Band Members for EP
John Porcelly - Bass and Guitar
Mike 'Judge' Ferraro - Drums and Vocals
Soon after releasing New York Crew, Jimmy Yu joined them on bass and Luke Abbey on drums, so Judge were a functionable live act as well.
Labels: 7" EP (Schism Records (1988) / Revelation Records (1989)
For those of you that don't know, Judge were a straight edge hardcore band from New York City and were around from 1987 to 1991, roughly. This EP, their debut release, remains a favourite of listeners today and makes an excellent impact considering it's only 5 songs long.
The first song I heard off of this album was New York Crew, a true standout track. I was hoping that the rest of the EP, when I heard it, would equal, if not surpass its 4th track. However, the rest of the tracks, with the exception of perhaps Warriors, did not do this. Even then, Warriors is a cover of British oi! band Blitz.
But that's not to say that this EP is bad, by any means; look at the rating it obtains for starters. All I'm saying is that not all of the songs on it are amazing, but that's true for anything, with very few exceptions.
Anyway, the New York Crew EP begins on a relatively average note with the song Fed Up. I say this as Mike Ferraro's vocals on it aren't the most aurally pleasing in the world at the beginning of this track at least. The musical side of things here is quite uninspired at the beginning. However, the song definitely improves towards the end with a slow, pounding rhythm and some hard straight edge vocals from Ferraro, building up momentum for the next track; In My Way. A slow thudding of some powerchords builds up to a fast and angry pace, with some chugga-chugga bass riffs in there as well. The song then erupts into a heavy and powerful chanting of "YOU'VE LOST MY RESPECT!"
The next track, I've Lost, is pretty unspectacular and doesn't break any new ground with a mundane breakdown leading into the end of the song. However, this is all made up for with the next track, the aforementioned New York Crew. Great lyrics and vocals, interesting chord progressions and a catchy rhythm. The breakdown here is good too. You have to hear it to believe. Warriors is up next and although it's a cover song, dare I say it surpasses its original? There's not much else to say here, but it's a great end track to a nice, tight EP that anyone who even takes a glance at hardcore should listen to, with the last two songs more than compensating for the album's shortcomings, such as the rather dissappointing 3rd track - 4/5
