E.P. Review: Borstal - At Her Majesty's Pleasure
Reviewed by Dan Barnes
Borstal’s debut E.P. is as much of a no-nonsense affair as you would expect it to be. Clocking in at a little over eighteen minutes and containing five new tracks and a cover, At Her Majesty’s Pleasure is a musical fist to the face.
Blending elements of hardcore punk and Oi! with a huge slice of New York Hardcore inspired frenzy, Borstal – an amalgam of Dripback, King of Pigs, Knuckledust and Nick Barker – arrive with the subtly of a sledgehammer and the pissed off attitude of a disgruntled bull.
Although time is at a premium, At Her Majesty’s Pleasure opens with the sound of broken Britain: police sirens echo through the night air as news reports and Politicians comment on the state of the nation, leaving a youthful voice to make a chilling admission.
A rumbling bass introduces the music of Refuse to Lose and it doesn’t take long for the bile-spitting fury to find a voice. Both this and next track, Karma, are classic hardcore fodder – gang vocals and killer hooks, complete with breakdowns perfectly crafted for maximum pit frenzy.
Lead track and YouTube video, Vicious Circles, is equally fed up, but the feel is more Punk than Hardcore – more Discharge than Warzone – whereas Worm Food’s ferocious drum and guitar attack contain more than a little groove.
Having Lee Kitchener on guitar confirms a level of association to the Oi! scene and Borstal do not squander the opportunity to deliver some abrasive Streetpunk in the form of their own We Stand as One, which sees the band getting it absolutely spot on, as on their cover of The Last Resort’s King of the Jungle, where Lee even ropes his dad, Arthur, into the fray – well, why not – as Pierre Mendivil channels his best Roi Pearce chops to deliver a cracking version of the Oi! classic.
Although it’s far too short for my liking, it is perfectly formed and one of the best debut E.P.s I’ve heard in a while. The promise of what these five musicians with time on their hands and passion in their hearts could achieve on a full-length album is a mouth-watering prospect.
ICYMI - Check out our interview with Nick Barker here.
