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The scene that unfolds before our eyes is that of 1980s New York, a period in which American hardcore was shaken by a profound crisis that almost completely renewed the ensembles in the music circuit. A phase characterized by divergent ideological and artistic choices that would influence the scene. Belonging to different states (and in many cases, cities) ended up creating that musical diaspora which, in a short time, led to the birth of sub-genres depending on the area of origin (Boston, Washington, New York, etc.), a cultural exodus that for more than 10 years would give rise to fundamental and now historic bands. Among these, the Cro-Mags, who immediately became a point of reference and one of the greatest expressions. Born with ideas embracing post-punk hardcore sounds, they were among the first (along with D.R.I., Agnostic Front, and Suicidal Tendencies) to blend the pressing and aggressive rhythms with the sharp and technical riffs of metal without poisoning it, into a new mix as devastating as it is winning.
After years of cutting their teeth in the dark clubs of the Big Apple, Harley Flanagan and company took center stage in 1986 with ''The Age of Quarrel'', which in just a few weeks garnered numerous accolades, becoming one of the cornerstones of the genre, so much so that it is still considered today one of the fundamental chapters in the Bible of hardcore. A concentrate of rage capable of merging, as I mentioned, the excesses of punk with the unbridled and vehement thrash (a hybrid that would later become even more complete but less appealing in the subsequent ''Best Wishes''), amid irrepressible riffs like a herd of wild horses galloping and the most irreverent and agitated mosh.
15 mad splinters for 32 minutes (practically a record for the genre). A rush of adrenaline, a concentrate of primordial rage that assaults us without compromise, overwhelming us starting from ''We Gotta Know'' (and the fact that even Sepultura covered it should say it all) moving to ''Show You No Mercy'', songs that make clear the true attitude of the band, allergic to easy utopias and Hippie culture; a blatantly anti-anarchist socio-political vision that would lead them to be ill-regarded by a significant segment of the US hardcore scene.
The violence of the street, the urban reality, are autobiographical references that often recur in the album, in a cruelly implausible context (New York was the most inflamed metropolis in America at the time), an element that manages to unleash all the rage our guys have inside (''Street Justice'', ''Survival of The Streets'') in a furious and liberating cry. The other side of the coin is the religious-themed tracks, like in ''Seekers of Truth'' or in ''World Peace'', where the search for and approach to the spiritual Hindu tradition of ''Hare Krsna'' seem to sublimate into a veil of hope, through the charismatic and frantic throat of the singer John Joseph (who would later completely embrace its precepts). But ''Hard Times'' is the gem of the album, the track that best encapsulates the musical essence of this band in a perfect blend of vitality and mosh energy. A gem to hear and rehear, with lyrics that explain, for those who do not know, what it means to play this genre (''Hard times are coming your way/But never surrender, never go down!'').
A myth fueled over the years, then. If people like Biohazard, Helmet, and RATM first, and Slipknot, SOAD, and Korn afterwards appeared on the scene, they owe it, in part, to them.
Indispensable.
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 We Gotta Know (03:19)
Strugglin in the streets just trying to survive
Searchin for the truth is just keepin us alive
Gotta break these shackles gotta break these chains
Said the only way we'll do it is if we use our brains
Said there's gotta be some meaning to the purpose of life
I know there must be more than the struggle and strife
Cause I'm looking for the answers and I need a clue
Cause my mind's so disturbed now what do I do?
Notice everywhere there's mass confusion and packs of lies
We gotta know!
We're starin down our enemies in the eyes
We gotta know!
These are the days of the cheaters and the cheated
We gotta know!
But we're not gonna bend you know we won't be defeated
We gotta know!
Strugglin in the streets just trying to survive
Searchin for the truth is just keepin us alive
Gotta break these shackles gotta break these chains
Said the only way we'll do it is if we use our brains
Said there's gotta be some meaning to the purpose of life
I know there must be more than the struggle and strife
Cause I'm looking for the answers and I need a clue
Cause my mind's so disturbed now what do I do?
Cause my minds so disturbed now
What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?
This planet's turnin into a hell
And I figured out that things don't really look too well
Reactions coming they're already starting to show
But the question is who'll go with the flow
You know there's gonna... be a fight!
Cause somebody's always tryin to keep ya...
