On September 2 Sell The Heart Records and Brick & Mortar Music will be releasing a full-length anthology for the short-lived but fantastic East Bay punk band, Hopelifter.  Combining  their two EPs The Anthem EP and North of the Thirty-Six, Anthemology captures the raw but carefully crafted catalog that the band put together in their 18-month span as a band.

 The band enlisted Andy Ernst (Green Day, AFI) to remaster his original recordings, and Monica Schlaug, graphic artist for The Anthem EP, to redesign album art that represents both titles. The resulting rediscovery is of a lost but valid musical message, carved in the language of punk rock, floating adrift for more than two decades, finally recovered and injected into your ears. It’s perhaps the finest hardcore album you’ve never heard. Enjoy.

Hopelifter came and went in a flash. Fronted by vocalist Andrew Champion (Screw 32, Dance Hall Crashers), the Santa Cruz-based band blended an expert interpretation of West Coast skate-rock, East Coast hardcore, and post punk—the collective mix delivered with ferocity and urgency over blitz-speed blast beats, harmonies, and innovative guitar work

No ProTools, AutoTune, click tracks, loops, samples, or effects were employed by the band while creating their short-lived magic. Anthem was recorded and mixed in two days, just three weeks after Andrew‘s first practice. With a buzz brewing, Hopelifter quickly rehearsed North of the 36, tracking that batch of songs one month later. The band then jumped in the van for a seemingly endless nationwide tour, relentlessly performing every night of the entire Summer and Fall—at grand music halls with the likes of Strung Out and The Experience, or in Jersey basements, or at an abandoned elementary school in rural Illinois. Each show was a celebration of punk rock’s unifying forces.

Order Anthemology here.