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Here’s one of the weirder comps ever: End The Warzone. It’s probably most remembered for containing 9 (of 12) songs from Straight Ahead’s demo tape, thereby making it one of their 2 vinyl appearances.  Additional to that there’s also 2 live PHC tracks (was this necessary?), 4 Larm songs, and 2 Attitude Adjustment songs.

The Larm stuff is pretty solid for them, not their best stuff, but pretty much sounds like everything they ever did (out of tune, scrappy, thrash). I really like the Attitude Adjustment songs on here. I think they’re both from their ‘85 demo. Both were later re-recorded for their American Paranoia lp on Pusmort, but I think I prefer the demo versions because the vocals have more fire. The PHC songs are total nth tier junk. A bad Negative Approach cover, and a so-so original. Either way it’s kind of hard for this stuff to not be over shadowed by Straight Ahead’s contribution just based on the fact that it’s way bigger than anyone else’s. Even though the 9 songs probably only run 5 minutes, it’s still the fact that there are 9 complete compositions.

Straight Ahead at this point had just converted over from NYC Mayhem, who started as an early deathrash style metal band, then evolving into proto-grind core, and finally becoming almost a hardcore band, before changing their name and declaring themselves the full-on hardcore band you’ll find here. Most of the songs they contributed to End The Warzone, are actually modified versions of NYC Mayhem songs from their unreleased 7″ E.P. They owe a lot to Agnostic Front’s “United Blood”, as well as D.R.I.’s “Dirty Rotten E.P.” Most tracks don’t even take the time to repeat any of the parts, just delivering blast beats seasoned with tons of snare rolls and guitar breaks, and then occasionally slowing down for an awesome mosh part. I actually mapped out the structures of each song on this session once and they don’t make any sense. The riffs change to something new every 4 or 5 seconds and by the time you blink, 2 songs have gone by.

3 of the songs that appear here were later rerecorded for the Spirit Of Youth E.P. the band issued a year later, but the combination of a different drummer, and a more burly singing style on that release ensures that they almost sound like different songs here. Where Spirit Of Youth had gruff marbles in the mouth style vocals, singer Tommy Carol delivers a much more youthful and clear shouted style on this recording. By the way he also handles the drumming, which is amazing. Definitely some of the fastest blasting up until this point in time (I think the recording is from ‘85). If anyone has audio of any of the shows he played on drums with Youth Of Today (a band plagued by drummers I don’t care for) PLEASE COUGH IT UP.

All in all, Straight Ahead is one of my top 3 NYHC bands ever. It probably isn’t something you’d guess from this write-up because there’s really nothing I can even say about them at this point. From ages 18-21 I don’t think there was any band I was more obsessed with, seeking out live sets and videos, and replaying their brief output again and again. Eventually I sort of hit a wall with live sets and unknown info about the band because there is a finite amount of all that stuff, but still, this is basically one of the best bands ever in life. Maybe the only hardcore groups from NYC that can match them are V.I.P. era Agnostic Front, and the original phase of the Cro-Mags.

As far as I can tell this is the original pressing, I think the bootlegs all have blank labels. There are 500 originals w/ red labels like this, and 500 more with blue ones.

Young at heart, out for fun…

…oh and don’t forget to visit me here…

Metal Monday is back, and I want to make up for neglecting it lately.  This entire post stems from the fact that I’m selling an extra copy of the first Vio-lence lp “Eternal Nightmare”. Don’t be mad  I’m mentioning my own ebay auction here, I’ve been posting yours for 8 months! So, for some reason that I can’t figure out, Eternal Nightmare is now routinely selling for over $50. Who’s to say whether my copy will or not, but nevertheless, it’s a regular occurance. To me this reeks of ignorance on the part of the new crop of thrash-rockers taking the underground by storm, no doubt having been converted into metal maniacs by bands like Municiple Waste, Toxic Holocaust, and Merciless Death (uhhh, the new one not the old one), and maybe not totally aware of the many thrash classics that beat Vio-lence at their own game.

