Poison Idea
Pick Your King

Release Date: 1983 | Tracklist

Pick Your King is an exemplary document of professionalism in US hardcore. For as sloppy and brash as it presents itself, when it comes down to it, every component to this EP is completed to near perfection. It employs a democratic mix of scratchy guitar riffs and speedy hardcore beats, allowing no one component of the song to drown any other while front man Jerry A. paradoxically sounds as focused as he is exhausted in his intense vocal delivery. They achieve rawness through both their performances and their production. Songs like “Cult Band” and the “Last One” and “Pure Hate” medley really highlight Poison Idea’s ability to be extremely powerful while maintaining a lean, featherweight sound (which is ironic if you’ve ever seen a picture of them). Later on they’d get fatter and do more drugs and adopt a more beefier metallic hardcore sound, which still kicked a ton of ass, but Pick Your King is a distilled 13 minute landmark that should not be ignored. It’s a wonder how five people, most likely very manic in nature, could get together and make something so single-minded and vivid.

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