The Old Firm Casuals - This Means War
Oi! The Boat Records/Randale Records (cover on the left is a mash up of both covers)
Reviewing a record of The Old Firm Casuals on this website, it’s not the question of if it will cause another shit storm on this page, but more a matter of how hard the shit is going to hit the fan this time. All I can ask is, boys… girls… grow the hell up! You sound like a total tool insulting someone, yes I am talking about Lars Frederiksen, who has been active in the punk scene for over 25 years while you barely can count the years you have been ‘supporting’ Oi! and punk bands and labels on your two hands (now I am being prejudice, but you get my point). You may dislike the music (to each his own), but give the man credit and respect where credit and respect is due. Okay, enough… Let’s talk music!
Because, this is going to sound crazy, after six 7” EP’s, six split 7” EP’s, three four-way split records, the “For The Love Of It All…” compilation CD and LP that contains a whole bunch of these releases and various appearances on other compilation albums it is, finally, time for The Old Firm Casual’s debut album… entitled; “This Means War”!
To be honest, I never thought I would see a full-length record being released by The Old Firm Casuals, and that they would just deliver an endless supply of 45’s and I thought that was cool (and with all new and exclusive songs not ‘money grubbing’ as some of you want ‘us’ to believe), but now I got “This Means War” in my hand (digitally, not literally)with twelve brand new songs, of which the two football anthems “Perry Boys” (early subculture prior to the now known and used term football casuals, formed in and around Manchester City, UK dressed up in, you might have guessed, Fred Perry gear) and “Never Say Die” (an anthem for the MLS football club San Jose Earthquakes). Though not my team, I love songs about football and football culture, and these two tracks are no exception.
After the instrumental intro “Langskib” (Danish for longship, and with a title like that I would have loved to have this ‘song’ to have lyrics as well) you get nine more tracks you haven’t heard yet, but you really should. As the title of the record might suggest, war is main theme of this album and can be interpreted in more than one way. The Old Firm Casuals are at war with the shit talkers (“This Means War”), politicians (“Election Day”), pedophiles, religious radicalisms, the cooperated giants, rapists (“Off With Their Heads”) and that is just the A side of the record! Because when you flip it over you have songs like “Apocalypse Redux”, “Dear Leader”, “On Wolves Of War” and “Victory” that pretty much speak for themselves. The only song that doesn’t involve any form of any violence is the track “Needle On The Record”, a song about listening to your favorite records, having a drink while doing so and forgetting about everything else in the world for a minute or three, until the “Bombs blast, the house begins to fall…” the opening line of the following song “Apocalypse Redux”.
The song that struck me the most though is “Eternal City”. It’s a clean, very calm song and the despair lyrics give me goose bumps. This isn’t Oi! music, this isn’t punk music, this is music that chills me to the bone, amazing…
All I can say is, if you are a fan of The Old Firm Casuals, Lars Frederiksen And The Bastards or Rancid, you want this. If you are a fan of excellent streetpunk and Oi! music, you want this. And if you are a hater, you will probably keep on hating. All I say is, don’t be too proud or don’t be too stubborn to give this record a try, this is truly an amazing record. And if you remain too proud or stubborn, oh well… at least the rest of us are enjoying one of the better streetpunk albums that will hit the streets this year. Thank you.
