Source: Album Artwork
With Summer on the horizon (yeah yeah, it’ll probably be as cold and miserable as Winter) new material from bands like Bear Trade are very welcome. Hailing from the North-East of the UK this is a band who manage to intertwine a sound you’d be far more familiar hearing from their US Punk counterparts, whilst ensuring there is a consistently British edge and fire to it all. Their previous output certainly caught the attention of many, with the 2014 release Blood And Sand triggering a widespread tour across Europe and further afield so they’re looking to sustain that and push even further with this latest release. Have they succeeded in doing so? It may be too soon to say, but Silent Unspeakable presents everything you want from a British punk band; short, snappy, catchy tracks which undoubtedly encourage repeat listens. With it clocking in at around 35 minutes this is certainly not one of those records which outstays it’s welcome let’s just put it that way.
To give a slightly clearer picture on Bear Trade’s sound, they’re a bit like NOFX if they had a bloke from Sunderland as their lead vocalist. The punchy nature of each track has that level of bite to it which helps push it away from other bands considered ‘Punk’ these days, (those more interested in releasing an X-Factor style single than remembering where their musical influences are rooted), and give it a bit of an old-school feel. Greg Robson’s lyrics and vocal delivery are also very similar to those produced by Al Barr in the Dropkick Murphys, continually recounting from a very personal place.
It’ll be interesting to see where this album will potentially take Bear Trade. There are certainly tracks on here like ‘Family Planning‘, ‘Inglorious‘ and ‘Nice To Be Nice‘ which will develop some huge sing-along moments live so it’ll definitely be a matter of keeping up that hard-working tour ethic. This isn’t a band who have looked to reinvent the wheel in the slightest and this isn’t a ‘classic’ by any stretch of the imagination, but it delivers 35 minutes of good Punk tunes you may well end up revisiting after the initial first few spins.