From doing the right
There's always gonna be somebody
Comin no matter where you go
So now you know why we gotta know...
We gotta know!!!
02 World Peace (02:12)
All you hippies better start to face reality,
All your far fetched dreams of anarchy,
Better start to see things the way they are,
Cause the way things are going,
They won't be goin' far.
World peace can't be done.
It just can't exist.
World peace can't be done.
Anarchy's a mess.
Things are gettin hectic.
It's all gonna end.
You don't know what's waitin' up around the bend.
Open your eyes, perhaps you'll realize.
If AIDS don't get ya then the warheads will.
All you hippies better start to face reality,
All your far fetched dreams of anarchy,
Better start to see things the way they are,
Cause the way things are going,
They won't be goin' far.
World peace can't be done.
It just can't exist.
World peace can't be done.
Anarchy's a mess.
Things are gettin hectic.
It's all gonna end.
You don't know what's waitin' up around the bend.
Open your eyes, perhaps you'll realize.
If AIDS don't get ya then the warheads will.
World peace can't be done!
World peace!
It just can't exist.
World peace!
World peace can't be done.
World peace!
Anarchy's a mess!
World peace can't be done!
World peace!
No it can't.
World peace!
It just won't exist.
World peace! World peace! World peace!
03 Show You No Mercy (01:54)
I tried to stop myself
Told you those games ain't good for yourself
Gave ya advice cuz I thought you could hear
Better listen closely cuz your end is near
Won't show you no mercy at all
Gonna kick ya, kick ya when you're takin your fall
Won't show you no mercy today
Gonna hit ya, hit ya when you're movin on your way
Put ya in check cuz I thought you were my friend
Sorry it had to come to the bitter end
Just like a blind man you can't see
Better move along and just let me be
Don't come to me for no sympathy
You won't get none here
Just leave you in fear
Won't show you no mercy at all!
What does it take to prove you were a fake
I thought so anyway,
Won't show you no mercy today!
Won't show you no mercy at all!
04 Malfunction (03:38)
I just can't get through to you
Despite all the ways
I try or any of the things I do
Maybe I'd be better off talkin to a wall
Cause you ain't making any sense at all
I'm walkin and I'm talkin
And I'm tryin and I'm lyin
But I just ain't getting through to you!
I'm walkin and I'm talkin
And I'm tryin and I'm lyin
But I just ain't getting through to you!
Am I just wastin, just wasting all my precious time
Cause I ain't wastin a breath on you or any of your kind
If you had any brains you would open your mind
But, I guess you're juts afriad of what you're gonna find
I just can't get through to you
Despite all the ways
I try or any of the things I do
Maybe I'd be better off talkin to a wall
Cause you ain't making any sense at all
I'm walkin and I'm talkin
And I'm tryin and I'm lyin
But I just ain't getting through to you!
I'm walkin and I'm talkin
And I'm tryin and I'm lyin
But I just ain't getting through to you!
It's a malfunction...!
05 Street Justice (01:30)
Street justice happening all around you see
Won't try to talk my way out
Don't try to play those speech games anymore
Overpower-Overcome
Street justice! Street justice! Street justice!
No way out gotta stand strong
Can't you see that I'm not wrong
That's the way it is and can't you see
Street justice for you and me.
Street justice! Street justice!
Street justice! Street justice!
If it really doesn't matter why do you care?
Don't turn around if it's not your affair
Don't try to play those speech games anymore
Overpower-Overcome
Street justice! Street justice!
Street justice! Street justice!
Justice!!!
07 Seekers of the truth (04:01)
Wastin my time servin my mind
For sense pleasures I can find
Gotta get back, back to the truth
You know it was left behind
It's so easy to see, if you wanna be free
Don't wanna be just a slave
Cause no matter how you choose
You know you'll lose
If you ain't looking for the truth
Searchin and searchin for something real
You gotta know how I feel
Cause we been looking after the truth
Rejected those lies of our youth
You've seen the proof
This ain't no spoof
They tried to bend the truth
And we won't regret the things we met
If we're on the path of righteousness
Now we gotta, we gotta go back
Something ain't right so we gotta, we gotta go back
Trace our steps and see what we've done
It's time for us to go back to square one
You just can't seem to see what I mean
You know what I'm talkin about
Cause we been in bondage much too long
Don't you think it's time to get out
See time has taken it's toll and they're in control
We can't let this madness last
Gotta make our move
Get in the groove
We gotta do something fast.
