{"id":16317,"date":"2013-11-11T00:00:55","date_gmt":"2013-11-11T00:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=16317"},"modified":"2014-01-26T19:19:17","modified_gmt":"2014-01-26T19:19:17","slug":"album-review-poison-idea-kings-of-punk-2013-reissue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-poison-idea-kings-of-punk-2013-reissue\/","title":{"rendered":"POISON IDEA – Kings Of Punk (2013 Reissue) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

POISON IDEA
Kings Of Punk (Reissue)<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nSouthern Lord (2013)<\/span>
Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Early hardcore was a truly American art form. Bands like DRI and Black Flag made dangerous, dirty music that was the sound of the youth in revolt. Hardcore was ugly music by ugly people, and within it was all the rage and fury of the disenchanted.<\/p>\n

Poison Idea was a major force in this movement, and their music has influenced generations of punk and metal bands, as shown by the covers of the band\u2019s songs released by Pantera, Machine Head and Turbonegro.<\/p>\n

In 1986 Poison Idea released their first full-length, the 11 songs delivered as Kings Of Punk<\/em>. The fine gentlemen over at Southern Lord have reissued this hardcore classic as a double CD including a remaster of the original album plus two live sets. All show the power and grit of American hardcore at its finest. <\/p>\n

Fans are well aware of the primary failure of the classic punk and hardcore releases\u2026 production. These songs were recorded on a tight budget, often in a DIY fashion that led to less than optimal sound quality. Remasters of these seminal albums have restored the music to better quality than the original releases. Kings Of Punk<\/em> has new venom in its bite, thanks to the work done cleaning up the audio. The sound is huge, while still raw.<\/p>\n

\u2018Lifestyles\u2019 tears open this collection with breakneck speed bass and drums, courtesy of Chris Tense and Dean Johnson respectively. The rhythm section is crisp and pounding. Tom \u201cPig Champion\u201d Roberts\u2019 guitars sound menacing, and singer Jerry A. spits out his lyrics with vehemence. The mix is loud and abrasive. Where too many remasters have tamed the fury of the original content, the work done to this version of Kings Of Punk<\/em> serves to enhance the power of these songs. <\/p>\n

Poison Idea separated themselves from the rest of the hardcore scene by keeping a bit of rock in their style. Bad Brains incorporated reggae, and Black Flag\u2019s out of tune guitar solos brought in a noise ethic that has been emulated ever since. Poison Idea used traditional rock sounds within the context of their songs to create something just on the brink of palatable, while still being a rude noise.<\/p>\n

\u2018Short Fuse\u2019 has a great guitar lead, and \u2018Ugly American\u2019 has an excellent rock progression, tied up in dirt and hatred. While embracing these rock standards they also pioneered some of the hardcore time shifts and rhythmic techniques that went on to become mandatory among speed metal bands. \u2018Ugly American\u2019 changes from a brooding rock song to a chugging punk anthem, ending on a speed passage that would have made an early Slayer<\/a> jealous. <\/p>\n

More than just a punk rock milestone, Kings Of Punk<\/em> is a great hardcore album. \u2018Death Wish Kids\u2019 seethes with raw energy, while \u2018Made To Be Broken\u2019 opens with a pop riff that has been ripped off by other bands several times over the years. \u2018One By One\u2019 has a similarly catchy opening, before faltering into an off kilter riff in the vein of Fugazi. Jerry A.\u2019s vocals sound like a young Henry Rollins possessed with piss and hate. These are dirty, sweaty, angry songs delivered in harsh tones. In short, Kings Of Punk<\/em> is everything a hardcore album should be. <\/p>\n

If there is a single factor that keeps this release from being perfect, it is the live content. The live songs vary in quality, and improve as the album progresses. The problem is that there\u2019s just too much of it. The same song appears on this collection three and four times in many instances. As a fan who collected many of these original hardcore releases on cassette, I\u2019m ecstatic to have the original album remastered on CD, and even to hear an early concert as an archive of the power of Poison Idea. Three concerts in a row, comprised of mainly the same songs, makes listening all the way through in a single sitting a chore.<\/p>\n

This is a great release, but suffers a bit from overwhelming the listener by the sheer volume of the material presented. <\/p>\n

Jim McDonald<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

POISON IDEAKings Of Punk (Reissue) Southern Lord (2013)Rating: 8\/10 Early hardcore was a truly American art form. Bands like DRI and Black Flag made dangerous, dirty music that was the sound of the youth in revolt. Hardcore was ugly music by ugly people, and within it was all the rage and fury of the disenchanted. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[906],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poison-idea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16317"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17452,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16317\/revisions\/17452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}