Barricade – Summer In The City b/w Victory

Combate Brutal

 

What do you expect to get when members of some of your favorite Oi! bands from the West Coast – namely Vis Vires and Ultra Sect – decide to team up? That’s right, nothing less than pure dynamite! Luckily that is exactly what Perry (The Templars, Vis Vires), Anthony (The Hardknocks, Vis Vires) and Bryan (Suede Razors, Ultra Sect) deliver on Barricade’s smashing debut single for Combate Brutal!

 

And where Vis Vires and Ultra Sect are some of my favorite bands, Combate Brutal is undoubtedly one of my favorite labels around. Every release of the Portuguese label feels like a birthday present as it’s neatly packed and it sounds exactly like you hoped it would sound! Of course Barricade’s debut single is no exception as it looks fantastic (each track has its own cover artwork, it comes with a printed lyric sheet and custom inner sleeve) and sounds superb at 45 RPM!

 

Given Barricade’s line-up it obviously makes sense when the band sounds a bit like Vis Vires, or specifically in this case like Ultra Sect. I even dare to say that these tracks would have easily fitted on the latter’s latest 12” “Echoes From The Past” as well. But with that being said, this 45 most definitely does not sound like it consists out of two rejected leftovers, as both “Summer In The City” and “Victory” are two hard-scorching, powerful tracks that most definitely taste like more!

 

So hopefully more – or at least a second press of this single – will come sooner than later! Because despite that a distro copy might pop up here or there, this sold out in the twinkling of an eye – partially because collector’s obviously want both cover variants. And – looking at my two copies – I can’t blame them! Killer band! Killer label! Killer release!