The Bois - The Pride Of Lion City

Insurgence Records / Aggrobeat

 

The Bois hail from Adelphi, Singapore and have been around since 2001. Two years after the band established their first release and debut full-length “Cream Of ...The Crops” was released by, the now defunct label, Clockwork Records. A company, alongside Subculture Records, that gave a voice to mainly Malaysian Oi! and punk bands. I actually have quite some cassettes and CD’s released by Clockwork Records such as the Corumn 80’s, The Blades, Nosurvivors, The Maniacs, The Official and A.C.A.B., but for some reason I missed out on The Bois.

Now Insurgence Records and Aggrobeat provide me with a second (or should I say third) chance in the form of “The Pride Of Lion City”, a double CD that contains both The Bois’ debut album “Cream Of The Crops” (2003) as their rare sophomore album “New Generation” (2004). Clockwork Records did the same in 2006 in their “Back To Back” series, but with hardly any exposure across the Malaysian border this releases was the end of the series as well as the end of the label four releases further and two years later.

Disk one contains, surprise, their first album “Cream Of The Crops” that despite being eleven years already stood the test of time. Perhaps also due to the fact that the album (as well as “New Generation”) got completely remastered, but these guys already knew back then how to get their Oi! on. The album contains a total of twelve tracks, including a cover of The Business’ “Real Enemy”, in that typical old school English Oi! style like bands such as The Opressed, Cock Sparrer or Malaysian classics such as early A.C.A.B. or The Official.

Disc two, that contains “New Generation”, originally was censored by the label from its cusswords and even resulted in leaving out the track “Die Troopers”. For this release the band restored the original recordings and the mentioned track saw the light of day for the first time on a release in its original form. Musically “New Generation” is still very much influenced by early British Oi!, but the songs are very well thought, got tons of great guitar work and got a longer running time with an average of over four minutes for each song. The Bois proof long songs don’t get boring if they are well played and thought out on “New Generation”.

“The Pride Of Lion City” comes in a nice, that could have easily been used for video games, case, a poster that features the bands history and a carton slipcase to complete the package. If you haven’t been introduced to The Bois before, this seems like a good start for a nice price!