Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Antidote - No Peace In Our Time

As a teenager growing up in the mid to late 80's New York Hardcore scene Antidote were already a legendary and somewhat mysterious band to many who entered the scene at the time. "Thou Shalt Not Kill" was already an almost unattainable, long out of print classic.
The EP rivaled and to many, even overshadowed that of Agnostic Front's "United Blood",
Cause for Alarm's self titled EP,  The Mob's "Upset the System" and The Abused
"Loud and Clear".

Thirty years later after a series of reunion shows that seemed to be born out of the monumentally shitty
 "American Hardcore" book and movie. The band has been promising a record of their first new material since the
Reagan Era. The wait seemed to be a long one but the band has delivered on their promise.

"No Peace in our Time" delivers ten songs of classic Hardcore sound in just over twenty minutes. The album feels a lot like what should have originally followed "Thou Shalt Not Kill" sometime in the mid 80's before crossover put a stranglehold on New York Hardcore. An element that really helps the record stand out amongst a lot of the more currently polished and metallic Hardcore acts. An element I strongly believe the band was dead set on accomplishing.

Though Drew Stone's vocals wore on me at times. I felt Rob Nunzio's guitar work was stellar and really helps to overshadow that shortcoming. "Uneffected" and the forty-three second "Time to fight, ready to fight" stand out as my favorites. Throw in a cover of Black Flag's "Rise Above" with guest vocals from Agnostic Front's Roger Miret'  and you have a strong foundation to build on.

Though this was not the monumental release many had hyped it to be. I feel that it captured a lof of the spirit and intensity of Antidote's original sound and that of some of the more notable early New York Hardcore sound. "No peace in our time" isn't a great record but it's good enough to make me want to dig up my re-issue of "Thou Shalt Not Kill" and try to remember what it was like to be thirteen years old again. James Damion

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