Rude Pride / Lazy Class - Split EP
Contra Records
When it comes down to split releases, the second half of 2019 looks like a busy time for Contra Records so far! In no particular order the Germans released split EP’s by Broken Heroes and The Detained, Vis Vires and Kaleko Urdangak, The Prowlers and Thunder And Glory and Brutal Bravo and The Lads - a solid list indeed! The split storm already kicked off during the summer though, with Rude Pride and Lazy Class sharing one catalog number in Contra’s extensive discography!
Now Rude Pride from Madrid, Spain are no strangers to releasing split EP’s. The band’s first split dates back to 2017 (with Seaside Rebels), while more recently the band also cranked out split releases with The Prowlers and even a four-way split with Noi!se, Crim and Antagonizers ATL. Just like those previous releases, the two tracks on this slab of wax are exclusively for this slab of wax and once again the Madrileños deliver some catchy streetpunk with the all new song “Try To Justify”! It’s up-tempo, contains a lot of melody and overall it’s just a great track - perhaps my favorite Rude Pride track to date! For the second track both bands contributed a cover, The Blood’s “Stark Raving Normal” in Rude Pride’s case. Maybe not super original, but since it suits the Spaniards’ style perfectly an excellent pick nonetheless!
On the flipside you’ll find Lazy Class from Warsaw, Poland. This is only the band’s second split so far - the first one being with Max Cady in 2015 - but they still manage to keep themselves busy with an average of at least one release per year! As for this 7”, the Poles also came up with one new, exclusive track - “Graveyard” - and the fast pace and melody (of both the vocals and the music) of this song is honestly some of the best Lazy Class I’ve heard - excellent! But there is more, because the lads from Warsaw also deliver a cover and do this in the form of “The Ending Fight”, originally by... Tragedy - surprise! It works out perfectly though. “The Ending Fight” isn’t exactly Tragedy’s fastest, crustiest track and because of that it was easy to transform the blistering original into a melodic streetpunk anthem - simply because it already was one to begin with! Love it.
Available on black (200 copies) and clear vinyl with black and brown splatter (300 copies), all records are housed in a thick sleeve with a 3mm spine, comes with a two-sided insert and has nice artwork and a cool lay-out overall - making sure you get a good bang for your buck! Oh, for those who are wondering about that catalog number I wrote about earlier... - it’s CR309.
