It's taking me fucking forever, but I'm still working on getting the entire early (1980s) Bad Brains catalog on the shelves here at Crucial Blast; the band's pre-1989 output is absolutely crucial mutant thrash, and every single one of the albums that these legendary Rastafarian thrashers released before their collective dysfunction really started to get the better of them are essential, as far as I'm concerned. My favorite Bad Brains record is probably their 1986 album I Against I, a record that is arguably their career masterpiece, and is definitely one of the best records to ever come out of that post-hardcore era. The songs on I Against I have all of the key elements of the Brains sound: singer HR delivering his Jah-worship in a honeyed croon that could whoop into a terrifying shriek in an instant, the crunchy metal guitars of Dr. Know soaring into stunning anthemic heights, the seething ferocity at the heart of even their catchiest material. But this Lp saw the band slowing down a bit into a more rock-centric sound that, while still prone to some ripping bursts of speed and aggression, was more concerned with laying down a powerful groove throughout these ten songs.

Beginning with the stomping, metallic heaviness and apocalyptic radio signals of the instrumental "Intro", the Brains hurtle through feverish end-time visions drawn in dark, funk-riddled rock, crunchy and hard as fuck thrash metal riffs, and a stunning array of instantly memorable and hook-laden choruses, with none of the excursions into languid dub reggae that marked their previous releases. The title track is a classic blast of metallic punk laced with Dr. Know's wailing Van Halen-esque solos, and the ominous call-to-arms "House Of The Suffering" follows with its off-kilter rhythms and tricky riffing amid one of the Bad Brains most infectious sing-along hooks ever. The story behind the recording of "Sacred Love" (which, in a genius move by the band, had HR delivering his vocals over the phone from jail after he was busted for dealing pot) has become the stuff of hardcore legend. The rest of the album is equally impressive: "Re-Ignition"'s slower, chunkier groove hints at the direction the band would go in with their next album Quickness, and the lush, haunting funk-punk of "Secret 77" and the stunning soulful drive and gorgeous guitar hooks of "She's Calling You" offered some of the band's most accessible music to date. The complex rhythmic interplay and jazz fusion bass that winds through "Hired Gun" allow the band's fusion roots to bleed through, something that can be heard throughout several of the songs on I Against I, and the album closes out with one of the best closing songs on a metal/punk record ever, the anthemic and utterly classic "Return To Heaven".

It's impossible for me not to gush over this record - the band never recaptured the near perfection of I Against I after this, and it remains to many the high point of the band's career and one of the most influential albums of it's time. Essential.