4 out of 5

Label: Expert Work Records

Produced by: ?

Somewhere amongst the 500 bands Justin Nardy has participated in or shepherded in some way was Amputee Set, a Midwest slam of Big Black and Fugazi-isms that was fairly short-lived and kinda hard to track down, release-wise… at least for those of us not in town during their active years. (I actually was, but clearly didn’t know what I was missing.)

In 2003, two years after AS’s breakup, a reunion show occurred, and during a full discography runthrough, the group played one song that had been written previously but never recorded, and one new song; those “extra” tracks are presented here, as a one-off recording.

Knowing that these are live, and maybe never intended for physical release, should clue you in to some quality possibilities; that said, the group’s energy really overcomes those hurdles, and whether cleaned up after the fact or lucking in to a good set up, the music is surprisingly clean and punchy, with the rawness maybe helping out by implying / adding edge that might not’ve come across in a studio.

The new song is the better of the two: Mission of Burnham is beautiful stop-start, screamo fire, collecting a good decade of post-punk / post-rock and delivering. We’re All Born Dying, the back-up, feels slightly more generic; a bit forced for a unique riff that undermines some potential if the track had been a bit more straight forward.

Both quality songs overall, and convincing as a single to make one want to hear the rest of what Amputee Set had done prior.