Sometimes I wish I was one of those uber coherent collectors out there that meticulously stick on a specific sub-genre or scene until they've completed it. Over the years, I've instead started a lot of collections (japan, medellin, slap a ham, italy, cleveland & australia) that I've never managed to finish. I gave up on some of them while I'm still slowly working on putting together the others. Also, if I get concentrated, I can hear a little voice in my mind that keeps saying to start new ones. It usually screams "finnish hardcore, finnish hardcore goddammit!" but thanx to represses I've managed to keep it quiet. In the end, I've managed to accept myself as the kind of guy who simply collects records that he likes a lot, no matter the country of origin or the sub-sub-genre the band plays. The highest amount I've ever spent on a record has been indeed for a record that has nothing to do with stuff I usually collect. It's just a record that I do love a lot: a copy of Fatal Rage one and only release, their mighty "s/t" lp released by Mutha Records back in 1983. Needless to say, the day I got it, that bloody little voice has of course immediately started to claim a Mutha collection.
Mutha 004 is a perfect example of why jersey shorecore rules. Constantly ignored or even hated back in the days from the people in the bigger cities because of the bands misanthropic and provocative attitude, New Jersey provided a bunch of awesome bands that were a pure and simple concentrate of suburban rage. Fatal Rage's only release is a perfect example of it: from the amazing cover to the catchy as fuck anthems they wrote, this is simply a perfect record written by people that know how to play their instruments better than your average hc joe. Lyrics might not be as offensive and irriverent like the Chronic Sick or Mental Abuse ones, but Fatal Rage soon got banned from all the clubs in NJ 'coz their gigs usually ended in a riot or with the place completely destroyed. Of course it couldn't last for too long but at least they left us these 10 tunes as a nice testament to remember them forever as one of the greatest yet totally underrated band that the yankees ever provided to the world. It's hard to think that they aren't as well known as Minor Threat, Bad Brains or Negative Approach because, honestly, they do deserve it.
Cover of the copy I've scored show some signs of time but overall it's still in decent condition and it made me save a hundred bucks so I'm not complaining. Considering that insert and vinyl are in excellent conditions, I think I've made a good deal.
As you might know, cover is a blank white sleeve with two printed sheets glued on it, front and back (which makes it even harder to find a copy in pristine conditions). They were used lp covers turned inside out. The inner part of mine looks like this:
