RUDE PRIDE – Be True To Yourself – Review

Following their 2014’s Ep, Rude Pride, oi! band from Madrid is presenting this excellent album, “Be True Yourself”. These guys are skillfully mixing several influences (from pure oi!, punk ’77, ska, soul; furthermore they make a good use of piano always negletted by the true punk style, usually limited to the use of balanced voice, guitar, bass, drums; it’s not hard to recognize which bands influenced these guys: Clash, The Specials, Perkele and Rancid). The rythm section is very well done, the guitars are effectively doing their job and the raspy voice is very characteristic, plus everything is perfectly combined with an energetic attitude which still leaves the sounds pretty catchy, with lyrics that are not hard to be internalized. The topics vary from anti-fascism (“Outta My Way”), the riot (“Crisis Son”), anti-racisms (“Screaming Oi!” which reminds us of the Jamaican roots of the skinhead mentality), the hate towards politicians, armies and police (“Flag On Fire”, which is claiming that “nobody can represent us”), anti-sexism (“Outta My Way”) , hatred towards homophobic people (once again “Outta My Way”), the street life, the class’s pride, personal troubles (“Hated & Rejected” and “No Problem”) and obviously the skinheads (“We’ll Never Change”). The last 4 track of the album are bonus tracks taken from their Ep which was already giving an idea of the potential of this iberic band, band that has to deal with multiple known and unknown good bands (Negu Gorriak, Barricada, Skama La Rede, Soziedad Alkoholika, La Polla, Kortatu, Reincidentes, Inadaptats, Eina, Hesian, Boikot…just to name a few ones). We do hope that the Rude Pride will keep on going for many years, never giving up on their excellent and characteristic style, and we are really keen about hearing their future work. Remember your roots, hate racism..and be yourself!

TRACKLIST WITH RATINGS:
1.    Hated & Rejected 8
2.    Wrong Way 9
3.    Outta My Way 8.5
4.    Crisis Sons 9
5.    No Problem 8.5
6.    Golden Fists 8
7.    Screaming Oi! 8
8.    We’ll Never Change 8.5
9.    Flag On Fire 8.5
10.    Living A Lie 8
11.    Fear And Panic 7.5
12.    Underpaid Scars 8.5
13.    No Trust 7.5
14.    My way Of Life 7.5

ALBUM RATING: 8.5

KEY SENTENCE:
“We are the crisis sons
We have no future we have no work
We are the riot boys so follow me brother
Everything you need’s fire, cans of gas and stones
And let’s go riot” – Crisis Sons

Reviewed by A.E.
Translated by L.S.