Its only eighteen minutes. It has sixteen tracks. Under normal
circumstances it would be easy to write off something that was only eighteen
minutes long as not an album, and that is not made any easier by the fact that
OFF!’s first release is a collection of earlier ep’s. But it would be hard to
listen to First Four EP’s and think of it as anything less than an album. Take
Minor Threat for instance whose definitive work was also a collection of tracks
that were taken from 7”s, not to mention the legendary band Void whose whole
discography was just half of a split LP, the hardcore punk scene has never
really conformed to the traditional album format. (In case you are curious I
started listening to the album when I started writing this piece and it
finished right after that last sentence) Despite not having a track over 1:35
the band really excels in a way that no other punk band would be able to in
today’s music scene. OFF! Is lead by ex-Black Flag and Circle Jerks singer
Keith Morris and its that experience and trust from the fans that would
immediately make anyone considering OFF! want to give them a listen. Its so
nice to hear a band that doesn’t need to prove itself as hardcore, especially
when you consider that so many bands in punk are volatile and short lived. Its
no wonder that OFF! have found such success, instead of trying to redefine what
punk means in the twentieth century like Fucked Up and Trash Talk have been
doing OFF can play straight up punk the way everyone knows and loves. I thought
it would be best if this post is as short and ends as abruptly as the album
that it reviews.
No comments:
Post a Comment