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Originally released as a promo tape in 2018, Act IV is finally available on vinyl.
Rixe are back are with a fresh three song attack. “La Clé” is two minutes and twenty seconds of lean, mean and meaty Oi! that only Rixe over the last few years have perfected. It’s driving sound is built on razor sharp tight drums, a slightly phased guitar and vocals that bite and bark. “Nuit Rasoir” is another straight down the line pounder that could easily have been one of the first ten releases on No Future Records. “Les Cent Pas” is the final track and rounds off things with another stomper. The sound is bigger, punchier but still very much Rixe that you know and love.
Comes on Green and Clear vinyl. The gods of record making went against us at every corner of this release, one of the hurdle was getting the main press on clear vinyl instead of black. And we were not gonna chuck them away seeing as it took them a year to press them and the option was to wait yet another year so clear it is.
Our take: This three-song 7” is a retitled and repackaged version of a promo cassette Rixe released back in 2018, and while I’d love to hear some new material, I’m sure there are plenty of fans who are glad to have these songs on vinyl. I can’t imagine anyone who is reading this doesn’t know about Rixe… they burst onto the scene in 2015 with their first EP, Coups et Blessures, with a batch of songs that sounded so perfect and timeless that you’d almost wonder if they were covers of classics you missed the first time around. Turns out that, nope, the band is just that good, as their subsequent releases proved. Act IV features three more of their patented anthems, and for me the first track, “La Clé,” is the gem. It’s built around a typically meaty riff, but there’s this slow-moving phaser effect on the guitar that just makes the song. Often an effect like that can appear gimmicky, but Rixe deploys it perfectly here. They’re a band that has yet to make a wrong move, and every one of their records is worth your time, Act IV very much included.