Post punk, rock, folk ... describe New Model Army as you will. The spirit of their music is genuinely revolutionary, humanist and socially vital. The Ghost of Cain from 1986 is their third full length and it is chock-full of punk fervor. It is filled to the brim with anger, frustration and the beauty of honest insight and expression. There's the vigilante's theme "The Hunt" (covered later by Brazil's Sepultura), the very personal "Love Songs" and "Poison Street", as well as the socially aware protest songs of "Master Race" and "Heroes". The biggest splash from this album was the politically charged "51st State," proving to be NMA's biggest hit to date. But it's not all about creating "hit" songs, is it? No, it is not. The album as a whole paints a bleak world view from the perspective of 1980s England. The empire in decline, the rise of American imperialism and the spread of American cultural values across once seemingly impenetrable national boundaries. Never was the sun supposed to set on Great Britain. Never were children meant to grow up realizing their dreams were just that, and nothing more.
But NMA offer more than just protest. Always present beneath the anger, the frustration, the disillusion, is the faint flame of humanity. Led by lead singer/songwriter Justin Sullivan, New Model Army's music speaks the plain truth of the common man and woman, never sugar or corn syrup coated, that along with the daily injustice and sufferings at the hands of indifferent and incompetent masters, comes the most basic of human conditions: the struggle for something better.
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