Review: Various Artists - "Past Present: Breaking Out the Classics"
In hip-hop and hardcore alike, it’s often perceived as easier to conveniently categorize acts in mutually exclusive opposition according to an implied time frame. Old school versus new school. Then and now. Past Present. But despite the title, Revelation’s 150th release is actually a lesson in the contrary, effectively displaying the constant evolution that no arbitrary dichotomy could explain. Take the first track, for example, a cover of Warzone’s “As One” by Sick of It All. Is it a current band covering a defunct act? Well, yes, but the original was released in 1988, after Sick of it All had already been a band for two years. Not to mention that Warzone continued on well past any potential old-school milemarker until frontman Ray "Raybeez" Barbieri’s death in 1997. Next, Bold covers Supertouch. And at the end of the comp, Walter Schreifels (Gorilla Biscuits, Youth of Today, Quicksand, CIV, Rival Schools) covers Sick of It All. So in a way it kind of comes full circle, but