ALBUM REVIEW: Brigata Vendetta – This is How Democracy Dies (Pirates Press Records)
Harrington Saints were one of my favourite streetpunk bands of the last 15 years, so I was gutted when I heard they’d called it a day in 2020.
Imagine my delight, then, when I learned that frontman/bassist Darrel Wojick and guitarist Mike Caputo had formed a new band, Brigata Vendetta.
Joined by Bum City Saints drummer Brian Zobel, they’ve created a new sound which owes more to ’80s US hardcore than the streetpunk for which its members were known.
This Is How Democracy Dies is their debut album, consisting of 13 songs written over the course of three months and recorded in one weekend with one-time Harrington Saints collaborator Scott McChane producing.
It’s very different to anything done by Darrel’s rock ‘n’ roll project Suede Razors too, with more personal and introspective lyrics than anything the members have done before.
It grapples with issues of grief, loss, personal growth, and relationships, alongside the inevitable frustrations with the modern world.
Brigata Vendetta’s first release was a four-track EP in 2022, but this is a set of all-new songs. To call it short, hard and fast is something of an understatement, as it positively flies by in just 20 minutes.
It’s a relentless listen from start to finish, with galloping guitars, a dirty bass sound and furious drumming, and the Bay Area veterans have clearly left nothing in the studio.
Opening track Get The Spirit sets the tone for what follows, with its face-melting tempo, and like all the songs here, it doesn’t make the two-minute mark (the closer Greenies isn’t even half that!).
One slice of raging hardcore follows another: Embrace (about capitalism killing society), ’87 Again (the new Cold War), and If This Is Life (dissatisfaction with your lot) are all bangers.
It addresses some weighty topics, from overpopulation and the worldwide food crisis (Bodies), street violence (Tempers Flare) and how fed-up people are ready to fight back (Into The Ground).
My favourite track is 1,000 Cuts, at the album’s midpoint, where Brigata Vendetta are really cooking on gas as Darrel calls out wrongs like “abuse of office for personal gain” and “a broken system that’ll never change”. For the US read the UK, and many other so-called democracies.
If you like ’80s legends like Minor Threat and Negative Approach I think you’ll enjoy these ‘newcomers’, who sound like they’ve been making hardcore music forever. 8/10.
- This Is How Democracy Does by Brigata Vendetta is available direct from Pirates Press Records on black or coloured vinyl HERE.
