In the first couple of years after I moved to Baltimore in 1994, there were two bands who were the kings of the hardcore scene. Next Step Up were the old heads, tied in with CCS and continuing the lineage of tough street level HC. The young bucks were Torn Apart, who drew inspiration from contemporaries like Turmoil, Integrity, and Earth Crisis. And unlike NSU, who seemed like full-blown adults in comparison to us, and thus elevated, Torn Apart was us. Kids from places like Reisterstown and Perry Hall who you had college classes with, hung out with at shows, worked in a bookstore with. This was the first time I'd been aroujnd dudes my own age who could tour outside a 50-mile radius; it was the aspirational made real.
"Nothing Is Permanent..." was Torn Apart's second release for Life Sentence Records in Utah, and their first full-length. It felt like a monumental release; our very own "In This Defiance". That summer of '97, it was a rare record that everyone in my suburban circles could agree on. The punks, the skins, the moshers, the crusties, the headbangers...everybody dug it hard. There was a fair amount of cackling at the hidden track prank call between Brett and LSR owner Dan. "Torn Apart? More like rip a fart." Classic.
Torn Apart is getting back together for their first show in...20 years?...Sunday night, serving as first support at End It's record release show in Baltimore. It's been a long time since there was a show happening back home that I would travel for, but this one fits the bill. The opportunity to fake like I'm 19 again, to clear a dance floor with a floorpunch and a spin kick once more...it's all too much to pass up.
You can call me out if I sound like a dick, but by 2004, Revelation Records, a record label I had always held in very high esteem, just wasn't throwing its fastball anymore. Just five years earlier, they'd released a number of outstanding records, all branching out from Rev's hardcore roots while remaining in fidelity to the underlying ethos. Farside's "The Monroe Doctrine", the Sparkmarker anthology, the first Judas Factor full length, Kiss It Goodbye's "Choke" EP, and Himsa's "Ground Breaking Ceremony" all came out in '99, and, for me, represented the ways you could evolve hardcore.
But by 2004, that wasn't the case for me. Which is why this sat in a box for a decade plus before I broke it back out to revisit a few months back. Granted, the scene had changed a bunch in the intervening five years. But Curl Up And Die and Since By Men just didn't hit the same way as their predecessors. The idea of a Dag Nasty reunion full length was a lot cooler than the actual full length. The best contemporary bands here were Long Island's On The Might Of Princes, whose last LP had been released by Revelation in 2003, and Oakland's Pitch Black, who played a sort of West Coast punk that wouldn't be out of a place on Epitaph or even a major label in 2004.
If the dating on Discogs is to be believed, it was just a lean year for Revelation. While their distribution wing was still going strong, this sampler and a Since By Man EP were the only records they put out in 2004. The following year, they'd release the Judge discography, the Bold discography, a Shai Hulud rarities disc, and the most excellent "Generations" compilation, arguably one of the best comps from that era. In 2006 came their first releases from Shook Ones, Sinking Ships, Self Defense Family (as End Of A Year), and Down To Nothing.
It took from May to August 2000 to go from 100 to 200 posts. Then I hit 300 posts two days before Christmas 2000. And now I'm here, anot...
