Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Red Sox and Records, Part 2

Right now I have a large stack of albums sitting here next to the computer. I was away on vacation last week and unable to listen to any music, let alone keep the blog updated. Now that I'm back I'm working through the stack and trying to get things caught up.

The day before I left for vacation, I went to Boston for a Red Sox game with Paul, Rob and Heidi. I was looking forward to hanging out in Fenway Park on a beautiful August afternoon, but I was more excited about stopping at Nuggets Records before the game. The last time I went shopping there I got all kinds of great rock albums, and I was looking forward to thumbing my way through the stacks of vinyl in search of more great finds.
  • Agnostic Front - Cause For Alarm : My brother used to have this on cassette tape, but I had never owned a copy. This is a great hardcore album from AF. This copy has a gold promo stamp on the back of the album cover, which I thought was pretty cool. Picked it up for $9.
  • Exciter - Unveiling The Wicked : I loved Exciter in High School, owning their classic Long Live The Loud album, but I never had Unveiling the Wicked...I don't think that I ever saw it for sale, or I'm sure I would have bought it. I even had a t-shirt with that album cover on the front of it, and I'm wearing it in one of the pictures of me in my High School yearbook. Damn, I thought that album cover was so cool! This album is a European import on Music For Nations Records, and was $11.
  • Blood Feast - Kill For Pleasure : Another album that I loved when I was in High School. Great speed metal band from New Jersey, but obviously influence by early Slayer. This one was a little more expensive than I would have expected to pay for it, $15, but this is such a great record, I didn't think twice about buying it.
  • Metal Massacre 4 and 7: After just picking up number 6 in the Metal Massacre series, I was happy to find these two albums. I hadn't heard a lot of the bands on these two records...the only bands that I knew was Lizzy Borden on number 4, and Flotsam and Jetsam and Cryptic Slaughter on number 7. Still I'm looking forward to checking out the other metal bands included. These were in great condition and were $9 a piece.

After lunch and record shopping, the four of us headed into Fenway park to watch the Red Sox take on the Yankees. We got inside too late to see Joey McIntyre sing the National Anthem, but we were excited for this great rivalry. Johnny Damon had gone to the dark side, signing with the Yankees, and the crowd rained boos upon him to show their disapproval. Unfortunately, Damon set the tone for the game hitting a triple to start the game. Boston showed off how bad of shape the pitching staff is in losing the game 12 to 4. It felt like the longest game in history, as the Red Sox pitcher was walking players while the bases were loaded. Even though there were some bright spots for Boston, with Hinske hitting three Doubles, it was still a rough game to sit through, getting to the point of hysterical that Boston could not throw a strike.

Great day and I'm looking forward to heading to Toronto with Rob and Paul at the end of September to watch the Sox play the Blue Jays. Of course the trip will include some record shopping!

Monday, August 28, 2006

Metal Massacre Series

As a metalhead growing up in the 80's, if you weren't into Metal Blade Records, you weren't shit. This label introduced the world to Metallica and Slayer. Anything they put out could not lose. Metal Blade had a compilation series called Metal Massacre, which showcased a ton of great thrash and speed metal. I always wanted to own the Metal Massacre records growing up, but never got around to picking any of them up. I found Metal Massacre 6 on eBay for $3.25 and since I seem to be on a Heavy Metal kick, I couldn't let it pass me by. I didn't realize it when I bid on it, but it has a hole punched in the upper corner of the record sleeve. I hate cutouts, and would have passed on it had I known, but for $3.25, it's no big deal. The album art work is classic 80's speed metal...bloody heads and skulls. This record has great tracks by Possessed, Hallow's Eve, Hirax, Nasty Savage, Dark Angel and quite a few others. Death to posers.

Friday, August 18, 2006

From Another Breath and Verse

Here are the latest Rivalry Records pre-orders. First is the new Verse record, 'From Anger and Rage'. The new record is great, at times I feel like a cover of Inside Out's 'No Spiritual Surrender' would fit in nicely with their live set...they have that kind of sound. I got both colors of this record...the red and yellow swirl is limited to 270, while the white pressing is limited to 670. The other pre-order I got was the new Another Breath record, 'Mill City'. I had never heard this band before, but Rivalry posted a couple of new mp3's so I checked 'em out. I was really impressed. They play a hardcore style similar to Go It Alone. The blue and grey swirl colored vinyl is limited to 240.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Straight From The Bronx

This entry is for the new Bronx LP on white vinyl. A couple of years ago I went to a show at The Palladium in Worcester. It was a huge punk/hardcore show with Circle Jerks and G.B.H. headlining. The Bronx was one of the opening bands. I had never heard of them, but I headed down to the stage to check them out. I was blown away by this band. Nobody in the club seemed to be into them, but they had this early L.A. punk sound and I was loving it. The singer was a total spaz on the stage, trying to get the crowd to do this "cobra dance" which everyone was too cool for. The band didn't seem to give a shit if the audience was into them or not, and they just gave off this total punk vibe. I bought their Bats EP at the show, and soon after saw their first CD at a local record store. That first CD completely captured the sound and attitude from their live show, and was one of my favorites from 2004. I downloaded the new album a month ago, and was really disappointed. The new songs were missing that snotty, kick ass sound. I loaded them into my MP3 player and would listen to their songs while I was at the gym. Slowly they started to grow on me, and soon I was loving it. Sure it isn't nearly as good as the first CD, but this new stuff is still some quality punk rock.

