Frank Pavich has directed a fairly absorbing document on what is, in small part, the New York Hardcore scene. It was around and in NYC, as well as parts of New Jersey, that Hardcore (as we learn here a mix of Metal and Hip-Hop) is a "way of life" that also by nature includes punk to a certain extended extent. While I would probably recommend pictures that include more 'true' music and wider perspective like American Hardcore, or just plain better craftsmanship like Decline of Western Civilization, it's certainly not a waste for the people looking for something new (or rather semi-new, it just got released on 10th anniversary DVD) and a couple of acts that might seem either obscure or just strange.
Bands like Madball are not unknown to me, and I might have even watched or listened to them in the past (I'm not a huge hardcore fan so most bands in this film are new to me - sometimes, frankly, perhaps for the better), and they do their job well here.. It's a fascinating mix of ridiculously tattooed lead singers, black guitarists who have real 'street cred' that has probably left them scarred, and even a Hare Krishna who thinks Hardcore will soon open up more doors for Christian ideology (!) The actual musical performances range depending on your taste in hardcore: we got one vocal out of a bear cave, another that is quick and energetic, another remorse and more in line with a Staind group, or with just plain attitude to burn.
More often than not the interviews give more to offer than the actual bits of music on stage, which is probably a disappointment, but for all its minor faults its still a small time-capsule type of window into what was remaining of that dedicated Hardcore scene in NYC following its big explosion in the early 80s (we mostly hear from Roger Merit's little brother as opposed to actual Agnostic Front themselves).
Bands like Madball are not unknown to me, and I might have even watched or listened to them in the past (I'm not a huge hardcore fan so most bands in this film are new to me - sometimes, frankly, perhaps for the better), and they do their job well here.. It's a fascinating mix of ridiculously tattooed lead singers, black guitarists who have real 'street cred' that has probably left them scarred, and even a Hare Krishna who thinks Hardcore will soon open up more doors for Christian ideology (!) The actual musical performances range depending on your taste in hardcore: we got one vocal out of a bear cave, another that is quick and energetic, another remorse and more in line with a Staind group, or with just plain attitude to burn.
More often than not the interviews give more to offer than the actual bits of music on stage, which is probably a disappointment, but for all its minor faults its still a small time-capsule type of window into what was remaining of that dedicated Hardcore scene in NYC following its big explosion in the early 80s (we mostly hear from Roger Merit's little brother as opposed to actual Agnostic Front themselves).