The more material I hear from this DC band, the more I’m into it. “The Bleeding Starts Here” is a collection of this band’s out-of-print 1999 “S/T” EP, and high-quality demos from material that would eventually be on the “March To Your Grave” full-length, out on Thorp Records. There’s also two covers, one of MINOR THREAT, and the other of VOID. The 17 tunes on here clock in around 22 minutes, and although that’s a tad brief on the content, there’s no doubt that in those precious 22 minutes, STRIKING DISTANCE deliver a quite a punch of vicious, straight-forward hardcore. Although I’ve heard most of these songs before, the rawness in the production on here smacks me around the cheeks, and it compliments the band’s style perfectly. Songs like “Cutthroat,” “Not This Time,” and “Along For The Ride” drip with a sense of earnestness and personality that few hardcore bands can convey. The MINOR THREAT cover of “Screaming at a Wall,” is noble, but it doesn’t really add anything special to the release, except perhaps novelty. Linas Garsys did the artwork on here, as he has done all STRIKING DISTANCE releases, and it’s truly beautiful stuff, especially for those like myself who appreciate concepts of war. I’m not entirely sure what kind of distribution this disc will have in the US, since Reflections is a label from the Netherlands, but if you can get your hands on it, along with any other STRIKING DISTANCE release, it’s worth your while.

Reflections

www.reflectionsrecords.com