Seven Inch Demand

When I was picking up the Jade Dust record from Extinction Burst, I started looking around their webstore to see what else might interest me. I noticed that the label had also released the Demand 7 inch, and since I'd just heard the 185 Miles South podcast speaking highly of the record, I figured that I'd get my hands on a copy.

Demand are a hardcore band out of DC, however, I remember the singer, Zech, from shows in Maine going back about 10 years or so. It was a cool surprise to discover that he was in this band after I'd picked up this record. This five song 7 inch is great. Straight forward hardcore, and while the label drops names like Where The Wild Things Are and Hawker Records, Demand kind of remind me of the Paramount album that Fury did a few years back. I really hope that we hear more from this band because if they keep this up, I sense that they will get better and better.

Nice looking record on white vinyl with the OBI strip around the cover.

Jade Dust

My records show that I first checked out Jade Dust back in 2021. It obviously didn't make much of an impression on me at the time, as I gave the songs from their EP one listen and then moved on... completely forgetting about them until Marcus started talking about them over on Endless Quest. He made some comparisons to DC hardcore bands like Rites Of Spring and Embrace, which had me sit up and take notice. However, when he wrote "I think it's great that there is a band playing this sound in 2023", that one sentence really caught my attention. I know that feeling deep in my core. There are times when I'll listen to a band, and I'll think "man, bands just don't play this style anymore", and when one finally come along, and does it successfully, you fucking savor it.

Based on Marcus's post, I decided to check out Jade Dust again. I was kind of digging the songs a bit more this visit, but the real magic came to the surface with repeat listens. Initially I thought the band was kind of cool, but the more I hear these songs, the more I love them.

The blue vinyl was of course sold out over at Extinction Burst, so I just picked up the "random" color that was available and limited to 200. The yellow/orange doesn't really go with the cover art, but the vinyl still looks great.

Now I'm going to have to check out the band's latest record, Wild Geese, at some point as well.

Don't Test The Pest

Earlier this year, I figured that I'd reach out to a couple of friends to recommend the Denial Of Life record. That thing shreds so fucking hard with the throwback to the old school crossover sound, and I thought that they would appreciate it like I did. I did not get the response that I was hoping for, and was basically told that it was garbage. I don't typically bother people with recommendations, but I figured it was right up their alley. Oh well, I'll keep the cool shit to myself. Of course, the thing to do when you shit on one recommendation is to give out your own, and I was told that Pest Control was the real shit. I wasn't too excited to check them out after the reaction that I got, but I did remember seeing someone post a photo of the record on Instagram recently, so I knew that someone else I followed thought they were good, and I decided to download the album.

Oh shit. Pest Control fucking rip. Don't Test The Pest blasts through 11 songs in 21 minutes, pure fucking crossover thrash similar to what Dead Heat has been doing. I don't think that Pest Control are going to beat out Denial Of Life in my head to head match up, but that doesn't matter... give me more of this style.

Of course when I was looking for a copy, the green colored vinyl was already sold out at Quality Control. A second pressing was on the way, but for me, it was all about the green vinyl first press, so I hit up Discogs and overpaid for it. Don't care. I'm happy to have one.

Absolute Power

Earlier this year, I was very happy when I picked up the vinyl for an old thrash classic, Overkill's Under The Influence. I tend to ride that record buying high, and immediately start looking to chase down similar records to add to my collection. I had been looking to get that Overkill album into my collection for a long time, and when I started thinking about other 80's metal records that I've been wanting for a long time, the band Powermad came to mind.

Powermad were a thrash band out of Minneapolis in the late 80's. They came into the scene a little late in the game, so it feels like they are a bit underrated and forgotten, but their EP from 1988 (The Madness Begins...) and their LP from 1989 (Absolute Power) are both killer records that I never get tired of. My hunt for both of these records has been up and down for years and years, but for one reason or another I just never pulled the trigger. Getting that Overkill album into my collection set me on a mission to do the same with other long standing records on my want list. I was done fucking around waiting for the right price.

