Shock Nagasaki

Delivering a no-nonsense blast of old school four-chord punk, California’s Shock Nagasaki are obviously well-versed in the likes of the Exploited, the Clash and Sex Pistols. Their brazen assail is confrontational without being stupid and while songs may not instantly seem all that memorable, the undercurrent eventually catches up and sucks the listener in. However, said undercurrent isn’t strong enough to entirely sweep everything away forever. The heavy reliance on old school Britpunk tendencies is tired and overused, especially after some 12 songs and the band never truly seem to want to steam forth out of their mid-tempo pacing. Eventually, this relegates Year of the Spy to a sentiment of being enjoyable (most notably when some of the embittered and passionate chant-a-longs come into play) but not entirely exciting.