Since 1984, Sheer Terror has willfully, gleefully, self-loathingly been against whatever you got. Existing from 1984 till 1998, then reuniting in 2010 and releasing new music in 2014’s Stand Up For Falling Down, Sheer Terror has been one of NYC’s most influential and yet still somehow massively underappreciated hardcore bands. The band has consistently bridged the divide between classic street punk, fist swinging mosh music, and Celtic Frost riff black metal, all the while casting vicious and witty aspersions at all said genres and winning absolutely no new friends along the way.Hardcore was never supposed to be a popularity contest, and whether defending Obama and gay marriage to a room full of skinheads or using language any reasonable person would disagree with to do so, Sheer Terror, specifically singer Paul Bearer, has taken that notion as far as it can go. Sometimes the attitude has overshadowed the music, which is a shame, because the music—drawing equally from the speed and hate of Discharge and the pathos of American soul and early R&B—is raggedly spectacular.Now, with a reissue box set by Blackout! Records, hopefully Sheer Terror will be given their due credit as innovators and songwriters of some the meanest, most sorrowful, best hardcore punk rock ever. The Blackout! Records box set will contain remastered vinyl of their first albums (Just Can’t Hate Enough, Thanks For Nuthin’) as well as demos, assorted EPs, and an unreleased, rougher version of their major label foray, Love Songs For The Unloved, as well as a patch and other punk artistic shenanigans from NYHC artists Wes Harvey and Sean Taggart.
To announce the Bulldog Box set, Blackout! has released a lyric video for the song “Cup of O’ Joe” off of Sheer Terror’s declaration of intent, Just Can’t Hate Enough. Directed and produced by The Brought Low’s Benjamin H. Smith and animated by Kee Koo, it’s a very fine representation of Sheer Terror’s stage show over the years and the combination of bluster and hate (self and outward) that defines their lyrics and world view. Also, as stated, the music fucking bangs. Check it out and preorder the box set here.