Boy Sets Top Five

Another music project with Marcus had me running to Discogs to pick up more vinyl. This time around we decided that it might be fun to review the entire Victory Records catalog and put together a list of our top five albums.

This one was really cool to do, particularly because I'd kind of written off Victory in recent years, and I'd forgotten just how important that label was for me through the 90's... hell, I'd forgotten that certain albums were even released on Victory... so it was fun to spend a month reviewing the catalog and trying to narrow down my top five.

When I started reviewing all the Victory albums, I'd forgotten that the Boy Sets Fire record After The Eulogy was on that label. When I initially started thinking about my top five, this album wasn't even on my mind. However, after revisiting and listening to it for this project, the memories came flooding back and I remembered just how important this record was for me back in the day. I saw the band live a few times after this album came out and the way that I would lose my shit when they would play that opening title track... holy fuck... WHERE'S YOUR ANGER WHERE'S YOUR FUCKING RAGE... dude, as soon as I heard that song for this project, I knew that I needed to give After The Eulogy a special mention. Since it was making the list, I obviously needed to finally add the vinyl to my collection.

Below is my top five, that may or may not have changed since Marcus and I discussed it a few months ago.

1. Reach The Sky - So Far From Home

2. Snapcase - Lookinglasself

3. Strife - One Truth

4. Cast Iron Hike - Watch It Burn

5. Deadguy - Fixation On A Coworker

(runner up) Boy Sets Fire - After The Eulogy

Seems that lately every record that I rediscover and want to pick up is difficult to find for sale or listed for a stupid price. Thankfully this first press white vinyl copy was available for price that made sense to me.

Lament Journey

The music project that I did with Marcus this summer, where we ranked the first five Initial Records 7 inches, was such a fun time and inspired great conversation. There were a few great 7 inches there that I'd never heard of, and I had a blast digging in and finding those long lost treasures. During the discussion, Marcus mentioned that I should really check out what Inner Journey Records was doing at that time as well. I took a quick look and there were a number of bands and records there that I'd never checked out. I had a new homework assignment and set off to download the songs and get them into my iTunes.

The first five Inner Journey 7 inches have been fun to explore. It's funny how I missed every single one of those releases at the time, and that I've gone this long with ever hearing them (with the exception of the Clutch 7 inch that Marcus had me check out a few years ago). Even in those early hardcore days though, I don't see that I would have taken a chance on the Lament 7 inch. I was putting some distance between myself and metal in the early 90's, and that cover of the three faces would have just seemed too "metal" to catch my interest. The songs though, holy shit, this is such a great record.

I don't know who to compare this to. At times it makes me think of early Endpoint, but Lament have more groove and style to their songs which makes me think more of Leeway. Out of all the Inner Journey 7 inches, I've listened to Lament more than any others, so I was happy to find this pink vinyl at a decent price. Some of these Inner Journey records don't appear to be easily available, so I was happy to snatch this one.

I've got to keep my eyes open for more of these Inner Journey records.

Metal Church Rights

When Metal Church pulled in another singer after Mike Howe's death in 2021, I was a bit hesitant. I loved Mike Howe and wasn't sure that I cared enough to follow the band without him, but surprisingly, I found that Metal Church still sounded great and so I picked up their new record in 2023. Then when I heard that Metal Church was bringing in another new singer for their 2026 release, Dead To Rights, I rolled my eyes. Between the revolving door of musicians and my struggle to find interest in new metal this year, I figured that I'd be keeping my distance on the new Metal Church record.

After picking up the new Armored Saint album this summer, I found that it lit a little spark within me for new metal. Harnessing that excitement, I figured that I'd give the new Metal Church record a chance.

I checked one of the newer songs and I was surprised with how much I enjoyed it. It was cool to have Dave Ellefson from Megadeth playing bass here, and the new guy on the mic fucking rips... sounding very reminicent of David Wayne. I loved what I was hearing and obviously needed to order the vinyl.

I know that I haven't been paying any attention to new metal releases, but Dead To Rights is easily the most exciting this year. It is such a good thrash record... from start to finish I'm banging my head. It gives me exactly what I want and pulls me out of my other music obsessions sounding fresh and exciting.

