New York’s The Templars succeed where too many Oi! bands fail. Unlike a substantial collective of the Skinhead scene past and present, The Templars utilise the generic features of Oi! music set in motion by original outfits like the 4- Skins, The Last Resort and The Business without falling victim to tired clichés and embarrassing, substance- lacking lyrics. A good example on this album is “Doing the dirty” which is rife with allusions to Kubrik’s “A Clockwork Orange” movie, something that has been done to death on the Skinhead circuit, most famously pioneered aesthetically by The Adicts, this has become, in most cases, tired and boring. However, The Templars sound anything but and instead demonstrate their ability to inject longevity and youthfulness into a traditional, tried and tested formula.
“Dans Les Catacombes” runs the risk of being written off by some for being a somewhat odds- and- sods collection of singles and rarities to be overlooked by sincere fans and flirted with by passing novices. This couldn’t be wider of the mark. What we have here is an assortment of Street Punk classics that not only resurrect a classic 80’s sound but in my opinion do it a lot better than a fair few of the bands that set the standards back in the day! Anyone who knows me will know my opinion, for example, on The Last Resort’s early material (I find it lyrically absurd, musically terrible, rife with stupidity, inferior to other works of that time and yet acknowledge certain irresistible classics that are deservedly influential- see my album review of “A Way Of Life: Skinhead Anthems”). What a band like The Templars do is what The Last Resort didn’t i.e. combine 4- track charm with lyrics that don’t reek of idiocy or revel in tired executions of generic formulas. Not even the 4- Skins managed this level of magnitude so consistently.
Stand out tracks include the brutal trounce that is “The Sixties Are Over”, the aforementioned “Doing The Dirty”, “The Templars” and “I Believe in Myself”. Being a collection there are, of course, a couple of filler tracks, but it’s well worth experiencing some very rare and only slightly below the stand out’s standards when considering the majesty of this album as a whole. In short this is a fucking epic and comprehensive work of Skinhead glory!
No comments:
Post a Comment