Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Void - Potion For Bad Dreams


Year: 1983
Label: unreleased

You can thank the James Joyce archives for this one, cause I had never heard of it until very recently, much less heard it.
The story is, the band recorded this album for Touch And Go as the follow up to the split lp with Faith record, but after it's completion they were unhappy for whatever reasons, and blocked it's release. My hunch is that they were trying to follow some other first wave hardcore bands into their "mature" stage (i.e. allowing metal to creep in) and weren't happy with the results. Remember, at this time Black Flag was bumming people out with extended dirge jams, DRI was embracing metallic thrash, and bands like DYS and Gang Green were going full-on arena metal. The hardcore landscape was changing, and people were starting to think about "careers", thus ending the short blast of the original hardcore epoch. 
Void are still raw and manic, but they've slowed the tempo, crammed in more guitar solos, and begun to morph into a Corrosion Of Conformity clone (but not as good...of course, you have to understand that being from North Carolina means COC are basically a hair behind Black Flag in the "greatest band of all time" competition continually racking my every waking moment...fuck they're good).
I'm not just posting this as a historic relic, I genuinely think it's good, definitely different than the harDCore version of the band from a couple years prior, but still worth a listen.


9 comments:

  1. hey whats the story behind the cover? i've been a fan of this record for years and i haven't ever seen a cover for it.

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  2. i just found the cover online, and i assume it's a bootleg that someone made.

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  3. Just a word about COC. While it's 100% fact that COC would utterly destroy 'Potion' era Void, it should be noted that COC were heavily influenced by Void's mind blowing tracks on Flex Your Head and the split with The Faith. As such, it's a little tough to hear them called a 'COC clone'.

    Very cool blog, BTW, I like it.

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  4. Mr. Mars,

    Your comments have been taken under advisement, I ruminated on them, and have come to the following conclusion; COC's songs on the No Core compilation, and their first 7" were most probably influenced by the metallic nuances of the Void track on their split with Faith. In that respect you are 100% correct. My counterpoint, and this is subjective, is that when "Eye For An Eye" came out, COC were already heading on a trajectory away from hardcore and straight to metal. It took them a couple records to get there (to complete "metal band" status that is), but in the wake of "Eye For An Eye", my guess is that other bands, especially those in the same geographic region, who might have had a prediliction to playing more metallic songs heard that album and said, "a-ha!". Void was definitely aware of COC, and their paths crossed over the brief time they were both active, so that's what I'm basing my assumption on.

    I will retract my "COC clone" comment as that has some negative connotations, and makes Void seem unoriginal, which isn't the case.

    But damn, COC kills Void in a head-to-head matchup. There aren't many bands who can touch 1983-1988 era COC (and I'm tempted to even go so far as to include the 1991 "Blind" era in there too...I think that album is sorely underrated).

    Thanks for your comments.

    Gray

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  5. "But damn, COC kills Void in a head-to-head matchup. There aren't many bands who can touch 1983-1988 era COC (and I'm tempted to even go so far as to include the 1991 "Blind" era in there too...I think that album is sorely underrated)."

    Agreed - although 'Blind' seriously bummed my trip (around the same time as Voivod's 'Angel Rat' bummed me, though I love it now).

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  6. It's pointless to argue the matter, since it all comes down to personal preference, but NO ONE kills Faith/Void-era Void in a head to head match-up. Void were simply the greatest punk band on the planet at that point. I love COC, and have since the No Core cassette came out, but Void were completely untouchable by anyone in 1982.

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  7. Great album, it is one of my favorites bands and one of my favorites albums.

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