Tension - The Sickness Of Our Age

Wow, this is our 800th post as Stuck In The Past. Pretty amazing that we've come this far and I thank you for all your support. That said, today I bring you a high quality rip of "The Sickness Of Our Age" from South Florida's Straight Edge machine, Tension. Tension were one of the first bands I ever saw when I started going to shows and I'm glad that I got to see them when they were at their peak of popularity. The band did some touring and would eventually go on to release this on Endless Fight Records (great label, click the link for some back info) and then a full length on Uprising Records before breaking up. The story I heard about the recording (Jeremy Staska and the world famous Studio 13) was that the day before they were set to begin, 3 of the members went through rough break ups and another was kicked out of their home. What does that mean? They were pissed. They went in and recorded one of the angriest records, to this day, I've ever heard and still one of my favorite 7 inches. Mike Hurley is one of the great unsung lyricists. He tackled subjects that other bands overlooked such as the mistreatment of Native Americans and you could always count on numerous sing-a-longs in every song. My friend Ivan, more on him in another post, showed me a video of them playing with Strife, Sick of it All and Strongarm at the Kitchen Club in Miami. Basically 300-400 kids stagediving and screaming their heads off. You couldn't even hear Mike singing over them. It was just one of those life changing musical moments when you realize that you are a part of something that some people could never understand. The band, like many of their time, ran its course and the members went their separate ways. I feel privileged to have seen the band when I did and this record will always remain in my top 5 7 inches ever.
This was released in 1994 by Endless Fight Records and re-released by Uprising Records in 1997. Since then, the record has gone out of print. I ripped this at a VBR setting from the original CD source and scanned the cover to give a nice high quality image. Enjoy!

*NEW LINK*

Tension - The Sickness Of Our Age

Strongarm "Trials" official video

Strongarm is the one Christian hardcore band that, if you ask anyone who digs 90s hardcore, they seem to like regardless of lyrical content or beliefs (as well as Focal Point). Growing up in South Florida, Strongarm never seemed too preachy when they played. Sure they said a thing here and there but they never held prayer circles or anything (at least not that I can remember). They basically got on stage and said "We're Strongarm, this is what we believe, if you don't its cool". I had never seen this video before but the recording of the song I believe is from the 7 inch that Tooth and Nail released. The song was re-recorded and released on their debut full length "Atonement", my favorite record from them. Though the music and recording on "The Advent of a Miracle" is much better, Jason's vocals always appealed to me more than Chris's (sorry Chris). Either way, heres the video for "Trials" by Strongarm.