I think I first heard Nisshin's Flash Gordon via the classic 4x7" box set from Sound Pollution, "Tomorrow Will Be Worse". That comp, along with the contemporary "Possessed to Skate" comp, was a roadmap of bands to check out. If you liked Spazz (and who wouldn't?), then you'd go check out Romantic Gorilla or Hirax, because they'd done splits with them. You'd start picking up the new records on Six Weeks and Lengua Armada because they'd put out Charles Bronson records, which would lead you to Capitalist Casualties and Los Crudos. I did it as a kid with encyclopedias and "thank you" lists in liner notes; I still do it today with Wiki-walking. You take natural leaps and learn about something brand new. I guess it beats buying something because of a clever title or a crazy cover.
So, Flash Gordon's "Troma City Pollution Attack!": it has both a clever title and a crazy cover. Even if I hadn't been prepared by their American comp appearances, I'd still get a good sense of what I was in for just from the outer package. That's a King Kong-sized Toxic Avenger destroying a city whilst being attacked by jets. Did a 10-year-old draw the cover? Who's to say? Is this Suicidal Tendencies worship, minus the gang violence. Well, maybe. But Suicidal was never this joyously dumb, willing to reference the world of Lloyd Kaufman, "Karate Kid", and Queen. The thrash revival of the early aughts was so much goddamned fun, consistently referential while still building upon what had come before.
I really cannot remember how I laid hands on this. I wasn't doing any overseas mailorder at the time. And while we got a wide range of North American punk & HC releases at Reptilian, we didn't ever really see any Japanese releases, short of some the MCR CDs that I think we got through Sound Pollution/Mordam. Maybe I picked it up through a touring distro? All I know is that it's a great bed mosh record, and a soundtrack well worth listening to when you're falling off your deck.
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