Single Review: Thirteen – Spirit Of Resistance EP

Thirteen are a trio from Falkirk, Scotland who play punk ‘n roll, which of course means fast raw songs with a foundation in ’77 era punk rock, which are played with a large dose of eightie’s American sleaze and socio-political lyrics thrown in for good measure. The trio, who have a hefty pedigree between them with over twenty years on the scene, formed Thirteen in 2014 and released the Spirit Of Resistance EP at the tail end of last year, it’s an EP that bridges the gap nicely as they are currently working on their as yet untitled sophomore album that will follow up on their self financed 2016 debut, A Line Of The Dead On Deadline Day.

 

We Will Overcome opens the EP with a distorted bass rattle before everything kicks into overdrive on this DIY anthem for political dissidence, after this we get a full tilt blast of punk rock in the short sharp form of I Am You that manages to cram everything you could ever want from a punk song into less than two minutes. The stunning Marching With The Pigs hits you with a dark thundering numbering that sounds like it’s been recorded whilst the law were hammering at the studio door, the intensity carries over into the EP’s title track and vintage punk rock of Tattered Sleeve. The Day The Killing Stops brings the Spirit Of Resistance to a close returns to the brooding angry defiant punk rock that has characterised my favourite moments from the Spirit Of Resistance.

 

Whilst we were a bit late to the party with the Spirit Of Resistance EP I’m glad we got here, as Thirteen carry the same kind of genuine political motivation as the likes of DOA, Anti-Flag and the Angelic Upstarts. Thirteen have captured the essence of the spirit of the original punk rock and have sharpened it into a six track EP of political defiance, in short this is exactly how DIY political punk rock should be done and it marks them out as a band I hope to catch when they head south into England later this year.

 

The Spirit Of Resistance EP can be streamed and downloaded via Bandcamp here

 

Thirteen‘s Facebook page can be found here