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REVOLUTION RE-ISSUE PRESS

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Inquisition

Revolution... I Think It's Called Inspiration

There's been a lot of obscure 80s and 90s punk/hardcore reissues lately that haven't exactly been essential, but Inquisition is the rare exception. In the mid-90s, they played simple, midtempo punk rock with driven basslines and gravelly, but wistful, vocals. They also stand out because the vocals never seem to completely match up with the music, which gives Inquisition a cool, old-school, gritty feel. In fact, in many ways they sound more like mid-80s than mid-90s, and it's not surprising that they've influenced the likes of Hot Water Music, Ensign, Dashboard, Strike Anywhere, Anti-Flag, and others. Absolutely worth checking out if you like punk rock with feeling that doesn't cheesify itself into emo.

A-F, a-frecords.com

Inquisition lasted just a short time in the mid-1990s and only released one proper album. But former members are making an impact under other banners, and the name Inquisition managed to inspire a generation of punk rockers who followed.
A decade later, Pittsburgh punk label A-F is reissuing Inquisition’s lone album, “Revolution ... I Think It’s Called Inspiration,” completely remastered and loaded with additional artwork, lyrics and notes from original member Thomas Barnett, who moved on to form Strike Anywhere.

Such cornerstones to the current punk movement as Anti-Flag, Hot Water Music and Ensign all cite Inquisition as a notable influence on what they’ve done. It makes sense, as the 14 tracks on “Revolution ...” helped lay the framework for today’s voluable punk and blitzing, hook-filled change-ups fused with the genre’s foundation of youthful aggression, righteous anger and yearning desire for positive change.

Coupled with gnarly knots of bass and stampeding drum provocation, Inquisition roared through a mad blast of furnace punk that was another case of being too progressive for its time, something that didn’t jibe with the lineal three-chord populism of Green Day at their height. They weren’t afraid to slow down the proceedings and incorporate honest melody, idlyllic passages, even handclaps to further the songs’ unifying themes.

The perilous precision of “Mute” sounds like something stuck on fast forward while still making sense. Inquisition inject a stentorian charge to “Warning,” unleash a wobbly, harmonic ire on “We Got a Bomb” and take a “smash it, rebuild it” call-and-response to “Strike Anywhere,” the name Barnett would give his succeeding project. And during the height of when it wasn’t cool to show your mastery of the fretboard, Inquisition engage in plenty of pitch-shifting antics on the cut “Greta Brinkman Vs. the City.” At their best, the piledriving faceplant of “Idle Kids” was something impossible not to raise a fist to.

Inquisition’s members also went on to form such acts as Ann Beretta and River City High. Though we’re left to wonder what more Inquisition could’ve done, “Revolution ...” provides warm memories and key evidence of a pivotal shift in punk music’s zeitgeist

The bass lines have a ska feel to them, which just make you wanna dance like a moron, in the middle of a dirty club in the city. The songs are your standard punk rock songs, with a little bit more harmony and melody put into them. It's like if a three chord Lookout! band still played their catchy tunes, but, took guitar lessons for a few years, and started a new band that didn't sound EXACTLY like all their friends bands.

This album is fast, catchy, and a should be in your CD player, and under your "music" section of your myspace, and tattooed with the (Heart with "revolution" and a star in it) logo on your arms, and passed down to your children, and their children, and their friends children... you get the point. It's an awesome CD.

75,437 stars out of 75,438 stars