Withstand - Rites of Passage Demo (1993)

 Withstand were a hardcore band from Troy, NY, and Pittsfield, MA. Within the "troycore" group of bands, this is one that if you mention it around an oldhead you'll get an approving head nod and a "they were so dope". Among a crowd of progenitors in hardcore, they stood at the forefront, and yet don't get nearly the same credit that most bands do. I truly believe this band was ahead of its time enough that if they had been from like, NYC instead of upstate, or Boston, or somewhere that wasn't Capital Region/western Mass, they would be talked about in the same breath as some of the greats.

This demo might be the best example of that -- some of the riffing is like, insanely trailblazing for hardcore. Fusing metal and NYHC swag in this exact way wasn't really a thing bands were fully doing in 92/93 but Withstand was -- it was really just them and Conviction (post soon perhaps?). For fucks sake, Room To Room contains what has to be one of the very first examples of rapping in a hardcore song.

I'd be amiss to not mention the insane sounding production on this demo. It genuinely kinda took me aback the first time I heard it because of how just... unbelievably lo-fi it is. It adds so much to it. The drums sound like they were recorded in a cavern and the snare has to be turned off. So awesome.

Members were in so many good bands: Dying Breed, Catheter, Bloodwar, and particularly of interest to this blog, Wish and Pushbutton Warfare, both of which will be posted in the next week. I will also post more Withstand stuff later down the line because the whole discography is worth checking out.

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