| English Dogs | ||
| Yes, it’s true: the English Dogs — the original English Dogs — are back together once again! After the Brits debuted with the EP Mad Punx & English Dogs and the all-time classic Invasion of the Porky Man (their first full-length album), vocalist Wakey left the fold in 1984 for family reasons. The remaining members decided to pursue a more speed-metal oriented direction since that style would go on to overshadow punk for the remainder of the decade. As a result, the neutered version of the ‘Dogs went on to record three atypical releases (Forward Into Battle, Metal Morphosis and Where Legend Began) that all but alienated the following they had built up to that point. After the final chapter in that misguided trilogy, the remaining band members disintegrated. Yet earlier this year, Wakey and his original mates decided to reform in the more enlightened musical climes of today. The fourteen tracks on their brand-new album Bow To None picks up where they left off, proving the quartet is not only reborn but recharged with material that’s not only angry (‘Bastard’, ‘Left Me For Dead’) but fun (‘Amsterdam’, and the autoerotic strangulation detailed on ‘The Hanging Wanker’) in the high-energy style the band established over a decade ago. Tipping their hat to modern day punk on more musical cuts such as ‘Nipper Tripper’, ‘The Fall of Max’ and the anthemic ‘Criminal Juvenile’ without being overwrought, English Dogs have proven themselves a viable force in two disparate eras of music.
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