Barely lasting long enough to record these songs, Rites of Spring laid the groundwork for decades of emo music. They did this by making a few decisive tweaks to DC hardcore, an inauspicious move at first that had endless ripple effects. First, the lyrics got more vague and replaced omnidirectional anger with inward looking doubt and anxiety. Second, the guitars introduced texture and winding melodies to the forward movement of hardcore. Guy Picciotto’s singing was a new kind of defeated sob, but it was indelible songs like the self-indicting “For Want Of” and searching “Deeper Than Inside” that made this record last.

The self-titled debut by Rites of Spring is one of those American underground artifacts that’s more often cited for its historical significance than celebrated for its musical brilliance. Yes, Rites of Spring is a key forerunner for what would come to be known as emo, the record that helped introduce future Fugazi members Guy Picciotto and Brendan Canty to the world, and the standout release in the unofficial D.C.-scene changing-of-the-guard known as Revolution Summer, which also birthed Ian MacKaye’s short-lived Embrace. But even isolated from the mythology, the songs themselves still burn white hot. On “Drink Deep,” Mike Fellows’ bass, Canty’s drums and the guitars of Picciotto and Eddie Janney — a late-period member of the Faith — conjure a swirling post-hardcore drone, as Picciotto howls out as though in the throes of some kind of spiritual awakening (“I believe in moments / Transparent moments / Moments in grace / When you’ve got to stake your faith”). On the masterful “For Want Of,” Janney’s searing melodic riffs heighten the urgency of Picciotto’s rueful unpacking of emotional turmoil (“But I woke up this morning / With a piece of past caught in my throat / And then I choked”). The whole record does in fact feel like a revolution, replacing hardcore’s red-faced rant with a kind of ragged existential plea. Punk rock has rarely felt so vulnerable, or so brave.