08 It's the Limit (01:38)
Why you messing around with me
Pushin me around
Values changing
But I can't get caught in it today
We won't lose
with what we've got
Cause we'll just sit
and watch it all rot
Keep your ideas
But keep your distance from me
Keep off my back
cause the things you do
I don't wanna see
I don't wanna see
I don't wanna see
I don't wanna see
I don't wanna see
Wanna see
how far I can go
Test my patience
see what I know
Just not happy
with nothing to do
Getting bold
when there's more than two.
09 Hard Times (01:36)
Hard times coming your way
You're gonna have to rise above them someday
Organize your life and figure it out
Or you'll go under without a doubt
Hard Times x 2
Seems I'm being forced into a mold
Hard Times x 2
Forcing me and I'm growing cold
Hard times coming through
But if you're hard it wont get to you
They're gonna try to drag you into the ground
But never surrender, never go down
Hard Times x 2
Seems I'm being forced into a mold
Hard Times x 2
Forcing me and I'm growing cold
Cro-Mag!
Skinhead!
Breakout!
Now.....
10 By Myself (02:30)
Fightin it's such a struggle and I got so far
Got so far to go
Don't want to except no answers
But I ain't got nothing
Got nothing to show
It's such a struggle but I gotta do it
By myself
Can't except no logic so I gotta do it
By myself
It's such a struggle but I gotta do it
By myself
Can't except no logic so I gotta do it
By myself
Such a lonely path but I can't turn my back
Can't turn my back right now
See I got a role to play
And I gotta fill it, gotta fill it somehow
I set myself on this path and now
Now it's just too late
It's such a struggle but I gotta do it
By myself
Can't except no logic so I gotta do it
By myself
It's such a struggle but I gotta do it
By myself
Can't except no logic so I gotta do it
By myself
I'd put it all aside but you see this madness
Just won't wait
Talk nice things but I see I'm really,
I'm really overflowing with hate I'm talkin,
I'm talkin but I never seem to motivate
The answers you say they're outta reach
But first you gotta learn and then only can you teach
You say I'm insecure but ain't you scared of death
Cause everyone's grabbing, holding for their final breath.
11 Don't Tread on Me (01:18)
Lie to all your friends
The trouble never ends
You're gonna take a fall
And I don't care at all
Stabbed me in the back
Somone I trusted
Let's get things straight
Don't tread on me
I thought things were cool
But I guess I was a fool
And now I know
All about you
Stabbed me in the back
Somone I trusted
Let's get things straight
Don't tread on me
You crossed me once,
Don't try it again
You didn't learn,
I'll show you again
What goes around,
Comes back around
Revenge, revenge is sweet
Don't tread on me! (x4)
12 Face the Facts (01:40)
You'd better face those facts It's the blind leadin the blind And there ain't no turning back There's a rhythm to this madness And I think it's gettin strange I can feel it in the air it's time We gotta rearrange It's time for us we gotta make The crucial change Face the facts Nation against nation and it's just so plain to see That's the way that cats and dogs wanna be Hate to think what the future's got in store for me Got a stomach full and just can't take it no more
13 Do Unto Others (01:45)
Ain't really got nothing to say It all comes across in a negative way You, you best learn about bout be humbled Cause you too you'll wind up stumbled Not one bit of substance in a word they speak When they get outspoken it's only with the weak See these wars they're happening and then you're aksing why But just stop by some slaughterhouse and hear the animals cry You missed the point it's over your head I guess you'd rather be negative instead You can't account for these things you've done I'll bet you think this MOI is fun Take you down low and show you some things you've never seen Riding that borderline But there ain't no thing called in between Kick you with some advice and show you now just what I mean
14 Life of My Own (02:51)
Memories of the times you had
That's the way you see yourself
You fight for your rights
You fight to survive
You come into this world
With nothing except yourself
You, you leave this world
With nothing except yourself
Do what you want
And how you want it
Feel it's right, go out and do it
Think for yourself
And think for the best
Or you'll go down just like the rest
You come into this world
With nothing except yourself
You, you leave this world
With nothing except yourself
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