Apologies, I Have None have undoubtedly been one of the great success stories in UK punk-rock in the last five year. Their 2012 album, ‘London’, took them across Europe as they picked up huge festival slots and toured with a number of celebrated bands. Driven on by an energetic live show and a really gritty, yet incredibly catchy, album the band have gone from strength to strength. After a brief break they return with their new EP, ‘Black Everything’, released on Beach Community in the UK.
Those expecting the band to pick up where they left off will be surprised to hear the dark and gloomy opening to ‘Raging Through The Thick And Heavy Darkness Of A Bloodlust’, though arguably such a grandiose title should give the game away. The band quite literally rage through a more cinematic and brooding five minutes. They tread on more familiar ground on ‘Two Bombs In A Box’ though with it’s soaring, but slightly imperfect, vocals and exasperated punk-rock tones. From there you have ‘Coffee, Alcohol, Codeine, Repeat’ which does lack an upswing in the chorus but continues the somber and angry mood well. They then end on the more thought provoking ‘The Clarity of Morning’ which builds well and then picks up considerably later on.
Often when a promising band releases an exceptional debut album they struggle to live up to expectations with their follow up. They’ll attempt to re-create the same sound and capture that same wow-factor that drew you to them in the first place, but it falls flat and feels lost for ideas. This is exactly the trap that Apologies, I Have None could easily have fallen into here. They have always had a raw and angry under belly though and on ‘Black Everything’ we hear them really explore those depths. It sounds frayed, a little pissed off and frustrated, and to be fair it works really well. This is an excellent return for the Londoners.
TOM BECK