Agnostic Front

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Agnostic Front are an American hardcore punk rock band from New York City. Formed by Vinnie Stigma and Roger Miret in 1982, at the dawn of the hardcore punk movement. They soon added Ray Barbieri and Adam Moochie to form the original line-up. Their debut EP, United Blood, was released in 1983 on an indie label. It is widely regarded as pure hardcore and lyrically charged and has since become a collector's item.

The follow-up was Victim in Pain (1984) and is now regarded as the band's best release. Dave Jones replaced Ray Barbieri on drums. The album pushed the band to the forefront of New York's fledgling hardcore scene, which was centered around CBGB's, where they played with bands like The Cro-Mags and Murphy's Law.

1986's Cause for Alarm was a difficult album to record, due to constant line-up changes and personnel problems. Released on Combat Records, Cause for Alarm added thrash metal influences, creating a new genre known as crossover thrash. Many of Agnostic Front's supporters considered the album a travesty and a sell-out, but it was hailed in other corners, and vastly expanded their audience.

With yet another new lineup, the band soon released Liberty & Justice in 1987. The hardcore scene had collapsed by this time, and the album featured stripped down punk with a lack of thrash influences. It was a failure compared to previous records. Sometime later, Miret was arrested on drug charges after releasing a live album, and spent his time in prison writing new songs while Stigma and the band toured Europe for the first time. The lyrics written by Miret formed most of 1992's One Voice,which featured members of Madball and Sick of it All. It sold poorly and signaled the end of the band's career. Their last concert was at CBGB's in 1993 "Last Warning." It was also released with "United Blood" E.P on the end of the record. Vinnie Stigma apparently remarked that he hated "Last Warning."

Stigma and Miret reformed Agnostic Front in 1997, signing to Epitaph Records and recruiting Jim Colletti on drums and Rob Kabula on bass. Their latest venture was titled "Somethings Gotta Give," although Miret announced in the UK the original title would be "Today, Tomorrow, Forever". In 1999, they followed up with "Riot, Riot Upstart" which was also hailed by critics. Their comeback albums have sold well and been mostly acclaimed by music critics for their pure hardcore/oi sound. In 2001 they released the album Dead Yuppies. Songs from this album were rarely played live, as the band considered it more a product of "Loved and Hated", Jim Colletti's side-project bands. In 2002, Miret worked on a side project band Roger Miret and the Disasters, looking for a sound akin to old school punk rock and Oi!.

Agnostic Front came out in 2005 with their latest album, Another Voice. The album was regarded mainly as a follow up to 'One Voice'. The album, however, did receive some criticism from fans and the press for apparently changing their music to fit the current wave of 'toughguy' bands. Musically, the album bears resemblance to bands that were heavily influenced by Agnostic Front such as Hatebreed. Miret's vocals on the album particularly seemed to turn off many less hardcore oriented fans.

On March 7th 2006, Agnostic Front will release their long-awaited DVD "Live at CBGB's". This follows the efforts of many bands to try and save CBGBs from shutting down.