Vio-lence grew out of the fertile bay area scene in the mid-80’s, there’s a rehearsal demo from ‘86, but I believe their first real release is a promo recording that came free with some metal rag at the time for subscribers in ‘88. This had a couple of songs which were later recorded for their first proper lp Eternal Nightmare on Mechanic records which was a distributed imprint of MCA. So yes, in essence Vio-lence was on a major label. I can only imagine the look of horror on the faces of the A&R dept when they heard the finished recording for this album. I’m sure these geniuses thought they were going to get another Master of Puppets, or at least Peace Sells But Who’s Buying. Oh boy were they wrong. Now I can sort of  understand why you would want to bank on Vio-lence. There are definitely heavy riffs, and the songs work a variety of tempos that keep it from becoming the soundtrack to a narcoleptic episode. In addition the actual playing and exectution from the guitars is tight and some would even say technical. The drumming… well it’s lazy but so is Lars Ulrich. By far the most offensive aspect of Eternal Nightmare is the vocals of one Sean Killian, which I think are best described as yelping. Oh, how they yelp! They’re sort of falsetto, frequently off-time, and sometimes completely non-sensical, but ALWAYS yelping. They’re actually worse than the afformentioned ‘88 promo tape on Eternal Nightmare, which is something that I would say is unusual.Yet still, the love for Vio-lence persists to this day.

People wear shirts, bands do covers, and their guitarist Rob Flynn continues to look like a total buffoon in Machine Head. Rather than berating the folks who have turned this pile of stink into an in demand record (after all I’m selling it to make money), I’ve listed below 5 records that mine the same tech-thrash territory as Vio-lence, but with FAR better results, and of course, much better vocals.

1. Dark Angel - Leave Scars — There are 2 things I know. a) This has one of the 10 worst album covers ever. b) This is one of the greatest thrash albums ever recorded. Peep my previous write-up. Lost Classic status.
2. Forced Entry - Uncertain Future — Basically if you improved all the things that suck about Vio-lence you’d get this lp. Percise as hell, much harder vocals, some progressive mosh parts, and a killer drummer who is ready to go DEEP in the pocket. Sleeper hit.
3. Holy Terror - Mind Wars — I’ve made a post about Terror and Submission on here in the past, and that’s a great album. A really inventive combination of neo-classical Mercyful Fate style elements and heavy mid-period Kreator style thrash. Mind Wars ups the ante a lot. It’s a lot thrashier, but also more progressive. All the songs are extremely dense, and the vocals are top notch. The dude can sing or scream and sound convincing doing either one. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that this phase of Holy Terror featured one of the guitarists from Agent Steele (the classic power metal band). Really does sound like a war in your mind.
4. Death Row - Raging Steel — Okay this is my only German pick, which maybe isn’t fair but feel free to argue. This is definitely their finest hour. Like a cleaned up early Kreator with lots of lyrics about fantasy and battle. Some campy but good neo-classical interludes, and awesomely retarded sleeve art. Lots of crunch and good production. Much better than their first lp, a little goofy, but a lot of fun. Btw anyone got the first lp w/ banned sleeve for trade?
5. Forbidden - Forbidden Evil — I have a special place in my heart for Forbidden. I picked the lp up on a whim once and played it a lot for a few months. This is the band Paul Bostaph (who later replaced Dave Lombardo in Slayer for about 10 years) got his start. For that reason the drumming is sickly detailed, and the guitars aren’t far behind. This one mixes a bit of Helloween power thrash with a lot of Exodus and Hell Awaits era Slayer. Rob Flynn of Violence actually did a little time in this band too. WELCOME TO THE CHURCH OF LIES.

 

• Cool looking Inepsy set list from Condenses Fresh Blog.
• Cool Hunting blog gives a sneak peek of Anthony Pappalardo and Nathan Nedorostek’s soon to be released book: Radio Silence.
• A while ago CC made a reference to Terminator music in his post about Axegrinder’s Rise of the Serpent Men.  Here is Brandon Soderberg from No Trivia writing about the Termintaor sound track in response to J. Dilla’s referencing it, “Reminds me of some ol’ Terminator shit”.
• Abbreviated round up:
  • The Dogs - “Slash Your Face” finished at $416 
  • The Fix - “Jan’s Room” finished at $431
  • Cerebral Fix “Life Sucks and Then You Die” LP finished at $16
  • No For An Answer - “You Laugh” (I Spy Sleeve) finished at just over $200

PS - check the muxtape (bidhardcore.muxtape.com), and leave a link to yours in a comment.

