Entry the 35th: Earth Crisis - Breed The Killers

Breed The Killers was the first (non-live) Earth Crisis album to be released after I started listening them. The anticipation with which I waited for this release was massive. It came out in September of 1998, but I don't think any of the stores in Winnipeg got it in until at least October. I eventually managed to pick it up at Sam the Record Man.

I was not disappointed. I spent an inordinate amount of time listening to this album. Lots of my favorite things, most notably straightedge subject matter, but now with much more vaguely revolutionary rhetoric to "inspire" a teenage boy, and even a little millennial fear-mongering! Great! Even a good re-recording of Ecocide from the All Out War EP. It was all still in line with what one would expect Earth Crisis to produce, and I certainly was not looking for them to reinvent the wheel.

Too bad it didn't have the staying power. Destroy the Machines and Gomorrah's Season Ends were both better albums with better songs, and it is almost certain that if I find myself in the mood to spin some Earth Crisis it won't be this album heard from the speakers. Although I am enjoying this right now, even if it is largely for some nostalgia value.

Check out: End Begins

Entry the 32nd: Vision of Disorder - Imprint

A little foreshadowing from a couple of posts ago suggested that I had later purchased further Vision of Disorder albums. Well, it wasn't too long after buying their self-titled album that I picked up Imprint.

For some reason I did not like this one as much. Something about the production I think. Too crisp or something. This meant that whenever I was in the mood for VoD I more than likely did not end up listening to Imprint, preferring instead their self-titled release.

I am not sure why this was the case, because Imprint is actually quite a bit better. There is no problem with the production in relation to their earlier album. This sounds better. The singer's clean vocals, which I criticized before, are actually much improved here, and the non-clean vocals are better too. The songwriting is actually much more interesting as well. So while it is not exactly the type of thing I really like listening to these days, I enjoyed this and I can appreciate it a lot more now than I ever did back then.

Check out: By The River

Entry the 30th: Vision of Disorder - Vision of Disorder

I bought this Vision of Disorder CD around the beginning of the summer of 1998. It was the first record in my collection on Roadrunner records, and I had heard about the band from a dubbed cassette given to me by a friend. It was some sort of live New York hardcore compilation, but considering the representatives for NYHC were these guys, and I think 108 and No Redeeming Social Value it was perhaps a little misleading. Two songs on that cassette that are also on this CD are D.T.O. and Suffer.

I remember liking the vocals. Well sort of. I liked the screams, but the clean vocals took a little getting used to. Nonetheless I listened to this a lot that summer and was later inspired to buy other records by these guys.

If you were to guess based solely on the album cover and band name you might think that this is not a very good album, and you would pretty much be correct. It definitely holds some nostalgia value, but the clean vocals really are bad. I can get behind some well done vocals of any stripe, but these are really no good, and the songs aren't quite strong enough to make up for it. Certainly not the worst stop on my adventure so far, but let's just say that I would have liked at the time that I really liked this to think that my taste was pretty good.

Check out: Suffer