Assert are another in the growing legion of home based hardcore bands. And as with many of them, this debut full length has finally emerged on the Household Name label. Which means it could be quite tricky to find in the local HMV or Virgin. But you don’t go there anyway do you?

Anyway, what to expect from this release? Well, for a start, I wasn’t expecting something this good. When I put it on, I was a bit nervous. The short bursts I’d previously heard, on the Org CDs and other hardcore compliations, was good, but 16 tracks? I wasn’t sure about that. And although it’s maybe 2 or 3 tracks too long in my opinion, it’s a bloody good album. Old school hardcore, with a bit of Lemmy on the vocals in places, but in some respects where the old school shows through more, is in the songs. Real songs. Yeah, it’s fast, in your face, aggressive, but K.K. Kapitol Punishment, More Than A Witness, Wolf (Dance of the Misogynist) and you realise what good songs are behind everything. There’s even melodies on there. I know, hardcore = no melody. Wrong. Look past it. It can exist. And then there’s the outstanding song of the entire album, Collective Force, a genuinely tuneful, shhh, say it quietly, and in italics, anthem.

As I said, it maybe does loose a little momentum towards the end, but that is a sin of which the majority of albums are guilty these days.

And of course, there are messages aplenty hiding in the lyrics. Assert are not a band to sing of love, wanting to be with you always, and feeling lost without you etc. Nope, political, looking to point out many of the worlds wrong, and look to putting them right. Ok, so most of us do that after a few pints to many, but unsurprisingly, this is slightly more articulate than most of us after a few pints too many.

And you can’t fault a band who have a message on the back of the cd which proudly states “This CD should be low priced. Do not get ripped off!” Hope those major chain stores take note. I remember nearly buying a Cowboy Killers vinyl many years ago. It said “pay no more than 5 pounds”. So a certain major mob, (O** P****) were charging about 7 or 8 quid. Good to know they are on the customers side isn’t it.

Go on, take the chance.