Cinderblock Breathe The Fire

While the average person might think of Buffalo, NY, for its frigid winters and its contributions to the world of professional football, the initiated know Buffalo best for its outsized role in hardcore’s history. The city has produced more than its fair share of genre-defining acts, not least of which was the criminally short-lived, under-documented, and wildly innovative Cinderblock, whose members would go on to such legendary bands as Snapcase, Buried Alive, Earth Crisis, Terror, and more. Thirty years after their initial existence, Cinderblock has reconvened in order to commit their music to vinyl for the first time. Breathe The Fire is a collection of six songs originally conceived in the early ’90s, re-recorded by the band with accomplished producer Jay Zubricky at the helm. With tight grooves, adept melodic sensibilities, and a pummeling heaviness that presaged nearly the entire breadth of ’90s hardcore, the record is a critical document of one of hardcore’s most exciting and transitional periods. It’s not often that a band is afforded the opportunity to retroactively cement their legacy as pioneers, but Cinderblock has more than earned that right, and Breathe The Fire firmly cements their long overdue place in the hardcore canon.