...And The Prophecy Comes True
While it has been a few weeks now since I last posted anything here, the time in between my reflection on the band Undertow and now has been filled with a lot of delving into my musical past. The reasons are somewhat twofold. First, I've been going through some of my records that I have doubles and even triples of, along with music I no longer want, to sell on eBay. Most of the items I've been posting are that of bands I never really cared much for anyhow, but some have been given a spin to see if it would be anything that might come up being missed down the road. Though I'm relatively certain that I get on fine with Disembodied Diablerie, other records have a timeless shine to them that no amount of years could damage.
Two bands in particular come to mind – Four Walls Falling and Turning Point.
I was never able to get a copy of the first Four Walls Falling 7", but everything from Culture Shock on has made an impression. The first time I heard Culture Shock, I was instantly grabbed by the aggression of the music. It had it's roots planted in the youth crew style of bands like Gorilla Biscuits and Youth Of Today, but they took it a step further by injecting a smidgen of metal without being too overt. Putting them into a different category altogether were the hyper-politically aware lyrical content. In addition to discussing straight edge and vegetarian issues, they also got into more socio-political content that most straight edge bands of that era never dared to tread.
As they moved away from the straight edge moniker, Four Walls Falling changed their music from fast, aggressive hardcore to more melodic, mid-tempo hardcore that bordered on rock. A 3-song EP was the transition into what became their most polarizing album Food For Worms. Musically, Food For Worms was diametrically opposite of Culture Shock, leaning more towards a post-metal sound, albeit still very politically charged. From what I remember, most of my friends either hated it or thought it was a little out there. For whatever reason, playing the apologist or legitimately finding something enticing, I thought Food For Worms was, and still is, a solid album.
Just north of Four Walls Falling, geographically-speaking, was Turning Point. A band I never wavered from when referencing them as one of my biggest influences. As musically simplistic as the 7" is, I never denied it's raw power. For all it's "flaws", it had everything going for it to stand the test of time. Where Turning Point sealed me for life was with It's Always Darkest Before The Dawn. If there ever was or ever could be a perfect hardcore album for any era, that album is the one. Nothing has ever sounded like it and nothing probably ever will. Strip away all of the personal gripes people have had about Turning Point in their wake, It's Always Darkest captured a small fraction of time that, for me, has transcended the years of my life. At a glance, others might not see what I see in that recording. For me, It's Always Darkest is the closest thing to a time machine as I am ever likely to experience in my lifetime. The moment the first chord rings out, I run through a million memories of better times in my life. Times when life wasn't so bad. Times when life was as great as I can ever remember.
There are plenty of other hardcore recordings that came out before and after these that I've acknowledged with great fondness. Some of them I may eventually write about here. At this moment, I just wanted to acknowledge two bands that, while never reaching the stature of those that have come since their existence, have been a part of memories of better days.
Two bands in particular come to mind – Four Walls Falling and Turning Point.
I was never able to get a copy of the first Four Walls Falling 7", but everything from Culture Shock on has made an impression. The first time I heard Culture Shock, I was instantly grabbed by the aggression of the music. It had it's roots planted in the youth crew style of bands like Gorilla Biscuits and Youth Of Today, but they took it a step further by injecting a smidgen of metal without being too overt. Putting them into a different category altogether were the hyper-politically aware lyrical content. In addition to discussing straight edge and vegetarian issues, they also got into more socio-political content that most straight edge bands of that era never dared to tread.As they moved away from the straight edge moniker, Four Walls Falling changed their music from fast, aggressive hardcore to more melodic, mid-tempo hardcore that bordered on rock. A 3-song EP was the transition into what became their most polarizing album Food For Worms. Musically, Food For Worms was diametrically opposite of Culture Shock, leaning more towards a post-metal sound, albeit still very politically charged. From what I remember, most of my friends either hated it or thought it was a little out there. For whatever reason, playing the apologist or legitimately finding something enticing, I thought Food For Worms was, and still is, a solid album.
Just north of Four Walls Falling, geographically-speaking, was Turning Point. A band I never wavered from when referencing them as one of my biggest influences. As musically simplistic as the 7" is, I never denied it's raw power. For all it's "flaws", it had everything going for it to stand the test of time. Where Turning Point sealed me for life was with It's Always Darkest Before The Dawn. If there ever was or ever could be a perfect hardcore album for any era, that album is the one. Nothing has ever sounded like it and nothing probably ever will. Strip away all of the personal gripes people have had about Turning Point in their wake, It's Always Darkest captured a small fraction of time that, for me, has transcended the years of my life. At a glance, others might not see what I see in that recording. For me, It's Always Darkest is the closest thing to a time machine as I am ever likely to experience in my lifetime. The moment the first chord rings out, I run through a million memories of better times in my life. Times when life wasn't so bad. Times when life was as great as I can ever remember.There are plenty of other hardcore recordings that came out before and after these that I've acknowledged with great fondness. Some of them I may eventually write about here. At this moment, I just wanted to acknowledge two bands that, while never reaching the stature of those that have come since their existence, have been a part of memories of better days.
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