Fast Blood – Sunny Blunts

Now, have I ever seen Fast Blood live, no, have I heard their music before, yes, do they hail from my part of the world, yes! So now I feel rightly pissed off, I’ve got the new album from a band that have somehow evaded me seeing them live, come on they’re local, it’s gotta happen hasn’t it? Even before you read this review, I’m gonna throw in a spoiler, “it’s fucking great like!!” As soon as I heard the album title, it sent me scuttling to google maps to confirm what I thought, Sunny Blunts is a road right next to a piece of local brutalist architecture called the Apollo Pavilion in Peterlee North East England designed by Victor Pasmore, and the artwork shows some landmarks I know so well (Seaton Carew is in their press for gods sake), what’s not to like?

Anyway, now I’ve got all the big up our North East of England stuff out of the way, is the album worth of the tag “It’s fucking great go buy it now!”, of course it is. This old school punk isn’t gonna spout off about an album being seminal and not mean it, whether or not its gonna sow the seeds of greatness to everyone’s ears is why choice exists, but take a listen and tell me I’m wrong, I dare you. ‘Sexual Healing’ opens the book and if you watch the video, you will hopefully see it for what it is, empowerment, that’s what it sings to me, female empowerment that is, and what a track it is too. A powerhouse of punk aggression thats channeled into all the right places, a Black Flag kind of delivery, which isn’t by chance, but I’d love for you to go read up and understand, rather than spoil the euphoria of this write up by giving lectures and shit.

Throughout this bands shortish life, they have always had that a kind of Washington DC meets West Coast hardcore, a strong affinity for riffs and hooks, with huge dollop of self worth musically, that puts them in a place all of their own for me, this album rubber stamps all of this. Take ‘Salvation’ and ‘Small Town’ both with an almost sounding like…?…. and kinda having the same feel musically as…?…. but in reality this is music and vocal individuality. The latter is a song that has a sense of being that only those living in small communities might fully understand, where the narrow-mindedness that can live anywhere is magnified exponentially. This is conveyed by a full on no fucks given lyrical, vocal, musical attack on the senses. Suffice to say the rest of the songs you will hear are just as visceral in nature and without doubt lack nothing when it comes to riffs, hooks, melody, angst and vocal gymnastics of the punk kind. 

Now I’ve bored you to hell, which in comparison is totally the opposite to what this album is gonna do for you, I’ll do what probably should be done with an album this good, shut the hell up and send you off to pre-order it.

Sunny Blunts is due out on May 3rd Via Sangre Rapida Records.

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