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For sale by Nate Wilson of True Punk Metal blog, is a personal favorite later 80’s SXE style 7″ - Headfirst “Back In Control”. This thing is seriously a 10/10 in my book, not even a rap intro can ruin it. I have a certain love for Dan O’s Workshed label, and this is definitely my favorite release on it. Heavy production, catchy as hell riffs, and a good singer make it the whole package. The first track is a standard HC jam for ‘89 in the USA. A little bit of Judge (lp) and NFAA (lp)  influence but they have their own sound that I can’t quite put my finger on. Maybe it will come to me later. Maybe some Quicksand or Burn too because when it gets to the breakdown things start to groove a bit, but not too much (this is only 1990 folks). Track 2 is kind of an anti Straight Edge song, but I can let that slide because it has a great intro. I used to riff on this one a lot at practice in my slightly younger days.  The main part of the song holds it down pretty well too with a catchy metallic breakdown.

On the flipside things start off rocky (not rockin) with the aforementioned rappy part. Despite it being there this isn’t an early wigger-core release, which is emphasized by the terrible and rigid delivery in this part. Once the guitars come in it’s not quite as bad, but this is definitely my least favorite of the four songs. The title track closes things out, with a slow almost stoner rock riff. You can tell this one’s supposed to be the big show stopper, and the thickly saturated guitar tone actually helps that along quite a bit. I wish Headfirst had kept up making slowburning hardcore crushers like the best moments on this 7″, but sadly they veered into post-hc territory on their next release, an lp that I want nothing to do with, and while their preceding demo is alright, it doesn’t really have the balls out power of this 7″.

This 7″ does break my rule of Raw/Simple is the best kind of sxe-core, but I can’t help but play air guitar whenever I hear it.

This is a clear copy of the record which seems to be the rarest. There’s also purple vinyl which I see a little more often, and black which is the most common. Honestly, if you’re into late 80’s sxe style HC and you don’t know this one, get on it.