As with many of today’s up & coming hardcore/punk bands I first came across 59TTP through name-dropping in interviews and numerous T-shirt sightings at various hardcore shows but it wasn’t until a few years ago in Holland that I got my first taste of the band. OK, so they didn’t grab my attention as much as I’d hoped but their raw, heavy Oi-tinged racket was enough to at least get me interested.

‘Calling The Public’ is their 4th full-length & it seems 59 have come a long way from the NY-style HC sound that first pricked up Burning Heart’s ears back in ’94. The first thing that hits you is the, well, blatant similarity to The Clash. Just about every song from album anthem ‘Calling The Public’ to ‘Cash On Delivery’ has those trademark rabble-rousing back-up chants. I can see an old friend of mine cringing, screwing his face up and covering his ears in pain at the Clash-esque choons.

But, seeing as I haven’t grown up on such an intense diet of British punk I suppose I can listen to the Buzzcockian three-chord songs with a much different perspective. To me, 59’s brand of punk rock, combining the British backbeat anarchy and simple 3-chord magic with a hardcore attitude of unity & friendship sounds extremely fresh. Hey, there’s even horns in ‘My Life, My Choice, My Hell’.

This CD shows that 59 Times The Pain are yet another quality band to come out of Sweden’s dynamic punk and hardcore scene and their latest album is a call to the public to sit the heck up and take note!