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Inside Out

No Spiritual Surrender (1990)
Revelation Records

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Contributed by: mikexdude
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on August 15th 2008

Inside Out was a short-lived hardcore project with future members of Chain of Strength, 108, Farside and…oh, Zack de la Rocha from a little band called Rage Against the Machine. Yeah, around my circle of music-loving friends, I am known as the "guy who hates Rage Against the Machine"; while I've always thought Zack de la Rocha's lyrics were definitely above average, his vocals just hit me the wrong way. That was before I got my hands on this piece of work.

Rocha, displaying a vocal approach closely resembling that of Shut Your Mouth-era Davey Havok, eases in some early traces of Rage Against the Machine-esque radicalism with lines like: “Children of the street wander so helplessly. Who will pay for their suffering? We've got the power to set them free, yet still, we do nothing, nothing.” Songs like “Burning Fight” harbor stern proclamations: “I will never choose a different path, and I will never fucking be like you.” Definitely not as good as RATM-era Zack de la Rocha, but still effective to the message behind the music.

Don't expect the virtuosity of Tom Morello; the music on this disc is heavy and aggressive with its share of E-chord chugs, pinch harmonics and leads. Sure, that sounds like the ingredients for your stereotypical metallic hardcore band, but they mix in a pleasing amount of west coast melodic punk to keep it out of that misconception.

No Spiritual Surrender is a classic amongst modern hardcore albums (and it's only six songs) and to my surprise, never got its chance to grace the review section of this site.

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seandxi (September 4, 2008)

how exactly does one compare farside and rage against the machine? i mean, i've never owned a rage record but i was well aware of them growing up and always felt that if pissed off kids are going to have a siren song, it might as well be them. it's hell of a lot better than what passes for hard music most of the time these days. that said, popeye and the farside gang were a completely different ballgame... in no way, at no time... do they even kind of touch base with one another short of zach's ever so brief presence in the band. jesus christ i'd live to live in the heads of you people sometimes.

mikexdude (August 19, 2008)

User under me is correct.

R3vengeTherapy (August 19, 2008)

Speaking of Farside, they were about 100000x better than Rage Against the Machine.

I'm going to listen to Monroe Doctrine right now.

mikexdude (August 19, 2008)

Perfect? I don't think so.

xrxpx (August 19, 2008)

One of the most perfect eps in hardcore history.

This review does not give justice, hear for yourself and decide.

nocigar (August 16, 2008)

score is for you hating RATM. Douche.

mikexdude (August 16, 2008)

I love you to who switched the two paragraphs. I always make dumb mistakes.

brown (August 16, 2008)

This EP is so much win.

fox82 (August 15, 2008)

I dislike RATM myself, primarily for the music (and secondly their silly attempt to sell their leftist politics through a major label and arena tours), but I enjoyed this, when I first got it in the mid 90s (1996 I think). Probably because the music was simpler and more to the point, none of the pretentious bullshit they went on to do. 'No synths used', just a shit-hot guitar effects pedal.

This record is hyped-to-shit though, no thanks to Zach's presence and the need to give RATM a sense of 'hardcore' credibility. You're better off getting the early 108 stuff (or the discography CD) instead, as I feel it's closer to spirit of this record/band.

feeeding5000 (August 15, 2008)

If Inside Out had made the LP on Ebullition instead of this EP on Rev, I doubt RATM would have existed. Then again, neither would the Ebullition-dude's righteous anger, so whatever.

Alternate history punk rock is awesome.

DrGunn (August 15, 2008)

a couple years ago i traded with a guy for a 2-disc bootleg with everything IO ever did, including their demo and a shitload of live songs that never made it into a record. if they had ever gotten around to making that LP, it woulda been great.

blip (August 15, 2008)

i have the title-track from a revelation compilation, but i'm definitely interested to hear more now.

borntaloze (August 15, 2008)

had this on cassette since the early 90s and finally picked up the cd used a year or so ago. great krishna-core-y goodness that's better than 95% of the new hardcore out there today.

mikexdude (August 15, 2008)

His comment > my review.

seandxi (August 15, 2008)

one of the defining records of my "growing up". having heard this record for the first time some 15 years ago, it is still without a doubt on my top 5 ep's of all time. though short lived, this band embodied just about everything that hardcore punk SHOULD be about. there was a sense of believable urgency, passion, and focused anger that is rarely seen outside the likes of henry rollins' earlier days. when zack belts it out... you know without question that he means it. furthermore, the song writing chops of vic dicara were (and still are) way ahead of his time.

this record would write the blueprint that so many bands would try to rip for years to follow. if any of them ever get it as right as this... i would be quite astonished. it would do any of you who have yet to hear this well to head out to your local indie shop or hit up your favorite mail-order and get this record. or hell... i'm sure de la rocha and dicara wouldn't bitch too much about you just rippin' it from the internet.

just get this record.