Life comes at you fast.
When I first listened to this record a week ago, I had a different introduction in mind. Something about how Brexit had dragged racism out from the fringes and into the mainstream. How people who once sounded like cranks suddenly had platforms. People — scum like Farage and Yaxley-Lennon — suddenly felt emboldened to say the quiet part out loud.
But the news cycle moves quicker than any review ever could. Trump decided to start a war because people were closing in on him and Prince Nonce, and suddenly the world tilted again. Just when it felt like things might be shifting — a Green MP here, powerful men finally being questioned there — the establishment reminds you it always looks after its own first.
Which is sort of where this record comes in.
Because Grail Guard, the Coventry punks, have made something that feels almost perfectly timed for the moment we’re living in. Their debut “Still No Future” is angry, confrontational and politically razor sharp.
Opening with “People Just Like You,” the band waste absolutely no time laying their cards on the table. This is aimed squarely at the fascists and the people who enable them, the ones who would rather blame immigrants than confront the systems that actually divide people.
That anger becomes more personal on “Our Streets.” It’s one of the most striking things on the record. Written from lived experience, vocalist Riaz Rawat delivers the lyrics with the kind of fury that only comes when something cuts deep. You can almost feel the years of frustration pouring out of every line.
“Insomnia” captures the restless anxiety of modern life — the feeling that the world’s problems never quite let you switch off. That sense of unease feeds directly into “Cruel Britannia,” which takes aim at Britain’s imperial legacy and the lies that still echo through the country’s politics. After all, as Billy Bragg once sang, “war’s always been the bosses’ way, sir.”
Then there’s “Still Fucked Up.” Anyone who has spent five minutes scrolling through social media comment sections or the Daily Mail website will recognise the frustration here. The repeated refrain hammers home the feeling that nothing — despite everything — ever really changes.
The fury boils over on “Anxieties.” The anger and social commentary here feel almost old-school folk-protest in spirit. When the record hits the line “all you fascists are bound to lose,” it echoes Woody Guthrie’s immortal message — and in this context it lands like a clenched fist in the air.
“Safe Space” tackles the way empathy and compassion are constantly twisted by the same voices who claim to defend “free speech.” It’s a reminder that punk has always been about protecting the vulnerable, not punching down at them.
“Alan” might be the record’s bleakest moment. It’s about the type of prick who laughs when a small boat sinks — the kind of cruelty that somehow gets dressed up as “common sense” in certain corners of the media.
From there “The Rotten” widens the lens again, focusing on corruption, power and a political class that always seems to look after its own first.
Finally “Rats” closes the record with a grim picture of a society where those in power thrive while everyone else scrambles for survival.
The rage throughout “Still No Future” is unmistakable, but it’s never unfocused. This is protest music in the truest sense, and it’s captured with a sound that feels as raw as the subject matter —mastered by Dave Draper (The Wildhearts and plenty more besides), which probably tells you everything you need to know about the punch and clarity here.
A few years ago Bob Vylan released “Bob Vylan Presents the Price of Life,” another record that bottled the fury of its moment. Grail Guard feel like they’re tapping into that same spirit.
Back in 1977 the Sex Pistols sang about there being no future.
Nearly fifty years later, their old singer is praising Reform.
Maybe that tells you everything you need to know.
But if there is a fightback coming, it might just start with records like this.
RATING 9.5/10
