All I Am – Rejectionist Front (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

It’s funny how you often don’t miss something until you get a poignant reminder, something which wakes you from your comfortable slumber and makes your brain ask “so what did ever happen to that?” The “that” in this case is a certain brand of rock music which seemed to be both world weary and confrontational, belligerent and snarling, something which the 90’s seemed to produce so well but which may have been lost along the way. Lost because music, rock music included, chased the dollar rather than creativity, aimed to please rather than raised questions, in short, lost its teeth, often wilfully.

Well, thankfully Rejectionist Front have put that confrontational approach back on the menu. If the stadium filling, crowd pleasing rock of the twenty-teens is the equivalent of a church picnic, all smiles and etiquette, best crockery and best behaviour, this New York City musical gang are more like a back alley fist fight. The music oozes swagger and attitude, inherent menace and bristles with energy and whilst it is easy to see their sonic family tree passing back through bands such as Rage Against The Machine and The Chilli Peppers, such an approach never really goes out of fashion. After all there is nothing more exciting, than courting danger and this is indeed dangerous territory.