��Finally have this crusher in stock, both on CD and on limited edition gatefold vinyl. One of C-Blast's favorite hardcore albums of 2013...

�� Is it sacrilegious for me to admit that I was at least as big a fan of Bl'ast! as I was of Black Flag? Back in the 1980s, the Santa Cruz based Bl'ast! always traveled in the shadow of the mighty Black Flag and were frequently compared to their SST labelmates / benefactors; yeah, they definitely sounded alot like My War-era Black Flag, with a similar mix of atonal guitar skronk and weird jazzy shredding, sludgy off-kilter riffs and furious vocals, but these guys had a much more menacing and metallic take on what Black Flag were doing. These guys just sounded meaner to my ears, and as soon as I first heard their semi-classic 1987 album It's in My Blood, they were hitting all the same nerve endings as bands like Flag and Corrosion Of Conformity, taking that off-kilter metallic hardcore sound into even more gnarled and demented directions. All three of Bl'ast!'s albums were blazing blasts of mutant hardcore, but by 1990 the band had already begun to disintegrate, suffering from ongoing chronic instability with their lineup, and by 1991 they were pretty much done. One of Bl'ast!'s most ardent admirers has been Southern Lord Records, who released the final album from Bl'ast! frontman Clifford Dinsmore's later psych-metal outfit Spaceboy; their devotion to the band's maniacal hardcore resulted in the label getting their hands on a recently rediscovered studio recording from the mid 80's that the guys in Bl'ast! had thought to be long lost, dusted off and remixed (by another longtime fan, Dave Grohl) and presented here for the first time ever. It's not actually a "new" lost album from the band, as most of these songs had previously appeared on It's In My Blood in an earlier form, but this does bear the distinction of being the only studio recording to feature one-time member and second guitarist William Duvall, a former member of cult crossover thrashers Neon Christ and current frontman for Seattle grunge gods Alice In Chains. And if you're a Bl'ast! fan, you'll want to hear these songs in this form; this recording is crushing, probably the heaviest and most powerful that Bl'ast! has ever sounded on record. As always, their songs are furious affairs, filled with the band's trademark off-kilter time signatures, angular, slightly proggy riffs and squonky guitar solos that often rival anything that Greg Ginn was doing at that late date in Flag's career. Singer Dinsmore belts out his paranoid, introspective lyrics in a hoarse blown-out howl that sounds like he'd been scouring his pipes with steel wool for the past week, and in other places whispers his lyrics in a murderous hiss that sends an icy chill through the band's chaotic assault. Tracks like "Only Time Will Tell", "Sshh!" and the title track are dark and furious anthems that sound reborn here, while the likes of "Tomorrow" seethes with a malevolent power that oozes thick gluey Sabbathian heaviness within the squealing, spiky thrash. With long, often complex song structures and featuring some of the most discordant guitar-work you'll find from this era of hardcore, Bl'ast! boiled with a lethal energy that put them in a league of their own, and these resurrected recordings show the band at the height of their powers.