Antillectual – Engage!

  • Phinky posted
  • Reviews

Antillectual

Engage! - Bird Attack Records / Redfield Records / Waterslide Records / Fusa Records

Antillectual, who are from Nijmegen in the Netherlands, are a trio that play a socially conscious and energetic blend of punk music, they are a band that wear their influences proudly on their collective sleeves. By creating their own unique blend of stolen riffs and borrowed song titles, Antillectual have created an album that is a hybrid of the finer elements of the last few decades of punk rock. The opening number, Priest Without A Religion, starts with an 80s rock feel, gentle guitars and swirling keyboards abound, but thankfully this is a red herring as at about the minute mark the punk assault kicks in, and from that point forward this is a unrelenting blast of punk energy and melodic hardcore.

What’s clear before you’ve even played a single track is that there is a keen sense of humour present alongside the politically sussed lyrics, titles such as, Europe, This Is Your Final Countown, Appetite For Construction and Obsessive Cosmetic Disorder show an awareness of the past that Antillectual have recycled for the own aims. This is also applicable to their music as well, as their are distinct similarities to the punk bands that came before them. Vocally they are channelling Bad Religion, musically there are two many influences to number, but this is an amalgamation that definately evokes the spirits of previous punk rock glories. That’s not to say that this album is in anyway copying other bands, it is heavy influenced by American punk bands but it has a character all of it’s of its own

Antillectual are carrying the torch for European punk rock far beyond the borders and boundaries of their own country. They aren’t shy about acknowledging their influences, whilst this doesn’t quite hit the heights of the bands that informed their sound, it is a damn fine slab of American style punk rock that is played with a European twist. In addition to their obvious influences they’ve even recruited a few members of some of those bands to make an appearance on Engage! Strike Anywhere‘s Thomas Barnett and BoySetsFire‘s Nathan Gray both make welcome guest appearances on this album. If you have a love of the likes of Bad Religion, Against Me! and Anti-Flag then you will want to investigate Engage!

Engage! is being released worldwide on July 29th through Bird Attack Records (US), Redfield Records (Europe), Waterslide Records (Asia) and Fusa Records (South America).

You can order Engage! direct from Antillectual here