Quintessentials is almost as excellent as Riot. Nothing bites quite as hard writing-wise as the best of Riot, but, then again, it's hard to quibble with the blistering power-drive mania of "War on the Pentagon" (whose half-speed coda recalls that of the 1983 final single B-side "Police State"), "Outside Society," and "Media Man." Once again, Nicky Garratt puts on a show to match old burners "Plan of Action" or "Party in Paris," Gibbs drives the rhythm section with might, and Harper barks like a possessed man warning of impending destruction and the decay of social justice. One song after another (16 this time) burns a hole in your stomach (calling all Tums). Perhaps not the towering achievement of a Leatherface, a later-period Hüsker Dü, or Sugar, or Against the Grain or Stranger Than Fiction Bad Religion, in total edge and raw, intense action, but these are two exciting pieces of punk at its fiercest yet coolest.
© Jack Rabid /TiVo