Garbage Days Revisited #101: The Outcasts - "Blood And Thunder" (1982)

 

"The running's over, time to pray..." - The Outcasts - Nowhere Left To Run

Part of the Belfast '78 class of punk rock that also spawned Stiff Little Fingers, the Undertones, Rudi and several others, the Outcasts were late developers who, after an inconsistent start, matured into a brutally vicious punk band once they hit their stride.

The group were originally signed to the infamous Good Vibrations label run by Terry Hooley (along with the likes of Rudi, Protex, Victim, the Moondogs and several others who never quite managed to break through to the big time) when they were still in school, the group would put out a series of singles and an album, Self-Conscious Over You which was a solid effort but did sound a bit like the work of a youth club band who'd just been given a record deal. They were clearly aiming for the SLF style wall of sound but ultimately came across as a much weedier Undertones. After this, they would take a lengthy break and reassess things.

By the time the group returned in 1981, things had changed a bit - Good Vibrations had gone under and the group would self-release their comeback single Magnum Force (the group would subsequently go through a series of labels including Cherry Red's punk offshoot Anagram who also had the Vibrators and the Angelic Upstarts on their books around this time and Abstract which is where New Model Army started out in their early days and who also had the Newtown Neurotics and the UK Subs on their books around this time). It was pretty clear that a major toughening up of the sound had taken place with the clanging riffs and frontman Greg Cowan's voice going from a mumble to a full on snarl. And when Blood And Thunder, the group's second album, surfaced the following year, the progress was there for all to see.

Right from the brutal staccato riff that opens Winter, it's pretty clear that the Outcasts aren't messing with this one and the track itself lays down the manifesto for the album. Machine Gun is similarly brutal ("She was a murderess/She deserved to die") while the likes of Gangland Warfare and Beating And Screaming don't pull any punches either. I remember reading an interview with Andy Cairns from Therapy? a few years back where he stated that Blood And Thunder was a big influence on his band in their early years and certainly I can see a definite link between it and T?'s Troublegum which would take them into the big league.

Unfortunately, the immediate aftermath of Blood And Thunder saw the group lose drummer Colin Cowan (brother of singer Greg and guitarist Martin) who died in a car crash. The group were shaken but ultimately decided to continue for 1984's Seven Deadly Sins EP, another strong effort preceded by the sinister gothy Nowhere Left To Run which was underpinned by an almost disco style drumbeat (in a way it was kind of like a distant cousin of 999's Obsessed which came out around the same time). The EP itself saw them going into a more rockabilly influenced territory as evidenced on the title track, Swamp Fever and The Chase while Waiting For The Rain harked back to their earlier more menacing sound and covers of the Stooges' 1969, Bowie's Five Years and a raucous run through Kenny Rogers' Ruby (also covered by the Upstarts around this time) showed some of their influences.

The Outcasts would end up calling it a day in 1986 although a reformed version of the band is still doing the rounds to this day. Nevertheless, I'd heartily recommend both the searing Blood And Thunder and the more rock 'n' roll indebted Seven Deadly Sins to the uninitiated (Captain Oi helpfully reissued them as a two-for-one package and both are currently available as part of a 3CD box set on Cherry Red containing the group's full output from their first run). Admittedly, the Therapy? influence was always gonna see this album score highly with me but for a vicious slice of angst rock with a punk influence, this group were definitely on a roll in the early '80s after their slightly awkward beginnings. Fans of the Wildhearts and the Almighty might also find plenty to enjoy here as well I reckon. I've not caught the group yet since they reformed but rest assured if they end up playing Leeds any time soon then I'm gonna do my best to try and rectify that. There's even talk of a new album in the works some time soon - if it can live up to the standard of the group's '80s stuff then rest assured we'll definitely be covering it here on Nite Songs.