Petrol Girls

Talk of Violence

Written by: LF on 28/04/2017 16:37:39

The British post-hardcore group Petrol Girls take their name from a French group of women, Pétroleuses, who allegedly burned down a good part of the city during the last days of the Paris Commune in May 1871 only to spite the government. They also played their first show at a house party hosted by the band's vocalist Ren Aldridge to celebrate International Women’s Day and as you may have gathered already, their songs are intensely political as well as feminist.

The allusions to fiercely burning things to the ground in an anarchistic spirit fit perfectly as a metaphoric description of their raging music. Aldridge screams her way through the strong messages with uncompromising fervor while the music bangs away behind her. The songs deal with issues of mental health, immigration and not least feminism that are all in the end connected through the rallying chorus of "I'm feeling disobedient! / We will disturb the false peace!" that sets the stage for the record in "False Peace" after having broken out of a sound clip of a demonstration.

The music is catchy and guitar-heavy as it goes from fast drumming and hardcore riffage to slower, noodling passages that are even beautiful to listen to in kind of the same way that a fire can be beautiful to look at despite its destroying everything it comes into contact with. The ferocious "Touch Me Again" that deals with the right to one's own body and mind stands out as the most contrast-filled example of this, and will quickly have you rocking along to its infectious beat and riffs before its strong ending where Aldridge continues yelling out a capella.

Accompanying all these strongly articulated opinions, the melodiousness and softness of the underlying music can be almost surprising from time to time, for instance in "Harpy", but it makes the record fairly nuanced while it also has a clear red thread running through it. A song like "Phallocentric" brings in a more experimental rhythm and is a great example of how some of their most interesting songs are always moving forward and rarely stay with the same riff for too long at a time.

The album proves that Petrol Girls are more than "just" the messages they promote, making noisy post-hardcore that's both filled to the brim with energy and fun to listen to as well as purposefully driven forward by the feminist agenda.

Download: Touch Me Again, False Peace, Harpy, Phallocentric
For The Fans Of: Not On Tour, RVIVR, Muncie Girls, Meat Wave, War on Women
Listen: facebook.com/Petrolgirls

Release date 18.11.2016
Bomber Music

Related Items | How we score?
Comments
comments powered by Disqus

Legal

© Copyright MMXXIV Rockfreaks.net.