Ballads & Battle Hymns

I really enjoyed the Bitter Branches records last year, and it was interesting to see that Tim Singer had reappeared on the scene and was down to make some new songs. The fact that he had a new band was cool to see, but it was more surprising when it was announced that another of his bands, No Escape, was reforming to write a new record. Wow. The original No Escape album 'Just Accept It' was probably one of the first 20 hardcore records I bought (even though it was only available on CD for some reason), and the band also had a split 7" with Turning Point. Yup, No Escape seemed like a big deal to a young me in the early 90s, but they were broken up before my time. So I Was pretty stoked that a new record was coming out, and I was in the store immediately when it came up for order.

I decided to buy just the one copy rather than all available colour options, so I picked up the most limited version. The clear red vinyl that I grabbed is out of only 50 copies. It comes in a clear red poly cover too, which is a nice touch.

I almost forgot to mention, but this has one of the longest and difficult to remember titles of all time - 'Selective Punches: A Collection Of Ballads & Battle Hymns'.

Annoyingly it was one of those deals where you have to pay double to get a 'bundle' of a record and a shirt, but I figured that this record was going to be worth it. I'm not sure that I will ever wear the shirt though. I'm not a fan of longsleeves.

Despite saying that I decided to buy only one copy, that was in reference to the colour vinyl options. Because I couldn't resist picking up one of the test presses that were on offer. There are quite a lot of them though. It's numbered out of 32 copies.

So what was this like after an almost 30 year wait? Well, I have to say, it's great. The band sounds almost exactly the same as they did all those years ago. Oh, except for the fact that this sounds much bigger than their original LP due to the sound quality. That damn Overkill CD needs remastering badly. But what also needs mentioning here is that this is a hardcore band reuniting after 30 years or so and cranking out some new music which is good. As always, you gotta respect bands who come back after years and have the drive to record new songs, but it doesn't always follow that this works out well. With this record though, it definitely does. It's just a bit of a shame that it's only 6 songs is all.