25 years is a long time and luckily enough not too long for Tech-9. This band from Eindhoven is together since ’82 and is still delivering some very decent work. Their latest record is called Nine Lives. Nine Lives is the fifth record of the band and the fourth released by I Scream Records. Their music consists of a combination between Punk Rock, Street Punk and Hardcore and is influenced by bands like The Exploited, Sick Of It All, Cock Barres and everything in between. On top of the 12 brand-new tracks on Nine Lives  you’ll get 7 bonus songs; 6 covers and 1 song from their first release. 

The first thing I noticed when I put on this record were the vocals; I really liked it. Singer Hein has a raw and powerful voice which perfectly fits the music. The voice of Hein can be compared to the voice of Al Barr from Dropkick Murphys, but with a little bit more melody in it. The structures of the songs are not very difficult, but this simplicity is exactly the power of Tech-9. Besides the band, also Dirk Miers – known for his work with Discipline and Born From Pain amongst others – did a great job recording and mixing the album. 

After approximately half an hour of nodding my head and tapping my foot on some catchy music, it is time for some tribute songs. The first one is a tribute song to themselves. They re-recorded the song ‘Survival’ and after this one the listener is presented to songs from Blondie, The Saints, Dead Boys, Generation X, Ramones (a medley with ‘Teenage Lobotomy’, ‘Sheena Is A Punk Rocker’ and ‘Do You Wanna Dance?’) and Sex Pistols. 

These tribute songs are a nice bonus, but the real reason to buy this record are simply the first 12 tracks. Tech-9 has delivered an album on which they prove they are not too old to rock!