To celebrate the release of Sick of it All’s awesome new album, Based on a True Story, we asked SOIA vocalist Lou Koller to compile the definitive list of quintessential hardcore albums. Luckily for us and all of you, he agreed! So we’ll be running one entry a day from Lou’s list of the top-ten (+1) hardcore records of all time for the next couple of weeks. You can read his first installment here, his second installment here, and his third installment here; the fourth one is after the jump…

Snapcase, Progression Through Unlearning

The early and mid-nineties is when hardcore once again went through a change. Younger bands were not only taking from their roots in the punk/hardcore scene, but branching out into other musical influences. And no one did it better than Snapcase. They were ahead of the pack – you could tell from their early recordings, like Looking Glass Self and the Steps EP, that they were onto something different. It was when Progression Through Unlearning came out, though, that these new influences really showed – and Snapcase set the bar high! The mid-tempo crushing sound they’d had in the past was perfected here, and the Helmet-like rhythms and time changes they mixed-in fit perfectly. Many people point at The Refused’s seminal album The Shape of Punk to Come as the new innovation in hardcore, but they seem to forget: The Refused always followed what Snapcase did first. And yes, Progression came out a year before Shape of Punk did. Snapcase’s influence is far and wide, from the new generation of hardcore bands to some of the big boys like the Deftones. A must-have album.

Later,

Lou

Based on a True Story is out now on Century Media. Visit Sick of it All on MySpace for tour dates and all the latest news from th