ALBUM REVIEW: Still No Future – Grail Guard
Amidst a mire of increasingly hostile issues worldwide, it is understandable for you to have a lot of pent up rage at what is happening around you and struggling to find an outlet for that rage. Enter Coventry punks GRAIL GUARD. Their debut album, Still No Future (a title that feels like call back to SEX PISTOLS) is able to channel that rage into an incendiary tour de force which is a joy to behold from start to finish as they navigate the anger and rage to use their voice to take aim at all that is wrong as it echoes issues that were around 50 years ago that are still sadly prevalent today.
The album itself starts at 100mph and doesn’t stop. People Just Like You channels pure fury with a maelstrom of swirling guitars and a mean drum beat to boot. It’s a grandiose way to announce their arrival as it takes inspiration from Ace 0f Spades by MOTÖRHEAD. Vocalist Riaz Rawat growls his way from start to finish in what feels like a call to arms and by the end of the first track alone, you’re ready to go into battle with GRAIL GUARD at your side and you feel unstoppable.
The anger from the first track bleeds through into the second track, Our Streets. Its a raw ball of pure anger that takes aim the right wing with Rawat drawing from experience, detailing his family history of moving to the UK in 1952 and dealing with the racist abuse and hypocrisy of those who hate others based on how they look. It’s incendiary, uncomfortable, but lights a fire in you by making you stand against bullies and reclaim the streets from them. Insomnia continues the whirlwind of sound with its mosh pit inducing guitars and pure hardcore sound. It’s almost impossible to stay still while this one plays and makes you yearn to be in a sweatbox of a room two stepping the night away.
Cruel Britannia follows suit with another wall of sound that is a pure assault on the senses. Another history lesson takes place here, this time detailing how Britain is built on colonisation and cruelty. Amidst the depressing topic, it’s an album highlight with some great vocal earworms that stick with you long after you’re done listening to this as it stokes the already large amount of shame you have from being British. It goes hand in hand with the wonderful track Still Fucked Up. It’s one of the biggest sounding tracks on the album with its monstrous riffs teaming up with the growling vocals that tackle themes of a constant trend of bad news we’ve been bombarded with constantly over the last 20 years. Any millennial listening to who has lived through what feels like many “once in a lifetime” austerity crises will understand perfectly. It ends perfectly with Rawat’s vocals in stunning form with some wonderfully screeching vocals.
Anxieties storms through next with its early GALLOWS-esque guitars feeding us some glorious hardcore punk that make you desperate to let loose to. The thought of chanting “Fuck you, you fascist scum” as you allow yourself to be swallowed by a crowd of bodies is a mouthwatering prospect. Safe Space continues this storm with a short burst of energy that is over far too quickly but still is a huge amount of fun as it packs a heart warming message that punk rock is a safe space, and when listening to GRAIL GUARD, they’re damn right it is.
As we begin our journey toward the end of the album, it is still running at 100mph but the intensity somehow ramps up with the track, Alan. It’s a somber track as it takes a look at the sickening attitude of people laughing and dehumanising those who lose their lives fleeing war and terror in search of a better life. The fire of empathy burns deep inside you on this track as you’d rather have a refugee as a neighbour than one who dehumanises those in search of a better life.
The Rotten begins Still No Future’s victory lap as a pulsating punk anthem graces your ears as the rage seeps through as it challenges the hypocrisy of governments having “money for war but can’t feed the poor”. It’s anger inducing but gives you the means to help combat these decisions and stand up for the little guy. Rats serves as the final track of the album as it gives off a bit of a metal vibe than the hardcore punk we’ve been served so far. It’s a dark and broody track with Rawat’s ever impressive vocals bordering on screamo as it brings Still No Future to a victorious end.
If there is one album you need to listen to this year so far, it is Still No Future. In a world that is becoming increasingly hard to understand and have your voice heard, GRAIL GUARD are here to help us make sense of what is happening and you can be on the right side of history. Whilst it tackles difficult themes, there is a heart warming nature to it as it genuinely feels like a safe space has been created for those who don’t feel like they have one. This debut album is one of the best you’re going to hear all year and if there’s one album to help you bash the fascists, it’s this one. Whilst the title may say Still No Future, for GRAIL GUARD that is absolutely not the case. They’re hear to lead the next great punk revolution.
Rating: 9/10
Still No Future is set for release on March 6th via TNS Records.
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