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Perhaps not the inventors of emocore as described by the know-it-all Piero Scaruffi, it remains a fact that Guy Picciotto's Rites of Spring were certainly among the first to open new and important paths to the dominant hardcore punk of the '80s.
The record in question combines the self-titled debut album (1985) and the EP "All Through A Life" (1987), for a total of 17 adrenaline surges in which Picciotto shreds his vocal cords to make us a part of his anguish, and accompanies us through a hurricane of noise mixed with melody (in unprecedented proportions for those times) that exposes not so much the evils of society but the destructive effects these have on man.
The excellent quality of the tracks is a constant, but noteworthy are the initial, impetuous Spring and the infernal nightmare of Drink Deep, where the lower speed is more than compensated by a depth of soul and suffering without equal.
Besides the frontman, we find Eddie Janney on the other guitar (formerly of Untouchables, Faith, and Skewbald) and, in the rhythm section, Michael Fellows (bass) and Brendan Canty (drums): it is the latter who will join the leader in the much more renowned Fugazi (always praised), who will take the ongoing revolution in Washington DC to its extreme consequences: where Fugazi reshaped the syntax of the genre, the very architecture of hardcore punk, Rites of Spring preceded them in time by expanding the means, injecting into their music doses of pathos and despair hitherto unimaginable.
As per the first (unwritten) law of Dischord, Rites of Spring lasted only a couple of years, yet these were enough to leave an indelible mark on the last 20 years of rock history.
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