BAD ASSETS - SPIRIT OF DETROIT CD 11 Song Debut Full length of Working Class American Oi! From the streets of Detroit Bad Assets is a 4 piece Oi! Band from Detroit taking influences from our surroundings, working class way of life and the political corruption both on local and national levels. Growing up and living in the streets of Detroit we have our own point of view of the American Oi! ^#^scene. Add to that there influences growing up listening to bands like The 4 Skins, Cock Sparrer, Partisans, Anti-Nowhere League, Bad Brains, Oxymoron, Templars, Lagerlads, Pist N Broke, and Agnostic Front and you have an explosive recipe for great American Oi! ^#^that people not only in the U.S. but world wide can relate to. All this is what makes them THE SPIRIT OF DETROIT. BAD ASSETS - THE SPIRIT OF DETROIT CD REVIEW IN SUBURBAN REBELS ZINE BAD ASSETS Debut album is a breath of fresh air to the Oi! ^#^scene. Classic Old School Oi! ^#^with a splash of hardcore that truly sets the standard. 'The Privileged Prevail' starts the album of with a fist to the face. The drums hit so hard on this album you know blood, sweat and tears went into this shit. Songs about the working class like 'Factory Rat' is a song the common man can relate to, unless your just a lazy waste of space. 'Too Far' took me to the streets of Detroit and what a dangerous place it really is. 'Next Stop - Nowhere' is the truth of struggles we deal with every day. This song I can fully relate to. Definitely one of my favorites. 'Detroit Diamonds' might be the ultimate skinhead anthem tune. Great gang vocals and lyrics of policing your own streets and putting the boot in!! 'What's Due' is the last song and ends it nicely. It's about how the working class is fucked due to the politics of today. Great guitar solos and Ralph might have one of the best sounding voices in Oi! The album sounds really good also at a production level. This isn't any demo kids! It's a well polished record that will stand the test of time! Oi! BAD ASSETS - THE SPIRIT OF DETROIT REVIEW IN EMPTY HANDS ZINE Well. This is why i will never go all digital. This is why i still spend a shitload of cash on records and CDs. i hear of BAD ASSETS somewhere. And somehow, i don't get all OCD (as is my usual) and learn everything about them immediately. I didn't even look them up on the internet. I just have been listening to 3 song EP that i downloaded. Superb, strong Oi! ^#^with a splash of hardcore. Cool. But i don't really know who they are. Then i order their new CD - The Spirit of Detroit - because i need some new good US Oi! Oh they're from Detroit. Oh their singer is black. And Oh, his name is Ralph. So let me get this straight, a black vocalist from Detroit named Ralph? ...hardcore and punk are too niche for this to be a coincidence. Ralph from my one of my favorite 2K hardcore bands, Death in Custody?...whom i have seen twice in Boston? This guy is carrying vocal duties for this band i already liked. Sweet. Now while i have been digging on the lo-fi, more melodic, loose production, old guy Oi! ^#^in droves lately (On File, Evil Conduct, Sydney Ducks, The Cliches, ReVilers, Marching Orders, etc); it is a triumphant break to hear some balls-out tough and crunching guitars over a stiff drumbeat. And while this has a rigid production, i wouldn't lump it with the Condemned 84 adoration that is equally rampant in this genre. This has a fantastic US Oi! ^#^sound. Track 2, 'Dawn to Dusk', stands out with a great sweeping bridge and chord arrangement. It gets you riled and has a sense of variety. This song bleeds into 'Factory Rat', something that could have fit right on 'Oi The Gathering!', which carries a too short rocking guitar lead. As for lyrics, BAD ASSETS sing about working, going to work, drinking, work, working more, drinking, and being Working Class. Actually, they do mix it up and get more specific lyrically (which i always like) with 'Bailout' and 'Too Far' and 'What's Due'. So, do not prematurely and erroneously mistake their working class pride as a generic umbrella of lyrics. 'Wasted Generation
