Dead Heat Elimination

When I was in the Metal Blade shop picking up the new Armored Saint, I was surprised to see that they had a new Dead Heat album for sale as well. I mean, I know that I haven't been paying attention to discover new releases, but still, I thought that I might have heard along the way that Dead Heat had a new album out last year.

The new Dead Heat was an instant buy for me. I didn't bother to preview the album first... nope, just drop it in the cart and check out. Shortly after making my purchase, I queued the album up on Spotify, and my first thought was that maybe I'd made a mistake in jumping to buy it so quick. That initial listen was very underwhelming. It felt flat and lifeless and I regretted buying it. I didn't bother to listen to it again, and the record has been sitting untouched in a pile of new vinyl for the past two months. I figured that I'd give it a spin this week, so that I could write about it here and move on... but you know what... this record is actually great! I don't know what my problem was when I heard this back in March, but I'm so glad that it is clicking for me now.

I've previously compared past Dead Heat records to the crossover style of Suicidal Tendencies album Join The Army, but listening to Process Of Elimination right now, all I hear is straight up thrash. Had I picked this up last year when it was released, it would have easily made my Best Of 2025 list. This album rips.

Armored Factory Reset

I'm not gonna lie... it has been a bit of a struggle with new metal records this year. Hell, it feels like it's been a slow year for new music in general... but for metal especially. Here we are now seven months deep into 2026 and this is only my second new metal release that I've picked up. Has the year really been this dry, or am I just stuck in the past listening to old 90's hardcore records and not doing my homework on new shit? Whatever it is, there was no way that I was going to let a new Armored Saint album slip by me.

I know that I can always count on Armored Saint. They do what they do and they deliver every time without fail. Traditional metal fired straight down the barrel and it always hits the target for me. They have been releasing an album every five years or so since 2010, so it was good to see a new Saint album, Emotion Factory Reset land this year.

Man, John Bush doesn't age, and his voice still sounds strong on this latest record. It always amazes me when bands that were releasing their classic albums back in the 80's, can still release something as fresh and as exciting as this so many years down the road. Respect.

Parting The Sea

Touche Amore are a band that I've wanted to get into, but they just never clicked. I initially heard them described as having that 90's emo sound (which I love), but when I checked them out back in 2011, I didn't hear it and quickly moved on. I know that my blogger bud, Doug, was really into them at the time... but I didn't get it... and in recent years, I've heard a Touche Amore song here and there in my brother's car, and while I thought it was interesting, I never followed up to check them out beyond that... but when my good friend, Alex, sent me a link to the song ~, telling me to check it out, I was immediately hooked. Maybe the time was right, or maybe her recommendation meant more... or maybe it was both... but it didn't take me long to dive straight into the full album of Parting The Sea Between Brightness And Me.

While I didn't really hear that 90's emo sound when I first checked out, looking back at Doug's post were he describes them as "the emotion and angst of the 1995 Ebullition catalog, combine it with a modern hardcore sound and recording quality, and there you have it". He kind of nails it, and I was an idiot for waiting until 2026 to finally get into this band.

Initially, I was thinking this was a good record, but the more I listen to it the more I liked it and it finally got to a point where I knew I needed the vinyl. As I was looking at Discogs to see what I could pick up for the album, I noticed there was a Deluxe Edition option listed amongst all of the other colored vinyl versions. There weren't a lot of photos listed, and I couldn't truly make out what this package looked like... so I had to order one to find out.

This record comes packaged in a nice hardcover book format with some pages of arty photos. It's all really well done, and kind of a cool version to own... but now I can't stop thinking that it would be cool to have a colored vinyl version with the regular cover as well.

See It Through

Somewhere along the way, I saw that New Age was going to be releasing a record from a new band called See It Through. I was hot on New Age a few years ago, but then they suddenly just dropped off my radar. I really liked the Decline record they released back in 2022, but after that... I basically just stopped caring. Nothing the label was releasing seemed interesting enough for me to even check out a song, and I stopped paying attention altogether. When I saw the cover for the new See It Through 7 inch, however, suddenly I found myself curious.

