Black Army Jacket "Closed Casket" CD
[Black Box]
Here's another fine collection from the folks at Black Box Recordings, this time from New York's Black Army Jacket, who existed for a mere three short years in the late-90's. This disc contains a slew of rare and unreleased material from the band, and I've gotta say, I own some of this stuff on vinyl, and ironically enough most of it stands up better for me nowadays than it did seven years ago!? Included in what seems to be no particular order are several compilation tracks (and unreleased tracks that were intended for compilations); split 7"s with Agathocles, Corrupted, Noothgrush, and Spazz; the 1996 demo; "The Path of Two Swords as One" 7", and seven unreleased tracks that were planned to be released as a 7" on Relapse Records before the band called it a day: Coming to a grand total of a whopping 50 tracks in more than an hour's time. I imagine these guys had the "power violence" tag thrown their way back in those days, and in some ways that's accurate at times, but really this is just an intense array of sundry influences drawn from all over the hardcore/punk and metal maps. There's a lot of classic grindcore, totally relentless and pissed off early-80's hardcore, hints of a crusty edge or some crossover thrash, little dashes of dissonant metal and frantic noise rock, enough sludge to crank out some brutal grooves here and there, and then some. So expect a constant mix of styles and tempos with vocals that jump from straight shouts to low growls to high-end snarls or shrieks and more. They actually utilized two bassists on the bulk of these songs as well, though it's not terribly noticeable since one set of basslines always tends to be the more central of the two. The seven unreleased tracks from the never released Relapse EP start things off and are actually damn good, thanks in no small part to Dave Witte's slick drumming amping up the tightness of the performances. "Pathogen" hits on some southern fried sludge, "Old Habits" is fast and dissonant with a tactfully noisy edge, and "The Power and the Plan" plows through some early-80's thrash metal riffs that certainly surprise the ol' ears amidst all of this other material. A lot of the compilation and random little unreleased tracks are actually pretty damn good, too - just check out the 11-second blast of "Pugilistic Attitude", the churning dissonance of "Beast", or the outtake of "Lying Between the Tigris and the Euphrates" with Lino Reca from Hemlock on vocals. The 1996 demo ranges from the band's more typical approach to their more diverse shifts in "Galactus", which blends melodic punk tinges with chunky metallic picking patterns, the raging 19 seconds of fury in"...Sometimes...", the crossover thrash of "Your Pitiful Existence", or total midpaced sludge mastery in "Crane", etc. "The Path of Two Swords as One" sees things heading in a barely more consistent direction that utilizes a little more speed and a little more noisiness, but still throws in a gritty edge to tracks like "I've Lived on What I've Stolen and Hoped Inside a Lie" and gloomy "stoner" doom in portions of "Slaves of Destruction". Elsewhere, "Look at What I Can Do!" should please any fan of super fast hardcore with crossover styled vocal arrangements, "The Simplest Solution" is among the only tracks that actually hits on a tangible old school hardcore sound for a minute before mangling things up with loads of quirky dissonance, etc. There's an awesome unlisted bonus track called "Fortune Cookie", too. Go figure! Of course the sound quality varies throughout, but none of it's unlistenable at all, and in fact most of the stuff stands the test of time quite well. Certain aspects of the demo sound a little thin compared to the later unreleased tracks, and "The Path of Two Swords as One" EP sounds a little flatter than some of the other tunes, but again, nothing sounds terrible, and it all holds up fine. Hell, those unreleased sessions for the aborted Relapse 7" actually sound pretty crisp! The packaging looks fairly nice as well, largely done in high contrast imagery with loads of metallic silver ink and lots of band photos, flyers, etc. No lyrics or original artwork are included, but they do list extensive recording and lineup credits as well as documentation as to where the tracks came from; with brief liner notes added by the band's longtime bassist Carlos Ramirez. The CD-Rom portion of the disc also includes three quick live videos from San Jose, CA and CBGB's, but since the band basically just stands there and plays the videos aren't really all that interesting per se. All in all this is a damn good CD, and there are very few duplicate tracks, which is both atypical and awesome when it comes to collection CD's. Obviously 67 minutes is simply too much of this stuff to take in one sitting for damn near anyone, but I have to say that I'm impressed by the overall level of energy achieved, and it's kind of a shame that this band didn't seem to get the attention they deserved when they were still kickin', so it'd be cool to see a bit of a resurgence in interest now that this collection is out and about. Very fuckin' nice. (8/10)
Running time - 67:09, Tracks: 50
[Notable tracks: Vindictive, The End of Dreams, Cup of Many Lands, 222 Part II, Pugilistic Attitude, Beast, ...Sometimes..., Crane, I've Lived on What I've Stolen..., Jaws, Fire in the Universe, Pretenders to the Throne, Look at What I Can Do!, Fortune Cookie]
Black Box Recordings - http://www.blackboxrec.com

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