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The Crumbsuckers were one of the first NYHC bands to really take on a full crossover sound that seemed to appeal pretty equally to hardcore and metal audiences in the 80’s. Agnostic Front tried with their second lp Cause For Alarm, which, like the Crumbsuckers’ classic LIFE OF DREAMS, was adorned with full color tripped out cartoon art by Sean Taggert (at his artistic peak), but doesn’t really command the same respect today among metalheads. For AF, the vocals were weak, the songs got long, the riff-theft was obvious, and things weren’t really as tight as they should have been. Life Of Dreams is no doubt the kind of record they were aspiring to make, or at least should have made, and as far as Combat Core releases from that time period, there is none finer than it.Musically the way the Crumbsuckers work, and what makes them a success is that they can play with 80’s metal chops, busting out tight double bass drum licks, start-stop poly-rhythms, and full on thrashing, neck shredding solos, but they keep the economical song lengths and structures of classic hardcore/punk. Take for instance the topical “Super Tuesday” a song about, what else, the election process in the USA. At only a minute, it works off a standard start-stop vs/ch/vs/mosh structure hundreds of hardcore songs have used before and after it. But when you listen to how tight the chops are in the speedy paddle beats, hear the ringing of the chrous effect on the guitars, and the excess of reverb drenching on everything, it’s pretty obvious these guys were not purists. Despite the fact that tons of hardcore bands tried to perform a similar balancing act with their songwriting, few really executed it as well as the Crumbsuckers. Oh and how could I wait til now to mention Chris Notaro’s command of the mic. Seriously this guy is one of the best ever. Not a hint of any kind of actual singing. Without naming names, there were an awful lot of NYHC bands that, when it came time to make a big-time lp on a metal label, delivered vocals that attempted to be more accessible, complete with singy/clean vocals and attempts to stay on key, like bargain bin Anthrax vocals. Obviously that stuff is not cool. Fear not then, because Notaro’s delivery has the kind of glass-gargled, rabid freakouts that are in the same class as Victim In Pain, Thou Shalt Not Kill, et. al. Every song he delivers his gurgling pissed-off fury perfectly, always on time, always clear, and always hard.What more can you ask for? You even get one of the weirdest lp covers ever. I have no idea what’s going on and I’m just going to assume it was conceived on drugs.