Hard To Swallow were a UK band that existed in the mid to late 90s. I only ever saw them play twice, and both times they blew me away. Back then I was young and relatively new to the world of hardcore punk, and some bands both thrilled and scared me at the same time. Hard To Swallow were one. But whilst they were really powerful live, their recorded material didn't have quite the same impact. I think it was mainly the vocals that just didn't sound anywhere near as chaotic on record as they did live, although on the positive side, the riffs sounded heavier. Deep in my collection I have a split 7" and a song on a compilation LP, but I was disappointed by them and as a result never bought anything else. Well, until a couple of weeks ago when I decided on a whim to pick up the recently pressed LP that compiles a bunch of odds and ends onto one handy platter, which I mainly bought as it helped justify the postage costs on something else I was picking up at the time.
Interestingly, this LP was released by an American label (Armageddon Label). I have no idea how far Hard To Swallow may have travelled in their day as they generaly moved in slightly different circles to me, but I never got the sense that they were hugely popular, or very well known overseas. So I'm kinda intrigued as to how this has ende dup coming out on a US label. Also, I believe that the CD version of this came out in 2015, but it was only last year that this finally got pressed onto vinyl. I think I read that there are 300 copies on this 'random' colour vinyl (which looks slightly more orange in real life), although I may have imagined that as I can't find anything now to confirm.
To end this post I figured I'd put up the only video I could find online. It still doesn't quite do their live show justice, but you get the idea.
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