Sunday, August 13, 2006

More Have Heart From B9


The current trend right now for hardcore records, seems to be gatefold sleeves. The two records that I got from the Bridge Nine mailorder both had that style of packaging. I love the gatefold sleeve. Something about it seems so special. The two records that I got were Have Heart and Dead Stop. I needed the brown/orange pressing of Have Heart's 'The Things We Carry'. It is limited to 700, and since they sent me two of the yellow/blue pressing the first time around, I still needed this color. The colored vinyl looks amazing, and coordinates with the album cover nicely. I also picked up the Dead Stop 'Live For Nothing' album. This is the US pressing on Havoc Records. I had heard all kinds of good things about this band, but had never checked them out. Saw Live For Nothing available in the B9 store, with the gatefold cover, and I figured to give it a shot. Dead Stop play a great style of hardcore thrash, and I would definitely recommend checking them out.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Happy Birthday To Me

Today I turned 36 years old. Birthday's don't mean much to me. I enjoy life, and have a great time on this ride, so I don't really concentrate the number of years that have passed. As a friend of mine has been known to say..."You can't change what is.".
My family had a birthday party for me the other weekend. The only thing I ever really ask for is more music, and that was what I got this year. I did pretty good this year, getting a couple of DVD's, one of Dio and one of Judas Priest, plus I got some CD's which included Triple Threat and Mental. Of course this blog entry is about the vinyl that I got.
  • Doomriders "Black Thunder" - Holy shit, the riff from the title track is amazing. Worth it for that song alone.
  • The Raconteurs "Broken Boy Soldier" - First off, I love The White Stripes. Jack White has got that classic guitar sound down. Rob surprised me months ago, dropping off a burned copy of the Raconteurs CD. "Jack White plays in this band", he tells me. I had never heard anything about this, and I'm excited to check it out. The band is more polished than The White Stripes, and it took me a few listens to really appreciate it. Good stuff, but pales in comparison to The White Stripes.
  • Queensryche "Operation Mindcrime II" - I loved the first Mindcrime CD from Queensryche and saw them on tour with Metallica, who were on the Justice For All tour. Queensryche was the first band that I slamdanced to. I lost all interest in the band by the time they released their next album, and I had low expectations when they released Mindcrime II this year. I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed this record.
  • Black Flag "Loose Nut" - I don't know why it took me so long to buy this record. Other than Damaged, this is probably one of my favorite Black Flag records. Great songs like Modern Man, Annihilate This Week, and Best One Yet.
  • Black Sabbath "Never Say Die" - This is a re-issue on Earmark Records, pressed on 180 gram vinyl. While this record is often overlooked by casual Sabbath fans, there is still some great songs on this album.

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Bridge Nine Strikes Again

Bridge Nine comes on strong for this one releasing new albums by Have Heart and Triple Threat, plus a split 7 inch for Death Before Dishonor / Black Friday '29. Purchasing the vinyl package deal for $45 was rough on the bank account, but it was so worth it. Two pressings each of all three records was too tempting of a deal. Bridge Nine mailorder messed up and sent me two copies of the limited pressing of Have Heart. I was thinking of holding on to it and selling it on eBay in a year or so, but Rob was interested in it so I sold it to him for $10 to put towards the color pressing that I didn't receive.
  • Have Heart "The Things We Carry" - Amazing. I had high expectations for this record, and I was still surprised at how great this record is. The new songs are played with that level of passion and sincerity that I have come to expect from the band. The record cover and gatefold sleeve are incredible as well. Pressed on blue/yellow and brown/orange vinyl.
  • Triple Threat "Into the Darkness" - This record surprised me. I new that it was going to be good, but I wasn't expecting it to be this good. Great Black Flag meets Mouthpiece vibe on this record. There is a picture from Posi-Numbers included in the layout. I believe the back of my head is in the picture, but I can't be sure. Pressed on clear and red with black splatter vinyl.
  • Death Before Dishonor / Black Friday '29 split 7 inch - DBD is okay, I guess. Their style doesn't really excite me. The singer reminds me of Some Kind Of Hate, but musically they have more in common with Terror. You know, very tough sounding. I just picture guys in wife-beaters covered with tattoos. Good, but not really interesting for me. Black Friday '29 is much better. Good solid hardcore. I can't think of who they remind me of, but I'm diggin' it, and you should too.