Smash The Wall For Freedom

Ladies and gentlemen, we got the artwork of the year. Seriously, we all know that Sugi is one of the best artist out there when it comes to create iconic punk/hc graphics, but this time he has outdone himself. His rabid version of the worldwide most beloved kitten would probably piss off tons of lil'girls but every punk out there will love it. Why hasn't a shirt been printed with this graphic yet?

I would have bought this record solely for the the artwork even it was a Rancid ep. But luckily this is not the case. Here we got indeed the new single "smash the wall for freedom" by Hakodate premier burning spirits band, Crude. Courtesy of two finns label, Kämäset Levyt & Tampere Hardcore Coalition. 100 on yellow wax (mailorder version) and the remaining 400 on black. If you were expecting like me another "just go ahead", you'll be totally disappointed. These two tracks (one of which is an instrumental medley of some of their most well known riffs) indeed were recorded in Finland during their 2012 tour. Not that it's a bad quality recording, but to make burning spirits works, you need top notch powerful, heavy & clean recording. That studio might work perfectly for the classic finnish sound, but I think it's too raw for a band like Crude. Both these tracks are indeed awesome and if they were recorded with a heavier sound, they wouldn't have left me with the feeling that, as much as this record is good, it's missing something to make it another classic in this band's incredible discography.