Review Summary: Incendiary punk-dub soundclash, dirty, intelligent, gritty and fun. Welcome to the album that will define the fourth wave of ska.
Album number four from Sonic Boom Six, and they've hit their own zeitgeist. The ska-punk scene was mourned as dead at the turn of this millenium, only to spit out a whole new order of bands. In the US,
Bomb The Music Indsutry! turned the genre on its head with multi-layered synths, warp-speed beats and a heavy, heavy dose of fun. This side of the pond,
The King Blues have been the most prominent torch carriers with their folky, acoustic ska shot through with political conscience and rabble-rousing melodies. Both bands are seriously worthy of your attention, but SB6 are shooting up through the ranks (with their own record label to back them up) and are here to mess you up, shake you up, smack you to the floor, and leave you bleeding but smiling. Friends, rudeboys, countrymen, I present to you City of Thieves.
The likelihood is that this record is unlike any other you've heard before, unless you truly are an aficionado of the scene. From the word go, you're grabbed by the neck and thrust through a filthy mulch of dub, hip-hop and anthemic punk rock. The title track is perhaps intended to serve as an intro, but is a truly exceptional song in itself, crashing power chords screaming into your ears that you ain't getting out of this one unharmed, and very likely slapping a massive smile across your face.
It would be an affront to the eclectic and spontaneous nature of SB6 to trundle through this review, track by track, and examining the comparitive technical merits of drums, bass, guitar and vocals. Touching on five, perhaps six genres in under 45 minutes is reminiscent of a rabid Clash, and despite the schizophrenic variety, the album is made coherent by crackling voiceovers between tracks, giving it a pleasingly intelligent (but never boring. Never, ever boring) documentary-like feel. Spanning the subject of the decay and decline in the world's cities, SB6 have never sounded so urgent. Third track, 'The Road to Hell Is Paved With Good Inventions' is rapid-fire punk rock rant with ska-smattered verses, chronicling the apparent takeover of the internal combustion engine. 'A Bright Cold Day In April' is a blistering, melodic post-hardcore tirade warning against the Orwellian dangers of CCTV, complete with a crushingly menacing spoken-word breakdown. Standout track 'Jericho' is hardcore at its best, with a chunky palm-muted riff and fist-pumping choruses that could arm a battalion of geurillas.
When Sonic Boom Six dip into other genres, the effect is equally explosive. Two great dub songs here, 'Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!' and 'Strange Transformations' deal with debt and loansharks and binge drinking respectively, and atop the jungle dirty samples and drum loops, Ben C, Barney Boom and Laila K lay down some first-class rapping with a distinctly satisfying UK edge. 'Rum Little Skallywag' is a deliciously catchy rocksteady number, bouncing you into a sleepy submission in the middle of the album before the final salvo. And when they do ska, they do it exceptionally well. 'Through the Eyes of a Child' may appear conventional, 2-Tone aping filler at first listen, but there is a melancholic undertone that somehow makes it infinitely more dancable. How? We don't know; put it down to the genius of SB6.
This album contains no filler. Every single song has its own merits and the hardcore punk, the rudeboy, the rocker, the grime kid will each find something to satisfy their most primal urges here. The mainstream may even find a rough diamond or two; anthemic closer 'Floating Away' and rollicking punk-n-roll storm 'Polished Chrome and Open Kitchens' wouldn't sound out of place on rock radio, were it not for the biting edge they possess. There is a distinct flavour of the underground here, making it so much more invigorating, and if anyone is lucky enough to catch their live show, City of Thieves translates perfectly onto a grubby stage in a packed club. Fantastic. If you're bored with punk-by-numbers, take a punt and pick up this record.
It might just be the best damn thing you hear all year.
