Ill Repute - What Happened Then [reissue] (Cover Artwork)

Ill Repute

What Happened Then [reissue] (1999)

Mystic


Straight up, I don't like what Mystic did with this re-release. The original album (titled What Happens Next?) was only 11 songs, contrary to the current 22, goddamn double of the original release. Besides the amount of additional songs put on by the label, this album is amazing. It's fast. And, when I say fast, I mean how fast you'd expect an 80s hardcore band to be. This also helps transition into the next topic, Ill Repute is one of the first bands to use the term "nardcore", displaying it on the guy on the cover's fingers, like a p u n x tattoo would go, except nard over core. And, That's probably the reason why their first song on the album is called Oxnard, the city they, of course, come from. The guitar windup thing they do before the drums kick in is fun and sounds cool, and then they get into the normal lyrics, which start off with the chorus, "Oxnard!" a few time, then "Nardcore!". It's a good opener for the album, saying where they come from, nardcore, their genre, and displaying how much you'll be able to understand them throughout most of the album. Most of the other songs are good, but not highlights of the entire album, unlike for me, the song "Turn the Guns Around". The song's an anti-war and anti-violence anthem, and it fucking rocks. The second verse though, with the lyrics, "I'm not a Communist or an Anarchist, I'm not a Capitalist or a rebel, I'm just a man..." gets stuck in my head all goddamn day, I feel like it connects to a lot of people who either don't really give a shit about politics, or can't find an ideology to support. The last song on the album though, in the night, I 1: frankly can't understand the chorus of because of the double singing (I don't know what it's called but that's basically a good discripter of it), which isn't bad, it sounds sick, and 2: can't find the lyrics for ANYWHERE on the internet, same with most other songs on this album. The lyrics to "Turn the Guns Around" are straight up wrong, and most others just don't exist. But this album is fast, hard, fun, and the lyrics you can understand are good enough for me.