I remember the sour review of their 7" in Heartattack (I think by Kent McClard himself). That fanzine (R.I.P.), however, shouldn't be held up as a benchmark for quality HC. I presume that they were put off by the "tough guy" imagery of the band. However, had they given the band a fair chance, I think they would have realized that True Blue (from Germany) didn't really fit the mold of that particular genre at all.
Their style was quite different from the bands that have since come to dominate the NYHC/mosh/tough guy style, like Terror, Born from Pain etc. True Blue's sound was a return to the sources, and in particular to one of the classics of that sub-genre, the "Age of Quarrel" record by the Cro-Mags. True Blue managed to capture the raw recording quality of the Demo version of "Agel of Quarrel", and mixed it wit the slow, heavy. menacing pace of The Icemen. I think I remember reading in an interview that they were inspired by that band, but after listening to their 7"s again, I can confidently say that they outdid their idols.
Also in terms of lyrics, True Blue was vastly more creative than a lot of their colleagues. Their lyrics don't follow the standard formulas of the genre; they don't glorify a (rather fictional) "us vs. them" feeling, but rather a feeling of "I against the rest of the world". The emotions that True Blue's lyrics conveyed were darker and more depressing, more genuine than the testosterone-fueled "anger" and "hate" of other bands in this genre.
I remember buying their demo tape and seeing them live. Since their style wasn't really the flavour of the month back in the late nineties, they received mix reactions. Their excellent performance at the Ieper Festival was received by the public in a rather cool, unenthusiastic manner. Nowadays, they would probably attract much larger crowds. I played this demo tape for hours on end, and absolutely adored it. One of the things that made True Blue great was that the band members were actually quite skilled musicians, yet were capable of not indulging in excessive, long metal riffs or other virtuoso shit; they had a sort of primordial edge that most of the newer bands miss. No pre-fab mosh parts, no 1000-man-gang choruses, none of that crowd-pleasing stuff or mock-heaviness. I still think that this is one of the best demos of the late 1990s, and wish that more bands would master this style in the way that True Blue did.
By the time, their 7" (on the Crucial Response label) was released I must confess that I was a little disappointed. True Blue hadn't really changed their sound, but somehow the production of that record just didn't appeal to me as much as that of the demo tape. Still, it is a solid record.
The band broke up and their demo is long gone. Apparently, their singer is re-releasing the Demo tape on his Reaper Records label; this time as a 7". Check it out.
