Guns N’ Rosa Parks from Denver existed during a period when fast hardcore was reaching its pinnacle and then met its sharp decline after everyone decided powerviolence was cool again. The seven tracks on this record were recorded in 2009 and shelved for whatever reason until now when they were pressed onto this 7” for a fest that was slated for earlier this year but never happened for obvious reasons. Having never previously heard this band I can see how they might have been a local favorite in their hometown. The music is fast and pissed and about as hardcore as you can get, but there’s something missing to make it universally appealing and I’m not quite sure what it is. In flipping through the booklet, which is meticulously crafted by the way, it becomes apparent that their shows were mostly as the support for a touring or better known band, and in some cases just a better band, period. So in the end, what you have is nine songs of “a time and place” hardcore which is to say it isn’t bad but isn’t particularly great either. –Juan Espinosa (Raccoon Tycoon, racoontycoonrecords.com)