They may sound like they come from the desert, but Bokassa hail from Trondheim, Norway and tracked All Out Of Dreams – their fourth album and the long-awaited follow-up to 2021’s Molotov Rocktail – at Antfarm Studios, in Denmark. The resultant album is a lean, mean killing machine, playing to the band’s strengths and with not a stray moment to distract the attention anywhere to be found.
The album opens with the raw-throated The Ending Starts Today, a fast-paced and surprisingly melodic blast of high-octane metal that sounds like Motorhead and Red Fang going head-to-head with a sped-up Amebix. It’s a hell of a start to the record, and the band only up the ante by roping in NYHC veteran Lou Koller (Sick Of It All) for Garden Of Heathen, a stunning stoner-punk blast that manages to perfectly tow the line between stoner groove and punk rock fury, before the band throw out a chorus worthy of a folk-metal band. It’s a bit of a head-spinner, to be sure, but you’ll be having too much fun throwing yourself around the room to contemplate things too deeply. For third track, Straight Edgelord, it’s clear that Bokassa are taking no chances, and they hit the listener square between the eyes with a killer riff and a wild chorus that’ll stick in your head for days. Perfectly recorded by Tue Madsen (Meshuggah, The Haunted), it sounds immense, and is best heard at foundation-threatening volumes. The title track emerges from what sounds like the speaker of a Gameboy, and the track itself is a dynamic blast that uses its power sparingly. Rounding out the first half, Red Fang’s Aaron Beam turns up to lend a hand on Bradford Death Squadron, an awesome track built around a complex, stabbing riff that showcases the band at their musical best.
Kicking off the second half, Let’s Storm The Capitol is a brilliantly melodic blast of punk rock that sounds, rather incongruously, like Offspring being covered by Motorhead – surely the perfect soundtrack for satire – only for the band to throw strings and cowbell into the mix, just in case you’re not paying attention. The 45-second Everyone Fails In The End allows neither band nor audience to draw breath, and it soon gives way to the greasy swagger of Gung Ho. The rapid fire drum intro to No More Good Days gives way to a full on punk assault, all palm-muted guitar and stop-on-a-dime dynamics. It leaves the doom-laden Crush (All Heretics) to bring things to an end, which it does with a gloriously Satanic gleam in its eye and a remarkable sense of melody amidst the bruising riffs.
An eclectic, fast and fun album, All Out Of Dreams is a most welcome return from Bokassa, a band clearly in their element and having a whole heap of fun. With the tracks rattling past at dizzying pace, the label’s assertion that this is “all killer no filler” – so often hyperbole – proves to be unerringly accurate, and you’ll be reaching for the play button all over again without even realising the album has spun to its end. In short, All Out Of Dreams is an absolute blast – good work Bokassa! 9/10
