This album came out two decades ago. Here’s what I had to say about it back then (with some minor editing):
“This is who I am, and I can’t make it stop,” Sick Of It All vocalist Lou Koller barks on The Bland Within, the second track on his band’s sixth album. He isn’t just blowing smoke.
After more than a decade in the trenches, this seminal New York hardcore group have stuck to their guns, continuing to deliver the goods with an urgency and ferocity plenty of their contemporaries long ago lost. Yours Truly adheres to their game plan, blasting through 16 darkly explosive tracks in just over 38 minutes. The lyrics to songs like Blown Away, Hello Pricks, Disco Sucks F— Everything, Hands Tied Eyes Closed, Cry For Help and No Apologies will give you an idea where these guys are coming from — if the relentlessly pounding drums and chunky, snarling guitar lines don’t tell you everything you need to know. “We’re all black sheep and we know it,” admits Koller on Hello Pricks. We should all be so self-aware.
