ALBUM REVIEW: Conflict – This Much Remains (Mortarhate/Cadiz Music)
Anarcho-punk legends Conflict are back with their first new album in 22 years, and although the current line-up has only been together since 2021, it’s business as usual for Colin Jerwood and his South London crew.
This is their first collection of new material since 2003’s There’s No Power Without Control, and it’s particularly notable for being the album debut of Fiona Friel, who’s been live co-vocalist for a few years now.
The band who became known as The Ungovernable Force show over 16 new tracks that they’re still angry about world governments, our dying planet and animal liberation, to name just a few topics.
Same old problems
Sadly, their message remains all-too-relevant, which shows that although the band who set out in 1981 wouldn’t recognise Britain or indeed the world today, the same old problems remain. Depressing, isn’t it?
Things get underway with heavily-sampling slow-burner The Impossible Soul, which is followed by title track This Much Remains. Age hasn’t mellowed Jerwood, who’s still railing against the system as he growls “One day I woke and realised everything was wrong.” He and Friel trade lines, with her taking on the voice of the Government, responding to Jerwood’s anarcho outpourings.
It’s clear that Conflict remain true to their beliefs, and this line-up of Jerwood, Friel, guitarist Gav King, bassist Fran Fearon and drummer Stu Meadows are moving forward, not content to live on past glories.
Many of the songs have spoken-word lyrics, probably more than on previous albums, which makes Jerwood’s howled indignation even more potent when he chooses to unleash it.
Divide and rule
That’s certainly the case on The Collusion Exclusion, as he bellows: “It’s the same old system and the same old song, 40 years later and they’ve still got it wrong.” The song posits that those in power divide the lower classes and set them against each other so they can maintain control.
Cruelty to animals is the subject of A Mother’s Milk and Shut The Fuck Up, while their anger at governments and ‘profit over people’ billionaries (like Trump, Musk and Bezos) who are now running the world’s biggest economy in the US is palpable on Masters Of The Race.
Those in power are also in Jerwood’s sights on Outside The Box, which is about the medication of the masses, while When the Lights Go Out and its stark warning of environmental disaster.
Rebellion’s In Session (Again) seems to be a swipe at the part-time punks who dress up for one weekend a year at Blackpool, but don’t live their lives according to what Conflict believe are real punk values – fairness, equality, compassion for other living beings and the planet. He calls it “a circus of shame”. Other views are available…
Conflict toyed with reggae and dub on their last album, and there’s more of that here, with an appearance by the late dub poet Benjamin Zephaniah on Cut The Crap. It’s one of my favourite tracks, along with the similarly reggae-inflected Statement Of Intent, which addresses weaponization of water supply.
Firing venom
That Other Song, a spoken word piece backed with acoustic guitar, shows a more reflective side, about those we’ve lost, while Echoes seems to address the same subject, though in far more forthright terms, with one of the album’s best riffs.
As we approach the end of the album you might think Jerwood’s anger has been sated, but in A Message To Them he warns: “I’ll fire venom at you, as long as I have breath.”
Inferno, the penultimate song, is even angrier, and Colin and Fi share vocals on a track calling out the ruling classes and their failure to act now to save our planet from climate change. After that, there’s a real end-of-days feel to closing track Concluded.
King says the band wanted to evolve while retaining elements of the classic angry sound that thousands loved originally. I think they’ve achieved that. As so often happens, a new line-up seems to have given Conflict fresh impetus, and, let’s face it, there’s no shortage of subject matter for them to write about in these fucked up times. Long may they rage. 8/10.
- This Much Remains by Conflict is available on vinyl, CD and as a limited edition boxset HERE.
