Tristan Geoff's Post-Hardcore Extravaganza

Tristan_Geoff · 12-31-2015, 10:57 PM

Paganicons by Saccharine Trust
Year: 1981

Many fans of the post-hardcore sub-genre have their own opinion of which band started it. Some same Flipper, others Minutemen. But most agree Saccharine Trust debuted the style with their 1981 Paganicons EP. Released the year after hardcore broke loose with releases by Black Flag and Bad Brains, this was the first experimental release in the genre after it had been cemented in the American underground. Stylistically, I find many parallels with this release and post-punk like Mission of Burma, from the downtrodden atmosphere to the introspective lyrics, but with a hardcore outlook. The experimentation definitely sets it apart from many hardcore releases of it's day, changing pace from by the books hardcore to a somber coffee house poetry-like stance in seconds, one track even featuring what sounds like chanting. With the majority of 80's post-hardcore being emo, it's definitely a nice change of pace and gives a good hard look at the origins of the scene. It's a good beginning to the genre, not one I would reccomend to a newbie, but great nonetheless.

7/10

And thus, post-hardcore was born. In years to come, we will see two seperate takes of experimentaion: one being with noise, by bands like Big Black and Scratch Acid. Others would add emotional melody to the sound and form the first wave of emo. In no way, however, does anything in the 80's compare to the surge of groups in the 90's, what I belive to be the golden age of the genre.