Album Review: Asian Dub Foundation - "Access Denied"

 

Okay so technically this one is a re-release from last year. But y'know what, we missed it then so better late than never eh? Anyway, Asian Dub Foundation - there was about five minutes some time around the millennium when everyone seemed to be bigging them up as the future of UK music and they chalked up two Top 20 albums and a Top 40 single with Buzzin' but then the post-Strokes US garage band boom happened and they just kind of got lost in the shuffle. To be honest though, I suspect they simply shrugged their shoulders, thought "Ah well" and went back to business as before with Access Denied being no less than their ninth album.

And to be honest, I think that it might just be a blessing in disguise that ADF have been allowed to simply carry on what they were always doing without some corporate major label looking over their shoulders as Access Denied is exactly the sort of furious state of the nation address that this band has always done so well. It's a little bit more guitar heavy than I remember them being during their brief commercial breakthrough but it adds to the punky energy on here with the likes of opening duo Can't Pay Won't Pay and Stealing The Future pulling no punches with their call to arms for the working class, black and white, to snap out of their sleep and strike back against those oppressing them.

The group are on good form here lyrically with Frontline taking a stand against stereotyping of Asians. They bring in the big guns as well with the furious Comin' Over Here sampling comedian Stewart Lee's infamous anti-UKIP rant to good effect and the intense bass-heavy Youthquake sampling Greta Thunberg's anti-climate change denier speech. However, as you'd expect from ADF, it's an impressively varied album as well with the title track going into acoustic led almost reggae territory while the thick swampy dub Swarm hangs heavy in the air and the bhangra sampling Lost In The Shadows is minimalist and ominous. The only slight drawback is that the first four or so tracks of this album hit you with such a blistering fury that it does have the effect of making the album sound as if it's tailing off later on even though those later tracks are still well worth a listen..

Given that prior to this landing in my inbox, I was unaware that ADF were even still going, it's a pleasure to find them not just firing out their polemic as energetically as ever in 2021 but arguably sounding even more relevant than they did at their commercial peak. A furiously angry but thought provoking state of the nation address which shows musical and lyrical skill that a lot of bands would give their right arms for, Access Denied comes highly recommended.

Bandcamp Link

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