Of the many NYHC bands that have rightfully achieved a certain "legendary" status, I still feel like Leeway just doesn't get talked about enough. All of their records have been out of print forever, none of it's available digitally, and that's just a damn shame. I absolutely worship "Desperate Measures" and have gushed about it here in the past (it's one of my all-time favorite and most-played albums), but "Adult Crash"—Leeway's third outing from 1994, on Futurist Records—is probably their most underrated release. Even as a thrash-laden crossover hardcore band they were incredibly unique, but "Adult Crash" marked a huge shift in their approach. And sure, I can understand why it wasn't exactly well-received by some listeners, but there are a lot of people out there who will tell you, "Ahhh, the last two Leeway albums suck, stay away!" But that's simply not the case.
This is a very solid album that still boasts excellent production values (the bass tone is fuckin' amazing) and some impressively catchy songwriting ("3 Wishes" and "You" are two of the band's finest tunes, period). I guess you could say it's an unexpected mix of post-hardcore and heavy rock with somewhat of a grungy vibe; but there are some slick melodies, and tracks like "10 Years" still possess that nice, surging groove that tends to be present here and there throughout all of the band's work. I guess there are one or two "low points" herein (primarily "The Roulaison", which is 7+ minutes of repetitious instrumentation and feedback with soft-spoken female vocals entirely in French, which suffers largely due to its length, really), but... I'm telling you, "3 Wishes" and "You" alone make this one a keeper. I could've easily written about "Open Mouth Kiss", but that one seems to get just a little more love than "Adult Crash", so I decided to go with the truest underdog this time around. If you're one of those people that gave up after "Desperate Measures", definitely keep an open mind and give this shit a shot. I highly, highly recommend Leeway's entire discography, they're just such an amazing band...
Leeway "3 Wishes"
Leeway "You"
Leeway "Grip"
Leeway "Make a Move"
Leeway "10 Years"
Leeway's first two records are hard as hell to find for reasonable prices these days, but you can still get a fair deal on a used copy of the later albums for the time being, so... if you'd like to score a physical CD, you'd best do so while you can still grab one for less than $10!
Comments
I only heard Born To Expire, so this is all new to me. Now I know the later albums blow that 1st one away. Better late than never. The singing on this and Desperate Measures is really good.
12.4.2011 | By Marcus Garvey
Not bad. I loved Desperate Measures to death when I was 14. It was like my favorite album for about two years. Born to Expire kicked ass as well. I was definitely disappointed by Leeway’s direction after those records but listening back to this stuff 15 years later it’s actually pretty cool and a fairly logical step from DM. It’s certainly not my favorite but I would pick it up if I found it used somewhere. What’s annoying, however, is that no one seems to be reissuing any of Leeway’s back catalog. I can only find Born to Expire on ebay every now and then for about $50, vinyl or even cd. WTF?
12.4.2011 | By Justin
Love this write-up. This album, and Open Mouth Kiss, needs more love. All Leeway albums are great, I always appreciated the fact they didn’t try to recreate BTE or DM. Born To Expire is my fave Leeway album tho, it was my gateway album into hardcore, and to me it still blows away 99% of what’s out there.
12.5.2011 | By Edwin
This was actually the first Leeway album I bought back around ‘96. Eddie’s vocals are great on this one and the songs bounce along with a great groove.
12.30.2011 | By Adam G
could not agree more- desperate measures is incredible, and adult crash/open mouth kiss are waaaay underrated. i remember only living witness being very vocal about their love of post-“born to expire” leeway but other than that (and this post!) there don’t seem to be any champions of this era of leeway….. and you may or may not know this, but “blogged and quartered” has a download of an entire live setfrom the desperate measures era- just go there and do a search.
1.22.2012 | By Anonymous
Desperate measures is one of my favorite albums. It’s hardcore meets anthrax/Metallica. The guitars and Eddie suttons amazing voice puts them in a class by themselves. Nuff said.
10.2.2013 | By Joe bastek