The 12th studio long-player from the British punk stalwarts, and their first outing since 2010's
Perfume and Piss,
Momentum finds
G.B.H. both raging against the machine and taking in the scenery. Recorded in Birmingham with engineer Michael Rosen and producer
Lars Frederiksen (
Rancid), the 12-track set opens with the fiery "Birmingham Smiles," a heartfelt ode to the band's industrial stomping ground that muses "Everybody's got a hometown/Not everybody's got a home." "Tripwire Strange" continues to mine nostalgia and the banality/weirdness of a life spent on the road, but that maverick benevolence is quickly dispelled via combustive, old-school pit offerings like "No News," "The Perfect Storm," and "Population Bomb." The band addresses their longevity on the feisty title cut, and again on the surprisingly sultry (sounding), groove metal-laced "Fifty What," the latter of which manages to lament the socio-political aimlessness of the 2010s musical zeitgeist -- "If we borrowed and we stole/well at least we had a goal" -- without coming off like a gang of addled, lager-headed ex-hooligans defending their lawns. Late album cuts like "I Never Asked for Any of This," the
Give 'Em Enough Rope-era
Clash-inspired "Blue Sky Thinking," and the boozy "Liquid Paradise" deliver the goods as well, confirming that even after nearly 40 years together,
G.B.H. have plenty of petrol left in the tank. ~ James Christopher Monger