Labels: Black Box
Review by: Kunal Nandi
This retrospective, released on Mike from Anodyne’s new label, is for one of the more overlooked hardcore bands from the late nineties. The main area of interest in this discography from New York’s Black Army Jacket is the unreleased Relapse 7″ that didn’t manage to beat their untimely break-up. They say in the liner notes that they idolised Napalm Death and Discharge, and that certainly shines through. I guess most things would start to pale after an hour or so, but the mixture of vocal styles, dense walls of riffing and the surprising level of variety given their simple grind tag make this an essential document, although it’s the material from their final days that yank my plank the most.
So here’s what you’re getting: seven tracks from the aforementioned unreleased Relapse 7″, a 7″ on the similarly excellent Chainsaw Safety Records, splits with Agathocles, Hemlock, Corrupted, Noothgrush and Spazz (quite the list) and numerous compilation appearances (including the legendary ‘Bllleeeaauurrrrgghhh! A Music War’ 7″ on Slap A Ham). Fifty tracks, lovely austere packaging that befits the spare nature of the music and Dave Witte on drums. Good times all round I’d say.