Thankfully eBay came to the rescue with auctions for both Powermad records. I was a bit surprised to lose out on the EP, but could not be happier to score the Absolute Power LP at a price that put the Discogs sellers to shame. Goddamn. I haven't paid much attention to eBay for a few years, but it might be time to start checking in there regularly again... at least for metal records.

I was very happy to find that the version of Absolute Power that I picked up, contained the promo packet and photo. Little extras like this are very cool.

Scowl Dance Routine

It has been a bit of a struggle for me to pay much attention to new releases this year. I think that because I was so rabid for new shit last year, that I'm a bit burned out on it in 2023, and for the most part I just want to listen to stuff that I already now. I've still been buying new records, but as I look at the 18 or so of them sitting in my blog backlog, I haven't really obsessed over any of them. There is still plenty of cool new stuff that I've grabbed so far in 2023, but I'm just slow to getting around to it.

I've had the new Scowl record for a while now, but I didn't really bother giving it a spin until last week. This 12 inch is a bit of a surprise. Some songs here are not what I expected from Scowl, and when I first heard tracks like Opening Night, I thought that maybe the tour they did with Limp Bizkit might have been a bad influence, and that I was being set up for what might be the biggest disappointment of the year. However, now that I've listened to the record a few times, I think that those songs that take a different direction are quite possibly my favorite Scowl songs. I can tell that this EP is going to grow on me big time before the end of the year.

Nothing too special with this pressing, as I just went with the transparent red vinyl that is limited to 2,000 copies for REV and Deathwish. I don't care. I just prefer transparent colors and think that this one looks good with the b-side screenprint.

Unified UKHC

It is probably going back 15 years now, but there was a time when record collecting blogs were strong. There were a group of us logging in and writing some words next to pictures for the latest records that we had picked up. There were a small group of people that I met through that nerdy blogger world... and while a number of them fell out of my world once they stopped posting, there were a few of them that I still call friends to this day. I wish that they were all still doing this pointless exercise, as it was a way to feel a kind of constant connection to friends by checking in and commenting on their posts. I really miss those days. Either way, I will always give those old friends my attention when they do some new project, and when Lins from the old Never Ending Game blog, got a new band up and running, I was on board to check them out.

Lins does not fuck around with his hardcore, so you know that whatever he is involved with is going to be straight forward and pissed off. In his world of musical influence, bands like Turnstile do not exist, and each song from Unified Action is a short burst of anger... a statement that early 80's hardcore will not be forgotten.

Like a total plum, when the vinyl version for the Unified Action demo became available, I ordered two copies by mistake. I bought one as soon as they were made available, and then forgot about it in the whirlwind of other records that I was buying. A few weeks later, I saw some post from the label about the record and in a panic to not miss out on the clear vinyl version, I jumped online and bought one... again. Honestly, these past few years has seen my brain turn to mush. So, now I have two copies of this thing.

Unified Action played a record release show earlier this year, and made a very limited amount of special covers for it. I decided I wanted one, so did what any record nerd would do - I hoped on a plane and flew to the UK, and then I jumped in a car with Marcus to drive 308 miles to Newcastle to attend the show.*

* Sadly, the last bit of the above is not true. I mean, the bit about me flying the UK to see Marcus definitely is, but the bit about us driving to the show is definitely not. I was fortunate enough to buy one of the leftover copies of this one, but I was a few months late on my trip to the UK for the show. All that I had to do was walk through the front door at Marcus's place to get my record. Number 15 of 15 is a good one to get. Thanks Lins!

Three Lock Box

Every once in a while, I'll hop over to Discogs to see what is available for the Locked Inside 7 inch. I've been very interested to collecting multiple copies of this record due to a couple of reasons. A: the band plays some killer straight forward hardcore, and B: the vinyl colors all look great. If these looked like shit with dopey looking patterns, I could easily be one and done, but these things look fantastic and it makes me want them all. Unfortunately for me, there are a shit load of colored vinyl options. I already owned four of them, and after adding three more to the collection, I'm still missing more than a handful.

Initially, I picked up the gold vinyl version back in April. This one was exclusive to the REV store, and is one of the more common versions with a heafty 145 pressed for this color.

