Twenty-three songs by twenty-three bands who all hail from the fair cities of Toronto and Montreal, Canada. Plenty of household names (Career Suicide, Inepsy, Urban Blight, Brutal Knights, School Jerks, Burning Love) some eyebrow raisers (Mad Men, Foreign Bodies, Mature Situations) and um, the rest. Such is the curse of a compilation album with this many bands on it: too much filler. At first glance, the better-known bands make this record seem like a steal because, yes, the good songs are really fucking good. But upon closer inspection, the intent of giving some seemingly deserved, lesser-known newer bands some exposure doesn’t quite meet the standards set by their predecessors. Also, the fact that all the best songs are almost all on the first side of this platter makes me wish this were a single-sided LP.
–Juan Espinosa (High Anxiety / No Idea)