Minor Threat
Out Of Step

THE REVIEW

The Minor Threat, as we know, are a truly legendary band and one of the most influential and important formations in the entire history of rock, and I'm certainly not exaggerating. Born from the ashes of the already seminal Teen Idles, the Minor Threat from Washington are the hardcore band par excellence, not the only one, not the first, but THE hardcore band.

The first two EPs definitively established and declared this genre, leading to a series of genesis and evolutions, among them thrash metal which undoubtedly owes much to this degeneration of classic punk; especially the first 8-track EP was extraordinarily significant: in addition to presenting violence condensed into very few seconds rarely heard before, it also led to the famous subgenre/current "Straight Edge," which (in theory) proclaimed values contrary to the classic commonplaces of rock, namely aversion to excesses and excesses, although some currents think it's just an extreme form of nihilism.

In any case, in this EP, and along with the second one, reside, if not the true Minor Threat, certainly the wilder and more primordial ones; but the career of Minor Threat did not end there, a career as brief as it was intense, although at that time the band already seemed finished.

Less than a year after starting out, the group indeed had already disbanded, the second EP "In My Eyes" was released under these conditions, but it was only a temporary disbandment; in 1983 the band reformed with the addition of new bassist, Steve Hansgen, to create what would finally be their first, and only, LP. The arrival of the new bassist allowed the previous role holder Brian Baker to switch to guitar, experimenting with what would later be his role in Bad Religion.

The album "Out Of Step" presented certain elements of change, albeit slight, compared to the past, elements that had already emerged in half of "In My Eyes." In the second EP, in fact, 2 out of 4 tracks for the first time exceeded 2 minutes presenting also more elaborate arrangements than usual. Even in this "Out Of Step," the first thing that immediately stands out to the eyes and ears is the duration: in 4 out of the 8 tracks the duration exceeds 2 minutes, and in 2 even surpass the 3-minute threshold; one of those 2 is the first "Betray": it is definitely a more punk rock than hardcore track and slower, although not completely denying the parent matrix, it also features hard rock influences particularly in the initial riffs, the result is excellent.

"It Follows" starts with a bass riff and returns partially to hardcore; the subsequent "Think Again" and "Look Back And Laugh" (the longest track on the album and second longest of the band, 3 minutes and 16) start with pure heavy metal riffs, the first one stands as a middle way between the 2 previous ones, the second instead is almost Sabbath style: it is one of the less violent and at the same time more polished episodes of the group's discography.

"Sob Story", "No Reason", and "Little Friend" (whose central bass solo is very similar to "No One Knows", sped up) confirm this "new" style, while remaining very aggressive and fast they move away from the purest and most uncompromising hardcore of the beginnings, they are however almost impeccable tracks technically; while remaining 100% Minor Threat they tread the path of the evolution of their own genre, a genre, hardcore, in many ways fantastic but also limiting in others.

After this album, the band will dissolve definitively and in '85 the last EP "Salad Days" will be released posthumously, the definitive step towards the end of this project and for the beginning of the new, even shorter, Embrace experience before the immense and famous Fugazi.

At the end of the work, however, there is room for the last true pure hardcore track in the career of the 5: the title track "Out Of Step", starts with words spat in the listener's face "don't smoke, don't drink, don't fuck", extreme manifesto of the Straight Edge philosophy, words later also scaled down by the leader Ian McKaye; musically it is in my opinion the best of all, the true manifesto of Minor Threat and the whole movement, even more than "Filler", which many consider as the true symbolic song of the band. This devastating piece is, as mentioned before, the only one in old style from the work and this is due to the fact that it came from the previous EP "In My Eyes".

In conclusion, surely to all those who were interested in savoring the unique experience of Minor Threat, the Complete Discography is recommended, because ultimately their entire production is to be considered as a whole, yet this was their only LP and it shows a band at the full height of their creativity. In some ways inferior to the first EP, in others superior due to the greater care of arrangements, I side with the former, without anyway taking anything away from this extraordinary album.

The only LP from a simply essential band.