Night Patrol is a band from the USA, and the album Reckless Abandon is their first major release following an earlier demo. The record contains eleven tracks and was recorded as a two-piece lineup, making it primarily a studio project. Because Curtis from Shaved For Battle is involved, his signature style is clearly recognizable. However, with Night Patrol he brings in a noticeably gloomier atmosphere along with strong cold Oi! influences. This definitely isn’t a straightforward Oi! project, even though it’s obvious from the music how deeply both members are rooted in that scene. The cover artwork was created by Ramon GD, and the record was released in two variants, each limited to one hundred copies. My version is the one featuring the steel-capped boots on the cover.
The opening track Back From The Gallows sets the tone for the entire record. Mid-paced to slower rhythms are paired with a vocal delivery that, with a crooked grin, announces that he’s back from the gallows—and there’s nothing you can do about it. The same mood continues with Corvus Corax, which expands on similarly grim themes. These songs evoke the era of witch trials for me: a time of fear of the night, false accusations, and relentless violence lurking everywhere. The cold Oi! undertone stands out especially in Harbor, where the guitar work is excellent and the drums create a tight, oppressive atmosphere. This perfectly matches the lyrics, where the central theme is despair transformed into a feeling of abandonment.
Out of that mood suddenly emerges Cross The Line, a song burning with defiance. Its theme is a man who has crossed the line and stepped out of the crowd—something that inevitably leads to confrontation and fighting against overwhelming odds. The penultimate track on side A is Institution, which continues the rebellious stance against established systems. My personal favorite on the entire record, however, is Die With Your Boots On, a true bugle call to battle.
This record is filled with a strong sense of isolation and misanthropy. It carries a somewhat different ethos than the themes Curtis usually explores with Shaved For Battle, where the stance is often openly combative. Here it feels more like an emotional release, and it is recorded extremely well. While the first side maintains a cohesive atmosphere and moves between melancholic passages and bursts of defiance, the first half of side B shifts toward classic Oi! lyricism before later turning inward to confront the darker sides of human emotion.
This is a rather specific record that won’t necessarily appeal to everyone. I’d recommend listening to it somewhere by a fireplace on an autumn evening, where its atmosphere can fully unfold. It’s not a typical cold Oi! project but rather a hybrid of styles—still, it’s definitely interesting and very well performed. At the same time, it’s another noteworthy release from the Oi!Tism Records label, which continues to put out quality music for all lovers of proper short-haired rock’n’roll.
TOP TRACKY: Die With Your Boots On, Back From The Gallows, In The Right
