Typically referred to as the fifteen minutes of chaos, and Agnostic Front's breakthrough record,
Victim In Pain serves a lot more than anybody else thought a few small tracks of pure disorder could. The story of the band itself is very simple and almost unimportant to their actual run. The band was formed in New York City by Vinnie Stigma (Guitar) and Roger Miret (Vocals) in 1982. Afterwards, they picked up Adam Moochie (Bass), and Ray Beez (Drums). The boys then released their largely successful debut E.P,
United Blood in 1983. After sacking the rhythm section, Stigma and Miret got a hold of bassist Rob Kabula and drummer Dave Jones, and recorded the short, and sweet L.P that many fans call the "definite" Agnostic Front record. Packed with a total of eleven teeth-grinding tracks, the longest falling in at a bit over two minutes, the album progresses to it's fifteen minute mark fairly quick, but it's the band's work inbetween all this clutter that really counts, at least on my part. Listen to
Victim In Pain from beginning to end, and you'll see what all the talk, (if any) has been about.
As the first, and title starts up with quite and explosion, it generates a speedy punch in the face by front-men Miret and Stigma that to me is unmatched by mostly everyone else that ever hit the genre after the band itself. What you hear is noise, but although very organized, it seems like the insanely fast-paced notes these guys are playing are scattered all over the place as Miret vocals command the force that slowly crawls toward the listener. I will say, that Roger Miret is single-handedly one of my favorite vocalists of all time, if not the best in the "hardcore" genre of punk. Miret acts as the powerhouse and the foundation of the noise that reaches your eardrums as they're being pounded away by the others. In other words, Roger is the clear highlight on the album for me, as he does an outstounding job on every track, leave alone a couple that seem unimportant. To lead the actual musical composition, is Stigma, who shares some of his more earlier/decent material here, but still causes a riot on stage. While about 60% of his guitar-work on the album is decent, therefore acceptable, his stand-out tracks, like "Power", and "Society Sicker" show what Stigma really stands for. As far as the rhythm section goes, Kabula and Jones work together to provide a great backdrop for the album the whole way through, but at the end, comes out as not very impressive, but as the other two front-men keep the listener highly entertained, it really shouldn't matter. Every song will be built the exact same, and focusing on the same portions of the track and most of the time on vocals by Miret, they will all seem very hard to divide up at first.
As this is more of a short and sudden gathering of chaotic proportions, it really doesn't qualify as an actual record by the band, but this review is here for a reason, and it stands for this being some of the best the band has ever put out, at least in their earlier years. The time limit will hit you like a brick, and if you're just sitting there at your computer concentrated on something else, and not so much on the music itself, every track will be highly undistinguished and will all fly by faster than a heartbeat. "So pay close attention, this is some of early hardcore at it's very ****ing best" says Roger Miret.
Stand Out Tracks:
Victim In Pain
Blind Justice
United & Strong
Power
Great.
3.5/5
