The opening blurb presents An Slua as a band that bridges the gap between names like Oi! Polloi and The Oppressed on one side, and modern Oi!/punk bands such as Slugger and Lost Legion on the other. Personally, I hadn’t heard of them before listening to this record — all I knew was that they come from County Galway in Ireland. Their album Sure Look It was released through a cooperation between Longshot Music and Distr-Oi! Records.
First, I can’t neatly slot their music into any one subgenre. It’s definitely Oi! punk, but with a strong sense for melody.
Second, I can’t say for sure whether An Slua truly fill the gap between the bands mentioned above, but they definitely carve out a sound of their own. You don’t need comparisons — you can just say: this is An Slua.
Third, An Slua are unmistakably a political band in every sense of the word.
The album features ten original tracks ranging from a minute and a half to at most three minutes. A fast ride from start to finish. Their modus operandi is straightforward: punchy punk songs with urgent vocals. The overall feel sometimes reminds me of older material by the legendary Slovak band Davová Psychóza. (Probably not well known outside the Czech and Slovak scenes, but if you want to broaden your horizons, check out Antropofóbia (1991) and Kríza vedomia (1998).)
From the first seconds, the band lays out its clear signature: two guitars, a gritty Oi! punk sound, and urgent vocals often backed by stadium-style gang shouts. It works in the opener Plan of Campaign, and equally so in Dry Shite, which leans even more heavily into dual-guitar tension and buildup. The third track, Arseways, has an intro and chorus that give me vibes of Rancid’s more playful material. Then come Big Man Yeah and Mountain of Rubbish, the latter playing with tempo changes — a lot happens in two and a half minutes.
Side B opens with Agrarian Agitation, which shifts from a slow build to one of the fastest songs on the album. Fed Up brings back the stadium-style refrains. The two scorchers Thick As Shit and Saoirse don Phalaistín are fast, guitar-driven tracks. The closer, Gifts From Galway, is an ode to their home region — the kind of track that balances just the right mix of melancholy and punk grit, avoiding a sappy ballad while keeping that proper bittersweet undertone.
As for the political element already mentioned, their direction is clear from their own declaration: „All people, all species, all equal.“ Lyrically, the band tackles topics like capitalism, gentrification, widening social inequality, consumerism, the housing crisis, events in Palestine, and the rise of the far right.
I don’t agree with everything, and I don’t see everything the same way, but I hear smart lyrics highlighting real social issues. And that I respect. There are no empty slogans or pointless protest-for-protest’s-sake moments — it’s thoughtful criticism of what pisses them off in today’s world. Tracks like Arseways, Mountain of Rubbish (Producing shit that we don’t even need, For a mountain of rubbish, for a fountain of greed), or Agrarian Agitation (Do you think housing is a human right? Well those vultures don’t give a shite) really hit home for me, because I see a lot of those issues the same way. And if punk is supposed to be critical of society, An Slua definitely deliver.
I also appreciate that the band acts according to its principles. They refuse to put their stuff on Spotify and on their Bandcamp they openly encourage people who can’t afford the record to contact them — they’ll get it for free. I respect anyone who stands by their chosen path.
The album flies by and keeps pulling me back for another spin. There’s no cheap, sentimental filler — it’s a compact, powerful record that really grabbed me. I didn’t know the band and had zero expectations. And I got a hell of a lot — easily one of the strongest releases of the year.
TOP TRACKY: Dry Shite, Agrarian Agitation, Gifts From Galaway
BANDCAMP: https://1url.cz/kJv9Q
