The Power of Expression

Bl'ast

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: 1984
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sst Records
• ASIN: B000000M2W
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #209,561 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Time to Think

2. Surf and Destroy

3. Fuckin' With My Head

4. E.I.B.

5. Our Explanation

6. Future

7. Break It Down

8. Time Waits (For No One)

9. I Don't Need 2

10. It's Alive

11. Look into Myself

12. Nightmare

13. Something Beyond

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than Black Flag? You better believe it., June 4, 2005

By	Scott Martin "Scott Martin" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

Let's not beat about the bush here : this is the greatest hardcore record you'll ever hear. I'm serious. We can go back to early Minor Threat, "roir sessions" by Bad Brains, "first 4 years", "damaged", "my war" and "slip it in" by Black Flag, "get it away" by S.S.D, the classic 7"s by Negative Approach, Siege and Deep Wound, "metal circus" and "zen arcade" by Husker Du, everything by Infest!, the 90's classic releases by the likes of Born Again$t, Rorschach and No Comment and then go right up to "jane doe" by Converge. It doesn't matter one bit. This is better than all of them and any other hardcore record you wish to mention. Sure, there have been harder, faster and more brutal bands and records but noone else has ever quite captured the intensity of hardcore, that's so hard to accurately describe without resorting to the usual cliches of "raw power" and "vein popping aggression", so astonishingly as Bl'ast! on this, their debut album.

Bl'ast! were that rare beast : a deriative group actually better than the the group they based their sound on (that's Black Flag, dummy). They're most comparable with Black Flag circa the first side of "my war" but there's something about this album that sets it apart from the 'Flag. Firstly, there's the music which is more of a straightfoward hardcore sound but still dark, heavy and dissonant. Secondly, there's the excellent musicianship by all involved; the searing, eviscerating guitar work of Mike Neider and Steve Stevenson sprawling all over Dave Cooper's rumbling bass and Bill Torgerson's military styled, almost motorik at times, drumming. Thirdly, there's vocalist Clifford Dinsmore, without shadow-of-a-doubt one of the greatest hardcore frontmen there's ever been, who was so in tune with his band his raspy voice almost acts as a instrument. Listen to "time to think", "break it down" and the album closer "nightmare" and you'll see exactly what i mean. While his lyrics are the standard us-against-the-world and Reagan-era cold war paranoia that you'd associate with 80s hardcore, their confessional tone adds an extra dimension to them and they come across as expressive and emotional as oppossed to naive teen-angst sloganeering. Finally, there's the awesome production on here, done by the band themselves, which manages to be be so raw and dirty as to capture the dense fury the band projected but clear enough to accentuate each instrument and every little nuance of the music, of which there are many. Once this album gets inside your head it will never leave. I still play it at least 3 times a week.

I'm glad to see that there are a few people other than myself and Ebullition/Heartattack head-honcho Kent Mcclard, who once said Bl'ast! are the best hardcore band he's ever seen live, that are still fans of this mighty group as they seem to be a long forgotten band, even by the majority of hardcore fans. Respect to the 3 gentlemen, especially D.K Malone, who wrote the previous 3 excellent reviews.

The other two Bl'ast! album's are excellent but much like their two main reference points, Black Flag and Corrosion Of Conformity, they progressed into a more metallic sound that i'd pinpoint as being a big influence on someone like Rorschach. It's worth noting here that the metal influence in their music was infused far more successfully on those two albums than either of the last two Black Flag albums.

Bottom line : if you like hardcore you simply have to own this album. Even if you disagree with my suggestion that it's the greatest hardcore album ever made you'll still consider it a classic and as good as anything the genre has had to offer.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Society System Sabbath Flag? Perhaps..., July 13, 2001

By	D. K. Malone (earth) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

I'll never forget the first time I heard this album... I was at the record store, just browsing. I found this record and there was a sticker on the front that said, among other things, "POWERFUL HARDCORE" and "WISHINGWELL RECORDS". That caught my eye because I knew that Wishingwell was Uniform Choice's label. Being quite the UC fan at the time (1986, I think,) not to mention a fan of "powerful hardcore" in general, these blurbs were enough to covince me me to buy it then and there. Took it home, slapped it on the turn table, dropped the needle. My first impression was that there was a mix up at the pressing plant and a Black Flag album had somehow mistenly been labeled and packaged as a Blast album. As I listened further, I noticed a heavy SSD influence as well. It was like the perfect marriage between Black Flag's Damaged and SSD's Get It Away, laced with just a hint of Black Sabbath. At the time, full of young and snotty indignation, I wrote Blast off as unoriginal, a complete rip-off. I clearly recall putting the record back into its jacket and thinking "Hopefully I can take this back and exchange it." But I didn't take it back. I listened to it again the following day. I listened to it again after that. Then again. And again. And again. I think you get the point. It soon became one of all time favorite albums, and it still is. Blatantly influenced or not (one could do much worse than being influenced by Flag and SSD,) these songs are simply incredible. Heavy and very dissonant and full of pyschotic time signature changes, yet ultra catchy and memorable in its own way. I like the two Blast albums that followed as well, but neither one quite reached the high-water mark that this one set for the group. I'm sure losing guitarist Steve Stevenson has something to do with this.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE MOST under-rated US Hardcore LP of all time....., May 9, 2004

By	Mark Fry (Gilbertsville, PA United States) - See all my reviews

Not only were Bl'ast! ahead of their time musically by mixing raging Black Flag-style Hardcore and the intensity of metal the same way Corrosion of Conformity was on "Animosty" and later "Technocracy", but Power of Expression stands as one of the most intense Hardcore LP's EVER. It easily matches the insanity of Black Flag, sometimes eclipsing it (and I WORSHIP Black Flag!). They are pretty much forgotten today, but I will ALWAYS sing the praises of this band to ANYONE who will listen....BL'AST! f***ing RULES!!!