When a band like the Street Dogs calls you the best punk
rock band in the UK it’s quite the compliment. That was the statement made by
the legendary Mike McColgan when I saw Roughneck Rio support the Street Dogs
back in December 2012. This month the celtic punk six piece from Warrington
released a brand new full length on TNS Records titled Out Of Anger. I just had
to check it out.
The opening track Animosity serves as a statement of intent
of want to expect from the album. Politically charged anthems played with a
great deal of passion and skill. Caitlin Costello’s banjo takes the lead in the
intro to the song before lead singer Matty Humphries vocals take us down a path
describing the frustrations that lie in a lack of community. This is followed
by the song Parasites. Starting out with some rapid fire drum roles accompanied
by banjo and mandolins before a song calling out the money men running the
country comes to life. Resistance is a call to arms to encourage to speak out
and stand up for what they believe while you still can. I love the chorus of “Fan
The Flames, Rattle The Cage And Fight! We’ll Go Down With This Ship, If We Don’t
Start Tonight, Fan The Flames, Rattle The Cage And Sing! All For One And One
For All, Never Meant A Thing!”
All That We Know is a slow building song that grows into a
frantic finale. It’s about being brave enough to let go of everything you rely
on and standing on your own two feet. England’s Desperate Liars opens up with a
long musical intro before Mattys vocals attack you at break neck speed. Something
that I really enjoy about Matty’s vocals is that he doesn’t try and sing in a
faux Irish accent like many singers in the genre do. Englands Desperate Liars
is an assault against the EDL party and the propaganda that they spread. Should
We? is inspired by and includes the words to the poem Should We by Laura
Taylor. The song starts off with a more punk rock feel to it than any of the
songs so far on Out Of Anger with Chris Green’s guitar starting off proceedings.
The song continues down the theme of resistance being brave enough to stand up
for what you believe in. The Green, Unpleasant Land starts off with a sea
shanty feel before the full band joins in. Inspired by The Kielder Hunt by
James Armstrong it’s an anti hunting songs describing the horrific events of a
hunt. A brilliantly written song that really makes you think.
There is another long and slow building intro on Never
Silenced, Never Stopped. It’s an
interesting song that bursts into life with a punk rock anthem about never giving
up the fight. I imagine that this song would be great as a opening track for a
live set. The next song Each Man’s Hell follows on seamlessly. This song strays
away from politics and focuses on mental health. It’s about realising that
somethings not right with yourself and working out what it is. The song
features some great oozing ahs harmonies from the band. The Other Side is a mid
tempo song about the selfish Western world culture and making people realising
there are people in the world who don’t have anything and need help. I particularly
loved the lyric “As Long As They’ve Got Their Big Name Brands, Who Cares About
The Land Where Rivers Run Dry?”
Need I Remind You starts out with a thumping drumbeat and
some fantastic banjo chords that really caught my ears. Samuel Bell’s accordion
really stands out during the chorus as Matty sings about going down a bad path
and not being able to get off it. The Last Of Us is a working class anthem
about going out to work every day and making barely enough to live. A hugely
relatable song for anyone in a dead end job living pay cheque to pay cheque
whilst the fat cats do nothing and live extremely comfortable lives. The guitar
tones at the beginning of Too Late have a dark feeling to them before the banjo
and mandolin pick up the tempo of the song. The song itself is a sombre one
about living it too late to tell someone who is dying how you feel. Out Of
Anger finishes with the song He Never Came Home. Here the band sings about a
friend who left and never came back and hoping that they are okay. Matty and Caitlin’s
harmonies at the end sound great as they sing “We Watched The Naivety Of Youth
Slip Away, All Innocence is Lost Along With Trouble Free Days, We Came To
Realise That All There Was Of A Friendship Is Dead.
On Out Of Anger Roughneck Riot prove why they are so highly
thought of by their peers. They’ve taken a different approach to this album, slowing
it down somewhat to really allow their message to come through but they have
still made their best album yet. Fantastic songwriters and musicians Out Of
Anger proves that Roughneck Riot are the real deal.
Buy Out Of Anger here: http://www.theroughneckriot.bigcartel.com/
Now listening to Ignorance Is Easy by Roughneck Riot
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