No Contest - What's Past is Prologue - 2012 - Self Release

Hailing from the Seaport town of Grimbsy on the Humber Estuary in Lincolnshire, England comes a 4 piece melodic hardcore/skate/punk act named No Contest. They've take influences from bands such as Comeback Kid, No Trigger, and Good Riddance and thrown in an edgier, rockier sound and produced an album titled What’s Past is Prologue. The fact they they know what prologue is tells me that these kids are maybe a touch brighter than your average punk band.

The band's lineup for this album is Sime (which I've misread for SLIME several times now) on drums, Rick on vocals, Pete on bass, and Lee on guitar. 2011 saw them playing quite a few live shows in preparation for release of this album and 2012 saw them off to more venues and live shows to promote it. 


What’s Past is Prologue is a very guitar and drum oriented album with the vocals and the bass sitting the back seat seeming to just kinda go along for the ride which ordinarily would put me off but don’t seem to mind so much here. The guitars are big, expertly executed and the drumming is solid, and well played. Typically when a band puts the vocal tracks on a more subtle layer - they are hiding a bad throat, but Rick has a damn fine set of pipes on him I just find it a damn shame they don’t get a chance to really shine until the final track His Name is Robert Paulson. This final track is a stunningly beautiful piece of music filled with soul and pride, accented (not understated) by acoustic guitar and clean vocals. I’m not certain if I read the bands intent with this song correctly but I see them using Robert Paulson (Fight Club) in the place of the working class. If you've not seen Fight Club, Paulson didn't get name recognition until his death, much in the way that those who stand against governments go mainly unnoticed until their death. That’s how I see the song. You can draw your own conclusions.

The album consists of 10 tracks of which I am personally drawn to tracks 1, 4, and 10 - not that the others aren't any good mind you, I just happen to “feel” these tracks more than the others. Track 6 - 28 Seconds Too Long - kinda sticks out to me as a sore thumb in the group. While a couple of the other tracks have the love lost theme to them, track 6 takes it to a level of anger and aggression that the others convey quite well with less intensity.

photo courtesy Max Laisin

I’ll be honest, I typically stay away from anything with the word “melodic” in it’s name, but No Contest have pulled this album off rather well and I feel you’d be hard pressed to find a better album for ₤5 GBP (just under 8 bucks American). I am excited to see that they are back in the studio working on a follow up and a bit disappointed to read that they have a new singer in the lineup but I may find myself pleasantly surprised when I hear the new tracks.

As always, don’t take just my word to formulate your own opinion of this album give a proper go for yourself - you can stream it here - click the link and download it (name your own price) or be a stand up kind of fella and buy the physical copy. 



Overall - I dig this album - have it pinned to my Android and listen to it quite often in the car.

Great work and Kudos to No Contest on this album and I look forward to hearing more from you kids in the future. 

Website: http://www.nocontesthc.com More Places to Find No Contest: http://www.facebook.com/NoContest http://nocontesthc.bandcamp.com/ http://nocontest.bigcartel.com/ http://www.myspace.com/nocontesthc http://soundcloud.com/nocontest Press Contact: doughtyroad@hotmail.com Booking Agent: doughtyroad@hotmail.com 

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