Rats from a Sinking Ship describe themselves as a ferocious, raw metal band. They stand for counter culture and being a voice for the masses, and this fierce political and anti-political trend is clear in their music. According to their Facebook they also consider themselves Rat Rock which sounds good to me. RFASS are made up of Alex Lusty on Vocals and Jamie Price on Guitar. Anyway that’s enough of an intro, but before I get on with the review I should let you know you can get your hands on this album starting tomorrow the 17th March 2018.
‘Act of Peace’ is a strong opening, tight and instantly gets things going, they really know how to fire out the vocals. Engaging, well put together and honest, I like what they are laying out with this track, because it pulls no punches and says it with a voice that’s clearly tired of the status quo and ready to do something. I like this track and I’m really excited to see what else they’ve got. I’ll finish this one by saying they make good use of repetition to hammer home a point without overusing it.
‘Monsters Aren’t Good For the Environment’ opens with a soundbite from Charlie Chaplin’s speech from The Great Dictator, this is a very poignant speech and carries a powerful message on its own, and blended with both the hard thrashing guitar and the Alex Lusty spitting out what he’s got to say, this track really packs a wallop. I think it’s easy to talk about politics and the way things are these days but hard to care, after all society is made this way because people can be complacent if it doesn’t affect you but songs like this give me hope that there are people who want to fight. On a note not about the message about the track, I really like the rhyming hook for this track, it got stuck in my head for days.
‘Cursory Rhymes’ mixes some tight percussion with a great guitar section, and Lusty is telling us how it is, he speaks fast but never wastes a word and he makes himself clear. The London bridge breakdown was a particular favourite of this track. This track is definitely a little faster, it builds pace well and carries you along with it.
‘Take the Throne’ sounds a little different, instrumentally at least it feels a little more classic rock than the previous tracks, but it keeps the momentum going that’s been built up and better still retains the same style and spit in the face of the establishment heart of the previous tracks. I reckon this track would be amazing live, it would get the room jumping for sure. I also really liked the soundbite from Frankie Boyle about the Queen, it was funny and well placed within the song. I liked a band that can use existing sources to hammer home a point, especially with charged material like this, it just shows people have been saying this stuff for years but people need to listen now.
‘United Hate’ is one of my favourite intros its powerful, with blaring guitars that back up the vocals excellently but it also builds really well, heavy bass parts as well that would be great again if you heard it live. I also like this track because it reminded me of the movie 51st state which I’m totally watching tonight
‘To the Sword’ is a little different, still has some incredibly well put together narrative and lyrics and an important message but the music itself is very different, its hard to say exactly why other than that it just doesn’t sound like the previous tracks but it does break up the first and second half of the album really well.
‘Katie Fucking Hopkins’ this one doesn’t start off how you’d expect and is rather soft, almost wistful but after a news soundbite it starts in earnest, harder and more what I was expecting. If you can’t stand her then get this song in your ears. I think this is one of my favourites and not just because of my anti Katie bias, but because it has all the passion and energy of the previous track, even a little humour and is just really well done.
‘The Loneliest Walk’ is a good track, coming off the last track which I thought was a very strong entry on the album, I was as initially impressed with this track but after giving it a few listens I really liked it, it’s another well put together, lyrically complex entry onto an album chock full of great tracks.
‘Hated for Living’ changes things again, and I like it, It’s good when a band knows how to change things up but still sound like themselves. This one has a nice long instrumental opening that gets a bit heavier at the perfect moment when you’re getting a bit too relaxed. Aside from ‘Katie Fucking Hopkins’ this is perhaps my favourite entry on the album, it’s not that it’s necessarily the best on the album because I’m sure everyone will have their own ideas but I think this was just a really tight track that really reached me for whatever reason.
‘The Trumpton Riots’ has a very busy intro, blending drums and guitar really well, the vocalist uses it as a launching pad to fire through the track, building the perfect momentum, this track is fast but clear, and that’s what I like most, sometimes with songs like this the words can get obscured by speed, or emotion and you kinda just get an impression of what they were trying to say, RFASS manage to say something clearly without losing anything along the way.
‘Fight the Future’ is the title track, and especially after the last few tracks has a lot to live up to and it doesn’t disappoint, I really like the imagery and the word choice they use, its all very reminiscent of classic punk tracks and it doesn’t give up, they know what they want to say and they do it well.
‘A disgusting Filthy Rag’ is the closing track on a bloody fantastic album, I was expecting alot coming into this last track and that’s what I got, some tracks tone it down for the last song but this one comes hot off ‘Fight the Future’ just firing out cries of injustice from all across the UK. It tied together the entire album really well.
So those were my thoughts on ‘Fight the Future’ the new release from Rats from a Sinking Ship. If you want to get a copy for yourself then head on over to Spotify and make sure to keep up to date with the band by following them on Facebook.
First Published on: https://offtherecordblog.org/
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