Agnostic Front

Agnostic Front came out with a new record this week called My Life My Way on Nuclear Blast Records. I'm listening to it for the first time right now and feel exactly how I assumed I would. AF is very easily one of my favorite bands ever, but I'm not gonna try to fool anyone and say I love the last few records. So far My Life My Way is much like Warriors and Another Voice. I don't hate it, but it isn't going to be come an all time favorite.

The band has had three very different sounds throughout their career. There was the straightforward hardcore of their early records, the more punk rock Epitaph records and the more modern and metallic they play today. Each have their bright spots, some much more than others, but I like them all in one way or another. I've grown tired of watching my girlfriend watch Greek and thought I'd arrange my top five favorite AF LP's for my own entertainment. So here it is.

1.) One Voice
I have always thought this was Agnostic Front at their best. They finally got the perfect blend of crossover hardcore that they seemed to be looking for since Cause For Alarm. "New Jack" and "One Voice" are a great one two combination to get this record started. It doesn't slow down much from their. Despite the bands attempts at writing heavy songs in recent years, these are the hardest songs AF ever wrote.

2.) Victim In Pain
I know plenty of people will want to shake the shit out of me for not having this absolute hardcore classic as my favorite AF record. This is loaded with some of the bands best songs like my personal favorite "Blind Justice". I understand why most people would consider this AF's best, and maybe it is, but it isn't my favorite.

3.) Liberty & Justice
This might seem like a weird choice to have as my third favorite, but I've always thoroughly enjoyed this record. I've actually had this album framed on my wall for years. I don't really know why though, I always thought the album artwork sucked and the colors blended in real shitty. No one can deny the speed on this record, these guys were playing fast on this recording. Also it has "Anthem" on it, that song is reason enough to rank this high.

4.) Cause For Alarm
From the opener "The Eliminator", this record fucking rules. Roger Miret was still pretty easy to understand on this album as opposed to what he does now. A lot of people hate on how metal this record was, but I think it is perfect. I can't imagine kids not being into this back when it came out. I was only 2 at the time, but I'm willing to bet I would've loved it.

5.) Riot Riot Upstart
I thought there was going to be something unique about my list when I started it. Now I realize I like everything in almost chronological order. Riot Riot Upstart was one of the very punk rock Epitaph Records records. That doesn't mean this album doesn't have some quality hardcore songs on it though. The opener "Police State" is very reminiscent of old AF. The change comes on songs like the title track, which fortunately is very catchy and I think pretty good. If these guys would have continued to release records like this I could've been happy. 

All Time Favorites

I think like most people that are very into music I have tried many times to come up with a list of my favorite records of all time. It is never easy and sometimes the order changes, but it is very rare that a new record finds its way into the mix. So here is my attempt at giving you my top 5, 10, 25, wherever I can make myself stop at.

1.) Dag Nasty - Can I Say 

This is a very easy number one choice for me. I discovered this pretty late into my hardcore/punk listening years. I know I was in my second year of college when this record really grabbed a hold of me. I have never been able to pinpoint exactly why I love this album so much. Dave Smalleys' vocals weren't my favorite when I first heard Can I Say, but given the choice I would pick him over Shawn Brown or Pete Cortner any day. I really do wish he did the Wig Out At Denko's LP, while I like it now, I think he would have made it great. I couldn't even tell you a favorite track on this record, they are all great and I can never get enough of it.

2.) Anthrax - Among The Living
I'd have to say that I got into hardcore through metal. Early on I saw no difference between Metallica, Cro-Mags, Biohazard, Machine Head or Anthrax. It was all metal to me. Now I'm only 26 now so I missed arguably the best years for metal, but through the years have gotten my education. Everyone likes to argue about the "Big 4", but I think Anthrax is far and away the best of the group. Among The Living wasn't the first Anthrax record I heard, but like most other fans of the band it is definitely my favorite. Luckily for me I was finally able to see them this past fall with Megadeth and Slayer with the original line-up and it was incredible.

3.) Biohazard - Urban Discipline
Biohazard was a band I came across in middle school. I had a membership with BMG and one day randomly received State Of The World Address in the mail. I liked it, but was more into bands like Sepultura, Machine Head and Fear Factory. Due to all of those bands being on Roadrunner Records I bought a lot of the labels back catalog. Seeing Biohazard on the past roster and knowing I liked them already I bought Urban Discipline. As I said before I wasn't yet familiar with the genre hardcore, but I knew this record was heavy as shit and loved everything about it and still do.

