Cause for Alarm

Cheaters and the Cheated (Victory)
by Tim Creter

This is the newest release from a band that started in 1982. Let’s see, I was 4 years old, Reagan was in the house, and punk was still buried underground in New York. Enter Cause For Alarm, the Lewis and Clark of New York hardcore. Mind you, this band is Pre-Agnostic Front, Cro-Mags, and any other New York olde time band. You’ve heard of old school? Well, CFA is pre-school. Their roots are so deep in hardcore and punk antiquity that they broke up in 1984 after releasing only one 7″ the year before. Now fast-forward to 1996: the band has signed with Victory, re-released their 7″ on CD, and shared a split-CD with Warzone. Now we come to the present day. Fifteen years after the scene was born comes their first full-length, Cheaters and the Cheated. I still can’t get over how old this band is, but they’ve earned my respect because this album is excellent. Fast, simple structures, with topical and intelligent lyrics make this album a must have. They sound like… well, they sound like themselves because they were really the first band to do hardcore punk. But if a comparison must be made, I’d say Bad Religion crossed with Sick of it All. And don’t think that just because this is old time hardcore that all the songs sound the same, because CFA dives into some great and original rhythms, and if you didn’t know, Keith is a great singer. For a kid that’s of the new generation, this old generation band smacks me like the young whippersnapper I am.