Stuart Schrader of www.Shit-Fi.com returns with a write up of the alltime classic Jezus and the Gospelfuckers demo tape.  Read on!

Jezus and the Gospelfuckers’ cassette, released in 1982, offers everything the discerning punk of today could desire: over-the-top Discharge-influenced lead-driven raging hardcore, song titles like “Kill the Police” and “Live Fast Die Young,” a crucifix-ejaculating skeleton crucified on a penis as a logo, a cassette-only release of course, and, the name, oh, that name!

As is rarely the case today, the music matches the reputation (and vice versa). J&TGF were a rowdy group of nihilistic leather-jacketed misanthropes who drugged, fucked, robbed, and stabbed their way from the ho-hum closing days of the 70s punk scene into the 80s and the by-the-throat musical inferno that exploded after Stoke-on-Trent’s shot heard ‘round the world, “Realities of War.” Yes, J&TGF’s anti-everything stance may not have neatly fit in with the politically engaged Dutch punks of the late 70s, but the music they played circa 1979 was above-average snotty pogo punk. Then, they heard Discharge and their attitude found its sound. But J&TGF were no clones. They used their own rabid energy and formidable musical chops to produce a sound no other band has quite matched. It is metallic insofar as, unlike so much hardcore, it does not eschew lead guitar. In fact, the lead guitar is wild, aggressive, and nonstop. It feels less like an indulgent, boring, predictable rocknroll solo (which is what hardcore meant to decry by avoiding solos altogether) than a Gatling gun stuck on kill. The nine songs on the tape are distinct, memorable, and drenched in adrenaline (or is it amphetamine?).

As cassette-only releases from the 80s go, this one is in the mid-range of rarity. Its sheer brilliance meant that word spread quickly and the band was able to distribute a lot of copies. But it is a cassette, so probably many fewer remain in existence than if it had been a record. The original is easy to spot because it has labels stuck on it. The j-card insert is nothing fancy, with the song titles, that logo, and the member names. For around 20 years, this cassette had the distinction of being considered by the cognoscenti the best hardcore recording never to be released on vinyl. A few years back, it was reissued on vinyl (and CD) as a split with Agent Orange (reissuing their two EPs), perhaps the only band that could be considered to have topped J&TGF at their own game—except it was pretty much the same band with some new members. Agent Orange, of course, recorded a new version of J&TGF’s anthem “Kill the Police,” though I think I prefer the slowed-down barbiturate swagger of the original. Anyway, the split LP includes a booklet with cool photos and perhaps the single greatest piece of writing about hardcore punk ever, the bands’ biography. The LP also includes a couple bonus tracks by Agent Orange and Genocide Express. If the madness of seeking out original cassettes from the 80s has not yet infected your cortex, this reissue should be relatively easy to track down. But this cassette is about as close as you can get to that bygone era, and the music it contains seems to me a pretty good justification for continued fetishization of something most would today find repulsive and frightening if encountered on the backstreets.

(This eBay seller is also auctioning some other essential 80s hardcore records, including Shotgun Solution’s lone EP, which is Southern Europe’s answer to J&TGF/Agent Orange and one of the most over-the-top records ever.) [editor’s note: there are 2 copies of the Shotgun Solution 7″ on ebay right now. wtf?]

Jezus and the Gospelfuckers demo tape

Today reader I give you an original 1983 pressing of the long forgot Malefice “Overboard” E.P. You’d be forgiven for not knowing who Malefice are, though if you ask the right people, you’re sure to hear about their wild live performances and formidable stage presence when they had occasion to play the DC area in the early 80’s.

I first discovered them a few thanksgivings back, perusing the used 7″s at a store near my parent’s house in Northern Virginia. The cover had a skeleton in the DRI-guy pose, the back, had the same skeleton (who wears a leather jacket), playing from an evil looking organ (note: there is no organ on the actual record), while a few dozen other punk rock skeletons mosh and stage dive together below him. The label, DSI, I knew for releasing both United Mutation 7″s, and the pentagrams drawn various places on the release had me pretty sure this record could not suck. I must say I have wonderful instincts.

