Blitz

Reviews

Blitz Second Empire Justice LP reissue

It’s funny revisiting this record so closely to Voice of a Generation, because if I hadn’t been blessed with the prior knowledge that this was by the same band, I would have bet my next paycheck that this was two very different outfits, and I’d be on the beans on toast for the next month. Stating the bleeding obvious: it doesn’t sound anything like their debut full-length, for better or for worse. Gone is the gruff bellow, in comes a skeletal and sparse croon. No more buzzsaw guitars and thunderous bass, in comes razor-sharp guitar lines and bin-lid snare. A magpie approach to the nascent post-punk scene, a JOY DIVISION riff here, an ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN riff here, and a sprinkling of the CURE and FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM here for a light seasoning of goth, it’s a strange beast. It’ll never top the debut for me, and it’s definitely an acquired taste, but perhaps you are less of a curmudgeon than me and this is the BLITZ album for you.

Blitz Voice of a Generation LP reissue

Look, I’m not here to tell you how to live your life. If you want to not eat your greens or avoid looking both ways before crossing the road, that’s on you largely, and given the natural truculence and stick-it-up-yer-bollocks mentality of the punk community, it’s likely to be met with resistance at best and open hostility most likely. That being said, if you haven’t listened to this record, I am going to tell you to go and listen to it right now. From the opening drum salvo and the first time Nidge’s guitar cuts through, it grabs you by the lapels and doesn’t let up. Unlike many of their contemporaries in the Oi! scene that was coagulating round Bushell, et al., BLITZ doesn’t have the same panto “don’t mind if I do, missus,” end-of-the-pier approach to street violence and class politics that came to define the scene in postcard caricature fashion. Undoubtedly you’ve heard this LP a billion times before, and a reissue’s a reissue’s a reissue, but if at the very least it’s stopped you and made you go back and try and capture that lightning-in-a-bottle sensational you got the first time you dropped that needle on the record for the first time, then it’s job done as far as yours truly is concerned.

Blitz Telecommunication / Teletron 7″

BLITZ slips into the tarpits of new wave disco with this single. The problem is that “Telecommunications” is bad discoid synth-pop—uninventive, wimpy, and with no good melodic hooks. The flipside is more interesting, but it falls into the trap of being artsy. I’m not opposed to a change in direction, but BLITZ sure missed the boat on this one.

Blitz New Age / Fatigue 7″

The best thing about this new BLITZ 45 is that it will piss off the more narrow-minded Oi-sters. It really breaks the standard “skunk” mold with a schizoid musical approach combining NEW ORDER (squeaky clean production, a dance-oriented beat, a tinkling piano) and GARY GLITTER (superheavy drums and repetitive sing-along choruses) influences. I long for the crunching guitars of their All Out Attack EP, but I’m thankful that they’re not just recycling their more derivative recent material.

Blitz Voice of a Generation LP

A 50-50 proposition. The strongest tracks are the ones with the cool back-up soccer chants—really powerful punk. And then there are the others, either too sparse, over-produced, or just plain lame (like their cover of LOU REED’s “Vicious”).

Blitz Warriors / Youth 7″

BLITZ limps into their third single with two Oi anthems of only passing musical interest, especially in comparison with their past triumphs. Predictably, “Youth” whips through the familiar turf of teenage rebellion, but “Warriors” remains the far more disturbing of the two cuts; its lyrics, surprisingly, almost condone British gang warfare. Avoid.

Blitz Never Surrender / Razors in the Night 7″

The best of the “skunk” bands comes up with a second terrific release. On this one the guitar sound isn’t quite as heavy and dense, but it’s more than compensated for by the accelerated tempo. A must.