NOFNOG – Insomnia LP (SBÄM)

Here’s some more cool stuff from SBÄM. As the band stated, NOFNOG (No Fight No Glory) is a straightforward, melodic, political hardcore band, and I couldn’t agree more with their description. This Swiss band lurks the underground punk rock scene for nearly twenty years, and during that time, the band released some impressive recordings. If you aren’t familiar with the band, you should check out their full-lengths, such as Is It Worth The Glory, At Death’s Door, and Thieves, or their extended play release named Our Spark Of Hope. Whatever release you pick up, you won’t be disappointed. Still, I would like to talk a bit more about Insomnia, a full-length album recently released by SBÄM.

NOFNOG is one of those bands who always sounded good, but they got even better with age. The signs of evolvement and progress are inevitable when the band actively plays for almost twenty years. The expansion in terms of ideas and how this band writes, compose, record, and produce their compositions play a part in why Insomnia sounds so good. You will notice their evolvement by paying attention to song structures, arrangements, accentuations, themes, melodies, harmonies, basslines, and rhythmic acrobatics. NOFNOG has found its place under the sun by balancing the recognizable aggression of melodic hardcore with a decent amount of contemporary skate punk aesthetics. It’s a style that suits them well, and there’s no way you’ll find any bad moments during this album.

Of course, the band has some anthemic moments that lean much more toward contemporary streetpunk sound and even some straightforward melodic punk rock tracks, but everything’s combined to suit the concept. NOGNOG are keeping their guitar riffs tight as possible, while the second guitar kicks in with wisely assembled themes that pair with the remainder of the song structure well. Also, it’s good to mention that the vocals are aggressive, shouty, and semi-distorted, depending on the ambiance, mood, heaviness, and paciness of the current number. Lyricwise, NOFNOG uses its album as a platform to address many issues that struck society both locally and globally. Western imperialism, colonialism, dictatorship, slavery, refugee crisis, global and local politics, and mistakes made in the past are some of the themes covered in their songs. The band forces you to think for yourself, question yourself, your surroundings, authority, everything. Just like punk rock band should do. Insomnia comes on a black/white half-half and black/white marble vinyl variants. Head over to SBÄM for more information about ordering.