Burning Flag – Matador

Burning Flag have arrived into 2021 with this their 3rd album, having spent their time as so many other bands have in 2020 writing and recording, Matador arrives like a bull in a china shop (pardon the pun), smashing its way through all the bullshit that has spewed out over the last year and in general.

The only good Matador is a dead one in my opinion, but this album makes up for its use of the name in many ways, a battle to the death that strikes at the heart a system that needs a to be gored by the bull that is Burning Flag.

At first listen, this album did make some headway into my innate hatred of shouty generic hardcore that is exactly that for the sake of it, but on second listen it did what I was hoping for, it gave up so much more, the likeness to one of my favourite album of 2020 by Brassick went a long way to helping this along.

‘Thrown Out’ is the first bomb to fall on your brain, but it does this with a gentle precursor that really scares the hell out of you, in the sense that it almost makes me hit stop, and think noooooo really hope this gets better, and it does with a vengeance.  New singer Holly, has a no nonsense powerhouse of a vocal that hits like a tsunami over your entire core, this is no better felt than in ‘Man Up’, what exactly does this mean and what place does it really have in todays world! 

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Bringing every heavy hardcore/punk/metal sound to bare in this album, you do feel that this is the culmination of the last two album, brought to its conclusion, songs that are filled with earth shattering riffs that glue that whole thing together, a sense of political purpose with the likes of ‘Broken Britain’, ‘Eat The Rich’ and ‘Toxic by Design’ cutting through the bullshit we are surrounded by.

Holly defiantly shows us all how breathing in fire and burning the words out with incendiary like venom, is a right that she alone can own, ‘Step Back’ is all I am gonna say to this back this up.   

To try and sum this whole album up, its Discharge, its Rage Against The Machine, its even Killing Joke in parts, but most of all it blows the cobwebs away from Punk Hardcore and brings it kicking and screaming into the light.

Out on April 16th via all streaming platforms and head over to the bands BANDCAMP to get your ears on this.

Vinyl to come later in the year Via Phobia Records