Test Of Time - 'Inclusion'
Test of Time is an old dude straight edge band. Todd Pollock, the guy behind the photographs on your favorite records, sings and ships the merch.
The packaging for Inclusion, Test of Time’s debut demo/ full length, is simple and neat. It’s just a CD wrapped in a lyric sheet and put in a plastic sleeve. Apparently one of the CDs has a secret track entitling the purchaser to a free test pressing of the 7inch version.
On Inclusion, Test of Time play straight-up, super simple melodic hardcore. Inclusion is heavy and fast, but not so fast that the music or lyrics get garbled. The Internet says Test of Time are “classic” and “youth crew influenced”. I say Test of Time play hardcore the way hardcore is played when it is written by dudes who have outlasted a million trends and have the luxury of seeing through the bullshit.
My favorite song is the first full track, “Test of Time”. Mostly because I love when bands have songs named after the band and partly because I’m a sucker for hardcore songs about hardcore.
Lyrically, Test of Time aren’t just stoked on straight edge, they’re passionate about the edge. These dudes are in love with the edge. But they aren’t on the closed minds/ faux militancy trip and are able to write songs like “Open Doors”.
“Open Doors” isn’t a song most younger straight edge bands would have the guts the write— it’s about embracing the “straight edge round two” with “no questions asked”. “Open Doors” might be silly, but it’s sincere and says something nobody else is really saying.
As serious and heavy as Inclusion seems at first listen, it’s also super catchy and kind of silly and fun. I don’t know if this record is going to stand the test of time (shit, I’m clever), but right now, in this moment, I dig it.