R.A.M.B.O. - Defy Extinction Review

Long gone was a time that I had a cinic position about Punk Rock. I liked the sonancy, adored the philosophy, but its commercial reality was bigger than everything else. What was the ultimate rebellion in the world of music turned into one more commercial sucess. And what a success. My dear millenial child of the night won’t remember but Punk Rock was in the 1980s one more of the giant success in the radios and TVs. Of course, it wasn’t the true Punk Rock or its more violent and raw version called Hardcore. It was a sugared pop version of it. That kind of music gave me the chills. I willingly ignored many bands, and some them were really good, just because of that.

From 2016 until now we have received and reviewed some Punk and Hardcore bands. Not so many as desired, but a great deal of bands if we always remember we are a Metal webzine. Today we’ve got R.A.M.B.O. with “Defy Extinction” to enlarge, and enrich, Punk and Hardcore’s participation here. “Defy Extinction” is much more than what meets the eyes. Besides all the right-to-the-face musical attitude, the album showcases a band that sticks to the original sonancy and goes a bit farther as some songs incorporated Metal traits to them. That’s what my dear child of the night will get to know from tracks as album opener “River of Birds” whose intro could have been done by any Metak band in this sad and lonely and pathetic little world. The track mixes Thrash Metal and Hardcore references and my dear fan would find it difficult to fistinguish one from another without vocals which are the strongest reference of Hardcore. Instrumetally, except for the complete absence of guitar solos, the album could be labeled as Crossover.

The existence of 17 tracks of an average of two minutes tell a lot about the album. It’s, of course, the intensity the Hardcore bands impress to their music that makes them so short. Being straight ahead is one of the strongest traits of Hardcore. However, “Imperialist Pigs in Space,” for instance, develops an alternative instrumental sonancy that took the band near 1990’s Punk bands. For the fan’s sake it was only this down moment of the album. On the other hand, “Q and Children a Real Children” made a comeback to the original 1970’s Punk sonancy. With some out of Punk interventions here and there R.A.M.B.O. were able to update their music without loosing the traditional riot and fury, if you ask me it’s what still make Hardcore bands relevant.

R.A.M.B.O. “Defy Extinction” was released on November 04th via Relapse Records.

Track Listing: