After an extended gestation period, legendary underground music journalist and A&R man Mike Gitter’s xXx Fanzine (1983-1988) Hardcore & Punk in the Eighties is almost upon us — and the epic amalgamation of revolutionary history, hard-won contemporary wisdom, and vivifying sound promises to be well worth the wait.

“Over nearly four years the xXx book blossomed into something a lot more weighty than just a collection of re-printed interviews and reviews from a well-regarded 80’s hardcore zine,” Gitter tells Decibel of the tome which also brings in new interviews with “musical prime-movers” such as Ian MacKaye, Keith Morris and members of Agnostic Front, Bad Brains and Cro-Mags to provide added depth and context. “It became a snapshot of some seismic changes in underground music — everything from Black Flag’s creepy-crawl into the sounds of bands like the Melvins and Soundgarden, the punk-metal crossover, the straight-edge stomp of the youth crew to weighty personas like Rollins, Danzig, Mascis and Mould putting their footprints deep into the mainstream-to-come. Really, punk’s season of soul-searching.”

“[Nomads are] a great L.A. band that plays with passion and fury, [waving] the flag for a time when punk and hardcore were not mutually exclusive,” Gitter says.

Yet despite already locking down the “required reading” end of things, Gitter & Co. further sweeten the pot by tossing a crazy nineteen song covers comp into the mix featuring Tombs’ take on Samhain, American Nightmare knocking out a Cro-Mags jam, Shai Hulud channeling Raw Power, Voivod reinterpreting Die Kreuzen, and — exclusively streaming via Decibel Magazine — a revelatory melding of Crucifix’ “How, When, Where” and Agnostic Front’s “The Eliminator” courtesy Nomads. Cover art and official tracklisting for the Still Having Their Say Compilation can be found below.