I’m pretty sure that Dick Lucas is mostly known and appreciated as frontman of Subhumans, but my first exposure to his world was the incredible Onwards And Upwards album by Culture Shock, a record which I can still almost sing along to word for word to this day. In the last couple of years I noticed their name creeping back onto the bill at Rebellion, and finally here is a brand new album. Their sound has always been a fusion of reggae, ska and dub, with a decent handful of spiky punk thrown in.

The new album stays true to the recipe, spilling over into more trad anarcho punk here and there such as in the tremendous War Is Peace which builds up to a raging finale. The songs are instantly recognisable as Culture Shock – they sound modern and vibrant but true to the original sound. Of course Dick Lucas will always have a message to get across and he takes a range of topics in his sights on Mandemic. As always, an album for listening and thinking. Tom Chapman