Neglect - The Complete Don Fury Sessions
Neglect "The Complete Don Fury Sessions" CD
[NGS]
I fucking love Neglect. The end. I could leave this review at that and be done with it. I won't, of course, but I could. If you like heavy hardcore and you've never heard this band you suck. Deal with it. Neglect is the hatecore band. Period. I'm sure many would argue that a band like Sheer Terror is more deserving of the title, but I disagree. They may have predated Neglect's criminally short-lived existence (1991 - 1995), but no one has done the pissed off, miserable, and hopeless routine with more vitriol than Neglect and no one ever will. Hailing from Long Island they are the absolute antithesis of every single lightweight prettyboy emo douchebag band polluting the world these days from said locale. Melody? Fat chance. Expect almost nothing but dirty midpaced crunch and burly vocal shouts. All of this material was remixed and remastered in late-2004, but recorded in 1992/1993 by the infamous Don Fury in two different sessions: 16 songs in three hours, three songs in seven hours (How's that for a mathematical oddity?). Sadly this isn't a complete discography, but it's close enough. At the very least some of the songs appeared on the "Pull the Plug" and "End It" EP's, as well as the "Four Years of Hate" collection, but I'm not sure if they're the same versions or not and I don't care, because this is well over an hour's worth of Neglect with no filler (i.e. some of the crappy sounding live tunes on "Four Years of Hate", etc.), so it's just 19 songs of beautiful misery from start to finish. As mentioned it's basically chunky chord progressions and gruff vocals. They stick with moderate paces, sometimes getting a little slower or a little faster, barely, but it's all heavy as fuck and has just the right amount of groove. I wouldn't call it chugga stuff at all, and they're not one of those breakdown styled bands either, so it's just hard hitting metallic hardcore that doesn't favor either genre in particular. The vocals are totally unique sounding as well, often using a good amount of reverb for texture. In the end there's no other band that sounds like Neglect and they're immediately recognizable, which is something that not many bands can say. "From the Womb... to the Tomb" has a brief clean break and some spoken vocals (the latter of which is a frequent changeup in some of the more lyrically intense tunes), and similarly "The Pain Principle" is one of the only tracks that uses faintly melodic distorted rhythms, but you'll be hard pressed to find much more than thick and nasty power chord after thick and nasty power chord on this thing. And everyone should hear "Fuck Life" at least once in their lifetime, because, as the title would suggest, it's just too classic to ignore. There's an absolute ton of killer midpaced bitterness all over this thing, with tracks like "Horror Struck", "Crash & Burn", and "No Tomorrow" adding in a bit more energy with some faster tempo changes and memorable arrangements/lyrics (and by "memorable" I don't mean "catchy" - remember, this is music flawlessly free of any mainstream/"pop" trappings). Admittedly the recordings are raw, but the remixing and remastering has beefed things up nicely. Understandably the band always had a rugged edge to their recordings, but it fits, and with balanced mixes and solid levels things play through without a hitch in my opinion. The drums sound fine, the guitars are nice and heavy with a churning bite to their texture, the vocals don't overpower (even when the reverb gets a little overzealous), and I love the bass presence. The bass tone is nice and thick but has a defined attack so it stands out and really plays a large role in the center of the mix. Great stuff. The packaging is pretty basic and includes a bunch of live photos of the band, a list of their complete discography, lineup information, etc. But more importantly, every word of the lyrics is packed in, which fucking rules. Anyone who's not familiar with this band is missing out, because the lyrics are completely bitter, completely depressed, completely suicidal, and completely fucking awesome. Blunt and to the point? Yep. Expect a healthy (or unhealthy, depending on your point of view) dose of pain, hatred, rage, despair, and then some more of the same. But the content's longer than you'd expect, and the over the top attitude is unstoppable. "I was meant to be aborted, misshaped and contorted, I would have been better off, This world doesn't need me and I don't need it, I'm slowly sinking in a six foot ditch, Wedged into this life all thanks go to you, You should have put a bag on and left it as a screw, You lay this burden on my shoulders, say I'm your debt, This shit on a place you hand me is a lifetime of regret..." I can't get enough of this shit, and I'm so glad to see this material back in print. I lost my copy of "Four Years of Hate" when I moved last year and haven't been able to find a replacement, so I bought this fucker the day it hit the streets to remedy the problem. Worth every penny. "Fuck Life" is one of the greatest songs of all time, and I will always revere this band for their no bullshit delivery. The only excuse you have for not grabbing this is if you've already caved in to the band's advice and shot yourself in the fucking face. So if you're reading this, buck up and get your hands on this shit immediately. (9/10)
Running time - 73:49, Tracks: 19
[Notable tracks: Dig It, Horror Struck, Fuck Life, Crash & Burn, The Pain Principle, No Tomorrow]
NGS Records - http://www.ngsrecords.com
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