No Shame

White Of Hope Turning Black

Written by: PP on 12/02/2007 14:30:13

There's a reason why No Shame are regarded as one of the better punk bands to have emerged from Finland in the last decade or so. One part of it is their relentless touring habits, but a much bigger one is their ability to write good, honest punk hardcore with a mid-90s hardcore mindset. Their latest effort "White Of Hope Turning Black" has those characteristic, chunky bass lines delivered at great speeds that you grew used to on the mid-90s NOFX records, the early Rise Against reminiscent guitar-driven energetic underground punk sounds, and the happy-hardcore style gang-shout support during many choruses you may recall from many Bad Religion records.

It's interesting to see how many influences you are able to hear on the album. "Distortion" is delivered with the kind of aggression you haven't heard since the glory times of Shai Hulud, "Armageddon Now" comes off as a happy punk hardcore song in the vein of The Lawrence Arms, whereas the slightly more negative tone of "Nothing Left To Believe" brings early Rise Against to mind.

The vocals in general dwell between the clean and the scratched just like the guitar distortion, consequently resulting in 'that 90s hardcore sound' that many of us grew to love so dearly. "'bout Control" is a fast track straight from "Ribbed" era NOFX with a touch of old No Use For A Name melody integrated, whereas "Down&OutOfOrder" is an obvious glorification of the work Anti-Flag has done for punk rock in the last decade. Both tracks benefit from the slightly raw production, which has left the edges on the guitars intact, the scratches on the vocals in the right places and the bass fretting audible - just the way it should be in punk hardcore revivalist efforts like this.

So where does it fall apart, if anywhere? By itself, "White Of Hope Turning Black" is an enjoyable reminder of the good old times when punk rock was the trendy genre. But while tracks like "Swizerland" and "Boredomline" are catchy and memorable, they're never as infectious as "21st Century Digital Boy" for example, as made famous by Bad Religion almost two decades ago. This coupled with the recent rise in the even more rawly produced punk hardcore revivalist records (Sinking Ships, The First Step, Shook Ones...) causes No Shame sound awfully outdated in comparison. But with that being said, this is a must try for the fans of the aforementioned fans as well as the heavyweights in punk rock.

6

Download: Distortion, Boredomline, Armageddon Now
For the fans of: Bad Religion, NOFX, Sinking Ships, Rise Against
Listen: Stream tracks by pressing the play button on their website

Release date 10.01.2007
Fullsteam Records
Provided by Fullsteam Records

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