In celebration of its unveiling this week, the face-beaters at Tankcrimes bring you a stream of FINAL CONFLICT‘s renowned Ashes To Ashes full-length in its entirety.
Initially released on Pushead’s Pusmort Records in 1987, then later released via Relapse Records in 1994, the debut LP from the iconic Los Angeles hardcore punk perpetrators now comes available via Tankcrimes on vinyl and 2XCD. The original Ashes To Ashes tapes were found, baked, restored and transferred by Ulysses Noriega at The Laundry Room Recording Studio in Los Angeles, and remastered by Jack Control at Enormous Door Studios in Austin, Texas. The 2XCD version includes the 1985 Demo on the bonus disk while the vinyl edition includes 12″ x 12″ 24-page book with lyrics, photos, flyers, commentary and more plus a foldout poster. The first pressing comes on in three color schemes: splatter (mailorder exclusive), red and black wax.
Said Razorcake, “Lyrically and musically [FINAL CONFLICT] were very much like contemporaries Iconoclast and Body Count (no, not the Ice-T band, dweeb), with much emphasis on war, nuclear destruction, pigs, etc., but a more than passing metal influence in the guitar distanced them from the rest. Like a previous CD reissue, this includes tracks from a preceding demo, but this version also includes a couple of cover songs from an even earlier demo. The verdict remains the same; however, if you like yer hardcore fast, tight and political, you can’t go wrong with these guys.” Adds Noisey, “If we can learn one thing from FINAL CONFLICT, it’s that songs about cops being assholes will never get old. Case in point: their song ‘Abolish Police’ off of 1987’s Ashes To Ashes hasn’t aged a day. Sure, punx will only fight the police on Twitter nowadays and maybe some of them even grew up to become cops themselves. But still, the police state-smashing sentiment still rings true.”
Peep the vinyl layout while you scathe your ear holes to the sounds of Ashes To Ashes below.
Influenced by the British punk severity of bands like Discharge and one of the first groups to fuse hardcore’s crude and manic audio fury and heavy metal’s musicianship with any degree of success, the spiky-haired punks in FINAL CONFLICT manifested a sound that would go on to be emulated by hundreds of bands to come, none ever reaching the level of raw power this LP delivered. FINAL CONFLICT will decimate the stage at Trankcrimes’ Brainsqueeze Fest this weekend. Additionally, the band will raze the Maryland Deathfest, The Punk Rock Bowling And Music Fest and a special show on June 14th with 1984 featuring Sothira and Jimmy from iconic hardcore punks Crucifix performing Dehuminazation in full for their 30-year anniversary.
FINAL CONFLICT:
4/18/2014 Tankcrimes Brainsqueeze – Oakland, CA
5/23/2014 Maryland Death Fest – Baltimore, MD
5/24/2014 Punk Rock Bowling – Las Vegas, NV
6/14/2014 Observatory – Santa Ana, CA w/ 1984
Ashes To Ashes is out now via Tankcrimes Records. Order you copy TODAY at THIS LOCATION. For digital orders, go HERE.
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