The Seattle Hard-Core scene is alive and well amidst all of the attention-grabbing grunge artists that emerged a decade ago, these were the youthful up and comers looking for somewhere to take their music-Mt. St. Helens wasn't available so this was the next best thing!

The first Volume hit the streets back in '94 and features sixteen total contributors that might be hard to reel off by name if it weren't for the inner sleeve fold out-but for those with a taste for squinting, the working order is also available on the back cover.

Interesting computer generated artwork adorns the package-avant-garde in much the same way the many artists Tooth & Nail and sister label Solid State seek to present their roster of heavy hitting edge crushing bands and artists of the extreme.

Did the industry do right by them and recognize the bands that make up this collection?

Not hardly, but the music never did and probably never will lend itself to mass appeal.

Of notable mention is P.O.D., one of the few that broke big over the years and getting their start here.

Not to discount the several worthy additions, all presumably led by the word of God and therefore led by a higher support group in spite of societal dissidence.

Some of the bands to look out for here following P.O.D. would be Mr. Bishop's Fist, if not for the name itself, "You're Stolen" blasts itself right through the ceiling in full blown H/C Pantera-like intensity and Suicidal-shred before fading into oblivion…

Check out The Blamed, Crawl Space and Blender Head, none of which will make continual consumption any easier but they'll get ya pretty damned riled in the process.

Volume II was presumably released a couple of years after the first though there's no date printed here, and like the first isn't short on material.

This band Bloodshed gets top billing again as it had on the first and for whatever reason I failed to single them out earlier, I'll be just as quick to focus on 'em now-they're devastatingly brutal and must be a massive club hit in their Long Beach digs.

They open things here with "Inside" and set a blistering pace that's going to be difficult to follow-Overcome does it quite efficiently however, brandishing more of a quick tempo amidst wails of discontent and their "New Life" has just begun.

Altered Mission" and "Sell it Out" starts off in a Rollins-like delivery with the spoken word thing spewing forth above a muffled recording that soon lets off the throttle and structural madness sets in for one of the oddest and best tunes on the disc.

Altered Mission-never heard 'em before but they've got a lot that you'd want-very wrinkled and wry in song texture and tempo.

"Volume II" comes up a bit short here on textual content only featuring one small fold out with band listings, small b&w photos and contact info-the first by comparison featured song lyrics, unusual artwork and bigger band photos!

But so what anyway…

Most of the bands here weren't already featured on the first but like Bloodshed, there are a handful of repeat customers-Niv and Centerpoint are others…

Engage does a rigid tune called "Seek" and strong as it is, the recording's relatively feeble, but these guys were to be heard from again and remain one of the bigger names from the label.

The quality of music is in fact better this time around, not to mention most of the recording process and aside from the lyric-less booklet, the religious slant is a lot more noticeable within the song titles, if not written specifically for those Sunday morning hymnals!

I'll be hearing these gang-tackling choruses in the back of my mind for the next several hours I think…

Featuring some of the best up and coming or going nowhere fast young breed of well-directed H/C fanatics, these two collections revealed a strong roster of artists creating for their own sakes and helping define the future of a uniquely defined and dynamic label that continues to grow stronger to this day!

Released by Tooth & Nail Records

Review by Vinnie Apicella [va85@columbia.edu]