BL’AST! Bangs Another One Out

Hailing from the West coast, BL’AST! can’t decide whether or not hardcore from the late eighties is done yet. Every time the smoke clears out of the room, the guys come out with a new anthem. A lot of publicity has surrounded Blood! because, jokes aside, these guys are semi-forgotten heroes of hardcore/West coast punk rock. Its true, punk’s not dead!

The anticipation of the album is centered around 25 years of old and abandoned unreleased material. As the story goes, upon making the discovery in his storage unit, Mike Neider took them straight to southern lord Greg Anderson and, from there, they were sent to Dave Grohl to be re-mastered. Grohl, super stoked to be associated with a huge influencer from when he was younger, took to it and thus Blood! was born.

Blood! is classic. It is unadulterated, clear, West coast hardcore punk rock. 25 years later and the guys are still mob ready. There aren’t too many complaints when it comes to technicalities for punk music, either. Punk isn’t truly technical, but these guys came out when punk was still punk. Good punk was just rushed over the decades with lesser qualities and thus, new pop music draws its crappy influence.

In the beginning, there is “Time Will Tell,” damning and dooming-– two great qualities for any song of fear and anger. The lyrics call upon judgment from the fans: “I hope you live to call me a liar! / A liar! A liar!” Oh, we will judge you, Clifford Dinsmore, we will. Then, get ready for a rush. This is where it all starts.

The second song is where some things start to get confusing; lyrics and strings sometimes don’t make a lot of sense, but the purpose of a song like “Ssshhh” is to start off small, then spin out of control in a mosh. “Sometimes” is all about the Yeah!-factor. No beer or t-shirt near the perpetual pit of madness is safe. Slight pauses in the track are just so the band gets to check if any bodies have fallen under the wave of amped fans just getting stomped.

There are so many good qualities about Blood!. Buy the album, and do it in real life. Digital is good, but you’ll want a hardcopy of this one. It’s really an amazing quality for over-the-hill musicians to still maintain the struggle of the young, angry and poor when they are none of the above. And, as the word goes, they are just a bunch of really nice guys.