FIRST STRIKE

All modesty aside, I think the last three comps I posted were total fukkn killers...and I see no reason to start making Fridays any less awesome today. BCT should need no introduction on a website dedicated to punk tapes, and First Strike was their first release, unleashing unknown US hardcore on unsuspecting punks combing the pages of MRR looking for tasty jams. The punks who mailed in their $4 (17 years ago and the price was the same as today - inflation still evades the punks) for this tape were rewarded with 60 near perfect minutes of blistering earnest hardcore. Milwaukee's CLITBOYS start the party with 8 songs, most of which can be found on their brilliant EP - political and punk as shit, especially considering their locale. FUTURE RUINS have a slight UK tinge, but their raucous thrashy punk is fronted by melodic USHC vocals and it works great - if you like to be confused (I do, so I place myself in the "fan" column). VIOLATION (from fukkn Maine), and VATICAN COMMANDOS (yeah, the band that MOBY played guitar in for a few months), are raging hardcore, the kind of shit that makes the genre awesome. SKOUNDRELZ are slightly more blah and more rock influenced, while MR. EPP take the hardcore approach and inject heaps of drugs into the mix (a good idea, at least in this case). POISON CENTER just fukkn rip, most of these songs are simply raw as hell (which is not a problem at all), while EAT THE RICH are San Jose's sunbaked-don't-give-a-fuck version Midwest hardcore and CULTURAL BREAKTHOUGH wrap shit up with three live and raw bangers...if you don't love hardcore after this tape is done, then you need to get your ears flushed.

FIRST STRIKE