Ah, good ol’ Assholeparade. I tell ya, back in the day (as in three years ago), this band was the soundtrack to many, many bike rides to and from work. It was just such a perfect segue between Void and Born Against, you know? I’ve never really understood why they, along with Trepan Nation and Man Afraid, didn’t have the lasting popularity of some of their peers, like Spazz and Charles Bronson. But we’re not here to speculate; we’re here, of course, to talk about this new Assholeparade record. If you like any of the bands I mentioned, or if you like thrash in general, you’ll definitely like this, but if you think you’re allergic to blastbeats, this isn’t going to convince you otherwise. These are songs that didn’t make it onto the Student Ghetto Violence CD (Which you should get. Seriously.), including a fucking amazing cover of the Circle Jerks’ “Red Tape” (the liner notes also include the best advice you’ll ever get: “Please buy the Group Sex LP for all of our sakes.”). If you’re keeping score at home, here’s the stats: fourteen songs, twelve minutes, and one grumpy, overweight snowboarder on vocals.
–josh (No Idea)