REVIEW: Crumbsuckers- Life of Dreams reissue

I was anxiously awaiting this one to show up in the mailbox. For sure, NYHC has an international rep as having had a very metal-tinged hardcore sound that for better or for worse it'll never live down, and mid 80's crossover bands like the Crumbsuckers are responsible for that. For the most part, the more metal a hardcore band injects into their sound, the less I tend to like them, but the Crumbsuckers (and, I gotta mention as well, Leeway!) kick it just right. John Franco's Dead City Records recently reissued the classic "Life of Dreams" that was originally released on Combat Core--the same label that brought you Ludichrist and Agnostic Front records in that era.

The Crumbsuckers, like the aforementioned Ludichrist, hailed from Long Island in the early 80's, with a big Nihilistics influence. (The Nihilistics must have been an imposing bunch of mean motherfuckers in the early 80's so I can't imagine other Long Island bands of that era not being influenced by them.) As the 80's progressed, Ludichrist got more and more metal, and this record captures them right between the early thrashy hardcore days and the almost solely metal days of the follow up record "Beast on My Back" which I won't vouch for, but between the 2 LPs they wound up influencing a lot of heavy hitters. Sure, some of the leads and guitar effects sound a bit dated in an 80's thrash-metal kind of way, but they manage to wrap up their songs in a taut hardcore exterior complete with some great breakdowns and mid paced skank parts.



This is a record that really deserves to be in print, and Dead City did a great job with this release, going through pains to do justice to the amazing Sean Taggert artwork. It would be cool to get to hear the pre-Life of Dreams demos. (Hint, hint, John!) Look out for the upcoming Norman Bates and the Showerheads reissue on Dead City as well.

http://www.deadcityny.com/
buy it here