I grabbed the red and black swirl from Rat Pak with the autographed album cover art insert. That vinyl looks great!

Drinking Deep In Reverse

From the ashes of Remission, Philippe Armana started up his new band Drink Deep. I loved the bands demo and the DD 7 inch from 2023. I somehow missed their Burning House 7 inch last year and still need to circle back and pick that up, but when I saw that preorders were up for a new EP from Thirty Something Records, I didn't hesitate and jumped in to order both versions of colored vinyl.

The first Drink Deep 7 inch was perfect... eight songs, and each one clocking in around a minute... and while In Reverse is still a really good hardcore record, things stretch out a bit here with songs leaning more to the two minute mark. Musically, it feels like the early stuff was "Can I Say" and this record is more "Wig Out At Denko's" (especially on the back half of the EP).

Anyway, I really like this record and don't regret the impulse buy of both colored vinyl versions.

100 on pink and 200 on purple. Nice looking colors!

Don't Know Shit

At some point in my mid 2000's hardcore obsession that kicked off when I finally discovered Frostbite, I came across Let Down. I remember hearing good things about this band back in the day, and had picked up their We're In This Alone CD at the time... and it fell flat for me. I didn't understand the hype, and didn't bother with anything else from Let Down.

Over the summer, I was picking up a record from a Discogs seller and decided to see if they had anything else that caught my eye. I saw they had an early 7 inch from Let Down and wondered if that would land better with me over their album. I did a quick download of the songs, and immediately knew that I'd fucked up by waiting so long to check this out. Easy decision to grab this for $6.

Four songs in five minutes. Pure pissed off fast hardcore like god intended mid 2000's hardcore be played. This red vinyl copy with the red eye on the cover looks great.

Because this Let Down 7 inch was released by Dead By 23 Records, and there are 21 different versions listed on Discogs, I wanted more than just the one copy. I started looking around and found this clear vinyl copy for $10 so I grabbed it. Tempting to chase more of these.

The cover here is actually a dark blue, and looks that way in my photo... but when I load it up to blogger here it looks purple.

Big Squint

I first heard of Squint back in 2022, when they released their Feel It EP. I'm pretty sure that I got the tip from No Echo on the band... back when I was paying attention to this kind of thing. I really liked what I'd heard from Squint, but at the time it was only a digital and cassette release, and without the physical vinyl, I forgot to keep up with them. I lost track of the band over the years, but after picking up the Square One / Turn Of Phrase split 7 inch earlier this year, I noticed that Squint had a record available in the Sunday Drive Records store, and I was prompted to revisit them and see what they'd been up to.

It looks like Squint have a new album out this year, but the cover for their 2024 album, Big Hand, caught my eye and figured that I'd jump in there first. Also, I really liked the look of the split clear and pink vinyl, and while it was sold out in the webstore, I figured that I'd grab it if there was one for cheap on Discogs. Score. Got one for much less than the label sold them for.

This is a really good record. I can't come up with any direct comparisons, but I like the rough, yet still melodic, style they are doing here. Musically at times they remind me of Drug Church, and I'm digging it.

One Harvest Closer

Last year I rediscovered Harvest, and quickly became obsessed with everything that the band did. I bought every Harvest record that I could get my hands on... and unfortunately that ended up being one single 7 inch. Goddamn. Why was it so difficult to find records from these 90's hardcore bands that I was just discovering and falling in love with? The world is cruel.

Back in July, I got a tip from Marcus that Wanna Hear It Records had the grey vinyl version of Harvest's One Step Closer Than The Last 7 inch available in their online webstore. We both thought the price was little high, but after talking it over for a couple of minutes I decided it was worth pulling the trigger now instead of waiting another year for one to pop up for sale and possibly save $10. Fuck it. I love this band too much to fuck around over price... just get into my collection.

These four songs are so good, and I'm glad that I grabbed this. Now someone just needs to let go of their orange version of this 7 inch so I can get my hands on that too.