Prisonnier Du Temps comes ranging back in 2026 with Prendre Le Pouvoir Par La Force (translation: "Seizing Power by Force") - the multi-talented one-man wrecking crew of Lionel Cadiou aka Jacky really pulled together a great album of boot-stomping street punk with no lack of with chant-style vocals. I was pretty excited when this came out and it did not disappoint.
There is a bit of that Cold Oi! French sound that's been proliferating for the last decade (in no small part due to Jacky - and it does invoke Syndrome 81 at times, particularly on track 3 on Side A, L'armée Des Ombres), but it's mostly straight-forward street punk. The album opens up with a strummed acoustic, a bit of a surprise, until it kicks into the punk. The second side is stronger - it starts out with Dernier Regard, which rips its guitar riff from classic Oi anthems of yore, but there's there's some nice vocal layering in the verse parts that give it a unique sound. My favorite song on the album follows it, Et Jusqu'à la Mort is a fast pace fist pumper, with some nice "woahhh" background vocals through the bridge culminating all towards a combined sound as the reaches it apex, the melody mimicking the synth intro. Just a great song structure. The final song has another melodic outro section with more "woahhs" that eventually settles to a lock-groove that repeats the title of the album over and over in an aggressively French manner.
I like this one a lot, better than the debut which was very good. I think he has recruited members to play out live. A blitz of a record, easy to listen to, catchy - all in all, if you like your punk with a side of melody, you'll probably like this one. My copy is on green vinyl.