DC's very own Bad Brains have always been one of my favorites, if not my favorite, of the city's early hardcore scene (sorry Minor Threat). Their self-titled debut is about as fiery and fast, yet as skilled as early '80s hardcore could get. This album, while more melodic, slower, and metal adjacent (I guess sort of post-hardcore in many ways), I've always appreciated for completely different reasons. 'I Against I' is one of the band's best songs and sort of harkens back to their more straightforward DC hardcore sounds (with the structure almost mirroring that of 'Banned in DC'). While a song like 'Let Me Help' has a lot of the guitar work you'd expect out of '80s metal, especially with that guitar solo, but again, with a larger appreciation for vocal melody. Songs like 'She's Calling You' and 'Secret 77' are sort of funky as well - with these prominent basslines; these remind me a lot of what Fishbone was doing around this time. And while they tone down the straight-up reggae cuts on this album, their appreciation for the Rastifarian culture is still put on display on a few of the songs here, especially on 'House of Suffering' So yeah, I really enjoyed this, maybe not as much as their straight hardcore debut, but it's a solid switch-up nevertheless.