Anti-Flag / Hostage Calm Split EP

Written by GE 138.

A beautiful piece of red white and blue splattered vinyl that was put out to benefit a few Local charities that these 2 bands support. This 7" record is a split EP featuring Anti-Flag and Hostage Calm, a band I only know of as being a Hardcore band from Boston, so thus my reluctance to listen to them. Phooey to all that tuff guy BS, says I. But I gave this a listen with open ears and I gotta say the track they contribute to this, Olly Olly Oxen Free, is really fucking good. A touch of keyboards give this sugary sweet piece of Dag Nasty-ish Pop Punk a bit of a dark tinge about it, and that just makes the song all that much better. I like it! And what I thought was a lame ass title when I first saw it is now a memorable melody stuck in my head. This song is really catchy. Thanks Hostage Calm! LOL And Anti-Flag... Wow. What happened to them? Their track sounds terrible, both in aural quality and musical performance. I gave up on them years ago and after hearing the track they contributed, Branded Rebellion, I can hear why I did. Tired, cliched, music with faux-sabre rattling lyrics that promote Rebellion to impressionable mall kids. And those 'whoah-whoah-whoah' bits sound soooo forced. Whatever. Like I said earlier, this record is a benefit for charity, so if you're feeling generous give a couple of bucks towards it and get this nice looking addition to your over valued colored vinyl collection. It's worth it for the Hostage Calm track alone. :-) Available from Run For Cover records and on iTunes as well.

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