Bad Breeding – Contempt 

Stevenage-based punk band Bad Breeding (made up of Christopher Dodd, Idris Mirza, Charlie Rose and Jimmy Guvercin) brings us their fifth album ‘Contempt’. With four out of the ten tracks on the album beyond five minutes in duration, you need to strap yourself in for an – at times – gruelling ride. Their opening track ‘Temple Of Victory’ sets the tone of the whole album very well – the driving guitar (Gannagé)  and bass (Rose) along with vigorous drumming (Guvercin) and raw vocals (Dodd) that are unrelenting throughout. 

Their second and third tracks, ‘Survival’ and ‘Devotion’ give us more of that raw energy makes me draw a loose comparison to the energy of early US punk bands Black Flag and Suicidal Tendencies, but with the politics of the homegrown Crass and the Subhumans.

Moving through the mid-section, ‘Idolatry’ – the ninth track – has a satisfying build-up to it and keeps the driving rhythm. Concluding track ‘Contempt’ is another winner, with a slower pace it tapers off the album nicely but without sacrificing intensity. 

Throughout the album the uncompromising vocals, insistent bass, unblinking guitar riffs and pile-driving drums grab you by the throat and drag you along with them. In a way this is a tough album to review as Bad Breeding have continued their anarcho-punk journey with this disc, continuing the same well-established flavour as their previous releases. If you liked those projects, you will like this. 

7/10 

Words: Jack Wilkie