Wrecking Crew
Balance of Terror (Reissue)
I Scream (2006)
Over the past decade or so "toughguy" hardcore has gotten more obnoxious by the second, but one of the bands that spawned this shitstorm, Madball, always had at least one thing going for them. This special ingredient was the combination of the pure catchiness of their riffs and their surprisingly tight sense of rhythm. Even though I am enough of a hardcore purist that I generally won't touch anything from after 1986, Madball is a much, much more enjoyable listen than the tripe that masquerades as hardcore in these times. But what does Madball even have to do with Wrecking Crew? The connection I'm trying to make is that Madball's sound goes back farther than the casual hardcore fan may realize. Although Wrecking Crew was a Boston band, the beginnings of this more groovy style of hardcore can be heard in their music and also the music of their contemporaries Agnostic Front and Slapshot. In the void that followed the collapse of the legendary early-to-mid '80s Boston scene, a second generation began to surface in the late '80s. Taking more cues from Discharge and Motörhead than the bands that preceded them earlier in the decade, the second generation of Boston … Read more
The Distortions
Machines at Night
Blank (2007)
You know what I liked when I was in high school? Actually, you can probably guess this one. I liked … Read more
Rocky Votolato
A Brief History (Reissue)
Second Nature (2007)
It is real nice that Rocky Votolato's A Brief History is available again. With the original label - Your Best … Read more
Rocky Votolato
A Brief History (Reissue)
Second Nature (2007)
A Brief History is Rocky Votolato's second full-length, originally released in 2000 after his hard-to-find self-titled debut in 1999. At … Read more
Fake Problems
How Far Our Bodies Go
Sabot (2007)
The comparisons are going to be made so let's just get them out of the way right now. As Against … Read more
