SAINT JAMES INFIRMARY

I saw them frequently in the late '90s and they were always great - wildly intense and sonically advanced. But hindsight and perspective help with context, and help to bring the sound (and their appeal) into full focus. SAINT JAMES INFIRMARY were a car crash of grown up hardcore weaned on East Bay punk and polished heavy guitar rock...DEAD AND GONE plus DAG NASTY plus JESUS LIZARD or some shit like that. A touch of straight up Kirsch-esque emotional 'core on "The Color Of Evening" too. The "awwwww shit" when "Four" starts to activate, the fucking guitars everywhere...when I popped this one in for the first time after what was probably a twenty year vacation, it all clicked. Since then, it's been firing on all cylinders. 

SAINT JAMES INFIRMARY

All four of these songs were put to wax by Allied in 1997. Then the following year there was another EP (Alternative Tentacles) and a full length (Allied). All are excellent and kinda timeless, and you can probably snag the entire catalog for less the $15....if you like to dig.