Still Defiant - Demo

Oi! The Nische Records

 

Featuring Lars of Shaven Heads, Buzz Off and Larry Noseman on guitar and vocal duties, Still Defiant is an all-new German outfit, who just released their first demo-cassette on Oi! The Nische Records. A tape I greatly anticipated, simply because that scorching anthem “Mad & Mental” has been stuck in my head ever since it first appeared on YouTube, which was about three months ago! The wait nearly made me mad and mental as well, but now it finally arrived and it’s killer!

 

Now I know we still have some months left in 2019, but I can easily declare this tape as one of my favorite demo’s of the year! The sound is sublime and I absolutely love the “An Ideal For A Living”-inspired front-cover, though musically Still Defiant doesn’t show much resemblances, if any at all, to Joy Division - or Warsaw for that matter.

 

So what do these lads and lass sound like? It’s hard to pin down. I don’t want to claim that they do anything new - which is nearly impossible with 40+ years of punk behind us, yet the Germans sound extremely refreshing and vibrant with its excellent melodies, the driving force of that aggressive rhythm section, the brilliant guitar-sounds (like in “Shame On You”) and killer vocals! Delivering hit after hit with “Mad & Mental”, “Shame On You”, “Your Day Will Come”, “Total SurViolence” and “Instrumental”, you might hear some The Templars, you might hear some Cock SParrer and you might hear some Blitz, but you’ll hear some superb anthems above all!

 

Oi! The Nische Records duplicated 200 copies of this cassette and it comes with a nice, hand-numbered fold-out sleeve - though it (unfortunately) doesn’t contain any of the lyrics. Just make sure they get printed on the insert of the 7”-version though! Not that I am aware of a release on vinyl, but it most definitely should be released on wax! Brilliant demo!