xREPRESENTx 'True At All Costs' (1981 Records) RATING: 7/10 Buy now

By RYAN MAVITY

If hardcore punk is dead, nobody bothered to send these guys the memo. This Erie, Pa., (or Dead City, as they call it) band is well-schooled in the ethos of hardcore: the furious riffage of Bad Brains, the snotty attitude of FEAR and The Circle Jerks, and the in-your-face roar of Rollins-era Black Flag. For good measure, they even subscribe to the straight-edge philosophy popularized by Minor Threat. What it adds up to is a solid album that does exactly what it sets out to do.

Needless to say, there is nothing here that is going to end up on a Rolling Stone list 20 years from now. If there is anything that keeps True At All Costs from being great, it’s that it doesn’t have the musical or lyrical complexity of its influences. Little distinguishes the sound and lyrics from one song to the next. There are plenty of shout-along choruses and music that will get the moshers going, but lyrically it never gets deeper than “I won’t be happy again ‘til you’re six feet in the ground,” or “Complacent. You just sit back and accept the life that’s given to you.” Most of the songs, like “By My Own Means,” “Live It Up” and “Marked,” deal exclusively with the straight-edge lifestyle, promoting a life of no drugs, no promiscuous sex, no tobacco and no alcohol. The idea comes from a song by Minor Threat who felt that such a lifestyle gave them an edge over those who poisoned their minds with such excesses.

Still, xREPRESENTx aren’t here to give us a philosophy lesson. Their goals are simpler: They just want to play loud, fast and crack some skulls, to come in for about 30 minutes, get in your face, rock their asses off and leave. xREPRESENTx will not be everybody’s cup of tea, but hardcore was never meant for the masses. If you like this sort of music, you will dig xREPRESENTx. If not, well, they probably don’t give a shit about you anyway.