The genuine pwnin punk article

If you really rate the likes of Fall Out Boy, Blink 182, Bush, and the shitty band that pinched these guys' name then you may not be into this, but if you like passionate, smart punk-rock that warms the blood then you should probably get it. It contains their entire output -- from '89-90. Also check out the incredible band 'Torches to Rome', on the Ebullition label if you can find it, which featured Mike Kirsch from Fuel - they were even more up & angry than these lot.

A hardcore classic.

Sure, wags called them Fuelgazi when they came out due to the stylistic similarities to the D.C. quartet, but make no mistake, this album falls firmly in the East Bay's punk tradition. Combining speed, melodic hooks, shouted / growled vocals and politically conscious lyrics, this record has been an influence so strong that it was reissued TWICE (initially pressed on Rough Trade, Allied reissued it and Broken made sure it stayed in print). For fans of Leatherface, Hot Water Music, American Steel, Fugazi, East Bay hardcore and, honestly, punk.

From the Mists of (Recent) Time

Supposedly this early-90's band was a major influence on Hot Water Music, but they also stand as an impressive band on their own. They sound a bit similar to HWM's first album (96's "Finding the Rhythms", not available on eMusic) but thereafter musical paths depart. Honestly, they sound a lot more like early Fugazi, with a bit of Avail-like catchiness thrown in; check out "Some Gods". Includes two former members of emo band Navio Forge.

Ten years ago when emo was young, this late San Francisco four were the West Coast’s answer to the peaking D.C. Dischord roster of Fugazi and other such bands. This second reissue of their lone 1990 self-titled LP, originally on the Rough Trade subsidiary Sixth International (with seven bonus tracks from four 7″ releases), is a good example of where it all began. Jim Allison and Mike Kirsch’s vocals are brutally shouted, tunefully, with great angst and an antagonistic sense of wrong. The band is as resolute, fast, and edgy as its lyrics (clue: a picture of Woody Guthrie with his “This machine kills fascists” guitar graces the inner sleeve), and is at its best when its Adolescents-derived So-Cal soaring leads step up. It all has that stamp of authenticity to it, of people inspired by a new movement to say and play something bestial and important. It has the urgency that a substantial chunk of underground post-punk/post-hardcore music had during the second half of the ’80s. Now it doesn’t seem so unique, but that’s what happens when you and others make a mold that is later overcopied. This original version of emo was a lot more hardcore, a lot more out there and intense than the sometimes more polite version of today’s more easily replicated kind. This required a total physical and emotional charge. (P.O. Box 460402; San Francisco, CA 94146-0402) – Jack Rabid

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A different Fuel

EMUSIC-00AC98EB

With all respect to the hardcore fans, this is not the same hardrock band know for excelent tunes like hemorrhage and Falls on Me. Too bad eMusic has not source Angels and Devils yet. That would be worth 12 credits.

Synthmesc