Malefice came from the ashes of another Northern Virgina band, Media Disease, who were a straight forward thrash group that often gigged with United Mutation in their formative days. Malefice took their place as partners in gigging and they played house parties and clubs together for a couple years,  at one point even sharing a drummer.  If you’ve ever heard the unreleased Void lp this is not too far from it. If you’ve ever disparaged said lp: fuck you.

Malefice isn’t quite as metallic as Void’s lost Potion of Bad Dreams, but they’re drinking from the same well. They’re a bit speedier, and the vocals are a little more unhinged, but the guitar work is also a little less flashy and more tame. You won’t find the lost Void record by picking up the Malefice 7″, but if you’re a fan of the 80’s pscyho-core style, you should dig this. If I had to pinpoint this I’d say take some Void, some UM, and a bit of Venom or maybe 7″ era Obsessed and you’re pretty close to what this sounds like.

Side A features the track Carrion which opens up with one of those chorus-drenched feedback messes that devil-punk bands like so much (see Void, Die Kreuzen, The Scam). Eventually things congeal for a slow crawling intro and then launch into the main riff, a buzzy speed metal type part with dive bombs and scrappy solos added as seasoning. The lyrics concern some vaguely occultish stuff, but the vocals are delivered total hardcore style which sounds cool and raw.  You get a pretty gratuitous solo about 3/4ths of the way through that sounds a little more wild because there’s no second guitar to back it, just the bass.

Side B has 2 tracks the first of which is Lost Sheep. Lost Sheep opens up with another tremolo style metal riff and then breaks out with a little more rockin’ type lick as the main riff, comparable to something you might hear on the first Bathory album like Necromancy or Sacrifice, again the vocals are what keeps it footed in the hardcore realm. The last song “Overboard” is the best I think. It has a pretty good descending metal-punk riff and probably the best vocal performance of the 3. The singer just does his best to totally let loose, especially in the choruses “I’m at the edge/and outta breath”. Some pretty smoking solos get laid down in this one too.

There’s 2 pressings of this 7″. This is the original 1983 edition in a folded sleeve that has lyrics on the inside. It should also have an Amoeba Man 1 page comic that advertises other releases on DSI including the ELUSIVE “Mutopia” tape comp — IF ANYONE HAS THIS TO DUB OR AN ORIGINAL TO TRADE PLEASE CONTACT ME I WILL MAKE YOU A GOOD DEAL. The second pressing comes in a glued sleeve and all copies are on blue vinyl. It’s also got an extra song from this session added to it and is much easier to find. In fact it’s not uncommon for unplayed-stock copies to turn up here and there.

After this Malefice never had another record but they did record several sessions which were comped onto an lp called Lotus Blossom in 1990 by the infamous Lost and Found. It’s packaged to look like a singular album, but it actually spans ‘82-’85  (as I recall) and is pretty similar to this E.P. Stock copies of this are findable on ebay from time to time, and are recommended. Interest in Malefice is growing so now is the time to track this  record down as it still can be had for under $30.

Malefice “Overboard” E.P.

Here’s another pick for Michigan:

The Dogs - “Slash Your Face” . Strictly speaking, this is not a hardcore record, and I think if you want to totally split hairs they may have already been transplanted to California by this time, but I think you could fairly apply the term Detroit-proto-hardcore to the title track by this beloved early American DIY outfit. Greg Ginn talked about The Dogs as being one of his influences for the Black Flag DIY aesthetic and for that they deserve a pat on the back, but for the song Slash Your Face, they deserve a place in a museum. Slash Your Face the 7″ was recorded live at a gig and edited to sound basically like a studio release. The band released it on their own label and by the 90’s it was a sought after collectible by the KBD set. Honestly, (and I am speaking from the heart when I say this), this is the best song to ever be associated with the Killed By Death tag. It has all the ferocity of the faster Stooges tracks like Search and Destroy, I Got A Right, and 1970, and all the heaviness of Chiswick era Motorhead wrapped in one.

