Kinda reminds me of the confused 1984-1986 period of life, where what-was-once-hardcore had decided that it wanted to do something other than be shorter and faster, but wasn’t really sure what that was, and that there should be some other influences involved, but nobody could really tell what those other influences were, and, heck, even all the “smart people” were suggesting that aspiring young noise units should scrape enough dough to release a 12”, not a 7”, because the fucktards at college radio were too mentally incapacitated to deal with seven-inch records. Heck, even the black-and-red cover art is period-appropriate. So anyway, submitted for your approval: Nine blasts of short and fast 1985-ish-ness with taut guitars, ranging from fifty-some seconds to a minute-fifty-some seconds, and devoid of pretty much any excess ornamentation whatsoever. Everything generally goes verse, chorus, verse, chorus, out, with even a measure or two of intro guitar seeming like a wacky extravagance. A reasonable facsimile of a smash hit here would probably lead future generations to venerate this disc with the same ardor as, oh, say, that Breakouts 12-inch; as it stands, they seem to be in a relatively energetic holding pattern. WE AWAIT YOUR FIRST EFFUSION OF RAW NAKED GENIUS! Well, that and the dawning of bratwurst-flavored Ruffles®. BEST SONG: “World War Four” BEST SONG TITLE: “Hastings Strut,” because i really don’t understand it. FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: This band does not appear to be related to the A-Lines.
–norb (Nominal)