Sore

Album Review

Opening with the repeated audio sample "welcome to violence" over a wash of rumbling white noise, occasional bass notes, and gunshot snare hits, Sore is perhaps one of the most vicious, violent albums ever created, and certainly not in a posturing sense — the kind of false bravado adopted by hardcore and rap/metal crossover bands — but in the purest, most undiluted manner. Buzzov-en lived it like they played it: with absolute, careless abandon, violence, hardcore heroin use, theft — you name it. Certainly not pretty or laudable in any sense. However, the band, particularly founder Kirk, was able to harness this negativity into one of the most potent vessels of hatred and rage since Black Flag in the early 1980s. Recorded and mixed powerfully and percussively by Billy Anderson, Sore captures the mammoth drumming abilities of Ash Lee, Kirk's exceptionally painful pick-slides down his Les Paul, and the punishing, hardcore brutality of this trio at their peak. Unfortunately, it was precisely the elements the band sang about that took them down. Heroin and years of physical abuse took their toll on the original incarnation of Buzzov-en, and Kirk was left holding the bag — quite literally — as the band imploded. Over the next few years, he would reassemble Buzzov-en numerous times with different lineups, some to great effect, some to quite the opposite, however, none with the same kind of viciousness as this one.