Originally released as the studio disc within the Act 3 archive collection, Retribution teams nicely up alongside Spear of Destiny’s Elephant Daze collection, being further evidence of how Kirk Brandon spent his mid-’90s stay in Philadelphia. Recorded under the reclaimed Theatre of Hate name, Retribution offers up a sharp guesstimate of where that band might have stood had it survived the intervening decade and a half — and even includes a powerful re-recording of “Propaganda,” one of the original group’s best-loved numbers. There’s also a tribute to Kurt Cobain, “Stone in the Rain,” which avoids all the pitfalls that description might ordinarily warn you of, to emerge one of Brandon’s all-time best compositions. – Dave Thompson