The Mob – No Rules In This Game – Review

The Mob

No Rules In This Game (Another Planet)
by Joshua Brown

No rules, except hard fast rules, that is. Before the New York hardcore sound came to be regarded as a permanent piss stain on popular culture, The Mob were among the loudest and fastest of the crew. They tore through set after set between ’81 and ’83, playing with everyone from SS Decontrol and Minor Threat, to the Ramones and Bad Brains. Looking back, they are considered the unsung heroes of the early scene.

Many bands who would achieve greater success, like Murphy’s Law and Clutch, cite seeing The Mob play CBGB’s, Max’s Kansas City, and other such venues, as inspiration during their high school years. No Rules In This Game is a long overdue reissue of their EP Upset the System, LP We Come To Crush, and unreleased live and demo tracks. Hearing Ralph Gebbia’s nasal sneer staccato once again, accompanied by the backup section of fellow hyperactive children, fills me with a warm nostalgia and a cold sense of loss. Happy to be able to remember the conviction that if we only pounded our fists and feet loud enough we could take over the world. Sad to realize that that time period can never be recaptured except on retrospectives such as this one.