYNDROME 81. There’s not a dull moment on either side of this record. Time to lace up and call the barber.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose! Another week and another cracker of a French-speaking Oi! record for me to tuck into, this time from the perennially great scène Parisienne. While the Anglophone world may be slacking, these upstarts have been adding their spin on that classic French sound everyone loves (unless you are a cloth-eared bastard). Both lumpen and leaden while simultaneously whipping along at decent pace, it’s a great little record, and doesn’t stay around long enough to offend either.
