Another crucial comprehensive collection of obscure weirdo hardcore from the fringes of the New York underground of the 1980s, this CD and DVD set showcases the entire recorded existence of this cult thrash outfit, which shared members with C-Blast noisecore / oddball HC faves Satans Cheerleaders. I've been into Satans Cheerleaders for years, a fanatic for their noisy, whacked-out, blown-out noise-punk stuff. Man, that shit is unhinged. Definitely has a notable Void-like vibe in that the band sounded like they were having a complete mental breakdown, with bursts of messy, spastic, angular weirdness amid the three-chord punk thrash. There was some overlap with both bands (and their crossover outfit Fatal Vision, which leaned into more of a metallic thrash thing) existing concurrent with each other, though it seems the guys proceeded with Insanity Defense for a little while after Cheerleaders and Fatal Vision disbanded. Jeff Earing was the common denominator between all three bands, and he joined Nelson Rowe and Ron Phillips in both Insanity Defense and Satans Cheerleaders. Unfortunately, this collection doesn't include any in-depth historical info or liner notes, but I've done a bit of research on this closed circuit of Centerport, NY bands - this is a sick document of weirdo hardcore, regardless.

The disc features the 1983 Grudge Against The World demo tape and the 1985 Pilgrim State LP, both originally released on their own label Unsound Music. Arranged in chronological order on this CD, Epitaph starts off with the cult demo. Insanity Defense were fairly conventional on their 1983 Grudge Against The World demo tape. Fourteen rippers of vintage early-80s hardcore fueled by angry, violent lyrics and anti-authoritarian bile, mostly blazing melodic thrash with fairly standard-issue song titles ("Betrayed", "Scapegoat", "No Excuse") and ultra-fast energy to spare. This stuff generally sticks to the short / fast / loud template, maxing out at just under two minutes with "Flesh, Metal, And Glass". This stuff feels like it has a heavy DC influence with the catchy hooks and aggressive gang vocals - songs like "Betrayed" reminds me quite a bit of what Minor Threat, Faith and other Dischord bands were doing at the time. It's solid stuff. Ripping guitar solos, some occasional whammy-bar madness, ferocious and simple three-chord riffs (that guitar tone keeps reminding me of Brian Baker's sound ), pretty much one tempo: fast, loose and ferocious. The Grudge demo gets meaner the further it goes. Great raw production. Catchy as hell. Not as frantic or off-kilter as what they were doing in Satans Cheerleaders, but righteous HC nonetheless.

Things take an interesting and unexpected turn with their Pilgrim State album, though. Released in 1985, the ten song LP adopts a strange, almost deathrock-influenced sound (complete with hints of Christian Death). Marked by both improved recording quality and tighter musical performances, the band goes for something a lot more ambitious than their previous stuff, and it's fantastic. The hardcore is still there, with lots of explosive thrashing aggression, but Insanity Defense weave this weird, brooding, almost "gothic" drama into the slower parts on the title track and "How Long". The vocals shift into a grittier singing style, while keeping that furious bark for the fast parts. This rules. This blend of gothy punk and aggressive hardcore reminds me in some ways of the old Baltimore-area band Grey March. This is way more aggro though, noticeably more complex in the songwriting department but still loaded with bludgeoning high-speed thrash. A lot of the melody of the demo has been dropped for a darker tone here - I hear some Die Kreuzen resemblance, too, particularly with the occasionally discordant guitar sounds and jagged riffing. The last song veers even further into left field, turning "Witchhunt" into this really odd, moaning punk-dirge with oddly layered singing and sinister witchcraft-related lyrics; it's slow and plodding and droning, and totally unlike anything else the band ever did, almost getting into Flipper / Kilslug-style sludgepunk but just repeating its main riff/vocal chant over and over infinitely , fading into the void. That song is fucking rad, and makes me wish these guys could have come out with more stuff in that style. The whole Pilgrim State LP is this weird thing, and really stands out in the pantheon of mid-1980s East Coast hardcore. In spite of the other bands I've namedropped, I really can't think of anything else that sounded like what Insanity Defense were doing before they broke up. The manner in which these guys melded other musical elements and the winding song structures into their consistently raging sound is pretty unusual, for sure. Highly recommended if you're as big a fanatic for eccentric 80's hardcore as I am.

I love how Welfare Records included DVDs with many of their weirdo hardcore reissues. The DVD that comes with this Insanity Defense set is fantastic, featuring two sets, one from Philadelphia in 1983, the other from the band's Unsound home base in East Northport, NY in 1984. The first live set is a sixteen-song onslaught of both demo and album tracks, and the mixture of the two makes for a ferocious, bewildering performance. Captured at the ratty punk venue Love Hall in December '83 (where the band played alongside White Cross, Husker Du, and The Minutemen), the set kicks off with the longest song off the demo, "Flesh, Metal & Glass", and rips through a tireless blast-attack of their signature combo of melodic hardcore, Negative Approach-esque thrash, and the weirder, more "arty", quasi-gothy stuff they did on Pilgrim State. And for a decades-old videocassette source, it looks and sounds killer. Insanity Defense cranks each song out at full intensity, displaying the improved musicianship and complexity that would mark the LP. But the fast stuff is fast as fuck, total blitzkrieg breakneck thrash with screaming solos and furious vocals, the demo songs being played at double-speed and achieving Deep Wound-levels of hyperfast demolition. Lots of cool close-ups of the crowd and band members , and rabid circle pit action- just as a document of early 80s American hardcore, this is great stuff. And in true USHC fashion, they do an encore of a song they already played ("US Mess"), which was pretty typical at the time. Which is fine, because that song is a shredder. The 1984 show in the band's backyard garage is even better quality, and kicks off with "Pilgrim State", so this captures them when they fully integrated those weirder elements into their thrash. Hell, you know things have "progressed" with the band seeing them with longer hair. Those album songs sound dark and moody, plodding dissonant dirges and downer-punk noise. This vid is a real gem. Of course, the faster songs blaze by, there's no mellowing out. But the way the band is working more complex riffs, atmospheric parts, and tighter rhythmic variety is fascinating to me. Again, I pick up heavy Die Kreuzen vibes while watching this set, especially those discordant, more experimental jams.

Great, unique hardcore from these O.G.s