If there’s at least one thing I know about releasing records these days, it’s that 7″ vinyl (which is otherwise my favorite format) has become absurdly expensive, and from a purely financial perspective it often makes more sense to release a single as a full 12″ vinyl instead. And if there’s something else I know about releasing records in general, it’s that putting out material by bands that are no longer active is basically a gamble. Dan from Street Rats Records decided to ignore both of these rules and went ahead with releasing this record, which ticks both boxes of why someone normally wouldn’t do it.

In this case, though, Dan’s desire to release projects he finds interesting—and that he thinks deserve to exist on vinyl—won out. If anything represents the punk approach, this is exactly it in my book. The release date itself—December 26—only reinforces that attitude. Little details like that make it impossible not to root for this label.

R.A.Z.O.R. is a band from Dublin, and the acronym stands for Dublin’s Riots Across Zones of Reality. That’s about as much as the internet managed to tell me—and that’s pretty much where my research ended. I couldn’t find much else about the band. Musically, they play driving Oi! punk with two guitars, full of the kind of energy you’d expect from a band coming from the islands. On first listen, I immediately felt like I’d heard something similar before, and it took me back to the time when I was devouring bands like One Way System.

When I tried to figure out what their sound reminded me of, I kept coming back to a mix of projects like One Way System and Blitz, slightly blended with bands like Gundog, with occasional vocal and melodic moments reminiscent of projects such as On File. The overall sound also takes me back to the late 1990s and early 2000s, when quite a few bands with a similar style were emerging.

The record opens with the song Maniac Mentality, which immediately shows the direction this release is heading in. Tempos shift, melodic lines appear, vocal passages change, and the whole thing is topped off with chants in the style of football terrace choruses. We continue with the more punk-driven stomper Boots On The Ground, and the band goes full punk in the song Weekend Warlords. The tracks hover around the two-minute mark, so R.A.Z.O.R. don’t waste much time—they go straight for the throat without unnecessary detours.

Side B starts with the songs Crowbars And Craniums and Scar Patrol. After that comes the standout track Pacing The Cage, which moves between two moods, shifting between melodic shout-along passages and a full-on punk assault. This is probably where the band’s ability to work with dynamics becomes most apparent. Overall, I’d say the band’s island roots are unmistakable in their sound—and that’s one of the things that really holds this record together and gives it its character.