The tapes that the album were remastered from were discovered by Ian MacKaye as he was organizing Dischord's collection.

The first 20 tracks were recorded in November 1981 at Hit and Run Studios in Rockville, Maryland and were used by the band as a demo tape.

The final two tracks are live recordings of the band during the end stages of their existence in late 1983.

MetalSucks reviewer Mike Gitter declared it the reissue of the year, remarking that it was "[t]he sound of music being played with such fury that it falls apart only to put itself back together on the next song some 30 seconds later.

"[2] Meanwhile, Pitchfork's review was also quite positive, but somewhat more subdued; feeling that the recordings were not as good as those from their split and that the release removed some of the band's mystery.