It’s safe to say most lockdown activities from 2020 (and parts of this year) included lots of walks, binging Netflix, making fuckin’ banana bread and staring at the walls. Not for the prolific Ian Shelton of Regional Justice Center though. The hardcore figure-head opted to flex his creative muscles and work on a new project that would eventually become Militarie Gun; a five piece outfit that melds together the abrasive vocals of hardcore with the more melodic and less aggressive sub genres of grunge, slacker and alt-rock. In June ’21 the quintet released their debut EP ‘All Roads Lead To The Gun’ and as a quick as a flash its sequel ‘All Roads Lead To The Gun II’ is rigged to detonate across another four tracks.

Across ‘All Roads Lead To The Gun II’s quartet of songs, Shelton can be heard doing some serious soul-searching as he delves deep into the world around him and his own psyche. Kicking of their latest EP is ‘Big Disappointment’, a song anchored by plodding grunge-rock and Shelton’s barked vocal delivery. Militarie Gun’s frontman casts an exposed shadow when he howls “I’m addicted to rage”, while confessing “trying to live my life with nothing to hide/and no-one to fight” towards the end of the opening track. Escapism and frustration bubbles to the top on ‘Disposable Plastic Bag’, which resembles something closer to hardcore punk, albeit with shades of a more straightforward rock sound. The simple “I need to get off of this world” typifies the need for Shelton to abandon his current environment. ‘Background Kids’, a song that lumbers with a stoner-rock menace, grows in intensity throughout its highly strung lifespan. Again, Shelton can be heard looking inwards with a self-analytical angle as he growls “now it’s me that fucked up/and I’m losing the plot” while the track creeps along at a slithering pace. ‘All Roads Lead To The Gun II’ is brought to a close by the rock ‘n’ roll wiggle of its title track, with some stop-start bludgeoning thrown in for good measure that manifests at its punchy finale.

Props to Shelton for blurring the lines between several of heavy music’s outposts by delivering a short and sharp collection of four well-crafted songs. It’s probably a done deal there will be a ‘All Roads Lead To The Gun III’ right? Let’s hope so.

Order All Roads Lead To The Gun II Album by Militarie Gun HERE