Impicabadala by Shameless Band EP Review

In a world where kids are allowed to find themselves and do what they love, we keep seeing a lot of development in music, especially in Africa's music scene where colour will most likely determine the kind of music that you are bound to do.

Shameless Band is a Nkabi Rock, and Metal Fusion Band from Soweto, a South African township with a rich political history that dates back to the country's apartheid era, which came to an end in the year 1991. The band has never really released a body of work over the past years since I discovered them, but they are known for their live performances that can be described as the epitome of Rockstar-ism, grabbing the whole crowd, and making them sing along while the performers sweat & pant (except for the poor guitarists who have to keep playing).

Impicabadala is Shameless Band’s debut project which consists of 3 songs and runs for only 15 minutes and 30 seconds. I know this mostly gives the listeners the impression that the artists are lazy to work or are trying to keep the people anxious about the next drop, but that's a huge lie. It takes time to create perfection, and this varies from the lyrics, the melody (which really dates to The Ramones & Sex Pistols), and the vocals (I love it when a musician is vocally gifted).

Their most performed song “Impicabadala” (which is where the project title comes from) is solely much like the description of the band’s raison d’etre, as it is a call to their ancestors to make them continue the work that they have been doing, being one of South Africa’s first black rock bands. Furthermore, the song defines their sound, which is infused with uMaskandi, a native South African genre, originating from the modern Zulu culture. Also, the use of whistling, which is largely used for getting the attention of people in South African townships, instead of hollering their names.

"4x4" is the second song off the EP, and it also happens to be a favourite. The track is highly influenced by blues from the sound to the lyrics, as they sing about a bar fight. Bar fights have been used in every genre of music, and to make people listen, you'd obviously have to give the listener something new. That's exactly what they did. A bar fight, but it sounds like something foreign. Instead of singing about someone that said something about the band's lead vocalist, or just fighting over girls, it's about something that happened a long time ago. Talk about forgiving and forgetting.

To close off the EP, Shameless Band gave us a typical, modern punk song, with the title "Shame On You" (admit it, punk rock is there to make people feel bad), which is just… Punk Rock. Starting off with the aggressiveness that we are familiar with from heavy metal bands like Death, & Germs, the song is just the band showing off their ability to sound like the epitome of the word "Rock" itself, with riffs that are influenced by '60s- '70s Prog-Rock, and vocals drew from the Metal sub-genres.

What's really more interesting is the way that the band manoeuvres around this genre that has come off as foreign in their environment, and only a few people willingly want to listen to it. I didn't really know about rock music in general, except for when it was playing in movies or other television shows. The fact that they even sing in their own language and draw inspiration from genres that they grew up listening to make the whole movement out of this world.

With just 15 minutes on the clock, you will surely feel like you need more as the songs are also addictive in their own way, making you sing during work, school, and hobby hours.