Big Cheese War

It's been five years since the Punishment Park record from Big Cheese was released. At the time, the band kept falling short to capture my attention. I thought they were okay, but it wasn't anything that had me excited. At the time I thought that there was a possibility that they would have potential for me at a later date, but at the time it just wasn't working for me.

A couple of years later, the band quietly released The People's War 7 inch. I don't remember hearing very much about it at the time, but I'm probably so disconnected from what's happening in the hardcore world, it's possible that I just missed the hype. Somehow I noticed that new 7 inch from Big Cheese and on a whim checked it out. The time was right, because I loved those three songs. I went back and listened to Punishment Park again, and that record immediately hit me. Yeah, I knew that this band had potential... I just needed to be in the right mindset for it. So good.

I put the oxblood colored vinyl of The People's War on my Discogs watch list at the time, and here we are over two years later when I noticed a US seller with a copy available. Even though it was priced a little high, I hadn't seen one listed for sale in a couple of years, so I didn't hesitate to add it to my cart. I'm glad to finally have this record in the collection.

Say Cheese

Earlier this year, there was a lot of hype around the newest Big Cheese record, Punishment Park. Triple B was pushing them hard and it seemed that everyone was onboard. I wasn't feeling it. I picked up their Don't Forget To Tell The World record at the end of 2019, but it failed to move me. I could see the potential, and Big Cheese played a style of hardcore that I love, but something about that first record just didn't click with me.

I had hopes that Punishment Park would be the record to sell me on the band. The album cover looked incredible, and I really wanted to like them, but I'm still up in the air on them. The songs are fast and powerful, but there just aren't any hooks that make me want to come back to it. Maybe it will take some repeat listens, and I'll appreciate it more as the year continues. We'll have wait and see.

300 pressed on orange vinyl.

Don't Forget To Tell The World

I'd never heard of Big Cheese until a couple months ago when I meet up with Marcus in Boston. While he was in town, he took a trip over to the Armageddon Shop, where he picked up their latest release from Painkiller Records. Initially I wasn't too interested, as I figured that Big Cheese was some obscure weird Nemesis or Conversion Records band from back in the day that I wasn't aware of...but once I learned that they were actually a new hardcore band, I figured that I'd quickly check them out.

I did a quick listen to Big Cheese on Spotify, and after a few songs, I was rushing to Discogs to see if I could grab a copy of the album for myself. The Don't Forget To Tell The World album is a compilation of the first Big Cheese 7 inch plus some other demo tracks, all neatly packaged by Painkiller and released last year. When Marcus mentioned that the colored vinyl sold out rather quickly, and I found a Discogs seller that was letting a copy go for a relatively great price, I jumped to get one for myself. Funny enough, Marcus bought his copy from the Armageddon Shop in Boston, and the Discogs seller that I grabbed my copy from turned out to be the Armageddon Shop in Providence.

I was on a streak with great new bands, and quickly jumped to pick up this Big Cheese record. It seemed like every new band I was discovering was fire, and I couldn't lose...but now that I have this Big Cheese record, and I'm giving it a closer listen, it is just okay. It doesn't really ignite that same fire that I felt when I quickly checked them out initially. I'm still interested to see what they deliver with their release on Triple B later this year, but right now, this one falls a bit flat.