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The Rabble: The Battle's Almost Over

The Rabble are a power trio purveying punk-pop in the tradition of, let’s say, Rancid, the Pistols and The Dropkick Murphys. This second album CD is a lavish package complete with mini poster pin-up. Natty shoe co-ordination, fellas! The 16 tracks will pummel you into submission - despite a lilting Celtic influence as evidenced by stirring bagpipes on eponymous track The Battle. The ‘battle’ is for equality and unity, with a hippyish declaration of “the dawn of a new age now”. The lyrics, printed in full, are hopelessly simplistic and naive, but this shortcoming is fixed by the pace of the jackhammer riffs and some anthemic gang chants. The style requires singers to sound like they are puking their vocal cords over the microphone, and vocalist brothers Chazz and Rupe prove an equal to guest star Mark from Unseen. As with their previous album Chazz handled the lion’s share of production duties. A big and wide modern rock record, the breakneck instrumentation is suitably explosive, making for an energetic and irrepressible stew. The enemy is apathy, and the band grind it into the dust, critics be damned. If you like it raucous, and aren’t yet jaded beyond repair, this will rouse you.

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