Albums

Album Review: X One Way X / Youth Of Strength

[Album: Start Whenever / We’re Not In This To Break Down the Walls Alone]
[Label: Bosstuneage/X-Fist Records]

Anybody thinking that straight edge hardcore punk is entirely comprised of humourless militant individuals has not being paying enough attention. X One Way X are fucking BACK! Following their superb self-titled record, they’ve come back with a split release with more of their brand of modern youth crew, straight edge nerdisms and frankly incredible lyrics. If there ever was a competition of straight edge’ness, X One Way X would win every single year. As far as concepts go, this band is not too far off what Good Clean Fun do, i.e. inject a healthy dose of sarcasm and humour in an otherwise ’serious’ scene, where humour is in short supply (and from the looks of it, in high demand).

Basically, this is a young EDGE man’s interpretation of the world if he was literally educated exclusively by the golden age of straight edge hardcore (1982-1988), so you get songs about the basics of equations, dinosaurs dying out because ‘they all OD’d from being coke snorting jerks’, the dog from Duck Hunt being a ‘fucking sellout’ and (curiously) the Amish among things. You also get some more esoteric scene-type songs, about being old (’Scenior Citizens’), Ray Cappo and a ‘fill-in-the-blanks’ song, which pretty much sounds like it came off any hardcore band’s demo, ever. There are some subjects that might seem odd (’who is this Al Roker dude?’), but that’s part of the charm of the record, as you try to figure out all the little puns and in-jokes that keep their side of the LP together. Musically this draws influences from modern youth crew and melodic hardcore bands, such as American Nightmare / Give Up The Ghost, Go It Alone, Champion and Ignite.

On the flipside we get a load of new songs by Boston’s youth crew grandaddies, Youth of Strength. That is Boston, UK not Boston, USA. While reading through their biography in the lyric sheet it became hard to discern what was fact and what was fiction, so I’m really on the fence as to whether these guys where actually around in the 1980s or are simply a retro edge joke band. Their lyrics are a lot more focused on promoting the typical straight edge message of staying clean, keeping it real, being strong and looking forward, with the humour being more of an inside joke, exposing some of the trappings of straight edge. The humour comes from taking the straight edge lifestyle and expanding its application to further aspects of everyday life, maintaining its youthful excitement and enthusiasm. Mind you, the dilemma of non-alcoholic beer does pose an interesting question on whether it is permissible in straight edge or not. Musically, Youth Of Strength keep things firmly in the old school hardcore arena from a time when hardcore meant ‘faster punk’, taking their cues from old school bands such as Minor Threat, the Necros and Youth of Today.

To round things off, the LP comes with a complete lyric sheet and a bonus CD featuring all the songs plus out-takes, unreleased bonus songs, X One Way X’s demo and Youth Of Strength’s first 7”. That’s almost 60 tracks, so as far as quantity goes, this wins hand down. Even if you don’t like the music, you will more than likely appreciate the humour. The only conceivable let-down is possibly the fact that this vinyl is not coloured and there are no amusing etchings on the matrix. This is the sort of record you want to own and bust out every once in a while to remind yourself that a) straight edge hardcore can be fun and b) how to effectively release an attractive split release.

For fans of: Good Clean Fun, Go It Alone, Minor Threat

Band Links:
Youth Of Strength

X One Way X

Shop:
Get this from Bosstuneage (UK) or Interpunk (US)

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