Excellent, excellent, excellent reissue here from Relapse Records. Massappeal was (though they've since reformed and are working on new material) a perhaps vastly underrated crossover act from Australia that formed in the mid-80's and whose sound apparently diversified somewhat over the course of their three full-lengths into the mid-90's. This disc collects all of their pre-full-length debut recordings and tacks on five live tracks from a 1987 live set opening for D.R.I. to boot—making for a grand total of a whopping 24 tracks in 77 minutes! Included is the "Nobody Likes a Thinker" 12" (1986), the "Bar of Life" 7" (1987), a 1988 compilation track, and the "Young, Dumb, and Naïve" demo (the band's first recordings from March of 1986). Musically speaking it's fairly standard crossover with loads of fast hardcore/punk power chords and snotty yelling that combines your typical sense of pissed anger and sarcastic, smartass fun. It's not an all-go-no-slow kind of thing, however, as there are a good amount of midpaced shifts and whatnot, and many of the songs run into the three- to four-minute range, making them a bit longer than what generally comes to mind when this form of thrashy hardcore/punk is involved. The packaging has been absolutely expertly handled as well, with shitloads of liner notes, photos, and some lyrics—all with an absolutely incredible "old school but better" look that totally fucking rules. I mean, that cover art, man! Fucking outstanding! This is absolutely 100% dead on how a reissue should be handled in every regard, so I must commend all involved parties for acing it all around. I'm jealous as hell!
Massappeal "Fun Again"
Massappeal "Rat in a Hole"
Massappeal "No Seduction"
As always, show your god damn support and pick one of these fuckers up if this is your thing:
The world sorely needs more releases like this, and in fact Massappeal's debut full-length, "Jazz", has also been reissued by Chatterbox Records in Australia (the same label that handled the "Nobody Likes a Thinker" 2xCD reissue over there), so I'm curious to look into that one as well!
Comments
Awesome! Mass Appeal rules. I grabbed this the other day, I had never heard the band before, but I love hardcore, so how could I pass it up. Relapse needs to focus on this type of thing and stop putting out shit like Linkin’ Park Jr. (AKA The End).
2.2.2007 | By Carlzilla
Holy shit dude…I thought we dropped this whole Linkin Park/The End deal like 10 fuckin posts ago? Anyways, as for Massappeal? Nope, not diggin it. Can’t stand the whole speak-really-fast-so-it-sounds-like-im-pissed/gutter punk vocals. Not to mention every song sounds just about the same. I’m sure this shit was awesome for some people back in the mid-80’s to 90’s (ya know, for nostalgic purposes or whatever) but it seems a bit too boring for my taste.
2.2.2007 | By Adrianoso
I have this and Jazz on vinyl. Part of the Golden Era of Sydney hardcore during the late 80’s and early 90’s. Happy days…
2.2.2007 | By bornagainst
I picked this up, it takes me back a few years… I find that it has held up well, it’s not just nostalgia value.
2.6.2007 | By josé carlos santos
is it uncool for bandmembers to check out a reveiw of their releases? anyway , thanx for the cool review, much appreciated. if anyone is interested , the australian “thinker ” re-release is a double cd including our complete D.R.I support set as a bonus cd and yes , our 1st full length lp “jazz” has also been re-released in australia.unfortunately relapse didnt do it- wish they did!. anyway , their both available from chatterbox recs in australia.please drop us a line sometime . we;d love to hear from anyone on the other side of the world !! .
now , i got to get stuck into getting our last lps out !
carry on
brett
2.16.2007 | By bretto