Is there any image more timely and pertinent in the swirling toilet of 2023 than a giant, flaming pile of shit? With creeping authoritarianism toxifying the political sphere across both sides of the Atlantic, and a confected culture war which seeks to ruthlessly trash any social gains made by women and queer communities, the burning turd that adorns Lambrini Girls‘ debut EP perhaps succinctly and unpretentiously symbolises a society captured by conservative reactionaries more than they realised.

Formed in Brighton, the queer-punk trio has swiftly established a reputation for no-prisoners attacks on the forces of oppression which plague every music scene and takes up space, regardless of talent. Coupled with fiercely pro-active energy in ensuring their live sets are unequivocally inclusive (often bringing all women and queer folk to the front of the audience), their reputation for frenzied performances and direct, lyrical attacks see them winning slots at their hometown’s The Great Escape festival and joining the bill at Iggy Pop’s upcoming Crystal Palace headliner.

You’re Welcome unleashes focused, blunt blasts of feminist punk that’s solely concerned with impact and shock collision. Lily Macieira’s thunderous bass sparks the first track ‘Boys in the Band’ with acute tension, a furious lambast toward male unaccountability cursing every scene in the country and refusing to budge and sets the stage for singer Phoebe Lunny’s throat-shredding seethe fuelled by just anger. Further cavities of pain are excavated on the febrile ‘Mr Lovebomb’, a cautionary tale against the slimy ensnaring of surreptitious abusers, and the guitar attacks are afforded extra heave on the ripper ‘Lads Lads Lads’, a thematic centrepiece track of sorts which take subversive pot shots at toxic masculinity with a riff slamming so hard it touches on metal.

Lambrini Girls’ greatest gift is marrying passionate sincerity with huge dollops of acerbic humour. “There’s a reason your kids aren’t talking to you anymore Carol, it’s because you’re being transphobic on Facebook again” quips Lunny on ‘Terf Wars’, illustrating their knack for crafting poison-tipped lines of wicked hilarity. The archetypal ‘white van man’ is given a particular drubbing on the titular final track, a squalid snapshot of leering men in their four-wheeled harassmobiles punctured with a comical appropriation of Juliet’s yearning for Romeo “above the scaffolding below”.

The shitshow inferno that is the current political pantomime and its social rot has been scored with succinct savagery from Lambrini Girls, an expert punk-rock document of unabashed fun anchored with a truly combative assault on anyone that helps to maintain the glass ceiling. You’re Welcome is every tedious woke warrior’s worst nightmare, an urgent rejection of stagnant gatekeepers and an example of punk’s perennial necessity.