This is a collection of The Scarlet Letter's material from 2000 - 2002. If you've never heard the band before they're a curiously diverse blend of raging hardcore with some thrashy influences and energetic melodic undertones as well as some discordant grinding passages, etc. The vocals are generally unique yells with lots of backup screaming and such as well. One minute they can sound sort of like D.R.I., the next they've got an aggressive old school hardcore thing going on, then they'll get crazy with some speed and dissonance or layered screams, come back in with some melody, occasionally busting out acoustic guitars and dare I say poppy arrangements... there's a lot going on. Included are the tracks from their self-titled 7", split 7"s with The Assistant and Let it Burn, and four tracks from various compilations: Totaling 24 tracks in around a mere 29 minutes. These cats have some of the best compilation songs I've ever heard. All of the comp tracks stand out a ton, notably the incredible energy and creativeness of the picking patterns and riffing in "Collateral Damage" and "Singe II". The last song, "Anything, Anything", is a great Dramarama cover that I ironically heard covered by another band recently. Go figure. Of course the production quality changes with each session, so some sets sound better than others. The self-titled EP and the comp material sounds fucking great, while the split 7" tracks are definitely rawer (especially the songs from the Let it Burn split, which tend to be more in your face and use some distortion on the vocals at times). The bass player is fucking awesome, and the dense yet defined bass tone plays an enormous role in the songs, so the mix definitely always benefits that. None of the sessions sound bad, though. It's just that some of the material is clearer and more balanced. The layout looks great. I like the colors and high contrast graphics, all of the lyrics are included, and they even throw in images of all of the record covers (including compilations) from the original releases, which is awesome. The lyrics range from straightforward and pissed with a little bit of a sense of humor to slightly more involved but still acerbic. "You're no better than me, so stop fuckin' judging me, Maybe I'd seem more interesting if I was wearing tight black pants (stupid fucking tight black pants), This is an angry song - don't worry it won't take too long, I've only got one thing left to say - and that's fuck you!" This is a great collection with a ton of memorable tracks. I really like this band more and more with time. Very cool.
[Hater of God]
Running time - 29:00 (approximately), Tracks: 24
[Notable tracks: Sick Crazy Stupid Silly Noise, Fuck You and the Jackass You Rode in On, The Scarlet Reclamation, Collateral Damage, Singe II, Footprints in the Sand, Boys Don't Cry, They Kiss, Anything, Anything]
Hater of God Records - http://www.haterofgod.com
