Rifle – ‘Rifle’ album review: blistering punk songbook offering solidarity amid the seethe
After a string of ripping singles and an EP, London punk quintet Rifle finally unleash their debut with leftfield Stockholm label YEAR0001, a burning assault of snarled seethe and unerring solidarity in the best tradition of the UK capital’s Oi!, ‘ave a go hardcore bruise.
The Skinny: After a string of ripping singles and an EP, London punk quintet Rifle finally unleash their debut with leftfield Stockholm label YEAR0001, a burning assault of snarled seethe and unerring solidarity in the best tradition of the UK capital’s Oi!, ‘ave a go hardcore bruise.
Crucially, Rifle was burnished in the claustrophobic tedium of the dead-end job, frontman Max Williams and bassist Ross Whelan keeping their sanity completely fraying by bonding over their shared love of music. It’s an important detail. Throughout Rifle’s eponymous debut, class fury fuels each of the record’s stinging cuts with a fierce, contemporary edge, never lapsing into nostalgia rehashes that can plague the orthodox end of London’s punk circuit.
That said, Oi!’s old swaggering camaraderie is authentically channelled, both in Rifle’s penchant for rowdy terrace singalong, but also in their efforts to lend a supporting hand across the disparate corners of the city’s precariat. This is music for the exploited, be it in the office cubicle or the factory floor, gobby hatchet blasts at the dismal political mire, dragging all asunder with bristling authority. Bullshit jobs are a blight of the modern age, but can evidently inspire some fantastic punk rock.
Rifle hits hard. In capable hands with Chubby and the Gang and The Chisel studio whizz Jonah Falco, Rifle capture their visceral urgency with electric charge. Albert Dury and Louis Bramwells’ guitar attack gnaw and chew with whirlwind frenzy, and Williams’ full-throated, chest-out vocal command spins their reportage on class rot and late-stage capitalism with an almost spectral force, wavering on your mate down the pub, drunk and pissed-off but also conjuring something a little demonic in the pits of his incantations.
The boys rarely deviate from the pub chug full-throttle, but no one wants them any other way anyhow. Aside from ‘Cease and Desist’s cavernous growl, Rifle careens along its acidic songbook with a sole agenda of grabbing you by the jugular, which is mission accomplished across its 20-odd minutes. Like the old adage “if you’re not angry, you’re not paying attention”, Rifle cuts an incendiary debut LP of punk at its most febrile, reflecting back the world’s confusing tumult with two fingers up to your boss/landlord/failed political class, but a reassuring arm around your shoulder.
The Verdict: In no time at all, Rifle speed through a blistering set of class-conscious punk attack, scoring London’s tension-filled landscape with aplomb. Resurrecting the best of the Oi! tradition but never traipsing into derivativity, Rifle joins the likes of The Chisel and Béton Armé, street-level wrestling punk away from the rich kid infiltrators.
Defining Track: ‘No King’
Release Date: January 16th, 2026 | Producer: Jonah Falco | Label: YEAR0001
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