Special Forces

***Reissue of the 1987 debut full length from Special Forces, Berkeley hardcore's elite banner waving battalion. Originally released on the New Wave label from France in 1987, any stateside punk gourmand would be forgiven for not knowing about this underrated ripper's existence. The mid-80's were a wild period in USHC, with crossover, emo every other mutated subgenre rearing its ugly head; but good luck telling that to Special Forces, who only stripped their sound down more, delivering a front to back lean and mean, meat and potatoes assault on their debut album. Retaining the razorwire guitar sound of their debut EP, this album plays like a fragment from an alternate universe where Big Boys and Dead Kennedys ditched any of the artsy elements of their sound, and just went all in on speed. Fleshed out with a ton of droolworthy flyers and unreleased pics, any fan of "generic thrash" (to borrow a phrase) centered USHC needs this reissue.