Killing Time

	Two Steps Back The Story of Killing Time.
	"The Method", Killing Time's final recording, is a masterpiece of New York Hardcore. Their growth as songwriters takes Hardcore from "in your face" to "inside your head". The album pounds away at your ears. It never lets up in a straight ahead hardcore fashion while smart bass licks and clever guitar runs sneak in and out of the main riffs, filling in the gaps that most other bands fall into. The lyrics and their delivery bring something new to the genre. They ask questions, they accuse. They reach out for hope and admit defeat. Killing Time has mastered the method of writing hardcore songs of substance. It's the best record that you never heard, but that is the end of the story. Let's go back to the beginning.
Killing Time was formed in 1988 when the band Breakdown split in two. Breakdown had released their famous 1987 demo a year earlier, pushing the sound of New York Hardcore away from its punk roots to a heavier, more mosh driven assault. Some would say that Breakdown was the first of the "tough guy" Hardcore bands that would dominate the scene for the next decade. Their demo became a blueprint for young hardcore bands just starting out, showing how to keep it simple, heavy, and in your face. Breakdown's influence is still heard today in many up and coming young hardcore bands.
A little over a year of Breakdown's existence, internal conflicts caused the band to split. While singer Jeff Perlin and guitarist Don Angelilli kept the name and continued as Breakdown with a new rhythm section, guitarist Carl Porcaro, bassist Rich McLoughlin and drummer Anthony Drago broke off to form a new band, which they called Raw Deal.
Raw Deal's search for a singer was quickly ended when ex-Token Entry vocalist Anthony Comunale agreed to join. He brought his friend Mike Sentkiewitz (formally of The New York Hoods, Sick Of It All) to play second guitar and the band got right to work writing new material that would keep the essence of the Breakdown style, yet take it further.
Raw Deal's 1988 demo was an instant classic with the new breed of young and disenchanted hardcore kids. Lyrics such as "Sick of all your faces/stick of all your lies/Sick of getting pressured into things that I despise" from "No More Mr. Nice Guy" were shouted out like battle cries from the crowds at their explosive live shows at CBGB's Hardcore Matinees. "Wall of Hate", "My Reason", and "Telltale" are other songs off the demo that gained them the reputation of being one of the heaviest and truest sounding New York Hardcore Bands. They kept it raw, but were able to add tricky melodic riffs and insightful lyrics.