An episode entirely dedicated to punk rock in the style of Ramone and The Queers with four releases by Monster Zero Records, which was founded in 2009 in the Netherlands in Lekkerkek and then moved to Innsbruck in Austria.

THE EVIL O’BRIANS

We start with the Germans The Evil O’Brians, here on their second album with ‘In good company‘, release number one hundred and two for Monster Zero. This band offers a very melodic and well-crafted punk rock, with the classics to inspire them, managing to find an original and entertaining formula, very minimal but very appropriate. The sound is classic stars and stripes punk rock, with an important vein of melancholy and a lot of beer. The nineties return powerfully in this record and it is not just nostalgia but one of the many confirmations that this particular sound ultimately never went away and struggles along with us. The Evil O’Brians possess that way of putting together distortion and sweetness that knocked us out so many years ago and continues to do so today, so there are two things: either it really is a fun genre or we are particularly stupid, and not a few of us were then. An excellent record of nineties punk rock.

SEITANS

“Vegan nights” is the debut album by the Genoese Seitans, a new group born from the ashes of The Furies with members who also militated in the legendary Ignorants and who carried on for years the adventure of Wynona Records and its record store that was one of the best ever in Genoa. The Seitans have in their sound everything that is beautiful in punk rock, they start from the Ramones certainly, but they get to cover the arc of the blackbird of the stars and stripes production of the last thirty years, surpassing it widely because the sound of the Genoese group is really magical, with the perfect melodies and choruses to sing under the stage, on the other hand these guys have always done it very very well Ramones punk rock. Their music is the most important thing, because finally and a thousand points for them, Seitans have no social, you just have to listen. Seitans produce the mature and almost perfect punk rock record, listen to a song like ” Out of pain” to get an idea. Our people are now grown men like us, for example I grew up with the Ignorants who were the right thing at that time and still valid now, and the Seitans are the right thing at this age. Things have changed, our lives have changed, true and deep loves like the one for punk rock remain and “Vegan nights” is the record you make wanting to make fun and sincere music, you wouldn’t be credible jumping on stage like 20-year-olds. Instead who would have thought that at a certain age the Seitans are around and we are listening to them ? This is a beautiful thing and a real surprise because at twenty I would never have thought it. Very good record, another masterpiece from a musical scene that rarely makes a bad record and more often makes beautiful ones like this one.

MALADROIT

Third record for the Parisian Maladroit on Monster Zero Records, this one is called “Real life super heroes” and from the title is already a whole program. The Parisians know very well the secret of making very good pop punk with all the trappings with real nerds lyrics, full of superheroes and comic book quotes and more. These guys are highly charged and amaze us piece by piece with a very fun, tremendously American and late 1990s work that is also and above all beautiful. There is not a dull moment in this record, played at a thousand per hour with passion and a desire to have fun and entertain the listeners. And as they sing in “We are all superheroes” it is true, we are all superheroes, because to be in these lives of ours you have to have a few superheroes, but even those who fall are special and should be remembered.

Twelve pop punk treasures of the highest order and the most fun.

7YEARSBADLUCK

7 Yearsbadluck are an Austrian trio who have been around for many years, making exciting and engaging punk rock in the style of The Lawrence Arms and Alkaline Trio for short, and “No shame” is their fourth record for Monster Zero. The sound of these Austrians has many pop sides starting with the guitar work and the ability to cross two voices that complement each other very well and narrate different parts of the song. The result is top-notch pop punk rock, always looking for the best melody and the right short without ever getting one wrong, and the record flows beautifully, describing the madness and alienation of this world in a way that is very close to us. This may well be considered a record of light music, and it certainly is, but it is music that stays with you for so long and becomes a warm blanket. Very well composed work, played with desire and passion to amaze again, in a very remarkable career.