Review Summary: “Who are you to wash my hair?”
One of the hardest albums of all time, hands down. You know that Void were a classic 80’s DC hardcore band. In reality, they were really four “redneck outsiders from Maryland” as one of them said in an interview, who nonetheless were inside the scene enough to be friends with Ian MacKaye and get an EP released on Dischord and three tracks on the Flex Your Head compilation, before releasing this historic split LP with fellow DC band the Faith. This review is not gonna be about the Faith’s part at all, no offense to them, but their side has just never been in the same hemisphere as the Void side. While the Faith’s songs were crying about the audacity of Alec Mackaye’s friends having sex and drinking instead of holding his hand at the church of Straight Edge or whatever they did, Void were writing lyrics like “Why do angels cry in the night/Rent a breast monger for only a week/Flying from the city, iron horse going to hell/Bells are ringing and lights are shining bright/When young a pianist builder Kimberly as Iris/Exacting Moran as will diversified present/And her area senior as recital popular/As June 26 swells and gets orchard lake”. I mean Void were mixing urban planning politics with Dungeons and Dragons *** decades before Converge were. *** was sick.
But you don’t listen to Void for their lyrics. This ***ing band rocks. One of the best punk bands of all time believe it or not. Before a lot of other bands, Void got that ‘sounding like a mess but actually playing really tightly’, down pat. Bubba Dupree’s guitar playing is the true focal point of the music here, and his use of feedback and distortion played out of their cheap amps through that old school Dischord production is without a doubt one of my favorite entities within 80s Hardcore as a whole. His playing has never really been duplicated before. He was like if Eddie Hazel from Funkadelic grew up in the late 70s listening to Iron Maiden and the Ramones. That might sound like hyperbole but listen to him change style and tempo repeatedly between the walls of noise on tracks like “Think” and “Organized Sports”. Like The Rolling Stones with Keith Richards, the band follows the guitarist here, instead of the drummer. His blending of early thrash metal riffs with the pump and drive of hardcore was extremely influential, as you’ve probably read a million times. It’s definitely badass and doesn’t sound like a bitch.
A lot of punk singers sound like bitches, and that stops me from liking them. Not Jeff Weiffenbach. Apparently he got recruited by the band after hearing him scream while getting dog piled by the red necks or some *** on the school bus, but despite that something about his high pitched shrieks, growls, and squeals are somehow realer and tougher sounding than a lot of these pussy ass other Punk dudes. I used to love Lifetime but goddamn how does your voice naturally sound so ***ing lame? And don’t even get me started on Bad Religion, dude has such an annoying voice. Jeff Weiffenbach sounded nothing like those pussies, instead like a caged rat-like mutant creature trapped in the body of a 1980s high school kid. His vocals and Bubba’s guitar play off and match each other very well, often at odds with the rhythm section. Like a lot of early hardcore dudes he went so hard on this album and the subsequent touring that his singing was all ***ed up and almost nonexistent and their never released but heavily bootlegged sequel album.
You’ve probably read before how influential to “thrashcore” and “crossover thrash” this was, which by the way people say there’s a difference to and I don’t see it, it’s literally the same thing. Anyway that’s fine, but to truly hear this thing makes you forget about all that lame ass influence, and just appreciate how hard this *** slaps. Literally every song is a banger to name one I’d have to name them all. A lot of hardcore, new and old, sounds boring despite trying so hard not to. This just sounds real and exciting somehow almost 40 years later, and Ian Mackaye’s production gives you a warm feeling as if you’re in the basement with them while their recording. So If you’re into punk or metal you basically have to listen to this or your a fanook, and if you’re into noise rock, even post-punk, really anything with guitars your should be able to appreciate this. Maybe not if you’re like only into the Byrds and Fleet Foxes type ***. Especially with all the *** going on in the world, I like to plug this into my old school gym headphones, paint my fingernails black and shove q tips into my asshole. Just one of the sickest bands ever.
