Best Wishes is the second album by the New York hardcore band Cro-Mags. It was released on April 26, 1989 via Profile Records and was subsequently re-released via Another Planet – along with the band's debut album, The Age of Quarrel, on the same disc.
The album's cover reflected the band's interest in the Hare Krishna religion which started with previous singer John Joseph and then carried on through Harley Flanagan who also became a devotee. Their next album, Alpha Omega, saw the return of John Joseph to the Cro-Mags fold, and an even further gravitation towards a metal sound.
Overview
After the short, sharp bursts of song encountered on their previous album, 1986's The Age of Quarrel, this album saw a complete change of style as Cro-Mags entered the crossover thrash and thrash metal arena, complete with guitar solos. The songs also became longer – averaging around four minutes, whereas over half of Quarrel's songs came in under the two-minute mark. There were two line-up changes from the previous album – most notably, John Joseph's departure paved the way for Harley Flanagan to take up both bass and vocal duties. According to guitarist Parris Mayhew:
″The songs that made it infinitely apparent John couldn't do it were 'The Only One', and 'Death Camps' (all lyrics Harley wrote) you could hear and see that John was holding back vocally, struggling with melody and rhythm, mumbling quietly into the microphone instead of singing, while we blasted out these new songs. He was making excuses that our massive PA system wasn't loud enough to hear him when it was just that he was hiding, stalling and making excuses for his inability to find a melody...John was simply a bully and a jerk and his problematic uncooperative pose was getting old. I told him 'the band is moving on without you.' It was that simple.″[1]
Flanagan's was a very different vocal style and it further juxtaposed the band's image from straightout hardcore punk to a more metal sound. Another change was Pete Hines coming in on drums.
"What would Lemmy Kilmister and Motörhead have sounded like if they'd been influenced by the Hare Krishna sect and the beliefs of Hinduism? They might have sounded like New York's unorthodox thrash metal/punk outfit the Cro-Mags, whose Best Wishes rocks ferociously while expressing a very Hindu viewpoint. The CD's cover contains some distinctly Indian art, and songs like 'Age of Quarrel,' 'Crush the Demoniac,' and 'Days of Confusion' were clearly inspired by the Bhagavad-Gita and other Hindu scriptures. The New Yorkers may see the violent, chaotic world around them as a living hell, but their overall message is one of hope and optimism. The Cro-Mags do see better days ahead—even if one has to go through various reincarnations in order to find them. Of course, a headbanger doesn't have to embrace Hinduism in order to appreciate Best Wishes—whatever one's spiritual beliefs, this is a band that rocks without hesitation."[3]
Writing for The Pensive Quill, Christopher Owens summed the record up as "...a perfect example of crossover done correctly. It's heavy enough to appeal to the hi-tops brigade, but still retains the aggression and intensity of hardcore."[4]
