A 32-track career-spanning compilation marking Italian hardcore outfit
Raw Power's 25th anniversary,
The Hit List is a well-chosen overview of an underrated band's work. Starting with the very early minute-long noise blast "Raw Power" (it might well be the
Iggy Pop song they stole their band name from, but it's so lyrically unintelligible and musically blurred that it's hard to tell if it's supposed to be or not) and proceeding through the highlights of a dozen albums and EPs,
The Hit List is straightforward faster-and-louder hardcore in the classic southern California style, with no metal or pop elements and little wasted space in the tight 90- to 120-second hyperspeed arrangements. Singer Mauro Codeluppi's heavily accented vocals occasionally mask the lyrics, but titles like "Fuck Authority" and "State Oppression" tell the whole story. Fans of
D.O.A. (whose Joey Shithead released this compilation on his own Sudden Death label),
Agnostic Front, or early
Black Flag will understand. ~ Stewart Mason