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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.
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