Nine years have passed since the last Poison Idea album and the death of guitarist Pig Champion, which means that Confuse And Conquer is a comeback of sorts.
One of the greatest punk rock bands of all time, these bug-eyed veterans have inspired countless bands over the last three decades and been covered by the likes of Pantera and Machine Head, but far from being a nostalgic lap of honour, these songs reaffirm the ageless power of Poison Idea’s ferocious, muscular brand of flat-out, three-or-four-chord mayhem.
Close in feel and fury to 1990’s immortal Feel The Darkness, powerhouse snotfests like Bog, Psychic Wedlock and Trip Wire amount to a sustained barrage of six-string overdrive, underpinned by the kind of feral energy that bands of this vintage seldom muster. Meanwhile, the mid-paced garage rock shuffle of Hypnotic exudes an endearing swagger redolent of The Saints at their shambolic best.
There are countless irresistible hooks here and the sound of scabby-knuckled lifers returning to teach young pretenders what punk rock is supposed to sound like./o:p
