I didn’t think I was going to like this all that much, not being a particular fan of street punk and all, but hey, life is full of surprises and in short bursts I found this record to be a pretty good listen. The Boils are pretty well known within this type of music and the Philadelphia natives, who have previously toured with The Casualties and Oxymoron, will continue to build on their reputation with this release. ‘World Poison’ is 16-tracks of abrasive, in-yer-face attitude and will certainly appeal to people who enjoy the rougher side of Rancid or other bands on the Hellcat roster. ‘Assassin’ and the album’s title track kick things off in pretty fine fashion as the guitars snarl and the drums kick. The vocals are pretty impressive throughout too, mixing a more skate-punk melodic vocal (they reminded me of Ten Foot Pole vocally at times) with a more vicious ‘oi’ style.
‘Moral Crusaders’ and ‘Secret War’ are vicious too, although over the course of the 16 tracks this album does seem to drag its feet a bit. As I previously mentioned, The Boils don’t really play music that I’m particularly keen on, but I did find this pretty palatable. It is a bit on the long side and the tracks don’t vary too much, but then as a genre of music you don’t expect bands of this ilk to whip out a violin or suddenly start wailing about a broken heart while throwing their mop-haircuts across the stage. The Boils are your typical street-punk band, and a pretty good one at that, so if you’re a fan of the genre I’d recommend that you give this a whirl at the very least.
Thorp Records
Paul