I first heard CRIMINAL CODE in Seattle, they opened the NO STATIK/MARTYRDÖD show and I was suitably impressed. Driving and urgent punk, but drenched in flanged '80s guitars, like ADOLESCENTS gone hopelessly goth and awkwardly reigned in, I thought. And I liked it. I bought a tape, figuring that the 3$ investment would bring boundless enjoyment to my ears...but it was blank. I saw them again in SF a few months later, sharing the stage with the equally awesome BIG CRUX - CRIMINAL CODE had a new drummer (a Reno denizen) who suited their style even better, and who played a less laid back and more ferocious role in the band, and all of a sudden I heard HÜSKER DÜ in their songs and I liked them even more. I bought their new EP and a second copy of the demo. The EP was good, but the demo...was blank. So naturally it was with much hesitation that I pressed play on this second cassette release, but thankfully my ears were rewarded by the leap of faith taken by my digits, and I was greeted with analog versions of the sounds that made me dig this band in the first place (and the second, for that matter) - call it shoegazing punk gone hardcore, or EFFIGIES and ARTICLES OF FAITH gone new wave, but these jams are a perfect combination of many of the styles that personified my adolescence and they are delivered with gusto. I eagerly await their forthcoming 12" slab, but let this blast tide you over.
Courtesy of the fine fellows in CRIMINAL CODE, here is their first demo which I have dutifully downloaded and then taped onto my previously purchased blank cassette for enjoyment during a future time when computers are understood to be the enemy to the world that they really are.
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