For a while in the mid-80, Midlanders Heresy were at the forefront of the UK’s hardcore/DIY scene. One of the first signings to the Earache label, they aligned themselves in spirit, politicking and fizz, with the likes of Fugazi. Their three-year lifespan was a noisy, raucous one that pummels and pounds at the ears with aggressive glee even (scarily) 20 years after the event.
20 Reasons… is a runaway train of power, ultra-fast hardcore riffing, hard-hitting indecipherable lyrics and one-minute marvels of songs that have much in common with a kind of hybrid of early Napalm Death and a less camp Doctor & The Crippens. Collating the band’s Peel sessions, eighttrack demos and a couple of suitably rough and ready live stomps, this is a release that spins and flails so fast and free that your CD player will be asking for a week off. Peppered with shouts out to Franz Carr and Brian Clough, there’s proof here that underneath the sloganeering and rage, there are people. Some things never change.
