A new album by REJECTED YOUTH. Many have been waiting for this. The band has gained a lot of popularity recently. You can quickly notice why while listening to the new album.
Rocky street punk with plenty of guitar and very catchy melodies comes blasting from the speakers. The differentiation of the instruments and the associated hardness makes it easy to get into the groove. First it's the foot, then the head, then the whole body, and then you’re singing the choruses at the top of your lungs. Until the neighbor rings the bell and asks if you’re still sane. That hasn’t happened to me yet, as I live in a part of Berlin that hasn’t been hit by the gentrification caravan, and hopefully won’t be. Otherwise, cars will be burning here too.
While the first songs on the record still tread relatively familiar lyrical territory with statements that don’t hit too hard, this boundary is drastically broken with “Living in a Corridor.” Harsh words about the life of every person, everyone who doesn’t conform and still notices something. Seeing the apartment as a cell and work as a neck-breaking servitude is tough, but let’s be honest. That’s exactly what it is! We only need jobs because we don’t want to be told what to do by the job center soldiers. Words that are more relevant than ever. Even if wage increases in the media suggest otherwise, most people are in poorly paid jobs that barely secure their existence, but no one can truly live from that. Thematically, the following song “Power to the People” fits like a glove.
The band has never lost sight of politics, even if REJECTED YOUTH is not primarily understood as a political punk band, they consistently release songs that leave nothing to be desired in terms of clarity and message.
Stylistically, the band is solid and plays a sound that strongly resembles Frontkick from Berlin, but also leans towards Radio Dead Ones and old English punk rock and Oi. In “Upsidedown,” my brain wants to see small influences from Broilers, which isn’t entirely dismissible given the slowly played ska melody.
REJECTED YOUTH from Nuremberg will soon be going on tour together with the band from Düsseldorf for a few gigs. It’s an honor, considering how well-known Broilers are. But it also shows that they haven’t lost their roots.
The new record by REJECTED YOUTH is a rough, loud album, although some punks will surely reject the smoother sound. The sound might also be a bit cleaner than on other records, and the songs are only mid-tempo, but punk rock wasn’t about speed records in 1977 either. The band has never forgotten these roots. They have nurtured them so that a new shoot breaks through the curvature of the earth, and this album truly does that.
