Age of Quarrel / Best Wishes
This twofer compendium--which contains all the songs from the Cro-Mags' first two albums--can serve as an ideal introduction to this tough-as-nails Gotham band, which swerved from brute-force hardcore to slightly more sophisticated thrash between the recordings. TheAge of Quarrelmaterial, sung by John Joseph, is pure street-thug hardcore--"Show You No Mercy," "Do unto Others"--that's heavy on both declarations of scene unity and threats against those who aren't part of the scene. Most tracks clock in under two minutes. The band stretches out on theBest Wishessongs, which see bassist Harley Flanagan taking over on vocals. More metallic in tone, à la Anthrax, the "new, improved" Cro-Mags prove themselves capable of kicking out the jams guitarwise and even provoking some thought through Flanagan's Krishna-conscious lyrics.--David Sprague