Youth Crew 010 compilation 7"

A new '88 in 2010? I don't think so but ever since '88 Youth Crew bands have been popping up. After the nineties youth crew revival with Mainstrike, Hands Tied, Reaching Forward, Ten Yard Fight, In My Eyes, Eyeball and Sportswear amongst others there were bands like Champion, The First Step and nowadays True Colors keeping the sound alive.

True Colors is breaking up but fortunately all over the world bands still keep going on in true Youth Crew spirit. On this compilation from Positive and Focused, Monument and Youth Crew records ten bands show what they're capable of.

The record starts with Alert who deliver a song mixing Youth Of Today's No More with an Insted vibe. Portugals' Pressure doesn't have the most unique bandname in the world, but they do have that aggressive youth crew Carry On sound I loved so much on the Roll With The Punches ep. The Italians from Fumbles In Life don't convince me. Somehow I get the feeling something is off with this record, the vocals are way too highpitched. Next band on side A is State Of Affairs, my own band. For the lack of anything better we decided to put a track from the demosessions we recorded ourselves on this compilation and I must say we don't sound out of style productionwise with the other bands. Swedish kids Forever Young are the last band on side A. They have that aggressive Swedish sound we all love.

Side B brings five more bands. Reveal The Truth deliver a short angry song. But it is Half The Battle all the way from the Phillipines who surprise me the most by a song that mixes Plagued with Rage with early Fastbreak. If this was a band from the US kids would be drooling over their ebaymerchandise in no time. Residents of Moscow Rearranged deliver a track that was already on their demo. Still a very good song however. The other band from the Phillipines Staid also come through with an outstanding track leaving place for the Americans in Outlast to really end this compilation in style with a song that shows they're the next best thing after Mindset.

This 7" probably will not reach the legendary level as the Time Is Now compilation or the Growing Stronger compilation did. However it shows there are still people who believe in the combination of aggressive music and a positive outlook. As long as that continues and bands with a youth crew sound pop up, I'm interested.