Charged G.B.H.
City Baby Attacked By Rats

THE REVIEW

Wandering around DeBaser, I noticed something shocking, no album by G.B.H. had been reviewed. There could only be two reasons for this:

1. this album reviews itself
2. no one ever had the courage to write something about it for fear of not being able to describe all the infinite emotions one feels listening to it.

I am purely biased, I love GBH, there are few bands that give me goosebumps, but this band and especially this record aside from "City Baby's Revenge" is one of the few.

Usually, I am not an avid fan of any particular band, but I can't say anything about the early G.B.H., they are perfect, I feel like a middle school girl infatuated with a boy band, the music of these English punks is unique!

Even though I believe there isn't much need as everyone more or less knows this band, I'll try to give a brief overview of their history.

The G.B.H. were born in 1979 after the British punk explosion, formed in Birmingham by Colin "Col" Abrahall on vocals, Colin "Jock" Blyth on guitar, Ross Lomas on bass, and Andrew Williams on drums. The abbreviation of their name means Grievous Bodily Harm, translated into Italian as Gravi lesioni personali, but initially, the band had to modify the name by adding Charged, as another English band was already using this name. After several years, the original G.B.H. was no longer heard of, so the Charged G.B.H. renamed themselves simply G.B.H.

Throughout their history, this band has constantly changed their style, leaving a different mark with each album. Anyway, in my opinion, their best recordings are those from '81 to '86. "City Baby Attacked By Rats" is their second album released in 1982 after the '81 compilation "Leather, Bristles, No Survivors and Sick Boys...".

Well, "City Baby Attacked by Rats" is an absolute masterpiece. G.B.H. differentiates in every way from the extensive list of English punk bands of the time; the tracks of this album are not of the same mold as the classic direct and instinctive punk one got used to listening to, despite the played fury the sound incorporated by this album is "pure classy adrenaline", the guitars sound like musical electrical discharges, they play fast riffs but with a unique touch, they seem to randomly whirl chords, but everything is too precise or if it isn't so precise, it manages to give the songs some extra drive. Continuing to talk about the guitar parts, I find it sublime the way their pieces often go off-scale, rendering the track somewhat "metal-like" and sinister, enough to have influenced sacred metal monsters like Slayer. The greatest credit goes to Colin "Col," a perfect singer, both vocally and in stage presence and personality. I find his voice in perfect harmony with the music, showcasing special charisma, tackling both fast tracks and rocking pieces like "Bellend bop" naturally and spontaneously, with particular and not trivial vocal lines. Personally, I must say that Colin "Col" is a great character, both for his historic look and his perfect demeanor, correct with the audience, social, and absolutely friendly at concerts; I must emphasize that he is not a snob who poses as a prophet like a certain Wattie Buchan loves to do. In the end, of the musicians, one can only talk about the bassist, his touch, and the scales of notes he plays are not the usual transpositions of guitar chords to bass. His instrument is an important column in the band and is on the same level as the guitar, as one can hardly listen in other bands.

In "City Baby Attacked By Rats," the themes addressed are varied: attacks on English society, anarchistic, and nihilistic. The lyrics, however, are not just volleys of violent provocations, there's a vague poetic line in all this sometimes touched with a subtle ironic vein, the crude arguments take on a whole new aspect, rendering the lyrics true anthems of battle.

I wouldn't know what to choose as the standout track on this album, all have their charm. For my personal taste, having seen them live twice, I can say that I can't stay still listening to "Sick Boy" and I can't help but sing when I listen to the title track "City Baby Attacked By Rats," in the same way, tracks like "Maniac" "Time Bomb" or the "Prayer of a Realist" (My god, your god, whose god, there is no god?) are icons of U.K. punk.

After all that I've written, I don't know if I've managed to convey the idea of what this album means to me. Even though I usually recommend all sorts of things (since collecting records is a passion of mine), this time I can only say that this album is what represents perfect music for me.