There is something about Reveal that makes me consider them a kind of cult classic. They were a New Jersey band that put out their one 7 inch on the PMA label out of Belgium. Featuring the Jordan brothers from Encounter, and some kid named Troll on vocals, the band blew in and out of the hardcore scene in about 6 months. In 1991/1992 there were not a lot of really vocal Straight Edge bands, and with their motto of "You Drink, You Suck", Reveal really captured my attention. The band first showed up along side other up and coming Straight Edge bands like Mouthpiece, Strife, and Unbroken, on the It's For Life comp. Shortly after that, PMA released their Descent 7 inch. Then, in the pre-internet days of hardcore, the band vanished. Apparently the band set a World Record for the the fastest edge break in scene history, and those slogans of "the higher you go, the further you fall", rang pretty hollow. But regardless of that, the band always has a special place in my heart. I bought the record when it was first released (through Ebullition's distro?) and received a copy on white vinyl. When I was at Posi Numbers in 2005, Brian Murphy was selling some records with a couple of friends, and as I was flipping through what they had, I came across the Reveal 7 inch with the limited cover. I'm not sure if it was a record release cover, or what, but it was hand numbered, limited to 100, it was pressed on black vinyl with the big hole, and I had no idea that it existed. I didn't hesitate to pick it up. I was surprised again, a few weeks ago, when I saw that Dobek had a green vinyl pressing listed up on eBay. It was listed with a Buy It Now price of $16.00, or the option for a Best Offer. Because I'm an idiot, I would have seriously paid $50 for this treasure....instead I sent him my Best Offer price, which was accepted. So here I sit with three pieces of vinyl for this record, and it is one that I personally would consider a classic...but you probably had to be there at that time to fully appreciate it.
4 comments:
I got my copy through Ebullition too, although I think I played it once and put in it's alphabetical order, it's been years since I've heard this record, I'm going to have to give it a spin tonight when get off work!
I will not be surprised if you say "What the Hell is Mike talking about? A hundred other bands play this style of music better than these guys.". :)
If my memory serves me right and since I don't actually own this record anymore, I'm sure either I or the zine I did at the time get a mention on the thanks list! That would be Standing Strong Zine, Justify Zine or Lins hahaha. If someone could be kind enough to remind me that would be great!
Yeah Lins, Standing Strong fanzine was included in the thank you list!
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