Retarded – Same As The First

Voghera, Italy’s Retarded have returned with their brand new full length, Same As The First, which, just in case you hadn’t guessed, takes its cue from the Ramones and is now available via Ammonia Records and Striped Records. This is the band’s first new album in almost eight long years and signals a move away from the glam infusion that was present on the band’s last album, 2016’s Goes Louder, and goes back to their roots with fourteen tracks of full tilt four on the floor no frills punk rock.

Many of the same tropes that will be familiar to Ramones fans everywhere are present and correct, looking at the opening duo of Rock ‘N Roll Tonight and I Follow My Pride you could be forgiven for thinking that you have purchased a badly spelled Ramones compilation. As with their obvious influence the majority of tracks are sub three minute rockers, only two tracks (Funny Face & Driving In The Sun) break the three minute barrier, but not to worry, these are in the same mold as the other dozen cuts on offer on this 35 minute blast that carries the battered sneaker print of one of the most influential punk bands of all time.

On Same As The First you have probably guessed that there is nothing groundbreaking on offer, but that isn’t what Retarded are about and sometimes you don’t want your world shaken to it’s core. To put this another way, when you order a drink you can order an elaborate cocktail, but once you’ve removed the fruit, umbrellas and other paraphernalia what you have is a diluted sickly mess that leaves you wishing that you’d just ordered an old favourite served up straight, and that’s what you get with Same As The First. Altogether now, 1234….