Victory Singles

Vol. 2 1992-1997 (Victory)
by Scott Hefflon

A full page ad in S.O.D. finally cleared up something many of us have felt for some time: a Victory Records ad (with Hatebreed, Fury of Five, In Cold Blood, Bloodlet, Blood for Blood [that’s a lot of freakin’ blood, huh?], and Earth Crisis) stated their bands were “Metal for the 90’s.” Sure, S.O.D. is a metal mag and perhaps it’ll fly under the radar of hardcore elitists (aka delusional young ‘uns with freshly-inked x’s on their hands and their allowance in their pockets), but calling themselves, in no uncertain terms, “the new metal” is, to me, a huge step forward in self-awareness. For all practical purposes, many Victory bands are metal, and should be called such, without even a -core added as an afterthought, merely so the aforementioned xers won’t throw empty non-alcoholic beverage containers at you. While this is perhaps an unnecessarily long (and uncalled for) intro to Victory Singles Vol. 2, I’m simply impressed Victory has come out of the metal closet proudly (and is now looking into crossover marketing and increasing sales of some damn heavy bands).

Victory Singles Vol. 2 is a collection of singles released over the last few years by Snapcase, Hi Fi and the Roadburners, Strife, Integrity, Psywarfare, Blood for Blood, and Damnation A.D.. While the bio states it’s so “you no longer have to bust out all those seven inches,” it also saves you the trouble of having to find all the seven inches in stores, probably pay too much for the seven inches, and realize that the songs on those seven inches really aren’t the best-written, or best-produced songs by the bands. But seeing as they’re all compiled, it makes it easier, right? Completists, diehards, and Victory fans that may not be familiar with all the bands oughtta check this out. But the best advise is to listen once, discover you really like a specific band, then go get their CD(s).

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