4.) Rancid - ...And Out Come The Wolves
This was another one I found at a pretty young age. I remember going to a flea market with my mother and coming across a cassette of this. I had an older neighbor who just moved into the neighborhood that rode a skateboard and liked them. It was the summer before 7th grade and I had just got my first Tom Penny Magic Mushroom skateboard so now I needed to like Rancid. Since then this has become one of those albums that I know front to back whether I like it or not. It still stands up pretty well, but I don't remember it being nineteen tracks long for some reason.


5.) Madball - Demonstrating My Style
By the time I discovered Madball I was well introduced to hardcore. Having said that I still wasn't familiar with the differences of all the little sub-genres people like to use. While I had heard NYHC before, this is the record I have always identified the sound with. Whether that is right or wrong I don't really give a fuck. The track "Pride (Times Are Changing)" is easily one of my favorite songs ever and I loved it from the beginning. This shit was just so damn hard and mean when I first heard it. I know others will rant and rave that Set It Off was a better record, but this is the essential Madball album for me.

6.) Metallica - ...And Justice For All
Growing up in the late 80's early 90's made it very easy to be a Metallica fan. The song "One" was all over the place for a good reason and it wasn't long before my brother brought this home on CD. This is a case of the first record you heard from a band being your favorite despite any good reasoning. Sure Master Of Puppets and Ride The Lightning are probably better records, but this is easily my favorite from Metallica. You can call it nostalgia or whatever the fuck you want, but listen to the track "Blackened" and tell me it isn't awesome.


7.) Gang Green - Older...Budweiser
As I said before I was really into stuff that was on Roadrunner Records. This led to me buying a bunch of really shitty records, but some that were pure fuckin' gold. I remember being in Camelot music or some shitty chain store looking through a discount bin and coming across the Gang Green EP I81B4U. I didn't know shit about the band, but it was on Roadracer Records and the logo looked the same as Roadrunner and it was only a buck so I bought it. What a great investment that was. I listened to that EP for years before finally coming across more Gang Green material. Older...Budweiser eventually fell in to my lap and from the opening of "Church Of Fun" to the closing of "Ballad" I fell in love. This was the first band I had ever heard that didn't take themselves too fucking seriously. Their songs were about getting fucked up and doing stupid shit, what kid wouldn't love that. "Just One Bullet" is probably my favorite track on this record.

8.) Pantera - Vulgar Display Of Power
Being into heavy music in the 90's made it inevitable that I would eventually come across Pantera. When I did it was the explosive Vulgar Display Of Power. I know there was a late night watching MTV when I first saw the video for "Walk". From there on out I was a Pantera fan and the first chance I got I bought this record. This was just such a badass album when I was a kid and I don't think any different of it today.




9.) Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Devil's Night Out
I'm not afraid to admit I had a brief ska episode somewhere in the late 90's. It was predominately the brand of ska that was all over the radio. Bands like the Bosstones, Buck-O-Nine, Reel Big Fish and Goldfinger. Fortunately this caused me to get into the Bosstones back catalog specifically Devil's Night Out. This is album is the perfect combination of happy bullshit ska and hardcore. I can definitely say that I had never heard anything like this when I came across it and maybe that's why I still hold it so high.


10.) Blood For Blood - Revenge On Society
This wasn't my introductory album to Blood For Blood, but goddamn if it isn't my favorite. I don't think I had ever heard anything so convincingly pissed when I heard "Enter The Criminal Mind". I can't say that I could ever relate with much of the bands lyrics and I'm sure most of their fans would say the same, but oh well. I had listened to a lot of metal and punk rock before I found Blood For Blood, but nothing seemed as evil. These guys really seemed to be in despair to me. The good news was that they wrote incredibly catchy songs for as heavy as they were.


That'll do for now. I really could go and on, and I'm sure I forgot an album or two. The order could also change depending on my mood. It is weird to me when I try to write a list like this and don't include some of my favorite bands like Agnostic Front or the Descendents. Weird. Whatever.