Land of the Lost/Rabid Reaction

Land of the Lost/Rabid Reaction compiles the first two albums by Boston's the Freeze, a minor post-hardcore punk outfit of the early to mid-'80s. Originally released on Modern Method Records, a short-lived label owned by the Boston punk record store Newbury Comics (and reissued once before in the early '90s on Taang!), 1984's Land of the Lost and 1985's Rabid Reaction are southern California-style hardcore punk cut with a little of the poppier elements of Hüsker Dü, the Replacements, and the other great Minneapolis bands of the same period. Most of the songs, nearly all of them under two minutes, mix social commentary lyrics with tough, trebly guitar riffs that often resolve into surprisingly tuneful shout-along choruses. It's solid, workmanlike punk rock, neither as annoyingly one-note as many similar bands nor blessed with particularly outstanding tunes or performances, making the reissue mostly of interest to Bostonians with fond memories of the band's local gigs and scholars of '80s indie punk. This reissue also includes the entirety of the Guilty Face EP from 1984, the Freeze's first Modern Method release.