The Age of Quarrel was a veritable monster of a hardcore album, seething with vitriol and threat, and shot through with massively chugging metal riffs and galloping drums. Easily the Cro-Mags finest hour, and probably tough-guy hardcore’s as well, it was a crossover sensation, appealing both to the tried-and-true punk and hardcore crowd, as well as folks from the metal camp. Case in point, Motorhead elected to take the Cro-Mags on the road with them during the tour for this album. Age of Quarrel hit like a bomb, and despite the fact that a few waves of East Coast hardcore bands had already issued their debuts (Agnostic Front, Minor Threat, SSD, DYS, Bad Brains, SOA), it quickly set the pace for albums to follow. The sounds was brutal, caustic, honest, uncompromising, and musically engaging. Unfortunately for the band, its legacy is often obscured by the bizarre trappings of Krishna thought, and the thuggery of skinhead violence. Before the Quarrel brings the band’s highly sought after early demo tracks into the light of day. Essentially little more than raw versions of the album proper, Before the Quarrel nonetheless proves a worthy companion to Age of Quarrel, and a must have for diehards. – Patrick Kennedy