ALBUM REVIEW: Gimp Fist – Take The Power Back (Sunny Bastards)
County Durham street-punk trio Gimp Fist might have celebrated their 20th anniversary last year, but there’s no sign of them resting on their laurels.
Jonny, Chris and Mike are back with their 11th full-length album as they look forward, not back, and I’m pleased to say it’s a cracker.
Over the course of 15 tracks they demonstrate time and again why they are one of the UK’s best-loved Oi! bands. But it’s far from a case of same old, same old, as they’ve changed things up a bit by going off-template in places, and sounding all the better for it.
They slam straight into it with the title track Take The Power Back, an urgent call to arms powered by Mike’s ferocious drumming. There’s plenty of anger and energy here, as we’ve come to expect from a Gimp Fist album.
You’ll find much more of that on tracks like Shut Your Mouth, Sick And Tired, Waiting For The Punchline and lead single Mindless Violence (which features Marty from Belfast street-punks Riot 79 on guest vocals).
But it’s the variety of different tempos and styles which make this the most interesting Gimps album in a while. Take second track Fill Your Boots, the longest song here at more than four minutes, with Jonny’s voice sounding raspier than ever before.
Break-up song Rocks In My Pocket is another slower number which hits differently, as is History Repeats, which was released last year on a split 10in single with Plymouth street-punks Riot City Radio (who themselves released a fine new album recently, reviewed here).
For a band who’ve generally avoided politics, the Gimps are certainly tuned into the zeitgeist of these divided times as they call out flag-shaggers on the ska-inflected Lying Down, have their say on the country’s many ills on the upbeat Give Me A Reason, which warns “fascism is on the rise again, another fool in No 10, is this it, the beginning of the end?”
There’s another ska-flavoured banger in Up All Night, featuring a wonderful bassline from Chris and some jaunty Hammond organ, with the catchiest chorus you’ll hear this year. “Just give him punk, give him reggae, and a bit of rocksteady, and you know he’s gonna be all right/Give him punk, give him reggae, a bit of rocksteady, and he’ll be up all night.”
The album ends strongly with Never Had Much, a nostalgic look back at our youth and how things were so much simpler in the old days. It’s the epitome of the sense of working class pride and community which define Gimp Fist.
For my money, Take The Power Back is Gimp Fist’s best album in a decade, and I can’t wait to hear some of these songs live. 9/10.
- Take The Power Back is available to pre-order on CD and multi-coloured vinyl now from Gimp Fist’s Big Cartel page HERE. It’s released on 5 June.
