The Decline are back with a collection of 17 punchy tracks ranging in length between just 5 seconds and 4 minutes on their new album ‘Flash Gordon Ramsay Street’. The album takes inspiration from subjects ranging from recipe’s for vegan buffalo wings, the property market vs. smashed avocado and Zelda gaming tips all the way to philosophical Marxist understandings of false consciousness. Pat Decline pins the main album themes down to “loss, moving on and letting go, identity, mortality and friendship. There’s a lot of references to a bunch of our favourite things like The Legend of Zelda, food, the ocean, and the fun times we have had getting in a van and playing skate punk.” facebook.com/thedeclinemusic
Pressing:
500 x Digisleeve CDs
100 x Opaque “Black Swan”
150 x Opaque “Pink Galah” – SOLD OUT
150 x Frosted Clear “Corella White”
200 x Transparent “Kingfisher Blue” (European Variant)
REVIEWS:
PunkRockTheory.com [Belgium]
THE DECLINE – Flash Gordon Ramsay Street
The Decline is not just the longest NOFX song known to man, it is also the name of one of Australia’s finest skate punk bands. Never heard of them before? Well, your loss. They have been cranking out face-melting releases since 2008 and are now back with album number four. ‘Flash Gordon Ramsay Street’ comes with a whopping’ 17 new tracks that range in length between 5 seconds and an all out epic 4 minutes and take cues from fellow Australians Frenzal Rhomb, NOFX, Lagwagon and all the other 90ies Epi/Fat bands we fell in love with back in the day. And the best thing about The Decline? Rather than making it all sound like a throwback or a retread, they take all of the genre’s staples and manage to make it sound fresh. Lyrically, they are all over the place. A recipe for vegan buffalo wings, the property market, The Legend Of Zelda and Marxist theories. It’s all here. It would be easy to dismiss The Decline as a fun band that likes to goof off. And well, you’d be partially right. But you would also be selling them short because they actually have a lot of valid points to get across. If you are like me and like your melodic punk rock snotty, urgent, fast, fun and melodic, then ‘Flash Gordon Ramsay Street’ is just the album for you. The Decline have got all of the above in spades. And then some.
8/10 Review by: Tom Dumarey
Noise Pollution
THE DECLINE – Flash Gordon Ramsay Street
So you seek an old-school misadventure? With the panting of percussions and race of guitars? Well, The Decline is your escapade. As the 4th album of the punk-rock, Flash Gordon Ramsay Street, this 17-piece collection will be out on August 30. A dynamic work, ranging from 5-second songs to connotational titles, this will remind you of the foolish teenage years in your life. The first track was Bullet With Buffalo Wings. A weird title. But the unannounced tumbling of drums stampeded all the way and set the roads aflame. It was street punk. A lyrical foreword which used bold and shadowed colours. The guitar needed no introductory remarks, it was capable of presenting itself without effort. Brovine was guitar scales. A poetic violence. This was a different sort of rebellion. It’s impulsive. An urgent demand for freedom. Which was followed by It Was Always You. Another fast-paced emotion we sense here. It was like a race to the nearest skatepark. It reminded me of clumsy 13-15 year-olds, being sincere with their selves but awkward. There was a bipolar melody in War. It contained the personality of a lovestruck goner. Scattered among the lines were curses and pleas. It was an emotion-laden, somewhat self-centered cry. Verge Collection spoke of anxiety. The guitar, although momentary had its own argument. It was like running away from someone. The escape plan B. The out-of-breath mockery you shout to your enemies. Summerbucht was the first five-second piece. It was like a quick break. A simple sentence to the next song, Changing My Shoes. This reminded me of The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. Or somewhere like My Chemical Romance. Your heartbeat attempts to sync with the rock elements. And the guitarwork were little phrases of a slipshod living. Although it ended with a sad tone. Smashed Avo was another weird title. Lasting for about 40-seconds. It was like half a thought. Postponed for sometime else. However, Real Again came next. This was, in my opinion, a straightforward and personal transformation. Some details sang of self-growth. It was dynamic. The inconsistent increase and decrease of a young lad towards maturity. High Extinction had a simple message. To profess the errors of life. This track was continuous. The entwining of guitar and vocals were just. Further in the album was I’m Not Alright. There were mini riffs all over the place. It was the kind of song which attacks without thinking through an act. It was how you painfully seek for something. A dosage of peace? An ounce of freedom, perhaps? Don’t Jump A Giftshark In The Mouth had defeated all the weirder titles so far. Nevertheless, the guitarring blended into a darker version. Again came the profanities, although it seemed to present a valid point. Another short-lived track was Baha De Verano. Simple lines. Simple five seconds. Then we got Get Hyrule Save Zelda, in reference to a Japanese Nintendo game. It struck me as a cool yet arrogant, boastful yet vulnerable type of character. It sounded like a crowd of complains. An unpredictability. With a cannot-be-reasoned-with attitude. Perhaps it was about saving the Princess Zelda after all. The More You Know could be more than a 35-second track. I would have sorely preferred it by the longer version. It was just this happy, frolic-like guitar with piano touches. Within this limited amount of time, it takes you by the hand and runs short on breath but smiling. Your Funeral was a grim-faced private talk. The plucking attempts to comfort you. But no, this is dead serious. And for the seventeenth track, Josh. The guitar this time rips through the wavelengths of the air. It was nostalgic. There was a sense of the past in this final song. Like a childhood promise kept with a little sadness. There was a presence of a piano. In simple terms, a beautiful sorrow that tugs at the recesses of your chest. The Decline after all this, was a graffiti. I see simply this colourful and reckless patch of wall which to others may seem a poor vandalism and to others an example of art. It was a manic race on sneakers through the suburb at sundown. I found it satisfying that although they come from the same theme, they do not sound exactly alike. This album is the troublesome adolescence you will never forget. This is the temporary state of being free.
7/10 Review by Estefan Malgret.
RELEASE DATE:
30 August 2019
Also Available From:
CREDITS:
CAT #: PCD077 / PV025
Produced by: Brody Simpson, Mark McEwen & The Decline
Recorded, Edited & Mixed by: Brody Simpson & Mark McEwen @ Underground Studios in Booragoon, WA
Mastered by: Simon Strothers @ Forensic Audio
Atrwork by: Annie Walter
