The Casualties

Resistance (Season of Mist)
By Mike Delano

If you think The Casualties haven’t shaken up their time-tested formula of menacing, streetwise punk on their 10th album Resistance, well, you’re absolutely correct. This is head-down, mohawk-forward, charging metallic punk that pierces everything in front of it. It’s hard to ask for better opening trio than “My Blood. My Life. Always Forward,” “Behind Barbed Wire,” and the title track, the latter of which sums things up pretty nicely: “They don’t understand/ and don’t need to/ this is a way of life for me and you.” As a band that’s never been afraid to bring their metal tendencies to the forefront, there’s great musicianship throughout the album that adds some style to their ruthlessly efficient punk chugga, like the riff for “Morality Police” which sounds directly influenced by Maiden’s “Wasted Years.” (The song also has a sterling chorus of “Fuck your religion.”) And like their previous album, they incorporate international sounds and themes into Resistance, whether it’s the rallying cry of “South East Asian Rebels” or the five-minute, entirely-in-Spanish “Corazones Intoxicados.” Growling, vicious, varied, and expertly paced, The Casualties continue to offer up killer material 20+ years on.
(www.season-of-mist.com)