Each day of December this year, I’m highlighting one of my favourite albums of 2024. Counting down the list, we start with #31 on December 1st and go all the way down until we’ve reached #1 on December 31st. Today, #26 on my Album of the Year list: The Chisel – ‘What A Fucking Nightmare’.

39 seconds of singer Cal Graham shouting “What A Fucking Nightmare”. That’s how British punk band The Chisel kicks off their 2nd album. It’s the only warm-up you get for what will be an album full of no-nonsense oi! punk. The vexed lads of The Chisel return with the provoking ‘What A Fucking Nightmare’, an album not for the faint of heart. Fuelled by anger did The Chisel slap together 36,5 minutes of raging oi!. A somewhat unexpected release within a long forgotten punk sub-genre.

Before we dive into this album, we have to address some issues from the 80s. With the world being in a state of despair, many subcultures of all kinds had a revival including several within the punk realm. One of these subcultures were the (racist) skinheads, who embraced several music (sub)-genres and therefore creating a massive division between left and right. Oi! happened to be one of those sub-genres being enjoyed by both sides of the spectrum, however both for a completely different reason. This left this particular sub-genre stained and up until today causes some frowns here-and-there by people not being all too familiar with it. It might be obvious, but we’re not supporting any neo-nazi bands on this blog. Just to get that clear.

The first thing I did when this album got released was sending it to my dad, a renowned punk. Though the rebelliousness within him might have died down a bit, he still owns many punk albums from back in the day, including a bunch of oi! records. “Nice”, he said after I sent him ‘What A Fucking Nightmare’, “but it’s all a bit too much of the same.” Well, yes. I suppose he’s right. I mean, there’s only so many things you can do within this genre. However, when I shared the album once more a couple months later, his reception was a lot more positive: “16 songs in 36 minutes. What a banger!”. I guess I caught him on an off day earlier. With an average song length of somewhere between 2 and 2,5 minutes per song, this album sure does bang.

With the UK yet again being in a polarised and gloomy state, The Chisel has every right to be angry. No topic is left untouched. From the clowns in politics (‘Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet’) over to the drunk in the pub (‘Cry Your Eyes Out’), as well as the bloke in the (probably same) pub trying to converse with a pissed off Cal Graham (‘Bloodsucker’) or even the pain felt after losing someone close to you (‘Those Days’). While anger fuels ‘What A Fucking Nightmare’, it’s a surprisingly diverse album touching upon many different topics in the life of a British punk in 2024. Again, The Chisel is angry, and they have every right to be so. Oi!’s revival might be on its way, and this album laid a great foundation for it.