Palefire

In case you hadn't worked it out by now, I'm a sucker for 90s hardcore. It really was my era, and I still think it was the best era for music due to certain styles and sounds being new and exciting. The 90s was such a great time for musical variety within the worlds of hardcore, punk, alternative etc. Just think of how many essential or influential records have recently turned 20 or 25 years old in recent times. It's almost as if the 90s was three separate decades in one, such was the change and evolution in sounds and fashions, and it's fascinating to look back at those times and realise the impact that they have had on everything that has followed.

Being a self confessed 90s hardcore fanatic, I was pretty excited when an old, unreleased 7" by a Californian band called Palefire was put up for sale earlier this year. The band had a song on an old Indecision Records compilation ('Guilty By Association') that was released in smack bang in the middle of the 90s, and for me it was one of the more interesting songs on that comp. They were one of a few bands from the era who blended a female vocal over a typical 90s hardcore sound that ranged from chugging hardcore to 'emo', which was a sound I always liked. The band released a 5 song CDEP in 1996 on Ammunition Records, but that was it. Although it now turns out that 3 of those songs were pressed onto vinyl in 1996 but for some reason never actually released. I don't know how, but a few months ago they were unearthed and put up for sale at RevHQ.

It's not clear how many of these were made, but it doesn't really matter. I'm intrigued as to exactly where these things were sitting for the last 23 years or so. It also got me looking on discogs for other releases on the same label, Ammunition Records, and I was surprised to see that there were 5 other releases that never got beyond the test pressing stage. Seems crazy that a label would get test pressings made of 5 releases and never get around to releasing any of them.

Anyway, given that it is unlikely that many people reading this will have heard this band, I thought I would provide this handy shortcut to allow you to listen to my favourite of their songs. If there is a more 90s hardcore sounding song than this, I'd love to hear it.