Battalion Of Saints – Fighting Boys

Chris Smith was hands down one of thee best guitarists of punk—not only his skills but his showmanship.

When late-70's UK/Oi! meets early-80's American hardcore, what you get is the best 6 minutes and 26 seconds of your life you can ever hope to sing and shout, jump up and down, shake your head like mad, and raise a fist to. Which, to be honest, is a pretty weird thing to do to songs about serial killers-- and all four songs are: some sneak through the streets, some put on suits and laws, some get medals, and the complicit rest watch the first so agog they aren't at all arsed about what the second and third are doing, if they even notice them at all; it's a concept album, you see! ;-) But hey, it's not often a studio recording transmits the energy of a punk rock band so well as "Fighting Boys" did capture Battalion of Saints (that 5+1-second at the tail end of "Modern Day Heroes" is damn wise), so put it on loud and go wi-i-ld.

I have this and I bought new in the early 80's but my insert is different than the one in the picture here. It's a 2 sided sheet with lyrics that looks similar to the one in the pics, but it's not a fold out poster. Has different pictures as well.

Great band, nice guys! I saw them many times growing up in the punk scene in San Diego, and I agree with BillSwingo- this is the recording of theirs that I love most! :) I still have mine that I bought used in 1983 at Lou's Records!

For me, this is BOS at their best. "Second Coming" may be a "harder" record, but "Fighting Boys" has the perfect blend of power and hooks. And that Mad Marc Rude cover art is hard to beat! Hell, all BOS is great, but this is the one I return to most often.