A few tracks from some of the early Fucked Up 7"s appeared on the Epics In Minutes Cd that came out on Deranged a few years ago, but this Japanese release is the first time that the band has had the bulk of their early 7" releases compiled together on a single disc. Released by HG Fact, Singles Collection assembles a bunch of the pre-Hidden World Eps from this popular Toronto punk band, who have more recently gone on to great (and completely unexpected) heights, signing to indie powerhouse Matador and somehow bringing their psychedelia-tinged hardcore punk to a wider audience.

Their early releases were scorching slabs of hardcore that combined the band's strange mystical/occult undertones with furious old-school HC and some vague krautrock influences that kick in here and there. Featured on this disc are nineteen tracks that include two of the songs from their second 7" Police, the burly crusher "Police" and "Municipal Prick", both of which are condensed hardcore rippers a la Negative Approach/Black Flag/Germs, with ultra catchy guitar hooks, gnarly vocals, and oceans of cop-hating venom. The psych elements aren't unleashed on this EP, instead containing some of their best hard rock riffs strapped to the back of rampaging hardcore, followed by both songs from the Baiting The Public 7" and the two songs from the No Pasaran 7". The Dance Of Death Ep includes the Armageddon anthem "Dance Of Death", which lobs some righteous lyrics over a mid tempo crusher while the B side track "ZeZoZose" is a speedier, gnarlier thrash tune, accompanied by those burly vocals and scorching feedback; like the "Police" 7", this is Fucked Up channeling their more straightforward LA punk-meets-Negative Approach sound.

After that are the four songs from the 2003 Litany Ep, "Litany", "Colour Removal", "Reset The Ride", and "What Could Have Been"; the stripped down approach on these songs belies some truly berserk guitar playing, and as always there are several currents of complex thought running through the music. The collection is rounded out with the three songs from the Generation 7" ("Generation", "Ban Violins" and "Magic Kingdom"), and the Dangerous Fumes 7", with the charged mid-tempo hardcore anthem "Dangerous Fumes" and the ultra melodic "Teenage Problems", which is my fave Fucked Up jam to date, def one of their catchiest songs ever, and with taboo lyrics that are sure to stir up more of the controversy and mystery that seems to enshroud this arcane/mystic hardcore squad. The last two tracks are from the Triumph Of Life 7", which was their opening salvo for then-new label Jade Tree, starting with "Triumph For Life", a completely different studio version of the impossibly catchy leadoff track from the album, one of their most epic jams yet at six minutes long, with an Oi!-style hook that jams itself in your brain and encoded lyrics that take days to break. The b-side has "Neat Parts", another massive rager with melodic, anthemic guitar lines and an unstoppable riff.

These early Eps aren't as ambitious or mind-blowing as the later Fucked Up stuff when the band started to go all out with adding orchestral strings, psychedelic pop, and experimental noise to their sound, but this music is vital and an essential part of their discography; even on the earliest singles, you can hear something different hidden beneath the raging three chord aggression, and some of the 7" material is in our mind some of the finest hardcore released in the past decade. It's all gathered up on this single disc, and is a perfect starting point for hardcore fans that are new to Fucked Up's music.