wishingwell / greenworld. gwd 90530 / 12 tracks / 1986

NL: roadrunner records / 1986

RI (LP, CD): sst records. 148 / 13 tracks / 1988 (?)

Greenworld distribution went bankrupt shortly after the album was released, so many of the first press copies are cutouts. A sticker on the front announces a tape version (GWC 90530) with one extra track, this song (“Something Beyond”) is also included on the CD reissue on SST.

Many people dismissed this band as a pure Black Flag ripoff; but while they surely sound a LOT like BF (and admitted being huge fans) they picked up the style of their heroes rather than just cloning their songs, developing in ways that the original wasn’t capable of. Musically this lies between the pure power attack of “Damaged” and the more psychotic influences of “My War”; great guitar sound, great complex rhythms. A nearly forgotten classic. [8]

Diese Platte klingt wie eine leibhaftige Reinkarnation der genialen ’Damaged’ LP von Black Flag; dieselbe rohe Energie, die gleiche massive, ungeheuer kompakte Gitarre, die Texte sind vergleichbar, selbst der Sänger erinnert an Henry. Trotz allem sind Bl’ast keine blasse Kopie, sondern eine hervorragende, eigenständige Band. Die Gitarre baut einen riesigen Soundwall, und die schleppenden, stolpernden Rhythmen sind schon heute Legende. State of the Art in Sachen Energie…

Tracks: time to think / surf and destroy / fuckin’ with my head / e.i.b. / our explanation / the future // break it down / time waits (for no one) / i don’t need it / it’s alive / look into myself / nightmare