U.K. Subs - Ziezo (2016)

'Ziezo' begins with what you might refer to as a typical Subs opener, 'Polarisation' goes straight for the jugular. A familiar Jet riff over some phenomenal drumming (as usual) courtesy of Jamie Oliver's jazz hands (and feet) and the real tour de force of the last decade the Alvin Gibbs bass runs that turbo inject proceedings as they rumbles around my speakers as the perfect foil for Jet's superb guitar solo. Charlie doesn't do so badly either as the song brutalises the listener til the final chord.

'Oligarchy' is next up and whilst it's more restrained it isn't afraid to dirty itself in politics. The gang vocals are cool as is Jet's solo (again). 'Oligarchy' has itself a really neat arrangement and sounds like musical velvet. With a more tuneful chorus 'I've Got A Gun' fires off at a great pace but has one of those Subs live fist in the air moments then onto 'Evil Vs Evil' which has some great lyrics as Charlie barks out the orders to a foot stomping bruiser.

'Proto Feminist Heroine' reminds me of some Manics song written for the 'Holy Bible' album (I kid you not). Charlie rattles off famous women who were worthy of being called heroines for sure in a short sharp burst that cuts the mustard in less than two minutes.

Alvin takes the mic for 'Disclosure' and what a fine tune it is. On the first few plays it's certainly contender for the stand out track on the album as there's something about the melody and I always love hearing Charlie's harmonica playing. The song carries a super cool rhythm that builds towards a really decent chorus.

'Dope Fiend' follows 'Tokyo Rose' (from 'Work In Progress') and has a power pop riff and those gang vocals are most welcome.

The middle section of the album is certainly a diverse beast and 'I Don't Care' offers something left of centre, as well as the melody the lyrics are spot on - it's instant and about as easy listening as the Subs are gonna get. Not easy in a pop way but instant and straight forward. Next up is 'Master Race' and whilst the main body of the song is alright it's the outro that will raise a few eyebrows as the Subs go full on '70s pop tastic, folks, with some brilliant shamalamadingdong!

The next couple hurtle along nicely with 'This Machine' going at it harder than 1000 Metallica records could ever muster. There is an elephant in the room as the Subs go all roots reggae on us and, you know what, it's an amazing song. 'The City Of The Damned' is about as good as your Rancids get when they do the white boy reggae and to be fair the arrangement is excellent as they don't over do it with a whole horn ensemble they keep it real with some very nice layers of acoustic guitar. Quite Brilliant!