SOAKED IN OTHERS BLOOD

I never ever even just thought of buying music in form of digital files to download and also would have never thought I'd ever be just tempted to do that. well, that was before CITIZENS ARREST decided after 20 years to hit the studio again, record some new tunes and release it as a digital 4 song E.P. called SOAKED IN OTHERS BLOOD on COEXTINCTION as I bought that E.P. as fast as possible cause they and GEHENNA are my 2 all-time fave bands and therefore I just had to hear their new stuff! in the meantime I listened to their 4 new tracks quite a few times and dare say: CITIZENS ARREST are back on the map! unlike a lot of other bands that reformed ages after they had disbanded CITIZENS ARREST aren't embarrassing themselves with their new recordings but deliver 4 kick ass tracks. unfortunately digital E.P. means no physical copies only m4a files to download and that totally sucks! period! as if that wouldn't be enough the packaging sucks even worse! original CITIZENS ARREST vocalist Ted Leo, who nowadays handles the part of the 2nd guitarist, posted this on their FACEBOOK site: "...Vinyl would be great, and I'm sure there'll be something in the near future, but there's a reason we didn't do it right now - we thought the whole point of what our friends at Coexctinction do is cool: no contracts, no LPs, you record fast and for free, they turn it around and get it right up online as fast as they can, and then sell it for cheap. It's a way to document something immediate - friends working with friends, for, like, literally one afternoon of fun and creativity (I realize that sounds a lot like daycare, but...) and have it out there right in the moment. Also, it's part of an ongoing series of these quick digital EPs..." although I think he wrote that to explain why they only did a digital E.P. it also points out nearly everything that, in my opinion, sucks about it. I'm sorry but when "get it right up online as fast as they can" translates to get it up so fast that you can only include 2 text files, one about copyright and the other with some info about encoding plus a 2 sided folder with (nearly) 5"es x 10"es I wouldn't exactly say that that "is cool". I also disagree on the point that COEXTINCTION "then sell it for cheap" cause in my eyes it looks more like they don't "sell it for cheap" they sell it just cheap, as cheap as by all means possible cheapening everything through that which might be the reason that the little artwork included annoys me as much as the absence of more artwork. I'm well aware that this E.P. is part "of an ongoing series of these quick digital EPs" but that's no excuse for the E.P.'s front cover where the label's name is not only displayed bigger than the E.P.'s title. the 7 that indicates the part in the series is also displayed bigger than CITIZENS ARREST's band-name combined with the fact that the black & white CITIZENS ARREST logo on the cover doesn't fit together with the red & gray illustrations on it doesn't make the cover something to write home about. anyway, let's talk about the good things as already said earlier CITIZENS ARREST don't embarrass themselves music-wise with their new recordings! the most recognizable thing is that Darryl's voice, which was something like their trademark, has changed over the years to a point that on some parts I most likely wouldn't recognize it's him if I wouldn't know it. don't get me wrong that's not a critique that's just a fact. besides that all tracks could have also appeared on their old records especially the title track SOAKED IN OTHERS BLOOD. I really hope that the vinyl version of this will have a packaging that does the excellent music more justice than the digital version!

available for $ 2,99 from COEXTINCTION