There are certain records that everyone had in their collection back in the early 90s that they simultaneously knew nothing about. My take on this is that back at the start of the 90s, hardcore was a much smaller scene with fewer labels and bands, so people generally bought anything & everything that they could get their hands on. At least, that's my view from my geographical position in the UK. There were only a very small number of shops in the UK that would even sell US hardcore and straight edge records, so I think that when they got a new delivery in then everyone would just buy whatever came in, in the hope of being part of the first wave to discover whatever may have been the hot new band or record. See? Well anyway, I figure Kingpin was one of those bands. Everyone seemed to have the 7" in their collection back in the early 90s, but the band hadn't come over here on tour, didn't have any other releases, and weren't really on a big label. I'm not even sure they were that big in the States outside of the New England area.
Well, 25 years after the band broke up, Atomic Action Records released the band's second 7" for the first time. Recorded back in 1993, this thing finally saw the light of day on vinyl in 2018, and even though I ordered it right away, it has taken me 3 years to receive and listen to it.
There were 300 copies on white vinyl which were only for mailorder, and 300 copies on red. It seems I decided to only pick up only one of the two available. But I did also snag one of the tests that the label sold off too. Number 9/25.
I never heard these songs until recently, and I wil admit that I was super into this from about 5 seconds into the first song. I mean, I know that this was recorded in 1993, but it's one of the most 90s sounding records I have ever heard. And the modern mastering means that it sounds clean and loud. It also doesn't really sounds much like Kingpin, at least not to me. If anything, this sounds exactly like Temperance, which was another 90s band that I loved. Shame that this is either a 1993 or a 2018 release (depending on how you look at it), else it would definitely be in my 'best releases of the year' list this year.
1 comment:
Such a great 7 inch, and really a blueprint that a lot of New England/New Jersey bands like Another Wall, Temperance, Flagman, etc followed at the time.
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