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Prince Edward Island is a small province on Canada’s east coast that is home to less than 150,000 people, yet somehow in late 1983 the blaring raw sounds of hardcore punk reached the ears of a group of skaterats in the small town of Summerside. Slow Death were not only the first punk band from PEI, but also one of the first straight edge bands in Canada. The short, fast and loud lo-fi blasts of thrash these teens produced is so perfect for their time and place and continues to make people wonder how something like this could have come out of such isolation. Their 10-song cassette from 1985 has remained under the radar since it was released 30 years ago, so we’re more than pleased to be unleashing this beast as the first release for UNKNOWN COAST. Available for the first time since its debut, the tape recordings will be available on vinyl as a 7” ep featuring unearthed photos in a small press of 500 copies."
Our take: Inaugural release on the new reissue label Uknown Coast, and it's the sole recording from Slow Death out of Prince Edward Island, Canada. Despite the remote locale, Slow Death could have fit quite easily on one of Mystic Records' compilations with their mega-raw production, incredibly sloppy playing (it makes my head kind of hurt when I try to figure out what on earth the bass and guitar have to do with one another on this recording), and skateboarding skeleton graphics... they even make the A in their band name an anarchy sign for their logo! I mean, when you get down to it they pretty much run through every cliche in the book, so you'll probably want to avoid this if you have only a passing interest in 80s US hardcore, but if you're the type who scrounges the internet (or, if you're a big spender I guess, real-life places) for demo tapes by obscure 80s hardcore bands this is quite a little treat, and the reissue is well-done, featuring a full color insert and remastering that makes this sound as good as it possibly can. So, "for completists only," but the completists will definitely get a kick out of this.