ALBUM REVIEW: Lion’s Law – Evermore (Pirates Press Records)
Lion’s Law have been standard bearers for the French Oi! and street-punk scene for more than a decade now, and they certainly keep busy: this is their sixth album.
It is, however, their first English language LP in five years, as their previous release, 2024’s Si Le Ciel Vient À Tomber, was entirely in their native tongue.
Anyone who’s heard Lion’s Law knows what to expect; a hard-as-nails mix of punk, oi! and hardcore, with driving riffs, a pounding rhythm section and gruff vocals. Evermore ticks all those boxes.
The band are known around the world for their explosive live show, and the 15 songs which make up this record do their best to capture that in-your-face energy.
Opener Paris rages at the gentrification of their home city, which is pricing ordinary people out of living there. It’s a tale many will identify with as Wattie sings: “They call it progress but it’s pushing us away/A city of the rich where the poor can’t stay.”
Brother is a more melodic song about the sort of friend who’ll never let you down, and is so close you’re like brothers, even if not bound by blood. For me, it’s one of the album’s standout tracks.
The cost of sacrificing having a wife and kids for the love of rock ‘n’ roll is the subject of Lonely Road, while Back In Time mourns a lost love.
Excellent lead single Sewer Rats is a call to action by punks and skinheads against the establishment which controls us all, urging them: “Wake up, wake up and fight back.”
Looming environmental disaster is the topic of both Extinction and The World Is On Fire, with the latter warning: “Mankind is falling/Our time is up/Yeah, we fucked it up/It’s our goddamn fault!”
There’s a surprise instrumental midway through the album in the shape of Ouverture, but vocalist Wattie is soon spouting defiance on Crucified, another song urging the oppressed to rise up.
The Code lays out a set of rules by which skinheads should live their lives, while Before Your Eyes is about appreciating what you have and not chasing a distant dream.
Title track Evermore has a similar message, “Just make the best out of it/Take what life gives you,”, while honouring those who gave their lives in bygone conflicts is the subject of Carved Into Stone.
The City That Never Dies brings us to where we started, but takes a much more optimistic view of Paris and its “streets of history that are paved with pride “.
We’re almost done, but there’s one last surprise as the boys throw in a cover of I Ran by ’80s new wave band A Flock of Seagulls, which they put their own stamp on. I’d forgotten how much I love the riff, but you’ve never heard it sound this beefy before.
It’s a fine end to an album which shows exactly why Lion’s Law are so highly regarded in streetpunk and oi! circles. 8/10.
- Evermore by Lion’s Law is available direct from Pirates Press Records on CD and a couple of different vinyl variations.
