Social Schism made a huge impact on me when I saw them supporting D.O.A. in London a few years back so when vocalist Ben Jimmick relocated to the USA there was a noticeable gap left in Punk’s roster, but not for long because you can’t keep a good Punk down and certainly never keep ‘em quiet, so it was only going to be a matter of time before he re-emerged in an exciting trans-Atlantic collaboration with seasoned US Punks; Chris Holtz of ‘Trouble Maker’ on lead guitar, Todd Gaglione from ‘Misery’ covering bass and Derek Klingeman also from ‘Misery’ on drums, as part of the Minneapolis Punk outfit, ‘Bonefire’ and the result is a joy to my ears.

The six track offering is a compact chunk of searing, at times intense, Punk with subtle Heavy Metal influences, although subtle is a word you wouldn’t automatically use in conjunction with ‘Bonefire’ given the “in your face” delivery of their material, particularly the opening track ‘Shattered Mirrors’, with its dirty bass lines, unrelenting drum battery , addictive repeat riffing and superb second half lead work, with Ben’s vocals right up in your face, lyrically it’s a positive message to move forward and not try to repair the irreparably broken when something better is waiting ahead, a superb opening track.


The mood is a little more reflective for the slower ‘Forever Ends’, dirty, chunky, yet groovy with a punchy delivery to the lyrics which reveals a poignantly reflective message, another addictive and memorable track that must surely go down a blast live.

‘nUmB-eR & DuMbER’ is short sharp and to the point, this rapidly delivered track is over almost as quickly as the temporary social media sensationalism it passes commentary on.... but the difference is, this is worth revisiting ... repeatedly.

Powerful lyrical content addresses desperation and depression on ‘Isolated’, balanced by mesmerising guitar work which has an utterly superb, manic, jangly delivery.

I love the mood rich bass opener on, ‘Scene Climber’ the tempo ramps up with the arrival of the lyrics on a track where the lyrics is pretty self explanatory, there will always be haters and posers, backstabbing and pointing fingers, especially when the reality is you are doing better than them. The great bass work returns between the lyrics and the drum work takes on a more complex form also to bolster the bass lines, nice!

‘Puke’ is up tempo classic Punk at its finest and catchy as hell, I love it!

The EP is just taste of things to come from ‘Bonefire’ and is now available at any of the bands US shows but if you can’t get there or are outside the US a digital copy is available from their Bandcamp page for less than the price of a beer at:
http://bonefireact2.bandcamp.com/album/click-drag and you can pre listen here also and the added bonus of this is, although it’s a digital copy, you do benefit from two bonus tracks, a second version of ‘Puke’(altered cacophony bonus track) and ‘Helena’ (2008 retro bonus track) a pretty decent cover of the Misfits classic track that does the original more than justice, either way it’s a win-win situation for you so..... go check it out NOW!!!!