I thought that I was content with just picking up the gold version, but as I was getting ready to post about it here, I got the itch to chase more of them. I had put the purple colored vinyl version in my cart, but I was hesitant to commit to the price, so I figured that I'd let it sit there for a while before I pulled the trigger. So of course someone else swooped in and bought it before me. Ugh. That's what I get for dicking around.

So then with the need to fill that void, I quickly grabbed the clear vinyl version that was still available. There are a couple wisps of black in the clear, but apparently not enough to qualify as the "smoke" version. 63 pressed on clear.

Finally, I grabbed a blue vinyl pressing as well, which is limited to 100.

Seven versions of the Locked Inside 7 inch. Still need the purple vinyl, and the "smoke" variant... plus the record release cover... and a test press wouldn't hurt either. All of those are fairly limited, so I'm not sure when they will come around, but when they do, I'll make my move.

Restless Youth

The mid-2000's are a weird time for hardcore records with me. I'll scroll through the list of releases from those years, and while there are some modern classics from that period, I still find that there are some records that I never paid too close attention to back in the day. I'm really not too familiar with them and so they still feel somewhat new when I listen to them now. One of those records is the first Restless Youth 7 inch from 2005.

I know that I downloaded the State Of Confusion songs back in the day, but I was probably paying more attention to bands from REV's Generations comp, or were playing Posi Numbers that year, so didn't pay much attention to that 7 inch. When I was buying some records from a Discogs seller recently, and I saw that they had the red colored vinyl version of the 7 inch available for less than $2, I figured that I'd drag those songs back out for a listen to see if should grab the record. Based on the fact that you are reading this post, I obviously liked it enough to buy it. It is tough to see the red vinyl in these pictures, so you'll just have to trust me.

These songs are really good with some frantic energy that reminds me of Bad Brains. This record is a lot of fun, and it has me thinking about checking out more from Restless Youth.

Every Knife Has A Home

I've never really actively hunted out the A18 7 inches. For some reason, the albums had always been enough for me. However, I picked up a copy of Defining The Color Conviction last year on a whim, and it felt good to get one into my collection. Back in April this year, I was buying a couple records from a Discogs seller, and I noticed that they had a copy of Every Knife Has A Home for cheap, so I added it to my cart. About a week after it arrived, I heard the news that that singer, Isaac Golub, was dead... killed after being struck by a car while riding his bike. Fuck. I was shook. The guy sang on Truth Gives Wings To Strength, which is one of my favorite hardcore albums, and it was very sad to hear of his passing.

Every Knife Has A Home and Defining The Color Conviction are taken from the same recording session, and share four of the five songs on the tracklist. On this 7 inch, we get Miscalculated Sonnet Number One as the exclusive song. It isn't all that exciting, as it is basically just Isaac reciting lyrics over some guitar feedback. Definitely not a necessary song, but with his passing, it was cool to finally check it out. Who knows... maybe I'll buy more variants of these things as I stumble upon them.

Stamped labels and numbered out of 250.

What Could Possibly Go Green

I initially missed out on the first Ruiner 7 inch as I didn't catch on to the band until their Prepare To Be Let Down album on Bridge Nine. I was just starting to find my footing again in hardcore around 2005, after being a bit disconnected for a few years, but that first Ruiner 7 inch still got by me. I did catch the LP in 2007 thanks to B9's high profile, and I really liked it, but over the years Ruiner tends to always be a band that I seem to overlook... and then when I do listen to them, I'm blown away and I wonder why I don't listen to them more often.

When I was stuck in a 2005 playlist last year, I queued up the What Could Possibly Go Right songs, and once again, I was floored. This thing boils over with emotion and anger. It just hits so fucking hard, and I listened to it repeatedly for a couple of months. I could not get enough. While I did have the I Heard These Dudes Are Assholes comp LP, it was time for me to get the real deal and track down that first 7 inch. At the time, all that I could find was second and third pressings, and I decided to hold out for a first pressing... even though I'm still tempted to chase all seven colored vinyl variations for this.

When I stumbled upon a copy in the Armageddon Shop store on Discogs recently, I jumped on it. For only $5, I'd have been a fool not to.

150 pressed on transparent green for the first press.