Face Value

Rode Hard Put Away Wet (Smog Veil)
by Scott Hefflon

Some hardcore doesn’t age well, this did. Cleveland hardcore, pre-metal inbreeding (well, post-Crossover, pre-metalcore knuckledrag dominance), playing guitar hard and fast (knowing that a chugging, memorable riff is a good thing), yelping singer offering lots of “aaaaaahhhhhhhs!” like Minor Threat did before they started throwing flowers and telling us how to be kind to one another. Collected here is at least one full-length and a couple EPs, plus a DVD of stuff I’m not really that curious about. If hardcore still sounded like this, I wouldn’t hate it so much.
(www.smogveil.com)