Saturday 23 February 2013

Violent Reaction

As usual, I'm slightly behind with new releases. But on this occasion, it was due to this record being in high demand and sold out that meant I couldn't seem to get my hands on one. This is the debut 7" by a UK 'band' called Violent Reaction. This used to be a one man project, but I believe there's now a band put together so they can play live.

There was a lot of hype around this band in the past few months. I'd say that this band and record was like the UK version of The Boston Strangler. Mark went to the record release show back in August and reported that the 7"s were all sold out before the first band had played. I tried to get one but failed. I also read with interest that Sean ranked this as his stand out favourite release of 2012. Just like the Boston Strangler LP, it seemed everyone was invited to the party but me.

In typical style, I've finally got my ticket six months after everyone else. I think this version with the brown paper cover and regular white paper dust sleeve is a second press. There are no colour vinyl copies though, and I'm not overly fussed on what colour paper I have. So this is ok for me. Getting any copy at all feels like an achievement.

I've had the mp3s for a while so am familiar with the songs. This is straight edge hardcore, but not your typical youthcrew type sound. More of a raw X-Claim style sound, but with catchy parts. I don't know. Maybe it's just the hype thing, but this very much reminds me of the Boston Strangler LP. Hardcore punk at it's finest. If you haven't heard this yet, then sort yourself out. Trust me.

I actually managed to miss this band play live back in September. They toured with No Tolerance and Give. I went to the London show and somehow got the running order wrong. There were about 6 bands playing, and I was convinced that some band or other were playing second, so sat upstairs chatting. I then went downstairs to watch Violent Reaction only to find I'd just missed them. Gutted. I guess they must have impressed someone though as their LP is scheduled to be released this year by the mighty Painkiller Records. I'll make sure I don't miss that one for sure.

7 comments:

Mike said...

Looking on Soulseek for this right now.

mcs said...

Soulseek? What, is it 2004 or something? ;)

Sean said...

This is in fact a fresh recording Marcus, completely independent of the demo stuff and in my opinion a bit better too. Absolutely top shelf band/EP that should make The Stranglah blush. I'm confident that the PKR LP will be one of my total favourites for 2013. Tom is a legend.
And apparently, with the semi demise of working links on mediafire these days, soulseek is making a come back.

mcs said...

Thanks, Sean. I honestly thought this was the demo put to vinyl, although seeing as I don't have (or have any interest in) tapes then I obviously didn't check. Still, good news for me as there are more songs I can now listen to when I download the demo!
My soulseek comment at Mike was in jest. I actually re-downloaded slsk last week after getting fed up chasing dead download links & I told mike to get into it again too.

Thomo said...

i'm pretty sure this version is from the 1st pressing, the send pressing has a completely different layout, still only black vinyl though

Tom said...

Alright lads. This was actually recorded in the same session as the demo, but was mixed and mastered differently at a different time.
And yeah this is a second pressing, the paper colour sleeves with white inner sleeves were a very limited version due to leftover sleeves, and were sold only on the No Tolerance tour!
-Tom

Tom said...

Ps. Thanks for the kind words