To those of us who think of "early Boston hardcore" as
Jerry's Kids,
Gang Green, and
SS Decontrol,
Slapshot's mere 17 years on the scene qualify them as arrivistes. But when you consider the fact that many of this band's current fans weren't yet born when they hit the scene -- and the fact that those other hardcore bands are long, long gone -- you realize that in today's punk economy,
Slapshot are true eminence grise. And no one can accuse them of selling out, either;
Choke may be starting to get a bit thick around the middle, but he can still yell like it's 1984, and the band's outraged roar has only condensed and tightened with time. They've also got a sense of humor, a rare and precious commodity in the world of hardcore: while they're probably (and unfortunately) serious about the "Spirit of '81," and about how they've "got the straight-edge," on "Had It With Unity," they also have the guts to proclaim their impatience with the empty and insular rhetoric of so much hardcore punk ("United we win/Divided we fall/How much have we heard that call?/All these years we've never learned a thing"), and they have the good taste to cover Cookie Monster on the album's hidden track at the end. And hey, is that a melody on "Wasted Time"? No, I must be hearing things. Good stuff.