False Prophets

The False Prophets are doomed to always be referred to as a hardcore punk band, which they often were. However, at times they were also an aggressively political folk band, a hard-edged funk outfit, and a crack new wave band led by a prolific poet. Consider the title song from Invisible People, a passionate portrait of homelessness that begins with the line, "I have seen the promised land, but it's promised to someone else." The song is driven by acoustic guitars and violin, and anyone who has never heard it before will never guess it's from a hardcore act. On the other hand, about half this album is hardcore of an intelligent and musically inventive sort. Lead singer, songwriter, and arranger Stephan Ielpi drew on various musical roots to craft the False Prophets' sound, and whatever he may have come up with for any given song, there was always a memorable melody or two -- or even three. To say that this music stretched the limits of hardcore is to understate how diverse it all was -- this is hardcore as cabaret, complete with lyrical passages, a cappella sections, and song structures rivaling progressive rock dinosaurs. The only other band to ever make hardcore this interesting was the Minutemen, and that's good company for anyone. ~ Richard Foss, All Music Guide