Slash Your Face the song opens with the same type of snare roll a hundred other hardcore bands used later on to start songs. It drops into a power riff that sounds like a fight that’s about to start. It’s just thuggish and mean. Uninviting even. When things pick up to full speed for the main verse it’s even less inviting. I just sort of automatically picture a violent slam pit full of 70’s rockers in leather and denim beating the hell out of each other to this song. Beer bottles and chains and boots all in a mess of sweat. I doubt it was as good as what I’m seeing in my minds eye, but who knows (”scientists don’t even know”). Maybe it’s the straight forward violence in the lyrics where the singer repeatedly threatens to slash the listeners face, “I gotta/I’m gonna, slash your face, slash your face”, t0 say nothing of the unleashed howls during a couple of quick drum breaks. The song runs at a clip a little faster than Nervous Breakdown, but not quite where the Circle Jerks would be in 1980, which I guess makes this single fit right into 1978. The middle portion gives way to some guitar and bass soloing thta betrays their roots in Fast Eddie Clarke/Lemmy, but it also never loses the speed aspect or sinks under its own weight.

The other 2 songs, while still great, don’t quite match the mindfuck of Slash Your Face. Fed Up is a great rockin’ stomper and Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl is a cover of the well known track by The Barbarians. All of ‘em are good to pogo around your bed room to, but when rock ‘n roll is really dead and gone and only history buffs are still listening to records with guitars, they’ll still be studying Slash Your Face.

Michigan… what the hell would you possibly want to go there for? Maybe to find some “tasty HC rippers”. The racket that started as the Stooges and MC5 in the late 60’s begot plenty of interesting hardcore and punk by the late 70s.

The Fix - “Jan’s Room”. It’s not as legendary as the Vengeance 7″, and really not as good either but Jan’s Room is still a stone cold killer. This one has the cool spray painted insert too. While originally they kind of had a vibe like 3-chord rock ‘n roll  gone over the edge on speed, this one is more brutal and less tuneful. Starting with “Cos The Elite” they kick into high gear like an Americanized factory-town Discharge. The drums lead the song off sounding percise and muscular, betraying their rock ‘n roll roots but when the guitar comes in it’s ugly as hell. They’re a thick overdriven wash that sits on top of everything else and just drills into your ears. The bass is nice and muddy (no twang) and the vocals bark a harsh monotone like an improved version of S.O.A. era Rollins. Truth Right Now continues along the same lines, but side B opens with Signal, a total pace change. First of all they’ve tuned down to C for this track, I guess in order to sound heavier as they play through a couple minutes of slow chugging dirge, building tension with an ominous circular pattern on the toms. The end of the song provides the tension release that’s more in line with the rest of the record’s icy and angry smash and bash sound, that continues into the closer Off To War (the most obvious Discharge style jam).

Today’s posting comes from the induplicable M. Colin Tappe of Life’s A Rape fanzine/label, and the rock band Crime Desire (who have a new lp you should check out). Read below:In an age when all the top shelf late 80’s UK crust monsters (Sacrilege, Amebix, Axegrinder, Hellbastard, etc.) teeter around $60, I’ve been really prompted to dig deeper and check out some of the oft ignored 2nd tier bands you don’t really hear too much about as a casual OG crust enthusiast. And I stress the “casual” angle, as I’ve only really cared about this stuff for a few years now, an important point to clarify when I’m in league with such guest posters and experts in their field as Stuart Schrader, Cooch, Rettman and Westbrook. But if you’re like me and are a bit new to the UK crust game, the two auctions I’ve plucked today might be the gateway drugs which motivate you to go beyond the most notorious groups (with the hardest to find records) in that scene.

