Over The Edge compilations

Endless Fight Records didn't release a lot of records during its existence in the '90s, less than 20 releases. But some of those releases were pure gold. The original version of Overcast's 'Expectational Dilusion' (re-released on Edison), the Mayday 'Lost In Sabbath' 7" and the first Catharsis 7" among others. They also released 3 Over The Edge compilations, which I uploaded here.

The first release on Endless Fight, back in 1994, was also the first Over The Edge compilation, which features tracks from bands such as Shift, Overcast, Mayday, Dissolve and Converge. It also has a Jasta 14 track with Jamey from Hatebreed on vocals, the track is harder than the self-titled 7" (on which he doesn't sing), pretty decent stuff. Not all tracks here are up my alley (Malachi Krunch, Age Of Reason), but overall it's a pretty good compilation. The Frostbite track on here is amazing, but I've not been able to find more of their stuff unfortunately. Members of Frostbite went on to do time in Hatebreed, but this is way slower and has a definite '90s vibe. BTW, this is not the same Frostbite as the Wilkes-Barre one whose members went on to Cold World and War Hungry.

Over The Edge Vol. 2, released in 1995, is the best of the three in my opinion, it's almost as good as the East Coast Assault compilation I blogged about not too long ago, hehe... No but seriously, this one also ends up in my top 5 compilations of the '90s. It's got no filler tracks, every single song on here is great, at the very least. The track that stands out the most on here, to me, is Arise's song 'Graffilthy'. They had a unique and eerie style all of their own, with a singer whose voice went from shrill, almost crying, shrieks to guttural screams and back. A seriously amazing song. Other highlights include Catharsis, Backlash, Cross-Section, Dismay, altho like I said, no bad tracks here.... Great great stuff. It also features the first contributions from overseas bands, namely Lash Out from Norway and Divided We Fall from Japan. A compilation I played countless times and can still play and enjoy from start to finish.

The last installment, from 1997, is similar to the first one in that it is a mix of hits and misses. It's got an eclectic mix of styles, like on the previous OTE's. However, I feel this one has more misses than hits and it suffers as a whole. It's got some great stuff, like Die My Will, Southpaw, Denile, and Statecraft, but also some really bad songs such as Eastcide and Crossthread (the latter of which had some great stuff, just not on here). It also features a Dutch band, Guiding Line, I actually bought this comp through their drummer at a random show in Belgium we were both at. Never been into GL tho, heh, but it was nice to see a Dutch band on this CD nonetheless.

Over The Edge Vol. 1
Over The Edge Vol. 2
Over The Edge Vol. 3
Endless Fight Records website (or what's left of it)