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16 song 12" LP. Clear vinyl. 100 pressed. Screen-printed on hand-painted recycled record sleeves. Screen-printed 8-page book/insert. Hand-Numbered
Our take: Debut LP from this Pennsylvania band whose demo we carried a while back. If this were 1989 I would have no problem referring to X= as a "melodic hardcore" band. However, the whole post-Bad Religion scene in the 90s really tainted that moniker, irrevocably associating it with Fat Wreck-style punk a la Lagwagon, NOFX, Strung Out, etc. X= sound NOTHING like that... instead, they sound like what the term "melodic hardcore" would have referred to before those bands came around. I'm reminds of a lot of different stuff, most prominently late 80s UK hardcore like HDQ (particularly later records like Soulfinder), Dan, or the later Stupids stuff, or their American counterparts... stuff like post-Can I Say Dag Nasty, post-first LP Freeze, early All, maybe even Squirrel Bait or the Mortal Micronotz if those references aren't too obscure? Basically, what that translates to is that X= sounds like a hardcore band who have matured and still want to make music that's fast, loud, and heavy, but also aren't afraid to incorporate melody into their sound. I must admit that it is a terribly unfashionable sound these days... I can't think of too many bands out there who sound like this, but I know that the old records and bands mentioned above have a very devoted following, and I don't think there's anything to keep those devotees from falling in love with 5 Walls. So check out a new band why don't you?