Published by Ryvvolte Records, Havoc Records, Profane Existence, and Dismantled Records. Listen Here.
To say this album was unexpected would be an understatement. The Pist was a hardcore punk band from Waterbury, CT from 1992 to 1996. Led by Al “Pist” Ouimet, The Pist put out a demo, a couple of singles and EPs, and a full length album, Ideas Are Bulletproof, before calling it quits. Each of the members have been active in the northeast punk scene; guitarist Bill Chamberlain was in Aus Rotten and Mankind?, drummer Brian Marshall was in East Coast Panic and Shock Tactics, and Ouimet himself bounced around between bands like The Deacons and Baltimore Foot Stompers. Bassist Aaron Kirkpatrick, to my understanding the only new member of The Pist, mainly seemed to run in metal circles before this venture as a member of the Baltimore bands Oak and Strong Intention.
So what did Ouimet and his crew bring us 28 years after their last bit of time together ran out? What do we get from the 19 tracks (still only 34 total minutes) on this slab of vinyl? I’m gonna be up-front with you: it’s weird listening to this thing.
I was exposed to The Pist’s music sometime around 2011, when I found Ideas… in a local record store and bought it and their compilation CD, Input Equals Output. Even back in the day, The Pist played an already archaic-yet-timeless combination of Oi! and anarcho-punk, with fairly simplistic lyrics that took direct aim and fired a volley of criticism at any and all systems of oppression and domination in the band’s view. The opening song on Ideas…, “Still Pist,” sums up their worldview pretty succinctly, in my opinion:
Still pist at all the kids who refuse to use their brains
The Pist, “Still Pist”—Ideas Are Bulletproof
Still pist at all the drunks who give the punks a bad name
Still pist at all the tough guys who flaunt their macho shit
Still pist at all the rednecks, fuckin’ dumbass inbred hicks
Still pist at those in power who deny us of our rights
Still pist at all the cowards too afraid to stand and fight
Still pist at all the fashion punks, we’re not good enough for you
Still pist at all the Nazis, yeah we’re fucking pist at you
Other songs on that album talk about confronting white supremacists, the nightmare of working in retail, the cowardice of hunting for sport, and the ways in which the education system worked to indoctrinate its captive student audience. There’s even one song, “Slogans,” in which Ouimet ruminates on empty ideological posturing and its uselessness — it’s surprising in its depth and suggests that the band might in fact be the real deal in a sea of pretenders.
Which is why I was a little trepidatious at listening to Is Risen at first. It’s generally been my experience that bands reforming after a certain point come back to life like the animals and humans buried in the Pet Sematary – they come back wrong. Either the music gets worse: overblown production, tired musicianship, a vocalist who sounds bored to tears; or the band’s values turn into shit. Would we end up being faced with songs about cancel culture and special snowflakes? Lyrics that read like some poorly-remembered Alex Jones rant? Yet another band who feels it necessary to let everyone know how much they don’t get trans people?
I should have fucking given The Pist more credit than that.
In a word, Is Risen is a top-to-bottom banger. The music is exceptionally tight, the production is solid (with mastering done by Jack Control of Severed Heads of State), and Ouimet makes it clear within the first bars of the first song, “P.I.S.T.” that he’s absolutely been paying attention… and he’s 100 percent still pist at the right shit after all these years.
PROTECT the vulnerable, by fighting on their behalf
The Pist, “P.I.S.T.”—Is Risen
INCLUDE people that are different than you and me
SUPPORT each other – there are times when everyone needs a hand
TEACH the youth how to navigate this society
P.I.S.T. Protect Include Support and Teach
P.I.S.T. Punk Isn’t Some Trend
P.I.S.T. People Instinctively Seek Truth
P.I.S.T. Powerful Ideas Should Transcend
Their next song, “Cross The Line,” is a classic anti-cop hardcore anthem if I ever heard one: “You don’t have to answer their questions/ And you’re not compelled to consent to their searches/ Black lives don’t matter they just protect Blue/ They’re committed to rigging systems against you.” And the ensuing songs hit just as hard, holding forth on everything from unfair beauty standards (“Perfect”) to punk shows as stress relief (“Let it All Go”) to a song about the kind of activist tactics we should be considering (“Fight Fire”). But honestly? My favorite song in the first half of the record is “Jim Martin,” a piano-laden ode to a long-standing Connecticut punk mainstay. It comes completely out of left field but it’s so fully in the spirit of the rest of the album that I just can’t stop myself from grinning from ear to ear while listening to it.
Normally there’s a kind of side-B slump on albums like this: slower songs, less-impactful lyrics, weaker vocals. But there’s nothing of that sort to be found here. From “Authoritarian” to the unexpected tearjerker of a final track, “Best Friends,” The Pist’s momentum can’t be stopped.
Surely there’s a caveat somewhere? Not really. I mean, it’s not going to be to everyone’s taste, that’s for sure. Like I said, the sound is archaic, of a different time from ours entirely, and it’s not especially ideologically sophisticated. There are lyrics on here promoting economic boycotts as a means of long-term protest, for example, and the song about zombie Reagan is maybe a little hamfisted. But compared to other Gen-X and older punks, The Pist more than has their heart in the right place. Any criticisms I could levy at the band wouldn’t really mean much, and anyway, they’re “not in it for the critics/ Cause we don’t care what they say.” Don’t sleep on this.