Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Priests Of Sodom

I tend to narrow the scope of my daily playlists...typically focusing on a certain style or specific year. At some point last year, I got it in my head that I was going to really focus on Metal albums that had been released in 1995. I had checked out of Metal for the majority of the 90's, and since I was obsessing pretty hard on the genre, I figured that maybe I should go back and see what I may have missed, or hadn't really appreciated at the time. Wikipedia had a list of Heavy Metal albums that were released in '95, so I took that and ran with it. The process was a lot of fun, and I discovered some cool albums, so in December, I figured that I'd do the same thing with 2010. It snowballed from there, and I decided to carry the theme through 2016...focusing on Metal albums from 2009 in January, and then 2008 releases in February...etc. How much nerd can you take?.

I'd downloaded a copy of Cannibal Corpse's Evisceration Plague at some point last year, but I didn't really spend much time with it. The album didn't immediately grab me, so it got pushed to the side. Spending January knee deep in 2009 Metal albums, I was forced to revisit it. Soon I couldn't get enough of it, and by the end of the month, my last.fm charts were showing it as my most listened to album for the month. There are some serious hooks in some of these songs, and once they sink in, they don't let go.

I've been slow to get into Cannibal Corpse, and have only heard the band's last three albums. The band has fourteen albums, so I'm not rushing into the entire catalog...I'm taking my time with each one, and working my way backwards. At this pace, I'm on track to check out their 2006 album, Kill, by April. Still, I'm savoring each one, and since I'm not a huge Death Metal head, I'm surprised by how much I'm loving this band right now.

Having listened to Evisceration Plague day after day throughout January, I knew that I had to track down the vinyl. The problem was that while the picture disk pressing was easily available, I was going to have to do some digging, and shell out some cash if I wanted a regular vinyl press.

I was torn on if I should go cheap, and just get the black vinyl, but in the end, I decided that the "blood on black" colored vinyl option was more appealing.

Number 109 of 666 pressed.

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Kennedys Über Alles

After picking up that 7 inch from The Exploited a couple weeks ago, I was burning for some more punk vinyl. I must have spent a week or so wringing my hands and sweating over what I was going to pick up next. I was bouncing from eBay to discogs...looking at prices for at least a dozen different records, before settling on the first Dead Kennedys record, Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables.

A few years ago, I remember seeing a picture of an orange cover for the Fresh Fruit LP on Vinyl Noize. All I'd ever seen was the black and white cover, so this orange one caught my attention. I don't really know a whole lot about Dead Kennedys pressing info, but after seeing that post on VN, and learning that the orange cover was the first US pressing on IRS Records, I knew that when I finally made a move to buy this album on vinyl, it would be this one...regardless of if Jello despised this pressing or not.

After picking up this copy, I started to dig into all the pressing info. Man, there are so many variations of this record...with the original photo on the back, or the one with the heads missing, or the one with the picture missing and the "Censored" message, or the rest home photo...plus the colored vinyl options. Damn, it all has me thinking of buying multiple copies of this record.

Whoa. Slow down. Maybe I should concentrate on all the other punk records I want, before thinking about chasing variations.

Dead Kennedys records aren't complete without a giant fold out insert!

Friday, February 19, 2016

Evil Or Divine

Since Dio's death in 2010, we've seen four new live albums, plus a first vinyl pressing for two earlier live releases. Some people may complain that someone is taking advantage of Dio's passing, and making a few bucks by digging out these live recordings, but as a Dio fanboy, I've been loving it. Each one captures a moment in time for Dio, and they are all unique. I may not pull them out very often for a spin, but I'm happy as hell to have access them.

Originally released as a DVD in Europe back in 2003, the Evil Or Divine live recording wasn't released on CD until 2005...and then we didn't see a vinyl release until 2011. Picking up Dio's Live In London album last year reminded me that I'd been slacking in keeping up with these live albums, and I'm glad to cross another one off the list...and with the bidding topping out at $10 on eBay, this copy was a steal.

Evil Or Divine captures Dio touring for the Killing The Dragon album back in 2002, and hearing the three new songs from that album...plus one from Magica...makes this live recording special.

Checking the tour dates at this time, I see that Dio played Massachusetts three goddamn times over a 13 month stretch...and I didn't see him once. What a missed opportunity.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

10 Year Anniversary

Ten years ago today, I came up with the idea to start a blog to document the new vinyl that I was adding to my collection. I'd gotten into record collecting the previous year, and it completely consumed me. It was all that I could think about, and I would spend hours online searching eBay and checking messageboard posts, just to look at pictures of records. I figured that writing a blog about what I was buying would be a nice simple way to kill some time.

Over the years things exploded. This blog ended up being not only a way to burn some time on my obsession...it provided fuel to stoke those flames higher. Within a few years, I met dudes online that were doing the same kind of blogs, and it inspired me to step up my game. I had to take better photos, I had to write better, I needed to buy better records...and I needed to buy more of them, effectively doubling my post counts from 58 in 2008, to 116 in 2009. When I started the blog, $30 was crazy money for me to spend on a record...these days, $30 doesn't even make me pause to think about it. Shit got serious, and escalated quickly.

So here we are, ten years later, and first thing that I did this morning was bounce around on eBay and the discogs marketplace, wringing my hands over the decision of which record I should buy next. Ten years on and 1,242 posts later, and the obsession is still going strong.

For this ten year anniversary, I wanted to post something special. I spent weeks going over some big ticket possibilities that I wanted to chase down for this milestone. Some of them didn't work out, and in the end I figured that the Overkill 10 year anniversary live record, Wrecking Your Neck, would fit the theme perfectly.

