Gnod JUST SAY NO TO THE PSYCHO RIGHT-WING CAPITALIST FASCIST INDUSTRIAL DEATH MACHINE

Gnod are not a typical protest band. Whilst their first overtly political record is admirable in its stance and ludicrous title, they might have fallen prey to the po-faced humourlessness and artistic stagnation that seems to come part and parcel with a certain kind of direct action music. There’s a cycle of white, male music journos bemoaning the lack of protest music being made, when in fact they mean nobody looks like Billy Bragg. As Bragg’s kind either settled in comfort or were else silenced completely, the flame was picked up instead by queer DIY bands, black hip hop artists and the women who now dominate pop.

Gnod are closer to the tradition of protest music in their formation and instrumentation, while still remaining an oddity among the Dylan-punk-Bragg pantheon. In interviews and on record, the revolving door collective offer gnomic statements, though such a setup always suggests a liberal leaning towards radical politics.

With anti-capitalist track titles like ‘Bodies For Money’ and a voice struggling to be heard over an oppressive and punishing wall of distortion, as with much traditional protest music, Just Say No… has a message which is hampered by a lack of personality, and expressing it so bluntly means the sentiments are as old as a sixties march placard and just as dull.