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Rating:
Brushing off this record nowadays is like regretting growing up, far from a different world, better in some aspects but full of old memories that leave a bitter taste. At the same time, I imagine Agnostic Front, certainly richer, certainly full of satisfaction, but just as different, now aware that they can no longer play at CBGB, now part of a scene that has transformed into something completely different from the past. Today, even though they are active and full of good hopes, they have to make peace with the fact that they'll never manage to record an album like "Victim in Pain" again.
It's not that I hate all the music that seems to have come out since '89; it's just that I simply love music dictated by instinct. That "Victim in Pain" knew something about it.
1984, Miret screamed and Stigma didn't know how to keep time over a drum that was too fast, the instruments weren't tuned well together, and the songs touched on those four main notes as Hardcore demanded, without going beyond. This very incompetence and this way of asserting themselves in the music world gave the band a secure place among the founders of the New York punk scene.
Already strongly leaning towards a metal sound, which they definitively baptized with "Cause for Alarm," Agnostic Front distinguished themselves with abrupt tempo changes, epileptic solos, and songs played at stunning speed. The record lasts very little, ten songs played in quick succession and that's it.
Epochal tracks like "Blind Justice" in 2008 recall a world that's gone, where those fantastic acid sounds weren't crafted on mixers dozens of meters long, those distortions that unconsciously remind me of a swarm of wasps were the result of coincidence, the product of the situation, let's face it, the fruit of chance transcribed onto a record. That's what ruined the sound of Agnostic Front over time, professionalism, the quest for perfection, the loss of that alchemy created by luck.
I know for some of you this record is irrelevant, a hybrid that was never fully conceived, but this atmosphere, these songs like "Power," "Victim in Pain," "United and Strong" give me a unique charge, a charge that in days like these I feel less and less transcribed onto vinyl.
In my opinion (clearly biased), the album deserves five stars, but I have to admit that for some, that may be too many. Listen and decide for yourself.
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 Victim in Pain (00:50)
People say that I'm insane
A victim of society just in pain
Society's rules have made me cruel
I'm just the opposite, ain't no fool
The way I act or way I dress
Doesn't make me strong or make me best
Soon they'll find my reasons why
I'm open minded and not blind
But why am I going insane
Why am I the one to blame
Open your eyes, don't tell me lies
I'll be the one to live and rise
I'll think for myself and I'm sure to find
That society's rules won't change my mind
02 Remind Them (01:06)
They hate us, we'll hate them
They deny us, we'll defy them
They ignore us, we'll remind them
They taught us to hate and lie
To obey them and look into their selfish eyes
Reject the system and their games
The games they play to rise above
Laws they make, rules they could shove
Ideals to take over our minds
Unjustified greed to rule our lives
Their desire to overpower and conquer
To succeed for their own kind
Reject their authority, be aware of their schism
We won't adjust to their society
Their capitalistic from of prison
Remind them they taught us to lie
Remind them they've corrupted our lives
03 Blind Justice (01:28)
So they say they'll set me free
If I plead guilty and let it be
But I'm not the one who did their crimes
So why should I keep taking their jives
I'm done playing all their games
And being titled low life names
When I'm innocent and concerned
Of who I am and what I've learned
I'm not the one who did their crimes
There's no justice, there's just us
Blind justice screwed all of us
There's no justice, there's just us
We need justice for all of us
04 Last Warning (00:48)
When I try, to do the right
You always put me down
You're always on my back
Why do you hang around?
You can't see beyond your nose
What's making you so blind
The rules you make, those you break
This is your last warning
It isn't just a threat
Choose to disregard it
Wind up with regret
06 Power (01:46)
Power
Anti-social being
Human discharge
A fascist regime
We're fighting in the streets
Trying to be free
They say the regime will save us all
It's anti-social and gonna fall
07 Hiding Inside (01:22)
Hiding your feelings & yourself inside
Because you're afraid to express them
And lose your pride
But why try to be someone you're just not
Why keep hiding, letting the real you rot
Yes, you're afraid to get caught off gaurd
Because you don't know how they'll think
(Is he 'soft' or 'hard')
But does it really matter, does it really bother you?
To try to be someone else, a fool leading
Yourself on to (a life that's not for you)
Can't you act and be yourself
Not another character in a hardcore handbook
Well, we don't need anymore great american heroes
But real people being themselves, not weirdos
08 Fascist Attitudes (02:06)
Why should you go around bashing one another
If they look or think different, why let it bother
Everyones got their own style, their own thoughts
Don't let it bother you, don't let it get caught
Your fascist attitudes - we need the least
With a scene that's fighting for unity & peace
Don't need more anger; no more danger
Don't need to hate; stop before it's too late
Learning how to respect each other is a must
So why start a war of anger & danger among us
It's time to grow out of your nazi hypocrism
When you really don't want part of a fucked up system
10 Your Mistake (01:36)
We're here to be and the ones to succeed
No need for you to tell us how to be
Can't seem to find your reasons why
You tell us lies and think you're wise
Why can't you think before you sink
Why can't you see, then come to me
Tell us lies and ask us why
We hate society
And we're here to fight
I won't shake their hands
'Cause they're not our friends
Won't talk to you 'cause you can't be true
You've got problems, yet you keep hiding them
You entered their gate, but now it's too late
It's your mistake
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