Released in 1995, when vinyl was considered a dying format, this live album was only pressed on wax in Germany, so trying to track down a copy can be a bit of work. I found a few available on eBay, but none of them were in great condition. I'm sure that the minimalist packaging doesn't help, and the copies that I'd seen had plenty of ringwear. There was a copy on discogs, that was listed as "Like new. Collector's copy.", and while the price was a bit higher, I didn't mind spending the extra money to get the best.

My favorite part of this live record is that I'm really not that familiar with the majority of the songs on here. I know the first four Overkill albums, from Feel the Fire through The Years of Decay, like the back of my hand...but the few albums after that haven't seen a lot of action for me. With this live set full of songs from Horrorscope, I Hear Black, and W.F.O., this is a cool snapshot of Overkill ten years into their run...and twenty years later, it is awesome that they are still going strong. I wonder how many more years I can keep this blog going...

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Computers Don't Blunder

Something funny happened recently. After a two year obsession with Metal, I've recently started queuing up late 70's and early 80's punk in my daily playlists. The Damned, The Adicts, G.B.H., Articles Of Faith, Naked Raygun...I currently can't get enough. Don't worry, Metal still gets plenty of playing time on the stereo, but right now, I only want to buy punk records.

When I started thinking about what punk records I should start chasing, at the front of my mind was the collection I started last year for The Exploited. It was left fairly incomplete, so I set out to see what was kicking around out there on eBay. Finding a copy of the Computers Don't Blunder 7 inch from a US seller at a decent price was an immediate buy.

When I started checking out singles from The Exploited last year, I discovered that there were a handful of songs from the band's early days that I'd never heard before. Here we are, 34 years after it's release, and I'm finally hearing the two songs from this Computers Don't Blunder single for the first time. A part of me is glad that I missed these songs back in the 80's, because finding them now is like finding a long lost treasure. Amazing.

Tuesday, February 09, 2016

Weight Of The World

Last month, after writing about a couple of Anthrax albums from the John Bush era, I came up with the stupid idea of making a run at some records that I really enjoy, but seem to be universally shit upon by everyone else. When I started thinking about which turd I wanted to step into next, Token Entry's beautiful stinker seemed to be the obvious choice.

I can fully understand why people may hate this Token Entry album. If I'd been following the band through their From Beneath The Streets and Jaybird albums, The Weight Of The World would have probably bummed me the fuck out. But I was really just starting to discover hardcore around 1990, and therefore, The Weight Of The World was my introduction to the band...so maybe I was a bit more forgiving than most.

Dudes in Token Entry must have been losing their shit over both Soulforce Revolution from 7 Seconds and Mother's Milk from Red Hot Chili Peppers...mix in a dash of DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince with songs like Beautiful People, and while it sounds like the perfect recipe for a shit sandwich...for me, it works here. Honestly, I'd love to hear the band's insight on writing and recording this oddball. It would be cool to hear where their heads were at.

So I get it...you are a Hardcore purist, and you hate this album. Me however, maybe it was a time and place thing, but I get a kick out of listening to it. I'm happy to add it to the collection, even if it makes me feel like a complete tool for owning this LP, and not having a single copy of the superior Jaybird.

Saturday, February 06, 2016

Ruthless Rise

Ruthless were a Metal band out of Los Angeles in the early to mid-80's. The band never landed on the bigger labels, like Metal Blade or Combat, at the time, so their name never appeared on the radar of this teenage metalhead living across the country in Maine. 30 years after their first release, I heard some praise for Ruthless, and since I was on a huge Traditional Metal kick, I figured that I'd check them out.

I can't remember where I first heard the recommendation to check out Ruthless, but it prompted me to do a quick search on youtube while I was at work to see if it was something worth pursuing...because you know there is no better distraction while stuck in your work cubicle than checking out new music. As soon as I'd heard the first song, Defender, I was sold. This shit would have fit perfectly beside my Grim Reaper and Omen records back in '85. It is hard to believe that it has been nearly 30 years since the last Ruthless record. Old metal dudes rule.

After hearing one song from the album, I was hitting the internets, looking to hunt down a copy of the new album on vinyl. Initially, I was a bit disappointed because I thought I was going to have to pay for overseas shipping, but after digging in a little deeper, I found that the band had some vinyl for sale direct and from The States. I was sold and immediately grabbed a copy from them.

A few days after ordering the vinyl, I had an email arrive, asking me if I wanted the band to sign it for me. I don't typically give a shit about someone scribbling their name across my record covers, but something about the offer was attractive to me. I replied back that if the band wanted to sign the insert, and not the cover, that would be cool. Since it was a free offer, and not some rockstar bullshit where they were attempting to soak the fans for a few more dollars, it was a nice bonus.

Limited to 250 pressed to vinyl.

Monday, February 01, 2016

I Walk Alone

Opinions seem to be split on the new No Tolerance album. You either fall into the camp that thinks it was the best album of 2015, or you were pretty underwhelmed by the whole affair, and you keep telling yourself that maybe you just need to listen to it more. Having only listened to it three times since downloading it back at the beginning of December, it is obvious which side of the fence I sit on.

Since the vinyl from Painkiller wasn't going to arrive by the year end, I quickly downloaded a copy to check it out...you know, I had to check to see if it was going to my my Best Of 2015 list. I gave it a couple of quick spins, and then moved on. Meh...it didn't really grab me, but sometimes I need to have the the vinyl in my hands to really pay attention...and that seems to be the issue with You Walk Alone. Dropping the needle on this record today, and following the songs on the lyric sheet, made me see this album in a new light. This record rages, and a big part of that are those uncompromising lyrics. Straight fucking edge.

My favorite part of this album though are the lyric credits on Watch You Break to Bob Daisley that were lifted from Rock 'N' Roll Rebel off of Ozzy's Bark At The Moon album. I love the nod of respect to DFJ's Metal roots!

325 pressed on red vinyl.