We got nothing clever, cute, or smart to say here. And that’s just fine, because we’re serving up the new album from Grade 2, and the self-titled release from the English punk trio — out today (February 17) via Hellcat — is simply none of those things.
Instead, it’s a brash, bold, and melodic as fuck album of punk rock fury, wound tight with the type of fist-in-the-air, fist-to-the-face anthems set to soundtrack our never ending fight in the rigged game of life. There are several highlights — canvassing street punk, oi!, and the type of old-school guitar ruckus that can only be made by pissed-off Brits — across these blistering 15 songs and 34 minutes. That includes the rippers we’ve hyped previously and new sonic weapons like gritty tone-setting opener “Judgement Day,” the barking “It’s A Mad World, Baby,” and the confrontational “See You Around.” The rage is timeless, but the anger is right now.
“Like everyone else, 2020 left us proper fucked off,” says frontman Sid Ryan. “Yet we were able to channel every ounce of that despair into every second of this record.”
Crank it up in the earbuds, set those weary but ambitious eyes forward, and leave the bullshit behind with one of the best new punk bands in years, now fully armed with one of the best punk records in a long fucking time.