By the time I heard REFUSED it was too late. I already knew SNAPCASE and INTEGRITY, I had already dismissed (most of) the Victory catalog because....I mean, obviously. I had heard DOUGHNUTS and they were fine. But I knew NO COMMENT. I was blasting the OUTLAST 10" on the regular and I wanted to go fast. I didn't need a mosh part, I didn't need a tough as nails groove. I had no interest in mid paced hardcore that often struck me as Fat fodder, but slower and with heavier guitars. So when I heard that The Shape Of Punk To Come was reshaping the world of DIY hardcore (and yeah, that really was a common opinion when the record came out) and I listened to it I was like.....nah, hard pass. So what happened when I revisited REFUSED in 2023 after a pal unloaded some unwanted cassettes? Two main takeaways: This Just Might Be...The Truth! is way more interesting than The Shape Of Punk To Come, even if (or especially because) it's more derivative and while I have more space available for ignorant hardcore than I did in the 1990s, ignorant sounding hardcore delivered with insight and intelligence lands exceptionally well. I'm not gonna get into the "did they or didn't they" revolutionize hardcore discussion, because really they were (just) a pretty good and very determined band from a relatively small town in the north of Sweden...and this tape is almost thirty years old. Most people reading this already love them or hate them, but I'm sharing for the people who don't care...because those are the folks who (like me) might be curious, might wonder what they missed.
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