Long-running Dutch punk band
Antidote are a refreshing blast of old-school street punk of the late-'70s variety: think
Sham 69 and
Angelic Upstarts. The longest of these 12 songs is barely two-and-a-half minutes, and the closest thing to a stylistic detour is "Laat Me Met Rust" (one of three songs here in the band's native tongue), which sounds more like early L.A. hardcore than U.K. Oi! The lyrics are bluntly political and uniformly positive, with songs like "Fuck Homophobia" and "Negativity" among the highlights. And at a dozen songs in just barely 24 minutes, it's a throwback to the crisp, lean concision that punk returned to music back in the day.
Another Dose is strictly for fans of the style, of course -- the one drawback is that at times it sounds like a bit of a genre exercise -- but it's an album that has a certain set of musical and lyrical goals and fulfills them perfectly.