Song
No Surrender
Artist
Borstal
Borstal backstory
Throw Pierre Mendivil of UKHC legends Knuckledust together with veteran extreme metal drummer Nick Barker, then check in members of Dripback and King of Pigs, and you’ll get Borstal.
Emerging last year with the incendiary At Her Majesty’s Pleasure EP, the London crew went straight for the jugular with a brutal mix of US hardcore, Oi, and UK punk.
Produced by Russ Russell, No Surrender is taken from a new two-track 7 inch, a collaboration between Rucktion Records and 4 Family Records.
In Borstal’s own words…
“This song is inspired by confronting the defeatist mentality that society seems to want to push on us, on so many levels,” says frontman Pierre Mendivil. “And even in ourselves as we battle everyday to try better and strengthen our mental attitude just to deal with life these days.”
Guitarist Lee Kitchener adds: “It’s nice to finally get some fresh music out there.
“We recorded these two songs in 2021 with our brother Russ Russell. But due to delays with pressing plants and so on, we got held up!
“I feel like our sound is really coming together now and these new tunes are just a teaser for what’s to come.”
The verdict on No Surrender
The band is called Borstal and the song is called No Surrender. That should be all you need to know, for Christ’s sake.
But if you still want our take, well, No Surrender is a taught, tooled-up anti-anthem that batters you around the head and then spits on your crumpled body. In a positive way.
Barker’s nuclear percussion hits hard. The fretwork slices deep. The overall execution is hellishly tight. And it’s fuelled by a tank full of metallic ferocity.
Borstal aren’t fucking about.
What’s next for Borstal?
The two-track single – which also features the song Dark Path – will be released on December 9.
Kitchener has also stated that the band are currently writing their first full length album.