Мир: Mindecision 12"

By now, it's not surprising that the dissemination of the hardcore punk movement in it's infancy seeped into the pores of nearly the entire planet. Of course, all the major cities worldwide developed burgeoning hardcore scenes that yielded the classics we know and love but there's something to be said about the less known spots on the map and their select inhabitants that were swept up in the fervor of it all, like some of those in the sleepy valley town of Roanoke tucked away in the tranquil Blue Ridge mountain region of Southwest Virginia. It was in that city, circa 1984, that four teenagers came together to form Мир or, for the non-Cyrillicly inclined, simply MNP. The band name, pronounced "Mihr" and which translates to peace, was also the group's mission statement and driving force in their brief existence. Having played a slew of gigs locally and elsewhere alongside contemporaries like CORROSION OF CONFORMITY, SCREAM, BATTALION OF SAINTS and DEATH PIGGY among others, they left as quickly as they came, disbanding in the summer of 1985 before most of the members left for college. Thankfully, the band entered the studio earlier that year before calling it a day. The tracks that made up the criminally underrated and sparsely circulated "MINDECISION" cassette are a crucial entry into the annals of early Virginia hardcore punk history, featuring twelve cuts of scorching USHC executed by small town high school kids. Remastered from the original reels by Chris Corry, each record comes in a jacket adorned with the original cover art by drummer Lawson Jaeger, featuring a 12" x 24" insert chock full of live photos, flyers and other ephemera plus liner notes by guitarist Spencer Edmunds.


Our take: Beach Impediment returns with another archival release from their home state of Virginia with this first-ever vinyl release of the 1985 cassette from Roanoke’s Мир (the Russian word for peace). This doesn’t mean much to someone who isn’t from our part of the world, but it’s wild to me that there were hardcore bands in Roanoke, which is a small city near Virginia’s beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. They definitely had a scene there, though, with a handful of local bands and national bands like Corrosion of Conformity and Battalion of Saints rolling through town. As for Мир, if they had put this recording on vinyl back in the day, I think they would be remembered just as well as strong regional hardcore bands like Mecht Mensch, Rebel Truth, and a lot of the other bands on comps like Peace? and Party or Go Home. Worse, Мир’s cassette only circulated online in low-quality rips, so even most 80s hardcore deep heads aren’t familiar with it. (Beach Impediment mastered their reissue from the original tapes, revealing a raw but clear and powerful recording that is pretty much perfect for this kind of band.) Мир’s music is killer… it’s fast hardcore punk that’s just a little progressive, particularly the catchy and inventive guitar riffs. Fans of bands like Mecht Mensch, Articles of Faith, Double O, and others who have a twinge of dark melody to their raging hardcore are going to be particularly excited about this. As we’ve come to expect from Beach Impediment, this version also features a full-color insert with lyrics, flyers, newspaper clippings, and other ephemera. Anyone who loves 80s hardcore punk will consider this a real gem.