[engl] 2017, the year scores of bands playing “This Is England”-core and turning the scene into an increasingly unfunny joke ever since the last 86 Mentality tour turned their attention to Snix and Nabat, copping riffs (and fashion tips) from those classics that we’d managed to keep to ourselves for the last 35 years. And when did these rich snobby punks that turn their noses up at skins start swooning over French Oi? Did the No Fun Club lift the moratorium on short hair and cuffed jeans? Chicago’s Fuerza Bruta are upset luddites laying down riffs that don’t just pay homage to the glory days of Brazilian HC and Japanese Oi, they add to it. While you can now get bomber jackets at Urban Outfitters to wear in your Instagram photos, Chicago skins are still maniacs in an age when the integrity of the cult is being subverted by graduate students and 40 year-old freshcuts that just got into punk six months ago. But hey, no hard feelings, Fuerza Bruta don’t need to show off or be your friend because we already have each other.