It came out of nowhere in 1982, this punk rock/hardcore fireball with the bright yellow sleeve. In one sense, the ZERO BOYS' "Vicious Circle" was yet another example of how U.S.

punk seemed to peak coast to coast that year. But unlike most coastal punk, the ZERO BOYS were pointing the way to a scene that could accommodate heaping helpings of melody, intelligence, and rock'n'roll sus, not just turbo-charged ferocity.

From 1979 into '83, the Indianapolis based ZBs were the finest hardcore blitz in the Midwest if not all the lower 48 states.

Proof is "Vicious Circle" and the two decades since of copyists, bootleggers, practitioners and reunion concert pogoers.

Now, collected here and remastered from the original tapes is the proof, if more was needed, that their take of American hardcore wasn't all white bread numbers.

When the Ramones lost it, the Zero Boys found it; Adding a slam brigade fist to the Blitzkrieg Beat.

The Zero Boys managed to come with one of the best early 80's punk records, or one of the best records ever, period Between Vicious Circle and History Of, the entire recorded output of this legendary Midwest punk band's original line up is, finally, collected.

- culled from liner notes written by Jack Rabid and EricWeddle