Agnostic Front – Get Loud! (Nuclear Blast)

In the thirty three years since I first bumped heads with, and was floored by, Agnostic Front, they have never let me down. They have consistently released bruising, direct records and even though some have been better than others, there’s never been a bad Agnostic Front record. Hell, I don’t think they even know how to write a bad song.

 Live, they’re a force to be reckoned with and run rings around most of the bands half their age. They’ve probably forgotten more about playing shows than most bands will ever learn and could, and probably should, write some sort of HC textbook that every scenester with less than a decade under their belt should defer to.

Plus, you know, Roger (Miret) and Vinnie(Stigma) have been doing things the Agnostic Front way longer than ninety percent of the Hardcore scene have been alive. When these guys talk, I listen and whenever Agnostic Front release a new record I drop whatever the heck it is that I’m doing, and I listen and listen and listen again.  Then I listen again, because they’re Agnostic Front and they’ve never released a bad record.

I don’t know what I was expecting this time around. I mean, I know I was expecting Get Loud! to be good, but I wasn’t expecting it to be anywhere near as incredible as it actually is. Whatever it is that’s ignited the fire in their collective Hardcore soul, should be available on prescription for everyone, everywhere, regardless of age because it’s kick-started something in these guys that hasn’t been a part of their sound since One Voice. Talking of One Voice, that’s the record that immediately comes to mind when listening to Get Loud!, that and Liberty and Justice For… . Soundwise, it sits comfortably between both of the aforementioned albums, and it’s everything that an old school New York Hardcore, and an  Agnostic Front, record should, could and can be.

Everything about Get Loud!, from the Sean Taggart cover art, to the urgent, plaintive lyrics that harken back to the themes of unity, friendship, family the scene and more and the fast, energetic, insanely catchy breakdowns, mosh rhythms and blazing anthems that are Agnostic Front calling cards, they’re all present and correct and in plentiful abundance on Get Loud!.  This record is everything I wanted it to, and hoped it would, be and so much more. There’s a reason Agnostic Front are known as the Godfathers of Hardcore. And this is it…  Tim Cundle

There’s no doubt, these are awful times we are living in right now. We have ego maniacs in power, the far right has found its voice once more and the poor continue to get poorer. Thankfully though it’s 2019 and New York Hardcore legends Agnostic Front are still putting out new music-music which gives a voice to the working class, music that reminds us that we need to keep fighting. A call to arms if you will. It’s what they’ve always done and I dare say they will to continue to do until their last breath.

Get Loud is no different in that respect. From the opening bars of Spray Painted Walls it’s clear that this going be something as bit special. It’s Agnostic Front at their very best. Fast old school hardcore with groove and angry Roger Miret spitting venom. Anti Social could slide its way onto Victim In Pain and nobody would bat an eyelid. Oh yes this is proper hardcore. A menacing bass line heralds the intro of the album title track, a mid pace track to bust a two-step to while I Remember is an oi love song of sorts that sees Miret and Stigma reminiscing about the old days.

 Riff of the year goes out to the awesome AF Stomp. No lyrics needed here, this is just pure indulgence and one for the mosh pit. It’s back to classic AF as Roger delivers the code of the streets on Snitches Get Stitches. I feel the need to shout out Pokey Mo’s drum skills here. He delivers double bass drum just when it’s needed, to great effect and without over indulgence, which is an art from all of its own.

The pummelling Devastated rounds off what can only be described as an absolutely faultless chunk of hardcore, that can hold its own with any of the their classic albums. It’s that damn good. To round off that classic AF feel they’ve also roped in artist Sean Taggart, the man responsible for the artwork to 1986’s Cause For Alarm to handle the artwork, giving the whole package an air of familiarity. As I said these are awful times, but with Agnostic Front in this form at your side, anything’s possible… Chris Andrews

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