For anyone who wasn’t on hand to witness it the first time, Virulence might just seem like a couple kids screwing around with SST worship West Coast hardcore. So aside maybe from Greg Anderson having dug them way back in the mysterious period of history known as the “mid-‘80s,” what’s the deal with Southern Lord releasing the compilation If This Isn’t a Dream… 1985-1989 now?

The deal is that Virulence, aside from rolling in at the tail end of their scene’s golden age, were the direct predecessor of Fu Manchu, featuring original Fu members Scott Hill, Greg McCaughey, Mark Abshire and Ruben Romano (the latter two who would also go on to Nebula) as well as vocalist Ken Pucci, who according to the extensive liner notes included with the CD, went to college. He now has a new group with Abshire called No More Saints. For those who haven’t heard the band — talking about Virulence — their sound took the raucous hardcore of Black Flag and wound up blending it with thicker tones, particularly in the guitar, and spreading it out over tracks both extended and not. By the end of their short time together, it was pretty clear they were progressing past their simplistic, innocent beginnings into a different kind of band entirely.

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