FOE: Battalion of Saints 7" Southern Lord Review

Monday, October 12, 2015

Battalion of Saints 7" Southern Lord Review

Battalion of Saints

"Battalion of Saints"

Southern Lord Records

Released: October 30, 2015

Obtain this record. Pressing of 1,000 (800 black vinyl, 200 clear).

Southern Lord is doing amazing things. Releasing this 7" of new Battalion of Saints songs is amazing.

In the early 1980s, Battalion of Saints were one of the bands that provided the soundtrack to my hardcore chaos. Battalion of Saints version of Motorhead's "Ace of Spades" stands as one of the greatest cover songs ever. It also made Motorhead more accepted by the punk/hardcore crossover into metal. "My Minds Diseased" was quite literally my soundtrack (I was drinking to die most of the time back then - sober > 2 decades presently) .

BATTALION OF SAINTS

MY MIND'S DISEASED

Day and night I look around and see,

My whole life is caving in on me.

My mind's diseased,

With daily life

My mind's diseased,

With daily life

Some days I wish I'd hurry up and die,

To relieve the pressure that's inside my mind.

[Chorus]

All these problems,

There's no escape,

From all these pressures,

In my mind.

These endless days and sleepless nights

I sometimes wonder what the f*ck keeps me alive.

[Chorus]

The thoughts keep pounding in my brain,

There's only one way to alleviate this pain.

[Chorus]

Battalion of Saints LP "Second Coming" from 1984 helped to define me. I was 18 when that record came out and it was one of those records that just never left my turntable and was a mainstay on my radio shows.

The three songs on this 7": "Darkness", "Nightmare" and "Bombs" take me back to those early days. This is a classic 7". I have listened to these songs repeatedly already! Crazy great music. Perfection. Give it a listen on the Southern Lord bandcamp page:
http://battalionofsaintssl.bandcamp.com/releases

Anyone knows the Battalion of Saints history, which is dotted with death, overdose and other chaos would have to wonder who is teaming up with vocalist George Anthony. Drummer Mike Vega is currently playing in Hirax, bassist Matt Vicknair and guitarist Nate Javier have played in recent versions of Angry Samoans.

The Battalion of Saints are playing some West Coast US dates in early 2016. I hope they consider coming to the East Coast! The one opportunity I got to see Battalion of Saints my car broke down on the way to the show. They were literally playing ten minutes from my house. Here is how the story went, I drove from Northampton to pick up all my Bethlehem punk friends who couldn't get a ride. Remember, Battalion of Saints were playing in the town I lived, Northampton. Ten minutes I'm there. So I round trip about an hour to get my friends and when we were about 5 minutes away from the show, my car dies. My friends walk to the show and I lose my mind trying to get the car fixed (remember, my mind is diseased) etc... So yeah, please, George Anthony and the rest of the 2015 version of the Battalion of Saints, please come to Pennsylvania (Philly, Allentown, Reading, Bethlehem, hell, even Northampton)!