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Thanks to Tony Brummel reissuing it in the 90’s, one of the first reference points I ever had for “hardcore” was a compact disc of the Cause For Alarm s/t 7″. In fact probably the first hardcore band I owned multiple releases by (not counting a Minor Threat discography) was Cause For Alarm, who disappeared for about 12 years after issuing this first 7″, and then reemerged in the 90’s issuing a bunch of shit that still sounded pretty 80’s style other than having modern production. A lot of it still sucks though. Okay but back to ‘83…

Let me just take this moment to note, this has some of the all time greatest Hardcore cover art ever. The riot cops dragging the protester, it’s brutal. Anyway this opens up with the 45 second blast of Parasite, one cruddy sounding guitar leads the charge and shouted vocals that sound vintage and snotty pick it up about the same time as a decently approximated d-beat comes in. One thing I really loved about this record when I got it was that I could perfectly replicate the guitar sound with my Yamaha guitar and Crate practice amp. Actually I really wanted to do a band of this style then, and even tried once or twice on my 4-track. We won’t discuss the disastrous results here.

Second Chance makes it obvious that the band is recording the 7″ basically live as vocalist Keith Burkhardt calls out the title and then the band starts it off with a feel good mosh riff that lasts about 3 seconds before the fast part starts up. Something that made this one really palatable in my young days was how tuneful most of the riffs were and this one is no exception. It basically sounds like any classic NY punk band from the 70s sped up about 2 or 3 times, which is after all, pretty much what early NYHC is founded on. My exposure to CFA early in my hardcore career also ensured that it was the main reference point for other records from NY produced during the same time. United Blood sounded like Cause For Alarm with shorter songs to me. Antidote sounded like Cause For Alarm with the singer from Youth Of Today.

The centerpiece of this E.P. may be United Races which has a long mosh section in the middle, an easy to remember message, and the most catchy verse and chorus. Definitely the hit. Pretty much every track dishes out good no frills , start-stop 82/83 HC. There’s no weak links or wasted space. In Search Of, Poison In The Machine, Stand As One — all of these songs deliver the payload with as much directness and simplicity as possible.

After this Cause For Alarm was gigging for at least a year longer, and even recorded a second E.P. which remains unreleased other than the song Time Will Tell on the P.E.A.C.E. comp. Most of it isn’t as good as this one, though a nice CD with both E.P. sessions and a live set would be pretty awesome. Not that I expect anyone at Victory to bother or care. Some of the songs from the second E.P. did get recycled into the 90’s version of Cause For Alarm at least. Eventually tensions in the band pulled them apart, mostly because Burkhardt was becoming a Krishna devotee and was inserting too many of his beliefs into the band. Of course now he’s over it. Figures. Eventually Alex Kinon and Rob Kabula joined Agnostic Front and made an album called Cause For Alarm which unfortunatly sounds nothing like their former band.

BTW, before the reissue on victory (which is easy to differentiate because it has a yellow cover) there was also a boot of this record. You can tell the boot from the original because it’s on a cheap stock of paper (as opposed to the original card stock) and doesn’t have the tri-fold style sleeve the original has.