Review

The first two EPs that introduced this band’s fiery post-hardcore style, collected.
This album combines the two EPs that introduced Fugazi and their fiery post-hardcore style, and some of its most robust and memorable songs. In a successful (and soon influential) attempt to unbalance slam dancers, the quartet separated its bursts of adrenaline with rolling vamps, driven by drummer Brendan Canty and influenced by dub and go-go, D.C.'s indigenous funk. "Waiting Room" teaches impatient punkers how to bide their time: "I wait I wait I wait," Ian MacKaye sings. With only one guitar on many songs, the sound is starker than on later albums, but no less kinetic, and MacKaye and Guy Picciotto's vocal interplay provides plenty of drama.