Brotherhood: The Oppressed/The Prowlers: DVD

Oct 29, 2009

Two anti-fascist oi bands that I’m not familiar with take on Toronto’s 360 Club for one show. After a run through, I like both of their titular, gruff, proud outfits (and I typically have no interest in oi). Headlining act, The Oppressed (England), takes up the lion’s share of performance time on the disc (twenty tracks) and spends it delivering throaty yells and rugged riffs. The best bits come from covers: “Boots for Stompin’” is a tongue-in-cheek send-up of Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made for Walkin,’” and seeing a sweaty, uncomfortably packed-in audience mouth the chorus to first wave ska standard “Skinhead Girl” is enjoyable. Openers, The Prowlers (Montreal), use their thirteen songs to provide punchy, bilingual chants. In terms of presentation, the picture is clear, the audio is decent quality—not great but fine for this sort of small concert—and the idea of combining two performances into one DVD is a brilliant one. If you dig oi, give this a viewing. –Reyan Ali (Up the Punx Video)

 

 

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