VIRULENCE
IF THIS ISN’T A DREAM 1985-89
SOUTHERN LORD RECORDS
Step up, children, and let poppa give you a history lesson.
For those who love themselves some Fu Manchu, for those who sit back with a spliff and lace the inside of their muscle car with the laid back stonerrock riffs of the legendary California band, may I present Virulence, the band that would form into the Fu. That’s right kids, before there was the big bad Fu Manchu there was the big bad and mean Virulence, a hardcore band that allows us to remember how great hardcore could be.
Kicking off in 1985 Virulence came together under the umbrella of their love for bands like Void, B’last and Black Flag. From there they kicked that California punk style into overdrive adding an element of experimentation to a lethal barrage of noisy punk songs. You have to remember this was when hardcore still mattered, before it became about basketball jerseys, tough guy bullshit and vapid attempts to reanimate a long dead scene. Virulence came out during an era when it was about the music, about rebellion and about a harsh middle finger to the status quo.
Though short lived (ending in 1989) Virulence etched out a solid reputation for themselves even releasing a full length record titled “If This Isn’t A Dream” on Alchemy Records. As it happened so often in those days Alchemy Records vanished, as did If This Isn’t A Dream.
Well pop the popcorn and scream hallelujah because Southern Lord Records has released a discography of the band titled If This Isn’t A Dream 1985-89 and the music kicks as much ass as it used to. This musical amalgamation includes the If This Isn’t A Dream LP as well as some slap out live tracks and demo work. Pretty much anything the band did is captured here.
You really only need to hear Virulence once to understand how good they really were. This is a band, much like Black Flag, that was more talented than the scene they were a part of. Take a song like “Worse Than Misery”, a slow moving instrumental that funnels it’s hardcore sensibilities through a filter of something akin to a hardcore Rush.
Virulence was tossing in long instrumentals; weird stops and off time begins long before it became the thing to do. Like Void, Black Flag, B’last, Negative Approach, and others Virulence were about creating something different, something weird and that’s what made it hardcore much more than something you could do the wacky mosh-dancing to.
Everything on this album is wonderful because it reminds me of a better time in hardcore, a better time in music altogether. Yeah I may gush about back in the day but fuck you that’s my right. Your hardcore sucks and that pisses me off, so when an album like this comes out I get all batty. Don’t get me wrong I’m not claiming old school, I got into hardcore in 1987 so I missed this era and that bums me out.
The live work on this album displays how good the band really was and it includes a Void cover, which kicks ass. Even the low-end demo stuff is solid. I don’t really think any of the new chug-chug punch-a-guy-and-dance-around hardcore bands will listen to this and take heed but they should. If This Isn’t A Dream 1985-89 is a testament to what can happen when great musicians strip everything down to it’s rawest form and then play from their hearts. Nobody does music like this anymore and that sucks.
CraveOnline's Review: 10 Out Of 10