First up is the Cerebral Fix “Life Sucks and Then You Die” LP. The Accused style cover art and the board shorts might have you believe this is some wankin’ crossover, and uh, maybe it is to some extent, but if you ever wanted a way less heavy Bolt Thrower without double bass and deathmetal vox, then this here LP’s your ticket. The band gets into that just-about-to-fall-apart-but-in-a-good-way area when they go into the quasi-blastbeat fast parts, which is pretty typical of bands who played this fast at the time (1987), and the mosh parts are as solid as they are plentiful. There’s definitely some great riffs lurking on this one if you give it the chance. Of course with most of this stuff at some point you have to ask if it should really be talked about as a crust record, or if the band has more to do with crossover or thrash, and since this is more a question of aesthetics than anything, I should note that the band had political lyrics and a thanks list filled with UK crust staples like Doom, Deviated Instinct, etc. but I think it’s that arbitrary distinction between genres that makes the records from that time so interesting. Bands like Hellbastard and Sheer Terror, who we now have categorized into two distinct and ideologically opposed sub-genres, at the time were basically just taking blind stabs at incorporating metal with the hopes of just turning out some intense and hard shit, and thankfully our record collections are a lot more interesting because they succeeded in the ways they did. Which isn’t to say there’s anything as interesting on this Cerebral Fix record as you’ll find on any of the aforementioned bands’ records, but that’s kind of the point, that if you take the time to dig deeper you’ll find that the main bands who we credit as the masters of pushing hardcore into more intense territories through the use of metal weren’t alone, and some of the peripheral bands whose records go for under $20 and you never see on a patch or shirt can still hit the spot in a pinch. I lagged on this write up, so the auction will probably be over by the time this gets posted, but add it to your saved searches, it shows up about once every two months or so.

I’ll admit that the Cerebral Fix record isn’t really my favorite style of crust, and I tend to go more for the melodramatic Killing Joke infused chugging of Amebix and the like than the stenchy blur of Bolt Thrower/ENT/etc. If you share my sentiment, then this Deformed EPis a must own for sure. Really the only reason I’m mentioning this in the context of late 80’s crust (this ep did come out in 1983, after all) is due to the fact that Deformed share the approach Amebix took on their early eps, which is to say borrowing the repetitive, tom-heavy rhythms of Batcave/Killing Joke records and adding the chugging distortion of the anarcho punk music they were perhaps more familiar with. It’s a deadly combination, as any Amebix fan can tell you, and I think Deformed might even have their shit a bit more together than Amebix had on the “Whose The Enemy?” Ep (but not quite as cohesive as “Winter”). Of course what I LOVE about this record is all the overt Satanic imagery, which was kind of a bold move for the time. There’s a pretty short list of punk bands in the early 80’s who were really pushing the Satanic/horror imagery (Screaming Dead, Criminal Justice, 45 Grave, and to a lesser extent Uproar and Void), outside of the Misfits and their fold, and thankfully Deformed hold nothing back, just littering their 6 panel foldout poster sleeve with drawings of skeletons, pentagrams, upside down crosses, goats, etc. Plus peep the song titles: “Ritual,” “Crypt,” and “From the Grave.” That has to rival the first Bathory record in terms of most straight forward collection of evil sounding song titles ever. One of the worst things you can do in hardcore is hold back, and thankfully Deformed didn’t hesitate for a second and think that maybe taking a group photo in front of an altar of candles and a plastic skull might be “cheesy,” or that putting a pentagram on the center label might be a bit much. They went all the way, and it’s that conviction, both sonically and aesthetically, that makes this record so convincing. The group has a myspace page with a fairly comprehensive bio, and a 2xCD on Poland’s Trujaca Fala label (they only had one other 7” and a song on one of the Bullshit Detector comps as far as vinyl goes) if you need more info.

Here’s a nice double shot of late 80’s USHC rarity from the same seller.

