Counterculture is the latest album by Ruts DC one of the most legendary bands to have emerged from the original Punk movement.
They have survived original members dying and the slings and arrows thrown there way, to become a legendary live act always worth seeing, as this years shows proved once more, I am sorry I wasn't well enough to see the recent London show, but the set they played at Rebellion this year was as full of bile and hatred of the state our world is in and they went down a storm like always. That bile is reflected throughout the current album Counterculture as they current band of Segs, Ruffy and Heggarty continue to soundtrack strife in our times, as they always have.
The album opens with Faces In The Sky a dark bass laden punk rant about the web of deceit and lies we are all living within, this rages against the injustices of our times, as far too many sheeple fail to see how far down the rabbit hole we really are. The guitar solo is the immense backbone for the rants to spew off at us, as we all need to wake up, rise up bring about positive change.
Caught In The Kill Zone has a rock solid beat, as they talk about how the killing zone has expanded, it isn't just on the war torn streets of Syria and Iraq, but global in these pandemic infested times, as they cry for all we have lost, as we all try not to get Caught In The Killing Zone even when it's our home town.
X Ray Joy has them singing out with joy on getting the right result from an X Ray, most of us have been there, but then this twists the pain and suffering that led to that X Ray Joy in the first place, the seeking of solutions and cures for our society's ills, with the heavy dub beat joined by rapier guitars with a catchy as covid tune.
The Question Is how you find the truth in an era of lies and distortions, displacement theory at it's core, as they wonder exactly how you can be Counter Culture rebels, in the age of Policemen with tattoo's and piercings, et al.
Born Innocent is the dubbiest song on the album as Segs sings of mind control and the suffering we are under, where you could actually believe the rubbish our so-called leaders spout, as we approach the judgement day, we have all lost our innocence, needing to be lifted up by tunes with elements stolen from Rockers era Augustus Pablo once more, but at least Ruts DC add so many other layers to it to make it fresh.
Counterculture asks exactly what happened to what we knew as the Counterculture this is fast furious, questioning everything, never being happy, with how the alternative got subsumed and destroyed by the mainstream, making rebellion all the harder, as we figure out how to effect real positive change, not allowing the mainstream establishment to bring through chimeric change, that is not change at all.
Too Much is slow thought provoking, taking them back to more Rocksteady times, to the people that gave them inspiration back in the day, as they really wish they could get those people back again.
This is subsumed by modern fears engulfing them.
Poison Games are at the heart of the machine, they spew the poison at us all the time, this takes us deep into the malaise, intoxicating guitars and Ruffy's rock-solid bedrock drumming, as sparse as can be, as they question how free we really are, certainly a bit freer than those suffering in the Ukraine and Russia or Iran but still not really free, as they play those Poison Games.
Sleep is the bands lullaby for a gun crazed world, wherein you think owning a gun makes you safer, more secure, when normally the opposite is sadly true, slow thoughtfully awaiting judgement, with no absolution in sight only more pain and terror, what will we do.
Cyclone is slow guitar provocation, as they tell us to rise again, bring about real change, although figuring out how that might be done now, is harder than ever, but join up and work with Ruts DC to bring about a better world.
Pretty Lunatics swipes at the Lunatics running the asylum we call modern life, this has a hazy psychedelic feel to the music, as they ask us all to stand tall, not succumb to the bullshit that everything is all right, our government isn't corrupt to it's very core. Don't be afraid to speak out, always tell the truth. Nothing they hate more than someone who doesn't lie all the time. A great way to end a tense taut look at the modern malaise by a band who are still every bit as vital as they've been for the last 45 years or so.
Find Out more at https://rutsdc.com/ https://www.facebook.com/theruts
