In this new, topsy-turvy world of punk we’re now inhabiting I have no idea how Combatwoundedveteran fit into the reimagined hierarchy of things, but at the time ‘I Know A Girl Who Develops Crime Photos’ felt like a sort of highwater mark for crazed, splenetic, highly-combustible hardcore. It fit neatly alongside Palatka’s ‘The End Of Irony’, Reversal Of Man’s ‘Revolution Summer’ and End Of The Century Party’s disgustingly-underrated ‘Isn’t It Perfectly Fucking Delightful To Be So Goddamn Certain’, but it was far less coherent, intelligible and ‘together’ than those records. Chaotic and turbulent, there was something borderline arthouse about it, though the snark and lurid weirdness ensured it stayed punk rather than wiffling off into the tedious, affected cool of no wave.
Tracking back from that record, released in 1999, to this demo from 1996 you can do a sort of reverse version of Rudolph Zallinger’s ‘March Of Progress’: from the ‘What Flavor Is Your Death Squad Leader’ 7” in 1998 to 1997’s enigmatically-titled ‘11-Song 7”’ EP things get progressively more raggedy and discernible, and by the time we reach this point the music is scrappy and reasonably basic. You can hear the intent and the will toward mayhem, but the band are not there yet. Instead of a neon explosion of random bodily fluids there are scrabbles and snarls with traceable sources, and a raw, ugly, sarcastic sound that comes off somewhere between Born Against and Honeywell. To me this is highly endearing, but it’s also something that’s hard to entirely recommend if you’re not a particular type of nerd interested in a highly-specific 90s emo/hardcore history lesson. If you are, then great. I like that. If not, then give ‘I Know A Girl…’ a try and work backwards. Maybe I’ll see you in a bit.