CULT RITUAL 7" EP

BURRITO RECORDS -- Tampa (2007)

Weak Body
Clean Conscience
Bitter End
Unhappiness
Terrified
Why Wait
Regret

Dave V - guitar
Tommy C - drums
Zack A - bass
Dan R - vocals

Most of this is fairly generic hardcore, but you know you like things like this when you got a couple of beers in you and the volume's up real loud.

"Just scream/we scream to hear ourselves scream/to hear the scream/in which there is no response/unhappy rock/unhappy roll/unhappy dirt/dead."

F -- Four From '84 7" EP

BURRITO RECORDS -- Fort Lauderdale (1984, 2007)

I Saw Your Vision

No

Such Men Are Dangerous

Spit It Out

Flash -- voice

Michael Ellis -- bass

Elmo Rapscallion-- guitar

Pete Moss -- drums

This is an interesting and deceptive artifact. Looking at it, you might think this is an early demo of the songs that ended up on "You Are an E.P." After all, "Four From '84" shares three songs from that record. The sound -- slower, thinner and with an arguably better but unarguably more theatrical singer -- sounds like a bedroom version of what ended up being recorded in the studio.

But no sir. This was recorded in the same studio months after 1983's hardcore "You Are an E.P." record by the former (and founding) singer of F who had quit F, refusing to participate in the "You Are an E.P." record due to personal and artistic differences. Well, 'artistic' is a stretch, but you know what I mean. He wanted the music to sound like this disk.

Interestingly, there is zero overlap in band members between these two records, unless Elmo is really Mike "Ravenous Gangrene" Hasson, which is possible. However, Pete Moss played in the hardcore version of this band live and on other recordings and I understand Flash continues to play as F -- with a constantly changing lineup of bandmates -- as of 2009. He started the band and he is finishing it, as the hardcore F has long left the scene.

All four songs are good. A version of the fourth song, "I Saw Your Vision" appeared on the Open Records "Land That Time Forgot" comp in 1982.