2021 Owes You Nothing

This past year was a lot of fun for me when it came to record collecting. There were so many newer hardcore bands that I discovered over the past 12 months, and that was what I spent the majority of my time listening to. It seemed that each week I was finding a band from the past few years that I missed out the first time around, and then was doubling back to grab what I could for their records. I also felt locked in and focused on my collecting. I wasn't wasting time and money chasing goofy early 80's MTV singles, and instead I was checking off some big time metal and thrash records that I loved as a teen, and that shit made me more happy than I can explain. I felt like I was making big moves for what I want my collection to represent, and I hope to continue that feeling of satisfaction into 2022.

For 2021, I picked up 194 new records. It was a bit more than I've been hitting the last few years, but where I really saw an increase was in the amount of money I spent. Nearly every month I was adding one or two big ticket items to my collection and it certainly showed when I totalled up how much I spent over this past year. No doubt, I was having fun...and I even managed to cross off five records from my 2021 Want List.

It was tough coming up with my top five records that I picked up this past year. There were so many great ones, but I guess these were the ones that had me the most excited.

1. Down To Nothing 'Life On The James' record release - It had been a while since I'd listened to Down To Nothing, so when Chris mentioned that he was selling his record release copy of Life On The James, I basically bought it only because I owned the record release pressing of The Most, and in my mind it just made sense to own both. Once it arrived, I was reminded how great DTN were and I listened to them a lot for the rest of the year.

2. Foundation 'Turncoat' blue and red mix - I never put much thought into chasing this one, but when a Discogs seller listed it with the description of a "purple explosion in space', I just had to get my hands on it. Limited to 100 and an absolute beautiful piece of vinyl. Worth the price I paid for it.

3. Dark Angel 'Darkness Descends' first Combat pressing - I bought a few first press 80's metal records, and each one had me stupid excited. These were such a huge part of my teenage years, and as I originally picked them up as cassettes or CDs, it feels extra special to add the vinyl to the collection. Honestly, I want to do more of this in 2022. To grab this Dark Angel record from '86 in mint condition was a fantastic find...even if I had to pay a high price tag for it.

4. Split Lip 'Soul Kill' on blue - I spent a fair amount of time this past year stuck in an early 90's hardcore playlist. On a whim, I checked Discogs for Split Lip records and when I saw a seller with the blue vinyl available for sale, I had to feed the need.

5. Righteous Jams 'Rage Of Discipline' on red - Goddamn. I'd forgotten how much fun the first Righteous Jams record was. This thing was huge back in the day but it fell off my radar a bit over the years, and it apparently did the same for everyone else as well because I was able to scoop this up for pretty cheap. That red vinyl with the cover is a good look.

2021 was a big year for hardcore for me. There were so many bands that had me excited throughout the year, and putting together a Top 10 was a tough job. Marcus reminded me early in the year that New Age Records was still putting out some good records, so when I took a chance and checked out the Vanguard record, I was blown away. Considering how much I loved rediscovering Bloodlust Revenge from One King Down in 2020, it was no surprise when Vanguard hooked me so hard. Rage Of Deliverance was easily the record I listened to the most through 2021, but Ekulu, Turnstile and The Dividing Line were no slouch either. There was no doubt that these were going to be my Top Four.

For the most part, new metal records failed to impress me much this past year. To be honest, this Top Ten list covers just about every new metal records that I picked up, and for a while I wasn't sure that I was going to even list ten here. The top five are really solid, and I fucking love Freeways, but really anything at the bottom of this list is kind of a shoulder shrug from me. It's okay, but doesn't knock me on my ass. This was probably the strangest thing about 2021. With bands locked down due to Covid-19 the year before, I expected a flood of new records from bands that I love, but instead things just seemed a bit light. Maybe, metal records will knock me out in 2022.

So there is my 2021 collecting in a nutshell. It might not be very impressive to the serious collectors, but if you are down with some cheap records from hardcore bands that no one cares about, or old 80's metal bands, thanks for hanging out.