The East Bay’s mighty Charger has returned with five new songs forged on their most metal of anvils. Getting straight down to business with ‘Plains Drifter’, they’re in a hurry. Rippin the tune from the depth of the fiery inferno and pouring it straight into the speakers – it’s rapid, it’s thunderous, it’s metal up your ass. ‘Last Call’ is the sound of a band that has the red-hot baton passed from beyond the grave, as Lemmy can’t be with us, so someone has to thunder a song through people’s speakers so why not Charger. Top tune.

In case you missed it, Charger hails from legendary punk bands such as UK Subs, Rancid, and Jello Biafra & The Guantanamo School of Medicine, just to name a few, but make no mistake, this band is its own entity with its own sound forged together on Hell’s Anvil of Rock n Roll ‘Last Call’ proves it. Hell, if you needed any more proof, then drop the needle on ‘Last Call ‘; it’s more loud rock n roll Motorhead style than punk or cheesy metal, but it’s got a hefty set of bollocks swinging and tunes like ‘Set In Stone’ is classic hard rock sure its MAtt Freemans signature Bass wandering on the opener that will like it to Rancid but thats pretty much where it ends – oh apart from the songs he sings with his whisky and razor blade vocal delivery.

The band laid down these tracks in July 2025 at Studio 2200 in Sausalito, California, previously known as the Record Plant – with Chris Dugan at the helm.

Giving you a chance to catch your breath, ‘Rolling Thunder’ is more of a slower groove where Freeman eases into it with his rasp, and it’s on the bridge before the solo takes off and the drums hit the double tap and the keyboard kicks in. Hell, did I just say keyboards? Hell yeah! It’s like John Lord just entered the building.

As I give my head a wobble, the closing track ‘Breakout’ has the most proggy-sounding keyboard solo ever, but it’s in the middle of some pretty heavy-duty metal punk, and my pea-sized brain is struggling to fathom what it’s hearing. This is nuts, and trying to categorise it is futile; let’s just all agree to say this is a top EP, and if you want your ears to have a workout, then Charger are at your service, and ‘last call’ is limited, so get on your marks and go! Buy this EP

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Author: Dom Daley