When you read about, or hear talk of “Spirit-filled hardcore,” this is what they’re talking about. Where were you when you first heard Strongarm? Do you remember? For me, I think it was on the first Helpless Amongst Friends compilation. I was blown away by so much on that comp. The raw aggression. The lyrical strength and (what seemed like) commitment to the Lord. There was a passion behind the music and the lyrics that deeply resonated with me as a young 20-something in the 1990s.
I had the chance to see this line-up of Strongarm live once. I was home from college for the summer, and they played a Christian club in Oklahoma City with a few metal bands. It was a great show. Shortly afterwards, the band line-up changed, and they released a follow-up album in a different style of hardcore, but with the same lyrical passion and emphasis.
Not long after that, the band broke up. Well, sort of. Four-fifths of the band carried on as Further Seems Forever in yet another style, this time a melodic form of emo that somehow kept a progressive tendency and a lyrical passion that, while it wasn’t as ‘in-your-face’ still packed a punch.
But for my tastes, you can’t beat that first Strongarm album, Atonement. Along with Unashamed, Focused, Six Feet Deep, and No Innocent Victim, they were the true essence of “Spirit-filled hardcore.”
I saw Strongarm open for Focused and Unashamed – i think it was on one of the Tooth and Nail Tours in 94. Strongarm hadn’t released Atonement yet, they were promoting a cassette they had self-released called “There Times That Try Men’s Souls”. They were amazing and really nice guys too.
That’s awesome! I saw Focused and Unashamed together on a T&N weekend in Bartlesville OK (along with Plankeye, Starflyer 59, Chatterbox, and Mr Bishop’s Fist) , but didn’t see Strongarm until later during the Atonement era.