Charged G.B.H.
City Baby's Revenge

Fresh from their Champions victory, the homegrown merry pranksters of Clay (the serious ones being Discharge) are at it again. Winning hands down: another chapter of reckless and belching moments of life, between Colin's barks and Blyth's abrasive guitar strokes. However, something has changed: compared to the granite and lightning-fast (and excellently produced) City Baby Attacked By Rats, the edges and silliness are somewhat smoothed out, and the result is a rustic and varied rock 'n' roll, more inspired and expressive.

The initial hour's fierceness is toned down, it's true, but the echoes of "Bellend Bop" still hammer on: City Baby’s Revenge remains an essential hardcore album, the flicker of maturity for a band that would later settle into more delightful crossover mannerisms. And indeed, the G.B.H never hold back on violence: the tension and threat of "Diplomatic Immunity" crash against the derailing clatter of Jock Blyth; Ross Lomas, on bass, grumbles dark rhythmic epilepsies; "Valley of Death" is their UK 82 (and the Anti Cimex would be grateful), but the biggest thanks go to the pachydermic and martial hardcore of "Christianized Cannibals": hats off to all (Slayer, Pantera, Unseen), while outside it’s a grand guignol that takes no prisoners: assorted racisms, vomit, curses, and leptospirosis are the purge for the thrash to come. "Vietnamese Blues" cools down tempers and idiocies, albeit briefly, and when the tedious morning glory of "Faster Faster" seems to take over, the cover of "I Feel Alright" is enough to remind that G.B.H is a rock machine without rivals (even if the off-beat drumming of "Boston Babies" was a whole different story), but not champions. They are rough and honest journeymen, cynical and bastard like that Aston Villa that bent the ambitions of an overconfident Bayern. A B-movie in the late night slot, a cheap double entendre, a subtitle with a grimace. The Big Shot of hardcore. "101 ways to kill a rat." That's enough to describe them. That's enough to make them immortal. The best superimposition ever.

Thanks for everything. SCORE: 3.5