The Filaments are one of those bands that pretty much everyone has encountered at one time or another, either supporting legends like The Casualties or The Business, or simply doing the rounds on the toilet circuit along like every other punk band. With this in mind it’s easy to marginalise them – after all, who’s interested in another rough street/ska punk band who are about as MTV-friendly as genocide? The most pleasing aspect of all this is that the Essex sextet has come up with one of the best albums I’ve heard so far this year, slipping neatly under the radar to take pride of place on Household Name’s already-prestigious roster.
Choosing to steer clear of an album characterised by homogeneity, ‘…What’s Next’s strengths lie in its unwillingness to settle down into one particular subgenre. ‘Men Of The Law’ is a blisteringly energetic ska-punk number that sits perfectly between the rawness of the huge chorus and the slick horn lines that catapult the track from a fairly enjoyable shout-a-long to an indispensable anthem. It’s closest in tone to ‘Victims’ (one of the highlights of their storming Glastonbury set) which burns with acidic anger and seethes with passion as it combines scratchy street punk and that inimitable gang vocal style that has no effect but to make you raise your pint in homage to a band sticking to their principles and getting it resoundingly right.
‘Life’s Not A Privilege’ is fantastically catchy without being predictable or hackneyed, as Pete Hudson and Iain McKaye’s horn section elevate the track above the sum of its parts, knowing when to take the lead and when to dissolve smoothly into a solid guitar solo. The relentless ‘Mafia’ sounds like Minor Threat after a few cans as it barrels through its simple-yet-effective structure that’s not going to win any awards but will be sure to whip any willing crowd into a ridiculous frenzy. That’s where The Filaments really come into their own because I’m sure they’d be the first to admit that they’re hardly the most cerebral of bands, but they know exactly how to wring the last drops of energy and melody out of a tune meaning that they’re an incredibly exciting band to listen to. Take ‘Sick Joke’ as an example; it’s a fairly standard punk song but one that refuses to stick to the template too closely as the verse and chorus bounce off each other, throwing in elements of bluesy-rock and even a hint of psychobilly too.
Even with the dubby experiment of, well, ‘Dub’ and the rockabilly stomp of ‘Zombie Jail Break’, ‘…What’s Next’ still feels like a remarkably coherent album. Maybe it’s Jon Fawkes’ scratchy vocals tying everything together or maybe it’s the fact that The Filaments are a solid band with a hell of a lot of good ideas. With their obvious abilities in crafting raw punk anthems which actually say something important, they have positioned themselves at a place where they could step out of the background and into their deserved status as one of this country’s strongest bands.
Ben
www.thefilaments.com
www.householdnamerecords.co.uk