Vinyl Noize | new hope

When it comes to Cleveland hardcore, everyone seems to know about the 90′s to present bands like Integrity, Ringworm, 9 Shocks Terror, Imates, etc, but there isn’t much talk about the early 80′s hardcore scene. So here we have The New Hope comp LP, from 1983 outta Cleveland. It features a bunch of RAGING bands that rarely get their just due, since this LP doesn’t turn up much and very few of the bands made proper records. The Guns lead the comp off with two absolutely ripping tracks, reminding me of Urban Waste with a slightly smaller cloud of fuzz. The band was only a 2-man unit with guitar and drums, and they were only 12–13 years old, but they completely blew me away on the first listen and still blow me away whenever I throw this platter on. Drummer Dave Araca later played in Integrity (see Palm Sunday live LP) but tragically passed away of a brain aneurysm in 1994. Singer/guitarist Scott Eakin went on to play drums for Stepsister with his brother Tom Dark (who released this LP) and Tony Erba of Face Value/9 Shocks Terror fame, but also tragically passed away young, of a heart attack in 2007. RIP.

After the Guns, you get more killer tracks from The Dark and The Agitated (both fast hc ragers), Spike In Vain and Outerwear (f’d up noisy stuff), The Offbeats (funny HC a-la AOD), Zero Defex (0DFX) and more. As far as I know, only Starvation Army, the Offbeats and Spike In Vain ever had proper records, so this comp is a great document of one of the more off-the-radar “regional” scenes of the early 80′s. The Agitated and 0DFX had their demos pressed to 7″ in recent years, and both are worth tracking down. Both the Dark and the Guns recorded for LPs that were never released for some reason or another, though the Dark sessions are available on CD from Grand Theft Audio and the Guns material should be available soon on CD from Smog Veil Records.

Grab this now while it’s cheap, it doesn’t come up much!