Labels: Shield
Review by: Damien Mills
So it seems As Friends Rust have been given the ‘best of…’ treatment, overlooking the fact AFR only recorded one full length. This is something even chart bound bands seems less and less inclined toward in this day of pick and choose digital downloading, spotify playlists and the like, never mind ageing Gainesville punx, but here it is regardless.
For those that don’t know, As Friends Rust were an ‘ex members of…’ band from Florida mostly active during what I gather we are to refer to as ‘the noughties’. Their output ranged from metallic ragers typical of Florida at the time, through quite fast scrappy punk stuff and eventually on to their most melodic, slickly produced final EP. Unusually for a band with so many stylistic diversions in such a relatively short time though, the quality remained quite high and they didn’t really have an obvious ‘shit period’ and that is reflected here, in helpfully chronological order. The standout for me personally is the lp stuff which struck a decent balance between melodic but not too poppy, and exhibited their most ‘complete’ sounding jams in my opinion, but the shout-along-while-finger-pointing-at-junk ‘Fists of Time’ era material is also excellent if a little clumsy in places, though that in itself has its charm.
Overall, be it out of nostalgia or a desire to find more bands actually willing to do their own thing at the cost of fitting in, rather than purely playing lip service to the idea, this is a recommended blast from the past.