You can’t help being intrigued when a band describes themselves as folk punk, as that’s not a crossover you’d expect to see anywhere. It really does work though. What’s more, it injects something different into the punk genre giving it new life.

From the opening track ’Greedy Bones’ its intentions are quite clear right from the off. All of the songs on the album are short and punchy, with the longest coming in at a little over 4 minutes, and each carrying its own inherent message.

The best thing about the music, though, is that it’s infectious. Before you even realise it, the music has got under your skin and is already coursing through you, and before long you’re dancing along, being controlled like a marionette by some unseen force.

Ducking Punches are really quite unique in their sound and style, and this album shows quite a bit of diversity in their interpretation of the punk genre. The slower songs are stripped-back and really emphasise the vocals, and the louder tunes are full-on rockers that absolutely take no prisoners.

I personally came across this band last year whilst attending a local music festival, and their live show blew me away. They’re energetic and have that punk attitude. I was interested to see how that translated to the album, and I’m glad to say that it does indeed come through, although of course nothing is going to compete with the live experience. I will absolutely go out on a limb here and state quite categorically that although we’re only in March, ’Fizzy Brain’ will be in my top five albums of the year because I seriously doubt that much else this year is going to be anywhere near as good as this. This is pretty much as good as it gets!

5/5

‘Fizzy Brain’ by Ducking Punches is released on 4th March on Xtra Mile Recordings.

Ducking Punches links: Facebook|Twitter|Bandcamp

Words by Jon Seymour (@JonoSeymour)