The first thing I noticed when pulling this CD out of the tray, was that it was one of those full size compact discs that only uses three inches in the middle. The outer ring of the disc was clear plastic. The image screened onto the disc looked pretty menacing with the clear background. I also noticed that the band used the CrimethInc bullet logo.
Only three of the twelve tracks on this CD clock in at over the two minute mark. All told, this entire recording lasts a little over eighteen minutes. Colin of Arabia keeps it fast paced, for sure. This album has really really poor audio quality, thanks to the guitar & bass tone, which sounds muddy. The snare drum is really loud, but you cant really hear the rest of the drum kit. "Illegal Exhibitions of Speed" has the kid of sound normally associated with a demo rather than a release with snazzy layout and a record label's logo on the back. At times the low quality of the recording interfered with my capability to pay attention to the music itself. I understand that in punk rock there is a certain level of overlooking sound quality for content, but this sounds like it was taped on a Fisher Price cassette recorder.
Colin of Arabia reminds me of a lot of bands. They play fast hardcore punk. Sometimes a noisy part or a moshy breakdown is thrown in to keep it from being a blur of guitar and screaming. The intro track has a guitar solo that brings Warzone to mind, and several of the songs seem to recall Cro-Mags. At times there are short guitar parts reminiscent of Greg Ginn's work on "My War." The vocals are all over the place: sometimes it's screams, other times it's barks. The singing part of the track "Ordinary Guy" is one of the most annoying things I have ever heard put to compact disc. I can't tell if that was intentional or not. Most of the lyrics cover pretty run-of-the-mill hardcore topics (frustration with life, being pissed off, loss of hope, etc.), but the last track caught my attention. I was a little surprised to see an anti-war song on an album like this, as the rest of the songs don't seem openly political in nature. They pull off a solid cover of Slapshot's "Day My Thought's Turned to Murder", which is a unique choice. This is the only Slapshot cover I have been aware of from their 1994 LP "Unconsciousness." (That album was actually recorded by the legendary audiophile Steve Albini. His albums sound awesome, unlike this one.)
This is a pretty average hardcore release. I wouldn't spend my time hunting it down or anything, but if you're into tuff fast hardcore, "Illegal Exhibitions of Speed" isn't too bad.
