I listened to `Flood of Lies` ( tracks 1-12 on this product ) for the first time in over twenty years yesterday, and couldn`t believe how first rate and undated the album sounded. This really is one of the most ( unjustifiably ) overlooked Subs albums of all time.
When the album came out back in `83, many of my mates wern`t very impressed; indeed I rarely hear anyone singing its praises even now. This is a complete mystery to me however. True, it sounds very different from previous Subs outings, especially with regard to the unusual but interesting style of drumming, but the band had changed greatly between `Brand New Age` and ` Diminished Responsibility`, and then again between that album and `Endangered Species` with its fair number of slower plodding tracks like `Ice Age, `Sensitive Boys` and `Countdown`. Flood of Lies too has a couple of slower tracks - the haunting `Seas of Mars` and the tribal `When We`ve Won` for example, but it is overwhelmingly up-tempo musical punk with a few real bruisers - eg `Solders of Fortune`, `Dress Code ` and `Violent Revolution`- thrown in too. The production is excellent, with Charlies voice and lyrics as clear as day, and the lyrics are intelligent and political ( with a small p ). The cover art is easily the most complex and intricate of any Subs album before or since.
So there you have it. An unusual gem, quite unlike anything else they`ve ever done and punk rock through and through, yet bizarelly ignored by both fans and the band themselves in live performances. Quite why this is so I cannot say. Get hold of a copy and decide for yourself.