This is one of my favorite hardcore records of the 80's. Maybe that's because DYS was the first of the old Boston bands I heard, but I think Brotherhood is a classic. Mainly it's the youthful energy that I love about it - the feeling that I had when I first got into punk, like, "now I've finally found an escape from the boring teenage existence I was living in and the hostile society that doesn't accept me." Well, that's what I hear anyway...
"Wolfpack" has one of the best intros of any song, ever. Shit, the moment I hear that drumbeat, I automatically start nodding my head to the music. Sometimes, when I'm walking with a large group of people, I find myself humming the song ("Wolfpack! Don't give us any shit!" etc.). Pretty much everything here is good, though - except for the song at the end where they start talking about Excaliber and other weird stuff. Sure the music is simple, but I think it's interesting and original as well. The lyrics are also good - I don't consider myself straight edge, but "More Than Fashion" is the best argument for it I've come across ("I'd rather buy a record any day..."). Like the first Reagan Youth LP, Brotherhood has a unique guitar sound that wouldn't work on any other record, and Dave Smalley's voice is just cracking all over the place. It's awesome.
-CHRIS
A contagious masterpiece. DEPARTMENT OF YOUTH SERVICES ricochet outrageous doses of full horsepower across the cranium. Strong instrumentation provides an invincible attack of intense staggering speed, rawness, and momentum. An unrelenting, sustained guitar growls and whines, as crushing vocals lunge out notes of gnashing abrasive melodies. From Boston, the D.Y.S. rate high with the likes of S.S. DECONTROL and NEGATIVE F.X. A shimmering release.
-Pushead, from MRR #8, 1983
Compared to the other Boston bands, DYS has always seemed a bit inferior to me, at least as represented on this LP. Maybe it's the "experimental" songs at the end, maybe it's knowing how bad they would get on their next record, or maybe that it always sounds to me like he's saying "Snorkle Storm" instead of "Circle Storm" - I don't know. Certain songs on here are really over the top with that young white male insanity that fueled SSD and Negative FX. "Brotherhood," "Wolfpack," and a few other tracks here live up to the DYS legend. Others are either just less urgent or too sketchy. "The Girl's Got Limits," which could be read anywhere from horny teen venting to scary rape fantasy, is an example of the dumb machismo that reigned in Boston. The final tracks (which include a spoken word piece inspired by King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, a horrible Sabbath cover, some (hopefully) ad-libbed blues, and a pointless parody of Bad Brains dub songs) are so abysmal it isn't even funny.
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