The Faith - Subject to Change Plus First Demo (Dischord)

Though Dischord’s also excellent Void reissue (see my review here) has grabbed more attention, this recent reissue of pretty much everything that The Faith ever recorded other than their side of the split Lp with Void shouldn’t be given second billing here. While Void predicted that hardcore would experiment with speed and chaos and add metal-ish flourishes, Subject to Change predicted the added melody of later Dischord artists like Gray Matter, Rites of Spring and Embrace and what would eventually become known (much to the DC bands’ chagrin) as “emo”. Placed here as the entire first side (it was originally a 12” EP and then was tacked on at the end of the Faith/Void/Faith disc that Dischord put out in the early ’90s), the beefed-up remastering reminds one of what a powerful, ahead of its time record it really was and that furthermore, it still stands the test of time.

All this would be enough, but as a bonus we get the first official version of The Faith’s 1981 demo, previously available only on bootlegs and what not. Most of these songs would later end up on their amazing split Lp with Void, though there is an early version of Subject to Change‘s “No Choice” here as well.