If you’ve had your finger firmly on the pulse of the British underground scene then Colchester punks Rad Pitt are a name you should already be all too familiar with. Having already released a trio of albums and an EP since 2015, performed alongside scene darlings The Saint Pierre Snake Invasion and at festivals such as Arctangent and Jamie Lenman’s Lenmania, Rad Pitt are ready to take the UK scene by storm with their latest album Hymns For The Hopeful.
In classic Rad Pitt fashion Hymns For The Hopeful flies by like a speeding bullet jam packed with ferocious riffs and hard-hitting hardcore punk energy. With a sound somewhere between Million Dead, HECK and early Idles, Rad Pitt thunder out of the gate with album opener ‘I Went To Bristol And Saw Macaulay Culkin On A Boat Once’ which perfectly balances a huge, sing-along chorus with stomping hardcore attitude and guitar riffs from dualling guitarists Mathew Gilbert and Christopher Smith to match. To fans of the quintet’s previous work it’s immediately obvious how far their new material elevates their sound, Rad Pitt have never sounded this crystal clear while keeping their filthy DIY ethos intact.
Rad Pitt’s greatest strength is their consistency, even though each song has its own identity it would be difficult to point out a single one that sticks out as a weak point. Tracks like ‘The Rad Pitt Guide To The Perfect 2-Step’ and ‘I Am The Law’ deliver such non-stop energy that they steal the show despite thundering along at a relatively constant speed. Sometimes winding dynamics and complex instrumentation make a song, sometimes the best tracks can be carried on sheer, screeching will alone, Rad Pitt manage to find time to do both.
“Rad Pitt have never sounded this crystal clear while keeping their filthy DIY ethos intact.”
Despite Hymns For The Hopeful’s runtime only clocking in at 17 minutes across its nine tracks, Rad Pitt carve out plenty of time to explore new styles. While songs like ‘Brekkie Breakdown’ and ‘Always Watching’ stick to the band’s tried and tested shouty hardcore formula the track ‘Death Is Not Defeat’ stands out as a huge departure from their typical style, transplanting the band into a sound closer to a UK hip-hop version of Rage Against The Machine complete with a chunky guitar groove and a fittingly lively guest verse by Essex based rapper Oney. On an album with its fair share of moshable hardcore tracks, moments like Oney’s verse on ‘Death is Not Defeat’ shine, bringing a breath of fresh air to the Hymns For The Hopeful without slowing down its breakneck pace.
Lead single ‘Hot… Hot… Hotter… Gone…’ sticks out as one of Rad Pitt’s strongest tracks to date, using its relatively short runtime to get in, deliver some confident, swaggering punk and leave the listener desperate for more. Frontman Reece Boulton takes centre stage against a backdrop of off-kilter Queens Of The Stone Age style chromatic guitar riffs, delivering a dynamic vocal performance that flies between panicked screams and anthemic shouts. If brevity is the soul of wit then Rad Pitt make Oscar Wilde look like Paris Hilton, kicking the door in, screaming at the top of their lungs and throwing themselves out the window before even being offered a cup of tea.
Across the just seventeen minutes of Hymns For The Hopeful hardcore punk five-piece Rad Pitt fly through more sonic territory than most bands cover over an hour. Delivering filthy riffs with a joyful swagger and tongue-in-cheek sense of humour Rad Pitt prove themselves to be one of the UK underground’s most exciting bands.