Torn Apart - Extermination 7"

To start my series of album reviews, why not start with my favorite album of all time. Torn apart was a Straightedge Hardcore band from Baltimore Maryland. This is there first 7" record, but there may have been a demo tape before this. This 7", Extermination, was released by Life Sentence Records in 1995. I contacted the singer, Brett Burnham, for a quote on this album, but he did not get back to me sadly (He is now a tattoo artist and father still in baltimore, check out his instagram). Torn Apart fit into the xLSRx roster perfectly, incorporating metal influences with a hard and angry traditional hardcore style. One thing that did set them apart from the rest of the xLSRx roster was the fact that they were very vocal about animal rights, especially in their song Defenseless (see lyrics bellow). Although Torn Apart released more music after this 7", this will always be my favorite of their catalog. I will upload some of their other releases later.

"The cover of the Extermination 7in is the show we played with Excessive Force/VOD. Brett had an "X" on his hand because we were playing a show at a bar and he was underage. I definitely remember telling him not to use that picture because it'll come off as a "sxe" thing. Devon wanted to use a picture of him with a "drug free" shirt too, not caring if it pegged us as a "sxe" band. I wasn't into categorizing the band. I lost that battle. 
But luckily that was about as far as the bickering/disagreement went as far as the "sxe" stuff." 

-Drew Lamond (Torn Apart Guitarist)

PRESSING INFO

Test Pressing(Black)

Black Vinyl

-1st press has black labels

-2nd press has blue labels

^Explanation from Dan Gump, the man behind xLSRx

Red Translucent Vinyl

Yellow Translucent Vinyl

*Examples of all below*

I have also found some interesting differences between the lyric/thank you inserts included with this 7"

Here is the version that I found scanned on Discogs:

 Here is the version that was included on my own personal 2nd pressing black:

Here is the Strangest one; These came with one of my red pressings. This is two separate pieces of paper (I scanned them together). 

The Lyric sheet is hand cut with scissors and the thank you sheet is a full piece of printer paper folded into quarters to fit into the 7" sleeve

Thanks for reading!

Digital download: Torn Apart - Extermination 7"

To look for original copies for sale, click here.

Thank you to Greg from Russia and Troy from SLC for the photos.