|
the sound of punk colliding into itself and turning itself inside out, screaming in agony as not only it's nerves get severed and it's skin flayed but it's own insecurities and neurosises being a much rawer ripped vein spilling battery fluid.
the first time i listened to it, i thought it kinda sucked; i waited some 5 or 6 years before i could locate a copy because there's no independent record stores and american hardcore punk never caught up here, i basically read all about the band and just thought how this album could sound, how furious and blinding, but when i finally got it, i got an overpriced cd version at the retail chain store in a ritzy mall, it sounded really thin and henry seemed very forced back, plus it was so dissonant i wasn't prepare for it, then the opening chords of "depression" started and the fucking world slowed down, right there and then was the ultimate translation of a feeling i had, not that of depression itself but the anger and frustration it generates. then the rest of the album sucked too.
it's one of my very favorite albums, so punk yet so original, it's a watershed; it also shows how the universe or destiny or karma or whatever you want to call it, works. dez was supposed to record the vocals of this album but the previous two attempts in the studio proved faulty; while dez was an spectacular singer, the record belongs to henry, greg's lyrics, although written by and for himself, were the reason they hit a stronger chord with the hardcore kids instead of the older punk veterans from l.a., since they really embody what teenage angst is: hard, dramatic, merciless, punishing and contagious; it's meant for the kids to sing while beating the crap out of each other at shows, it only seems natural that a 21 year old fan from hxc's capital (washington dc) would deliver the vocals.
furthermore, dez got moved to guitar, and the added weight makes this album's impact even harder, providing a sharped edged rock bottom to the rock bottom (the ever reliable robo) of the band for both lead guitarists of the band to just explode, greg's guitar is amazing for it's ineptitude yet stinging precision in all songs here and chuck dukwoski's equally burly yet shredding bass parts were so intrisicable to the sound that no band with no other members could come up with something like this. it's 25 years later and still no one has been able to come close to damaged (not unlike their earlier or later stuff, which has been copied to death).
they still had some really amazing music altering moments (side b of my war, the process of weeding out) and they eventually got better musicians (kira roessler and bill stevenson) but damaged remains, without question, a document of it's time and something completely timeless.
|