Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Common Ground 7"

In 1997, I saw this Vermont straight edge band's 7" listed in a Very Distro catalog, and since the description of it sounded like something I'd be into I took a chance and bought it. This was indeed a smart decision. These 5 kids played straight ahead, melodic youth crew hardcore and they did a pretty damn good job at it. It has enough variation / changes going on to keep most people into this style of stuff interested throughout all four songs. I would say it's similar to Ensign or even Bane in the fact that it was heavy enough for new school kids to get into and classic enough for the old schoolers, as well. The artwork is hilariously bad (although appropriate for the style), and I definitely judged this first when it arrived in the mail before listening to it, so shame on me, right? I'm pretty sure I'm the only person I knew who owned this record, or even ever heard of this band...both then and now.

If you were a part of or were into (you're no dummy, so of course you were) the redux of the youth crew stuff in the later years of the 90s, then I'd certainly recommend this overlooked gem to you. The record was released on Ignition Records in early 1997, and these songs were recorded on Halloween 1996 at Eclipse Studio in Hinesburg, Vermont.



-here-

Tracklist:
1) Slave
2) Smolder
3) Reflections
4) Through Example

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