The Fight United (Independent)

The best songs on this release are the fastest and punkiest, like “No Ass No Junk”, about a skinny model and the Fight United’s preference for meatier women; it comes complete with a great hooky guitar lead and anthemic background “whoas”. The band is not quite as confident in its slower departures from the tried-and-true (the oi-inflected “The Fight”), though mixing ska into “Pain and Wastings” works quite well, as does the vaguely Latin instrumentation that enhances the poppy “Whisky, Anarchy, Pride”.

Paul Tryl’s vocals suggest what might happen if Billy Bonito listened to a lot more Exploited. Great production provided by Brian “Who” Else makes this sound a lot better than you’d necessarily expect, because otherwise a definite DIY aesthetic reigns: for instance, the lyric sheet is a giant folded photocopy on 11-by-17-inch paper with a lot of black toner between the songs. Great idea; wonder whose day job paid for it.