1. Behind door number 1 we’ve got No For An Answer - You Laugh with the highly sought after I-Spy sleeve. This is definitely one of the most hard to find early Revelation rarities, with supposedly 200 made, I assume for either tour or mail order. You Laugh is probably the most preachy straight edge record to come out before the 90’s. Every song has a pushy message, and is very verbose, which is kind of funny because, the band can barely play them. The drumming in the fast parts takes a loose paddle style which doesn’t fit the sterile 80’s gated sound at all.  At times the guitars hold it together enough so that you don’t notice how rickety the drumming is, but at others like say, the intro to About Face, things pretty much derail and the effect is pretty neutering to the music. There are definitely some minor edge classics on here though. The mosh riff to Just Say No, comes in at just the right time and seems designed to open the floor right up, and the sing along is a bit of a no brainer. The title track hits on the touchy “casual sex” topic, but probably has the best riffs on the record. The lyrics are clumsy and pretty ham-fisted  which wouldn’t be so bad if it didn’t feel so smug and self assured. As I said before, probably the preachiest 7″ of the 80s. The muted cymbal hits in the beginning are laughably off, which is I guess appropriate for a song called You Laugh, because sometimes I do laugh when I hear it. When Will It End is the worst song, as juvenile and stupid as possible, by the end of side 1 it feels like they’re trying to touch on every category of positive message (recap: song 1 - anti drugs, song 2 - anti casual sex, song 3 - anti violence), it’s just a little much. Also this song has a HORRIBLE clean guitar intro. SKIP. Side B brings you back though - Without A Reason is a pretty good anti-drunk driving track, it kinda sounds like they mixed the drums lower so you wouldn’t hear them go off time during the chorus, but it still gets classic status. Track 5 is Liar which is about 6 seconds long, but pretty cool. It’s the only song without a pushy message on the record, so I guess like… 20 seconds would have been too much to not have a message for. The last track, About Face, is okay, but it’s a mediocre diss track on Uniform Choice for being “sellouts” and has a long talking part over the mosh. Also it’s the sloppiest of all the songs which gets distracting. I think this recording was actually a demo originally and had an instrumental intro, and a really bad Agnostic Front cover in the session too, confirm/deny anyone? Anyhow - a solid 7″, definitely the least good of the first 15 or Revelation Releases, but that’s pretty much every 1st tier late 80’s straight edge record so what can you do? Oh and of course… Dan O’ (the singer) now owns a bar. WHOOPS.

2. Door number 2 contains: Outburst - Miles To Go on RED vinyl. Not the repress folks this is the OG on Blackout, one of the crappiest labels ever to release good records. Anywho, there’s supposed to be like 200 of these as well. It turns up WAY less than the blue vinyl variation. Alright, in the past I’ve made some noise about this record not being that good, despite the fact that I was in a band that stole from practically every song on it. I’m ready to apologize and say I was wrong. This is a pretty good slab of NYHC. I still like Breakdown, Altercation, and Raw Deal better, but there’s some real TNT on this one too.  The cover still sucks though. I’m not taking that back. As others have said - looks like the year book page for the A/V Club. Big standout with Outburst are the vocals which spit growl and seethe with teenage anger, which helps to gloss over the genericish “angry guy” lyrics. He has a good delivery too and  knows when to stretch certain words out and when to cram others together. The music is pretty rhythmic, like a more precise take on Breakdown’s style, the riffs are a little more complex and noodly, the back beat is a little heavier, the stops and starts are a little cleaner. It’s cool, and the best songs like No Choice, When Things Go Wrong, and Thin Ice (which are front-loaded as the first 3 tracks), pull out all the stops. If you ever liked head smashing heavy NYHC you can appriciate how those songs deliver with each change up. The B-Side holds up well but can’t match the 1-2-3 punch you get in the first half. The production… well it definitely has a certain charm and I know some people love it, it’s probably the most extreme example I can think of of late 80s NY style production. Every instrument has a cheap digital effect added. The echo you hear on the bass drum at the beginning of Misunderstood sounds something like a basketball being dribbled, the snare to toms roll that kicks off No Choice sounds like the echo knob can’t go any higher on each hit. The guitars are very 80’s metal, probably run direct through a metal zone pedal and then a chorus pedal (to make them sound “fuller”). Each one has a buzzy crunch and absolutely no bottom end or heaviness. There’s more echo heaped on top, so at the end of everything they kind of sound like shimmering static. The bass sounds about the same, and the vocals of course, are all echo. It’s very artificial sounding, and an odd choice for songs this ferocious, but it was ‘89, and at the time this was state of the art. I’m sure it cost a lot but I don’t blame them, this record was made to be a hit, and it was recorded to sound pro. It just took about 15 years for very many folks to notice.

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.