Hard Attack 1972 Album

Dust

Probably the most fascinating thing about Dust is that, for a band that released a grand total of two albums, how they continue to generate far more interest some 40 to 50 years than when they actually existed as a functioning act. Hard Attack is the second of two LP’s, and generally, there’s not much difference between the two, although for this more gruffly-titled affair the band decided to stylistically stretch their wings a bit. Yes, there are sensitive things such as ballads, and country-tinged ones at that. But this is a Dust album, which means even when they play a country song, there’s a certain intensity that is missing from your average mom and pop country song. Therefore, the otherwise genteel “I’ve Been Thinkin” comes out like the prelude to a twisted suicide note. And speaking of those….This is the album which contains the mighty track “Suicide”, propelled by Marc Bell’s (later to be Marky Ramone) nasty drum work, running through a laundry list of ways to put down oneself in a desperate attempt to get a jilted lover’s attention. Maybe the sentiment is immature, but metal, punk, and hardcore fans alike can certainly unite over the defiant, middle-finger tone of this one, right? The other cited track is “Learning to Die”, which is on the progressive side of the street, but again, no less defiant in tone than “Suicide”. In fact, defiant and “screw-all” are the general themes of Hard Attack, even for the opening suite “Pull Away/So Many Times”, where the trio replicate their aggression with acoustics and just a lone electric guitar on top of it. The ballads might seem a bit out of place at first (“Thusly Spoken”, “I’ve Been Thinkin”, “How Many Horses”), but upon further listens they fit with the general melancholy of the affair. The guys in Dust seemed like lost kids searching for the next break or opportunity and all of these songs come off like great cries of frustration, in retrospect. In 2004, both the debut and Hard Attack were packaged together as a 2-for-1 CD, so that is probably the best way to experience everything this band had to offer.