It was 1984. British band Blitz was at a crossroads. Founded as a punk band 4 years earlier, their debut album Voices Of A Generation was a hit with punks, but especially skinheads and the burgeoning oi! Scene. They followed up this album with Second Empire Justice, a brilliant release which was a departure from their sound into post-punk and new wave territory. It wasn’t received well by their core audience and failed to crossover into the mainstream. Their record label was teetering towards collapse. The band would break up shortly after. But before that, they decided to go into the studio one more time, recording a few songs that branched off more from the VOAG tree, but which still had some of the overall feeling of SEJ. These recordings were lost for almost 40 years until…

Wait, what, this isn’t Blitz?

This is a band called Mess from Guadalajara, Mexico that formed a few years ago?

Well, amazingly this isn’t a lost EP from Blitz. While many punk or oi bands attempt to capture the energy and immediacy of UK82 or early 80’s oi, undoubtedly you’d have to place MESS’ efforts towards the top. That doesn’t mean MESS is derivative or unoriginal, though. Capturing an aesthetic or vibe of a musical era you didn’t live through can’t be an easy thing to do. To me, it says this is a band who could do anything it wanted to.

Fuego, Fuego, Fuego is their 2nd EP released on the Mendeku Diskak label, who have been putting out some real gems when it comes to contemporary oi.

FOR FANS OF: Blitz, Major Accident, Red Alert