Last Warning

I've admittedly never been a big fan of live albums. I am however a huge fan of early Agnostic Front, and this CD just happens to be the sole digital pressing (and even it too is now out of print) of the band's rare debut 7" EP "United Blood." I am going to go out on a limb and just review that portion of this "Last Warning" disc since that's all I ever really listen to on it.Recorded during the winter of 1982 and released independently the following year on Rat Cage Records, "United Blood," as rare as the original vinyl pressing is, was enough to establish Agnostic Front as the leading New York hardcore band for years to come.You have to remember that most of the action in American punk had previously taken place on the west coast and in particular California. Agnostic Front and "United Blood" however are clearly products of New York's seedy and notoriously dangerous Lower East Side. Don Fury's studio, where this was recorded, was probably a basement in an abandoned building somewhere and the total cost of this recording and subsequent pressing onto vinyl couldn't have exceeded a few hundred dollars. So it was a truly D.I.Y. project, as most of the absolute greatest underground music from the early '80s was.Agnostic Front's line-up fluctuated from year to year but here in 1982 it consisted of founding member and guitarist Vinnie Stigma, recently recruited Cuban born vocalist Roger Miret, bassist Adam Moochie and drummer Raybeez (later of Warzone fame)."United Blood," as cheaply produced and distributed as it was, remains a truly brilliant recording. Listening to it you can hear just how underground and dangerous the band's surroundings were at this time. Their area was after all very impoverished and riddled with drugs and crime. From the moment one sets the needle onto the groove of the record and lets this 7" play, you are brought into this world and literally assaulted with arguably the most extreme music of its time.Sure bands like Boston's S.S. Decontrol had been fast, but Agnostic Front were FAST. The drumming of Raybeez, who would depart after this release, I feel is one of the earliest recorded examples of blasting in music, predating Siege by a couple of years and Napalm Death and the British grindcore movement by several. The longest song on this EP is "Friend or Foe" at 1:17, but the average song length hovers around 30 seconds for a grand total of six minutes and 25 seconds for the whole record. That was the great thing about hardcore, it got straight to the point and there was rarely any time for filler. This CD was clearly mastered from a mint copy of the original vinyl, as one can hear a couple crackles and pops characteristic to vinyl here and there, and thus it retains the sound of the original recording pretty well.The band would go onto new heights the following year with their '84 debut full length "Victim in Pain," a masterpiece in itself, but "United Blood" marked the beginning for New York's premiere hardcore band and remains an essential release that helped shape the sound of hardcore and extreme music in general for years to come.

Well, this cd contains two releases. First is the final show of AF in their first incarnation, the second is their debut United Blood ep. I'll talk about the live show first.The show, is really good, I wish I was there, they don't cut anything out, if someone talks in between the songs, you hear it. The song "Anthem" takes about a minute to get into because Roger is thanking all the bands in the scene. And you even hear Raybeez (RIP) say hi on the mic. The setlist was really good, they played all there hits, such as "Victim In Pain", "One Voice" and "Crucified". There wasn't a dull moment in the set, even though "Infiltrate" was a bit boring.The problem with this is the sound, it's too low! You can't listen to this on a cd player that doesn't go too loud because the guitar is hard to hear and the bass, well you can't hear it! If you have a good sound system or a good pair of headphones, you should hear everything pretty clearly. Now onto United BloodWell the quality is complete utter crap, but thats what makes this Ep have a definitive sound to it. These guys were angry and wanted to flush that out with the music(not trying to sound like a hippie) Some of these songs are less than half a minute! Tracks like Fight (15 seconds) Traitor (25 Seconds) and Final War (22 Seconds) But that does not mean those songs suck, every song hear is good in its own way. But you can get this on the recent Victim in Pain re-release so there is no point to getting Last Warning if you just want this.The reason why I gave this 4 stars is because it's more for the fan who wants everything (Like Me) Agnostic Front has 3 other live albums that are better than this. Like I prefer the last one they did, the DVD-Cd combo, go check that one instead. But don't ignore this one though, because it's still a part of the history of Agnostic Front.

This was supposed to be the last Agnostic Front performance (12-20-1993). But even though it wasn't, it's still one of the best live performances they've done, and it would have been a great way to go out. The live portion had a good mix of songs from all of their releases, and guest vocals from Jimmy (of Murphy's Law), Raybeez (of Warzone, R.I.P), and Evan (of Biohazard). The studio portion is the rare "United Blood" EP, which is a fairly good mix and classic NYHC, although the best mix is on Raw Unleashed.

dont get me wrong, agnostic front are amazing and this setlist is defintely rocking, but the quality isnt as good as the recently released live album. again, get live at cbgb. that one will probably be much easier to find than this, but if this is all you can find, you still cannot go wrong either!

this cd is so kool i really like it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i think it is some good punk music !!!!!!!!! so if you don't have it go get it now1!!!!!!!!!!!!!