‘This might be the evening of your days – please don’t waste your time away because there are no exceptions.  But the question remains – go out loud or fade away?’ (No Exceptions)

The Guilt Parade in question spans those leaders currently driving the world towards the brink of military conflagration to serve their own craven self-interest and deluded historical perspectives.  But, as the album explores, the guilt seeps much wider and deeper than bellicose demagogues as reflected in the housing shortages, crumbling schools, and degraded public infrastructure that in turn nurture the desperation that is so fertile for exploitation.

Rank are back with their second full-length and follow-up to 2023’s Brave New Lows.  Rampaging hardcore punk that, at times, careers into fastcore territory, remains at the heart of the Bristol band’s onslaught.  Guilt Parade also sees the band begin to spread its wings a little more expansively as embodied by the flaring melodicism of Hiraeth, the utterly bruising grooves of The Spoil, and the swaggering belligerence of the title track.

The album’s defining propulsion remains the convictions that fuel the raw, rasping vocals and are further animated by well-judged excerpts from the likes of Stewart Lee and trade unionist Eddie Dempsey, as well as the writings of Mark Fisher.  Connections are built between the stranglehold of neoliberal economics, the blind alleys that can beset identity politics, and toxic nationalism.  It is a passionately delivered recognition that an alternative is possible and that all is not yet lost.