Panic Strength In Solitude

Bridge Nine Records would have you believe that Panic was a highly influential and incredibly popular Boston act that left an enduring legacy of music in such high demand that it merited repackaging and reissuing. In reality, Panic was a pretty solid but hardly innovative hardcore band that fit neatly alongside all the other Boston hardcore bands of the early 2000's and only ever released about 18 minutes worth of material. They represented everything that was scenester chic at the time, from frontman Gibby's founding of the MySpace predecessor Makeoutclub to the Donnie Darko quote on the inside of their self-titled EP. Now they've reunited and released a new EP and Bridge 9 has repressed both of their EPs (alongside their original demo and one previously unreleased track) just in time for Panic fever to strike. I'm not trying to be a dick here, but Panic reuniting isn't particularly exciting, nor is this reissue. I already own both of these EPs on their own and it's incredibly rare that anyone really cares about hearing a hardcore band's demo. I guess since both EPs are technically out of print, it's not a bad deal, but both are still readily available from Amazon.com and I frequently see both at my local used store. In any case, they've been repackaged nicely into a single disc release and have been remastered, although I don't think they sound noticeably better. The problem is that if you're a fan of Panic, you've already got these records and the demo isn't enough to make it worth picking up; if Panic is new to you, there's probably a lot of other records you need a lot more than this one. The music itself has stood the test of an incredibly brief span of time well. It's not much of an accomplishment when you think of how many bands are still ripping this sound, but at least it's a testament to the songwriting. What always set Panic apart from their peers for me was Gibby's vocal style. Before Panic, Gibby was the singer for Boston street punk outfit The Trouble (whose material was also recently reissued by Bridge 9) and his vocal style stands out in both bands. Panic evolved a bit like fellow Bostonians American Nightmare over the course of their two EPs. The first material is a bit faster, shorter and more to the point, much like the material that has been (shock of shocks) reissued by Bridge 9 as the Give Up The Ghost: Year One cd. Their second EP was no lest fast or furious, but demonstrated a bit of stylistic growth and it's these songs that strike me as Panic's high point. There's even a cover of Unbroken's "Fall On Proverb" thrown in there for good measure. Lyircally, I've always been a bit torn on my opinion of Panic. Yet again, they are comparable to the lyrics of many of Panic's Massachusetts contemporaries, but Gibby had been writing this style as long as anyone and his utter rage sets him apart from the more manic depressive poetry of Wes Eisold or the often maniacal ravings of Jake Bannon. I personally don't connect as much with Panic's lyrics as I do with the aforementioned lyricists, but they are still uncommonly intelligent for a hardcore outfit. Bottom Line: I wouldn't have ever really called Panic's two EPs essential listening unless you were a huge fan of the Boston hardcore movement of the last ten years. Even then, Panic has always been a fairly marginal band in my mind and this release doesn't do much to change that. There were better hardcore bands playing at the time and there are better hardcore bands now. If you've worn out your American Nightmare and Carry On records and somehow missed the original Panic releases, this might be worth checking out. For me, they're more of a footnote in a chapter of hardcore history too recent to extensively revisit.