Forward: Future Troops 12″

Description

540 Records and Todo Destruido are proud to present the latest call to arms from Japanese punk legends Forward, Future Troops, out now on LP! Featuring ten new tracks on a single disc, the release is the bands first LP in six years and only their fourth in a storied twenty-two year career of state-of-the-art, nitro-fueled Japanese hardcore.

Established in 1996 from the ashes of the much revered Death Side, vocalist Ishiya and bassist You formed FORWARD, along with members of Insane Youth and more. Building upon the teachings of UK metal-punk legends Discharge, Forwards unique intelligent savage approach to hardcore was and is decidedly their own, nodding at the work of Poison Idea, Anti-Cimex and others while forging an ironclad path strictly through word of mouth, DIY gigs and underground channels. Future Troops is a taut and explosive collection of tracks that spin yarns of police brutality, calls for peace, rumors of war, injustice, the effects of the Tokyo Olympics and more in a compact and tense 25 minutes of vitriol. Youve never heard anything as furious as A.C.A.B., you wont be able to unclench your fist after Tokyo Orympic, Hatered Union or Piece of Peace, and the world wont soon forget Future Troops.

Our take: It surprised me to learn from the labels description that Future Troops is only Forwards 4th LP. I probably have a dozen Forward records in my collection, but I guess most of them are EPs rather than proper full-lengths. Their early discography is full of gems like Act Then Decide and While You Alive, but their past several records have been the real crushers. Future Troops continues that trend and it might be the best Forward record yet. If you saw Forward on this most recent tour, you know theyre a band at the top of their game. Ive seen Forward eight or ten times in the past 15 years, and their set in North Carolina this November was the best of them all. Theyve always been great players, but nowadays theyre master craftsmen of hardcore punk. Watching them play or listening to Future Troops is like watching Michael Jordan play basketball in the early 90s or Picasso paint in the 30s. Not only is the skill level incomprehensibly high but also theres the graceful confidence of someone who knows what theyre doing, how to do it, and why theyre doing it. Whether its ragers like A.C.A.B. and Mother Fucker Japan, the nimble rhythms of In the Chaos, the more melodic True Freedom, or the epic title track that closes the album, Forward execute every second of music on this LP perfectly. While everyone acknowledges that Forward is a great live band, their records often get short shrift. Dont make that mistake because Future Troops is a bulldozer.