REVIEW: Koro- Speed Kills LP

Koro- Speed Kills LP
Sorry State Records

This is a hardcore afficionado’s dream. Early 80’s band releases amazing 7” that becomes renowned because of it’s obscurity… 20+ years later, the guitar player (?) surfaces on the internet and a pristine, LP’s worth of unreleased material surfaces. The 700 Club 7” by Koro is one of those records that will catch the big bucks nowadays, and was given the reissue treatment by the Reagen Era Hardcore bootleg series. Some criticized the bootleg, which included artwork that didn’t seem to come from any place relevant to the record at all, but I probably wouldn’t have heard it until now were it not for that record.
Daniel from Sorry State Records and Deep Fry Bonanza blog did a legit re-issue of the 700 Club 7” and this new disc, which seems to be 11 songs a different session (including a few of the 7” tracks). He was the right man for the job—I think the first time I came across his blog he was championing the likes of Koro, and he put together a fine reissue, including extensive liner notes where he interviews Carl Snow. The music, if it even needs to be said, are great hardcore. These guys were a very tight band (interesting explanation on the subject in the liner notes) that can keep it up even through some off-time beats and some weird guitar-work… all of which work in their favor since they rival Jerry’s Kids in the way they manage to stay dead-on, even when the songs sound like some “let’s see who can get there first” 80’s thrash. Thanks, in part to the RE bootleg, and in even larger part to the folks like Daniel who made sure to keep Koro in the back of people minds the past few years, enough people are buzzing about this to catch your attention. In this case, the hype is to be believed, since this is a special release.