Jodie Faster
Blame Yourself
**** out of *****
The cleverly named Jodie Faster has a tag line on their Facebook page: "Playing short songs fast since 2016" and they ain't lying. With the release of their newest full length Blame Yourself they can confidently add "damn good" in front of "songs" on that tag line.
The whole record is seventeen tracks and the album run time is just about seventeen minutes as the group explodes through each number with steamrolling energy and dynamic aggression. The hardcore punk four piece from Lille, France burn with intensity as they slam home sing along parts, blistering drums, parapet scaling guitars and a thundering bass foundation.
A track like the shotgun discharge "We All Bleed Red" is an excellent standout, kicking off at furious speed before a slower break down and a bass run to jump back up the supersonic finale while vocally lashing out at the institutional power structure...all in a dense minute twenty seven. While the vocals are screamed and a bit low in the mix at times, the attachment of the written lyrics allow for the message to come through; the bands passion needs no translation.
Each song pumps and the group never lets the tempo lack for a second. Opener "Still Not Loving the Police" is self explanatory, "JDS" is furious while "Did Not Vote" and "Push the Button" call for revolution and complete annihilation respectfully around pounding drums, tempo changes and punk guitars. The blast beats of "Be Nice Or Go To Hell" are ear drum bursting while "Gloucester's Finest" is a personal shout out to hosts/friends/supporters on the punk scene that ends with some excellent distorted bass.
The outfit can at times shift gears by successfully splashing on more poppy punk tendencies such as on "Grab & Go" or the melodic strums of their Youth Avoiders cover "Grit Your Teeth" but the core of Blame Yourself is the blasting ahead fury of the rumbling "Don't Take It Bad" and the title track which manages to deliver dynamic shifts at just under a minute.
The album closer "Tempus Fugit" hints at more to be offered by the band as they stretch out (for them, two and a half minutes) with a melodic guitar solo and drawn out pacing, successfully proving the band can do more than just slam ragingly.
Hardcore punk works best in smaller bursts as the primal energy becomes whirling, like a hyper kinetic ball of energy which can only be contained for so long. Blame Yourself pushes those forces violently through the speakers as Jodie Faster delivers a dynamite dose of pit filling tunes.
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Reason #1,298 RtBE loves bandcamp. We randomly found this one afternoon and love it. Support the band, buy the record, stream the album on bandcamp or below and peep some video:
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