For my money, the Faith's Subject to Change is THEE sleeper hit of the early Dischord catalog. As I noted in my description of the recent Gray Matter reissue, DC's Revolution Summer bands basically took the energy and aggression of early harDCore, took out the kind of bonehead elements, and grafted that onto the more song-oriented approach of '77-era British punk. On Subject to Change,, the Faith were the first band to make this leap and, in my opinion, by far the best. As someone who loved the energy of early hardcore but wanted actual songs, and who loved the dynamic, song-based approach of '77-era British punk but wished it was just a little more intense, Subject to Change is pretty much the perfect punk record. Expanding their sound from their early raw hardcore approach, by this time the Faith had added a second guitar player and the dynamic interplay between them is just mind-bending. However, because for years these tracks were only available tacked onto the end of the Faith / Void split CD, they not only got relegated to the status of "bonus material," but also just sounded a little dry and wimpy next to the singular onslaught of Void. Taken on its own, however, this is a seminal document, and Dischord's tasteful remastering makes it sound slightly louder and crisper than the original without sounding "modern" at all.

However, that's just the A-side! The b-side contains a remastered version of the Faith's demo tape, which has circulated for years in the tape trading circles and once on a bootleg split double 7" with Kansan Uutiset(!!!). As with the reissue of Void's demo tape, this is like hearing this stuff for the first time... everything is clear, bright, and f***ing powerful as s***... it sounds like a recording just as powerful as any of the other early Dischord releases. Basically, this era of the Faith was picking up where SOA left off, and that connection is even more apparent on the demo material than on the split LP with Void. This is absolutely seminal hardcore, and hopefully having it on its own slab of wax will make people appreciate it more this time around. This reissue is remastered, contains a (tastefully) revised update on the original artwork, and includes an mp3 download. Dischord Records

Essentials: 80s Hardcore Punk