Third album from Jester who hail from Guston near Dover in the U.K. The band have been together since 1997 and are, in their own words, 'an old school punk band, crossing over with a hint of new punk/metal. I have a copy of their last album 'Down with the Clown' which I really enjoyed so I was looking forward to listening to this. The first track is a bit of a change in direction from the last album, more full on hardcore/metal and is done really well. This album offers a couple of different styles from the band, from the hardcore I've mentioned to power pop (think Green Day?) to good old fashioned punk. I only have one criticism about this and it's that the vocals on some of the tracks are a bit weak and you struggle to hear them. My favourite track has to be 'Al Jazeera' which looks at the problem of terrorism from the eyes of a terrorist who wants to get on TV.!!! Probably not everyones cup of tea and personally I think the band should stick to the heavier side of things, but Jester are still worth checking out.
4 out of 5
Review by Paul

As it happens this lot sent this cd in ages ago. So it's no wonder they've
been chucking emails left right & centre wanting to know where the hell
is the review. W ell lads what would you say if I turned round & told the
whole WWW world that It's smt, what a load ofbollocks, I'd rather
wipe my arse on broken glass, than listen to that. What would you say,
eh, eh? I reckon you'd be well pissed, & with good reason. You see I put
this on & played it all the way throu~, forgetting I had to review it, &
I've done that time & time again, it's that good & I think you fella's knew
it. It's not punk or oi, or indie. More a blend of all three. There's touches
of Wonder Stuff, Carter, & even Billie Bragg, mixed with some real grit.
Nice one lads. Jutters .J

With a name like this I was expecting some comedy circus punk, perhaps a few horns chucked in over some light-hearted upstrokes, all rounded off by summery vocals and lyrics about being drunk on cider. And you know what? That’s pretty much the antithesis of Jester, a punk rock band in the old sense of the term – they play fast and loud and they’re not into this whole subtlety lark.

That, to me, is a good thing. Jester evoke the sound of bands like The Damned and The Descendents having a ruck with Roger Miret or Cock Sparrer, in the way they combine scratchy, imperfect vocals with punk sensibilities. The opening two tracks (‘This Life’ and ‘Sucker’) on the album sum them up perfectly in terms of sound, with simple melodies taking the foreground as the vocals and guitar work vie for superiority in such a way that is plain irresistible if you like your punk a bit dirty and rough around the edges. There is a palpable energy in each of the songs, even if any conscious listener will quickly ascertain that Jester aren’t exactly revolutionary. The momentum behind ‘Got No Time’ augments its charm, and as a typical street punk song it has everything – bovver-inducing lyrics, shouty, singalong chorus and chunky riffs designed to facilitate the consumption of far too much alcohol. It’s worth noting that the above statement can equally be applied to many of the tracks on Down With The Clown, in the same way that Joe Strummer didn’t have much of a vocal range: perfectly alright if that’s what you’re into.

‘Best You Can You’ pushes the oft-fingered button marked ‘take the piss out of Pop Idol’ and does begin to get a touch annoying with what seems like three minutes of stating the bleedin’ obvious. Matters aren’t helped much by the pedestrian ‘All Messed Up’ which plods along at a predictable pace and the only thing that sets it aside from the majority of songs on this album is the fact that it is thoroughly dull and boring. Good thing that it leads into the storming ‘To Hell And Back’ which could be The Misfits back when they weren’t a parody of themselves – this means that it is very good indeed. Understated yet strong melodies in the chorus feed into solid verse sections with a genuinely fantastic solo that is thrown into the mix with apparent disdain that just makes the song all the better. It does make you think that if there had been a few more of these moments, the album as a whole would have benefited greatly and this is a bit frustrating to tell the truth.

The album is rounded off with a trio of covers, and they are the Dead Kennedys’ ‘Holiday In Cambodia’, Stiff Little Fingers’ ‘Alternative Ulster’ and ‘Aint No Feeble Bastard’ by Discharge. They’re all fairly strong on their own, mainly because the quality of the originals is so high. I have no idea where these songs fit in for Jester, perhaps they are a mission statement of sorts but they’re pretty good for hearing the band stretch their legs and there’s enough evidence here to suggest that they’d be safe doing so. To be honest I’d have preferred another original or two, but you can’t have everything you asked for (a curry would be nice – cheers Mat). So what’s the verdict? Well it should be pretty obvious by now that if you like harsh, gritty street punk then Jester will be firmly up your alley, but I’m not sure how many new fans they’ll be able to convert with this. I think they’re a very strong band but they need a bit of a kick to get somewhere – a bit more variety and risks, even within their particular bracket and genre, and they’d reap the rewards.

Ben