YDI-Out For Blood

Artist: YDI
Album: Out For Blood
Release: 2004
Label: Parts Unknown

Tracklist:

Out For Blood [Demos]

1. Out For Blood [Demo]
2. Not Shit [Demo]
3. Rizzo's Cumming Back [Demo]
4. Another Day [Demo]
5. Zombie Youth [Demo]
6. Mad At The World [Demo]
7. Friends [Demo]
8. Categorized [Demo]
9. Why Die? [Demo]
10. 1983 [Demo]
11. True Believer [Demo]
12. Snarling Hate [Demo]
13. I Killed My Family [Demo]
14. Get Up And Fight [Demo]
15. 8th Man [Demo]

A Place In The Sun 7" (Blood Bubble, 1983)

16. Not Shit
17. 1983
18. Friends
19. Mad At The World
20. Out For Blood
21. Categorized
22. Another Day
23. Get Up And Fight/Zombie Youth
24. Why Die?

Get Off My Back - Philly Hardcore Compilation (Red Music, 1983)

25. Enemy For Life
26. I Killed My Family

Black Dust LP (Blood Bubble, 1985)

27. Not Without A Fight
28. Get Out
29. Soylent Green
30. Violently Raped
31. Bloodletting
32. Haunted House
33. Dying Day
34. Murder Is So Sweet
35. In Ignorance
36. My Hell
37. Black Dust


In 2004, Parts Unknown bestowed upon an ungrateful world the discography of one of the most unappreciated bands in the history of early hardcore, Philadelphia's YDI. This compilation includes their seldom-heard demo, their classic A Place In The Sun 7", some comp tracks, and their oft-maligned, Crossover LP, Black Dust.

Out For Blood kicks things off with their demo. At this point, the band was still indebted to a more west coast hardcore sound, particularly with Jackal's vocals, which have less sneer and intensity to them than their later material and have more of a punky quality to them. Partially due to the fact that these are just demos, the band just doesn't sound as fast or as tough as they do on their future material. Still, these recordings are more than just for curious listeners or die-hard fans, as they are sicker than most bands proper material.

The best material the band ever recorded was their debut 7", A Place In The Sun. The band builds upon their demo sound and makes everything thrashier, heavier, and nastier. The band's frantic style of hardcore is completed with raging solos and awesome guitar lines. The band's best song, "Out For Blood," is almost unrivaled in its intensity. It's one of the most menacing hardcore songs recorded. Other bangers would include "Not Shit" and "Categorized," a song that addresses the prejudice and bigotry the band members had to face not only for being punks, but also due to the singer and drummer being Black.

Also on this discography are two tracks from the Red Music comp Get Off My Back - Philly Hardcore Compilation. The comp features, from what I can gather, some of the best Philly hardcore bands at the time. To be honest, aside from YDI, I had only ever heard of FOD. Oh well. The two YDI songs fall in line with their more hardcore sound, but have cleaner production and, particularly on the tough "I Killed My Family," a slightly more metallic edge to them, foreshadowing the change that was to come.

Like many of their peers, YDI caught the Crossover virus that felled many a great hardcore band in the mid-80s. However, YDI did not succumb to the dreaded scourge of the genre and their 1985 full-length Black Dust is actually a pretty great record. The band incorporates a good amount of Venom and Motörhead-style metal into their form, but, which its audience failed to realized at the time, still retained a mostly punk sound. It's certainly not as good as their 7", but it's not the utter failure some took it to be upon its release.

No matter what stylistic changes the band went through, YDI remains one of the better hardcore bands to have ever brought the mosh. Even if you can't get into the amount of soloing in Black Dust, at least Jackal's vocals were consistently sinister throughout the band's existence. And hey, YDI is proof that Philly isn't completely worthless.


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