Poison Idea — Kings Of Punk

The past two years have been very good for Poison Idea fans. Southern Lord and TKO records brought us Darby Crash Rides Again: The Early Years and The Fatal Erection Years (respectively). Add to this a small US tour (that I missed because I was too busy being lazy...what a douche) and you'd be sitting pretty. However, Southern Lord ups the ante even further by re-releasing Kings of Punk with three additional live sets. This two disc set is chock full of classic, fast, fun hardcore.

While the live sets take up more of the meat than the Kings of Punk re-issue, I feel that album deserves most of the focus. Although Kings of Punk is fast and furious hardcore, it almost feels restrained compared to the grinding ferocity of Pick Your King. Though, "restrained" makes it sound like the boys aren't going whole hog (RIP, Pig Champion). Instead, maybe I should say, "refined." This is well thought, well played hardcore mixed with interesting rock breakdowns and moshy stomp elements. "God Not God" is classic PI PDX HC (look at me go!). Short, sweet, and to the point, it is the closest we have to a throwback track on here. "Made To Be Broken" shows how Poison Idea has added interesting non-punk elements to their hardcore. The guitar riff in the beginning always makes me think of Stikky's "Boy, Do Girls Ever Suck!" (for no reason, really) and plays like HC mixed with an honest to goodness rock song. It's pretty catchy. For your moshy stomp, throw on "Tormented Imp" and wait for the blast to come before bowling over your cronies in the pit. This is arguably my favorite track on this album. Somewhere in between the two, we have "Ugly American." It's not very fast, it chugs along at a normal clip, and is snotty and rocking. Plus, the bass sounds gross and awesome.

The Kings of Punk re-issue is a two disc set. The first disc is Kings of Punk and a live set from 1984 and the second is two live sets, one from '85 and one from '86, The recording quality varies from each, but not too much. They're not the clearest audio, but they're way above bootleg quality. I'm not a big fan of live recordings, but these are pretty fun. Jerry A seems genuinely into fronting his band and putting on a good show. His quips are funny and even takes requests. These cats seem like likable guys.  They cover a good spread of their material and fans of PI would be happy with the set lists and quality.

Having only been into Poison Idea for a short amount of time, this onslaught of old material being re-released is a really great way to get into an excellent band. This release is awesome for any fan of PI or hardcore. Check it out and rock out with the boys.