Oi no, this ain't a new album from the short-lived South Carolina band...too bad, by the way...but a long-due re-issue of the band's one and only full-length album!
Formed in the summer of 1998 in SC's Charleston by Christopher Ashley (of Noise/ Hardcore act Murder Weapon) and Brian Cooper, Robert Findlater and Frank Whiteside of Intentional Resentment out of a common love for noise and experimental music, the original foursome laid down the foundation of their somewhat chaotic music (chaotic in that they could fall from extremely heavy music to relatively calm ones, using odd instruments such as kiddie pianos in the process). As an experimental band with drum machines, samplers, synths, trumpet, and whatever other musical instrument that came into their greedy paws, these animals played shows (and emptied halls) with the likes of Hail Mary and Milemarker, and recorded the This Week's Boycot along the way, before settling in a more traditional “Rock” line-up by recruiting bassist Shawn Williams (of Prevail). In the new line-up, the band did a mere 3 rehearsals, before recording their debut self-titled 7-inch EP (with the bassist actually learning most of his parts in the morning of the recording sessions). As far as recordings goes, the band released another 7-inch (a split with Usurp Synapse), this here “full-length” album (recorded with Jay Matheson at the apparently legendary Jam Room Studio, and mastered by Neal Burke of Men's recovery Project, Sinking Body and Born Against repute, the album was released on CD by OHEV just weeks before the band's ending), and had a compilation album appearance. Besides a bunch of shows in their own neck of the woods, the guys did two tours, and canceled a third due to a broken down van. In essence, it's what became the downfall of the band, a mere year and a half after its inception.
A pity, because it would've been nice if this band had been able to unleash some more of its music upon the word at large. Why? Well, let's cite the description of the band's music, as written in the info sheet which came along with the promo download of the album, shall we? Here it is : “...Their static-soaked riffage embodying Hardcore, Powerviolence, Screamo and Experimental/ Noise elements all at once could feasibly be compared to Pageninetynine, In/Humanity, Acme, Discordance Axis, The Locust, Man Is The Bastard, Throbbing Gristtle and Rorschach, sometimes in the same minute-long track...” stop press, reality check... arrhhh...(at this moment, imagine me slightly bending my head sideways in contemplation, a drip of saliva, produced by sheer excitement, running down the lower corner of my mouth)...no, I can find nothing wrong with that statement! Huhuh...in fact, so compellingly correct did I find it, that I went to use it in my review, didn't I? Yes, I did...yes, I díd!
The album may only be 26 ½ minutes in length, but it nevertheless has no less than 16 tracks (some of which containing contributions by Matheson and Burke, and Eric Wood of Bastard Noise/ Man Is The Bastard), and at its original release attracted the attention of both fans and journalists whom were into things chaotic. No wonder then, that it was given a posthumous re-issue on vinyl by Insolito Records in early 2001, on a rotation which has long since been out of print. Enough people must've been bugging original member Chistopher Ashley about that, because here he is re-releasing the album on his own DIY label, in a deluxe version which not only sports new/ updated cover artwork (by Ashley himself), but also new liner notes on the band's lineage (by the way, after the band's demise, members of the band went on to form or play in Red Herring, The Avenging Disco Godfathers Of Soul, The Disease, among others), a remake of the original poster, and a digital download card...on the very limited rotation of 400 copies. In other words: in order to get your own vinyl copy of the album speed is of the essence, and it bugs me that I got this promo so belated!
For your listening session of the album consult (www.) cvltnation.com/index-potential-suicide, where you'll find a link to Soundcloud for a streaming of the complete album. Should that site discontinue that service, check out what's at (www.) last.fm/music/Index+for+Potential+Suicide. Enjoy, and...by the way, did you know that there's actually an official listing named “Index of Potential Suicide”?! Top rating, and I do hope Ashley considers releasing the band's earlier material on a compilation album!