Lieutenant-S/T

The debut album from Buffalo, New York’s Lieutenant comes after a long wait. With unfinished demos and pre-mastered CD-r’s floating around the better part of a decade, all loose ends were finally tied earlier this year to finally give the band’s self-titled LP the release it deserves. Featuring members spanning a number of Buffalo bands such as Lemuria, Running For Cover, To Hell And Back, and Resist Control, current (or is it former?) members of Lieutenant have mostly moved on to their respective labels, hence the three way collaboration on the LP pressing between Art Of The Underground, Peter Walkee, and Warm Bath.

Released in a limited edition run of 300 copies (100 on marbled vinyl for mailorder customers, the remaining 200 on black vinyl) with hand painted LP sleeves to boot, the time and work spent on this release is obvious. Lieutenant have a sound firmly rooted in early 2000’s hardcore punk, and rightfully so, because this is early 2000’s hardcore. With each side barely reaching the 8-minute mark, this record is barely a snapshot of what the tragically underrepresented Buffalo scene can produce. While vocalist Matto’s lyrics can at times be a little over the top and hard to keep up with, they certainly fit the rest of the music, and the DIY photocopied insert will help in all the right places. Despite the limited run of LPs, this little gem is somehow still available. Get it while the getting is good!