The cover for the Together We Can 7 inch looks like a Mindset record... the red line across the top, the thick block letters for the band name, the live shot... just move the Together We Can text up under the band name and make it red, and it is a nice rip of the Leave No Doubt LP. Hey, if that was the intent, it worked and caught my attention because I rush out to listen to these songs.

It's gonna suprise no one that I'm all about this record. Great straight forward hardcore that reminds me of the glory days of this blog in the early 2010's when bands like Stick Together and Outlast were releasing records and I was buying multiple copies of everything. The vibe that See Through It bring on this record just matches those times for me, so I'm here for it.

100 pressed on transparent blue vinyl.

Vinyl Of The Demon

Pulling another New Wave Of British Heavy Metal record from Tim's collection.

Demon are a strange fit in the NWOBHM as their debut, Night Of The Demon, feels a bit dated for its 1981 release. It feels like it crawled out of the mid 70's and fits better alongside more straight forward rock bands like Kiss, instead of the frantic energy of Iron Maiden and Raven... and because of this I kind of dismiss them and rarely take them out for a spin these days.

I do still really dig the first two Demon albums (even though I tend to enjoy The Unexpected Guest quite a bit more), so when Jeff quoted me a price for Night Of The Demon I figured that I might as well add it to the collection.

How Soon Is Now

My collection for The Smiths consisted only of their two compilations, Hatful Of Hollow and Louder Than Bombs. While I was happy to pick up those two comps, it kind of triggered me to enterain the thought of collecting singles for The Smiths... and I feel like that could be a dangerous road to start down. Still, when the opportunity landed in my lap to pick up a couple of singles, I didn't hesitate to grab them.

My friend Jeff had another batch of records from Tim's collection earlier this year, and my interest was piqued when he said there were a couple of singles from The Smiths in there. He immediately tried to discourage me from the 12 inch single of William, It Was Really Nothing by telling me that it was probably too expensive for my taste. Don't fucking challenge me like that because it will just make me want to prove you wrong.

The German pressing for the William single was on colored vinyl, and apparently it carries a price tag a little higher than the other versions. If I was on the hunt myself for the single, I would have gone for the original UK press, but with the colored vinyl option staring me in the face... I couldn't resist paying the extra money for it.

For the Shoplifters Of The World Unite single I ended up with the UK press, but looking at the colored vinyl German press on Discogs now... damn, it would be nice to have either the pink or the green one to compliment my William single. Fuck. I can't start thinking like this.

Man, I love the six songs on these two singles so much. It's funny how a few years ago I would have told you that I hated The Smiths, and now after writing the post, I know that this is going to be the only thing that I'll be listening to for the rest of the day.

Purity

It has been a while since I dipped into more of the records that I've picked up from Tim's collection. It took some time for Jeff to prep the next batch of records he was selling from the collection, and then I put stuff on hold with him and didn't rush to pay for it and pick it up... but I've got a little stack here now, so let's start to chip away at them.

I really love New Model Army. When I listen to them, I feel like they are all I want to listen to... but then I'll get distracted and for some reason I don't get back to them for months and months. I really only listen to the first few NMA records, but recently I've been feeling the urge to pick up the next one in line, their 1990 album Impurity. As a bonus push to get me to check out that album, I ended up getting the Purity 12 inch single handed to me earlier this year.

This record came from Tim's collection and since Jeff introduced New Model Army to me back in the early 90's, he felt that I should take this piece of vinyl at no cost and just handed it to me.

The single contains the song Purity from the album, plus two songs, Curse and No Sense, that were exclusive to the b side here. I've been having a lot of fun with these songs, and the Impurity album is proving to be great as well. Going to need the vinyl for that one soon as well. Shame that Tim's collection didn't have one available. Guess I'll have to do some work to find a copy myself.