RAC & Oi!

Tidy slice of Oi! if I’ve ever heard one. Great, snotty punk with lots of attitude and heaps of energy. 84 has that production sound of an early demo rather than a full length but come on now, it’s punk we’re talking about so we can let it slide. I can’t speak a fucking word of French so can’t comment too much on songwriting but it sounds class and that’s all that matters.

Walks the line between bad and acceptable, if I’m being brutally honest. There are moments of inspiration but the album is overly long, with bog-standard production and songs that are nowhere near interesting enough to justify their runtimes. Closing track “Katyn” is terrible, leaving a bad taste in the mouth.

Solid bit of skinhead/oi music from the 80s. Production is a bit muffled but its not too much of a hindrance to these otherwise energetic and engaging songs. These guys know how to write a catchy tune and how to drive it home.

Not a patch on Longbow III. Raw as fuck, and with an interest concept in the crossover of themes from both oi and black metal, but not really all that great in execution.

Not much going on here. Not awful but absolutely zero flare or individuality.

Fukken dirty ass HM2 blackened punk that sounds like it was recorded in Fritzl’s basement. I would highly recommend it to everyone, from my neighbour to my gran.

A strange mix of tracks from Combat 84. Comes across more like earlier Discharge than it does anything more Oi-related. Couple that with half of this being live tracks, and it’s hard to not feel underwhelmed by the first C84 “full length”. Once you’ve gotten over that, what’s here is actually pretty good.

Short, sharp shock! Songs about capital punishment and Barry Prudom (like, what?) make this short 3-track a bit more of an eyebrow raiser more than anything, but damn this shit hits hard. Combat 84 had this knack of bringing such ferocity to quick, catchy songs. Good shit.

Great collection of tunes on one short EP, which hits the mark with both the energy as well as the catchiness of the songs. Production is nice and clear. The drums really pack a punch. Every song is a banger but “Skinhead” and “Violence” are the standout songs IMO.

2.5 stars for rudimentary ability to play and construct basic rock songs, which, honestly, the production kinda saves. The bass pops through the mix nicely and in a strange reoccurrence with RAC bands, the drumming is surprisingly tight. It’s just a shame that the vocalist sounds like as if Danzig’s neck got so fat that he was permanently swollen up like a bullfrog. Not great.