BEASTS: The Conspiracy to Turn Me Punk

BEASTS

There's definitely a conspiracy happening - a conspiracy to turn me into a punk enthusiast, a punk super fan. Since we've covered a couple of punk bands and artists recently, the genre and their minions keep sending us tracks to review. And to tell the truth, I can't help but grin and love every track that lands in my inbox, the sneaky bar stewards. What's really surprised me is the different new, or maybe little-noticed fusions and sub-genres that seem to be evolving and clawing their way into the musical consciousness of us mere mortals.

Punk's recent revival isn't just nostalgia - it's both a celebration and evolution of its defiant spirit. Acts like Amyl and The Sniffers, Grave Robba, and Mye_Taai are carrying forward the genre's anti-establishment ethos and raw energy while pushing its boundaries. From punk's birth in the 1970s as the true anti-establishment force, it's constantly mutated—moving from classic punk rock to hardcore, pop-punk, and now embracing new hybrid styles like rave-punk, rap-punk, and electronic-punk fusions.

Enter BEASTS, aka Antoine Romeo (ex-run SOFA), with his first solo project. When the email landed in my inbox, I thought, "Here we go again." How do they know this stuff is arousing my musical libido? Who's been telling them?

I have a simple system for reviewing stuff that hits NottsRocks - a quality filter that stems from my days roadying for the old man back in the working clubs and pubs of South Wales. He was a pub and club musician, covering songs of Neil Diamond, Paul Young, Dire Straits, whatever was trending in the charts, sometimes even Pink Floyd. He could listen to a song and have it replicated in minutes on guitar and keyboard, though weirdly, he never wrote anything himself (a story for another time). I always remember one evening, sitting back after one of his gigs, he said, "So music, it's quite simple son, if it's good it's good."

"But how do you know what good is?" I replied.

"Easy, if it puts a smile on your face then you know."

The Punkists must know their stuff is putting a smile on my face - maybe they've hacked my laptop camera?

The Shearing, BEASTS' debut single and album, won't be found on your usual streaming platforms - just his website and Bandcamp. Another fuck you to the establishment while exercising bold control (check out his manifesto). The track opens with a man walking a goat and traditional folk-style chanting vocals, which I imagine connects to Antoine's ancestral roots. At 49 seconds in, that 'smile' the old man talked about broke across my face... and stayed there for the rest of the track.

What makes BEASTS particularly intriguing is how Romeo blends genres - punk, noise, rap, and doom - in a deeply personal way. The album wrestles with weighty themes: immigration, generational traumas, class war, and social reproduction. These aren't just academic concepts for Romeo, who grew up in a large family of Italian immigrants in Charleroi during the 90s. To bring this vision to life, he's joined forces with Ghentian drummer Tijl Van de Casteele (Whorses) and Tournaisian bassist François Hantson (Feel, Mingawash).

The production, courtesy of BEASTS, is appropriately raw - organic, visceral, and uncompromising. Hantson's recurring punk basslines provide the foundation, while Van de Casteele's drums drive the intensity. Romeo spits his bars over this framework, with industrial-tinged samples scattered throughout that bridge old and new school production techniques. The result is cathartic and authentically personal, with Romeo's immigrant family background literally building the universe of this record.

As the old man would say, if it's good it's good. And BEASTS? It's definitely good. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to have a word with IT about getting these punk rockers out of my laptop camera. Though part of me hopes they stick around - they've got damn good taste.