Here Relapse Records begins their revisitation of the back catalog from legendary Boston act Disrupt, who helped lay the foundations for legions of bands to follow with their brand of grinding hardcore/crust. Recorded in 1992 and remastered in 2006, this disc contains the 20 tracks from their sole full-length, the now classic "Unrest", plus 10 tracks from the "Deprived" 7" (which also appeared on the original CD pressing of "Unrest" and were recorded during the same sessions as the LP) – both of which were originally released by Relapse in 1994. And man, does this shit ever represent so much of what eventually became the textbook sound of the genre: A dual vocal attack of low, burly growls and sneering upper-midrange screams (sporadically joined by a third, female vocalist for added variety); thick, raging power chord rhythms that run all over the place from hardcore/punk to thrash to grind – not to mention from absolutely ripping, blasting speeds to slower, dingier plods; throbbing distorted basslines… right down to the occasional intro samples and extreme visuals that tie in with the intense socio-political lyrical attacks on racism, sexism, vivisection, religion, war, domestic abuse, corruption, etc. While there are hints of diversity here and there, there's admittedly not exactly a ton of variety to be found here, but that's not the point anyway. They knew exactly what the fuck they were doing, they did it right, and it sounds fucking great to this day. The material's got an ace remastering job and easily stands the test of time, so you'd be hard-pressed to find many contemporary albums that sounds this good – which certainly speaks volumes of this material given its age. Sadly there are no liner notes included (Perhaps they were reserved for the "Disruptdead" box set edition?), but you do get all of the lyrics as well as full-page spreads of the records' original cover art, so… that'll do! Great shit… no doubt.

Disrupt "Domestic Prison"
Disrupt "Down My Throat"
Disrupt "Squandered"
Disrupt "Smash Divisions"

Absolutely make the grab if you missed out on these cats more than a decade ago. As many bands who've borrowed from this style over the years, here's about an hour's worth of such executed to perfection, damn near as fine as it'll ever be:

@ Relapse Records
@ The End Records

And if "Unrest" contains about an hour's worth of Disrupt executing to perfection, then "The Rest" (also on Relapse Records) takes that amount right over the top for two fucking CD's worth of the same relentlessly grinding, crust-laden hardcore/punk: That's 78 tracks across more than two hours, folks. Included are the "People Killing People" split LP with Sauna (1993); split 7"s with Warcollapse (1994), Tuomiopäivan Lapset (1993), Taste of Fear (1992), Disdain (1991), Resist (1991), and Destroy (1991); the "Refuse Planet" (1991) and self-titled (1990) 7"s; a few compilation tracks; the "Millions Die for Moneymaking" demo (1988), a rehearsal demo from 1990; and a live set from 1992. Obviously since so much material is covered there are variances here and there in terms of some material coming across as a little more stripped down, a little more hardcore/punk in nature, a bit rawer in production values, etc. – but for the most part it's, again, a pretty god damn consistent bludgeoning of material. There's not a ton of diversity, and what range does present itself can be fairly subtle, but that's no more the point here than it was with "Unrest", right?

I'm in no way sure why the material on the first disc wasn't presented in chronological (or reverse chronological) order, but aside from nitpicky details it doesn't really matter, because even the "worst" sounding material herein (at least on this first disc) sounds pretty solid, and the bulk of the shit actually sounds pretty damn good . It's somewhat shocking considering its age and the fact that most of the stuff originally appeared on small-run vinyl releases, but you'll be in for a pretty consistent listening experience, which once again speaks to the quality of the remastering. Disc 2, well, I mean… all of the demo/rehearsal stuff sounds pretty shitty, and the live tracks from '92 only fare marginally better, but you can't expect but so much from such inclusions, you know? You're basically getting two CD's for the price of one anyway, so even if you look at the second disc as a batch of ultra obscure (if less enjoyable) bonus tracks you're still getting your money's worth, 'cause the first disc is a surefire keeper. There are still no liner notes, but forget that this time, 'cause there's no fucking room! The massive booklet is already jam packed with most all of the lyrics and full-page spreads of most of the original cover art, plus plenty of old photos, flyers, and other various little snippets of artwork. Damn sure a mammoth collection of tunes when all is said and done…

Disrupt "Protest"
Disrupt "No One Seems to Give a Fuck"
Disrupt "Give it Back"
Disrupt "Pigs Suck"

I wholly encourage the support of such collections, so fucking buy one if you like what you hear. Relapse has way more resources than most labels in this realm, so the more of these types of things they put out, the better:

@ Relapse Records
@ The End Records