Silver Cocks - Silver Cocks LP (White Zoo)

For their second release, White Zoo Records deliver Silver Cocks’ debut LP, a tour de force of Killed By Death-inspired fury that establishes the label as a serious contender in the global punk underground.

The music of Italy’s Silver Cocks is raw and ferocious, not the hardcore of compatriots Raw Power or Wretched, but a primal attack reminiscent of early Dangerhouse and What Records releases. And, like most of those early LA punk bands, Silver Cocks are secretly excellent musicians, playing punk rock for the love of the music. Mauretto‘s drumming is tight, solid and loud, accentuated by Vito‘s stellar basslines, as in the powerful opening to “Assassination.” Solferino is a master of bar-chord riffing, but his leads are also quite exemplary, as on “Punk Rock Shock” where all three musicians truly shine. Over it all, Nani‘s high-pitched vocals blend Leonard Phillips from The Dickies, Sado Marquis from The Mentally Ill and Ebenezer from Ebenezer and the Bludgeons.

Where the majority of contemporary punk rock tends to be tired, lacking in imagination and incredibly boring, Silver Cocks possess the beautiful spark that ignited their heroes so long ago. Get some beer, crank your stereo to eleven and celebrate your weekend while you can because, lord knows, it’ll be over before you know it.