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Monday, January 20, 2014

Thursday, January 09, 2014

STRIFE "One Truth" A Classic Hardcore Record!!

Here we have for your listening pleasure, "One Truth" the instantly classic record put out by STRIFE in 1993 or '94. Man, I can totally remember ordering this via snail-mail (c'mon, there was no online shopping, Ebay, Amazon, etc back then. I put about $10 cash in an envelope, sent it to Victory Records in Chicago, and waited patiently for the record to arrive. Back then, mail order was 'hit-or-miss.' Not that there was a good chance of getting ripped off (but that DID happen fat too often, unfortunately), but more like having your records, 'zines, books, sweat shirts, etc, taking weeks or even months or more to arrive on your door step. Victory was a pretty big & busy company by this point. With the releases of STRIFE, SNAPCASE, & EARTH CRISIS records, Tony Victory was on top of the metallic, straightedge, vegan, scene. Anyways, about "One Truth." I came home from work one night around 1:00a.m. and saw a package from Victory, and I knew it the new STRIFE record and maybe the WORLD'S COLLIDE 7" and some other gems. Ran up three flights of stairs post haste, and carefully laid the record on the turntable. The record itself was on an awesome looking swirly colored vinyl, really thick with a great smell. (I always smell my new records and their sleeves! Does this make me a weirdo? Nah, I just wanna use all my senses when buying new shit. The sleeve itself was a gatefold, with sweet looking, hi-quality artwork, and most certainly very glossy & professional looking. But the music: WOW! I was fuckin' blown away & instantly in love with these kids. I think up to this point I owned the "My Fire Burns On" 7" from them, as well as a rare, limited run of the "Mandel Can Suck It" record. Nice. I still love me some STRIFE!! The new record is the tits, plain & simple. Finally, in 1994 I got to see them (twice) at the "A New Hope Hardcore Fest" in Madison Wisconsin. It was a great show and a great fest all around. I have so many comparable stories...