‘Benefits for society, Might cut into their profit, Everywhere, anything for greed, Control over information, Maintaining power dynamic, Everywhere, their narrative’ (Fed Up Of Their Lies)

There is a lot to be said for musical innovation.  The desire to expand boundaries, introduce differing musical traditions to each other, and take hardcore in intriguing new directions.  But the pleasures of the warmly familiar, well-executed and passionately delivered, are not to be underestimated.  This a lesson delivered like an adrenaline shot to the heart by Youth Avoiders, returning with their first album in eight years.

Defiance sees the Parisians continue to deftly hone their melodic punk with an impressively singular focus.  The lean, clean toned guitars brim with a melodic intensity, shimmering with a wisp of post-punk jangle, while the rhythm section locks into a remorselessly propulsive barrage.  The latter’s frenetic energy is matched by the vehemently impassioned vocals that strain with a desperate urgency.  The band’s political clarity remains just as fiercely undiluted as they tear into a society suffocating in the exploitative grasp of surveillance capitalism, that criminalises the homeless, turns a blind eye to genocide, and then tells you that none of these things are really happening.

It is a rollicking, absolutely hook packed ride that brims with a heartfelt conviction from the raucously sing along opener Endless Fight to the brightly compelling Falling, by way of the bristling defiance of This Is The Sound.  Almost without being aware, you will find yourself transported to a dark basement, sweat dripping from the ceiling, and fists punching skywards.  Sometimes the simple pleasures are the ones we need most.