Although not quite the cultural turning point of Run — DMC’s collaboration with Aerosmith, Pailhead’s two records (1988’s “I Will Refuse” and Trait) do mark an historic genre conjunction. By the late ’80s, hardcore and industrial were ripe for merger, and two preeminent icons — Ian MacKaye (frenetic vocalist of Minor Threat and Fugazi) and Ministry’s Al Jourgensen/Paul Barker axis — were ready to make the move.
“I Will Refuse” (included, with its flipside, on the Trait CD) is positively explosive, repeatedly escalating from funk-industrial verses to a screamingly defiant hardcore-tempo chorus with thrashing guitars. The more seamless mixture of Trait‘s four songs integrate the passion and three-chord thrust of punk with advanced electronics, a sound subsequently employed by Ministry and Lard, the Jourgensen/Barker collaboration with another hardcore legend, Jello Biafra.