Omega Wave

There was a time when Record Store Day was a big deal. I'd meet up early in the morning with my friend Jeff, and wait in line for the store to open. I would have a list of records that I was on the hunt for, and we would spend the entire day going from store to store and buying a ton of vinyl. It was an event... but those days are long gone. Record Store Day happened this year and I didn't even realize it until after it had passed. I was hanging out with Jeff shortly after RSD, and he asked if I'd picked up anything, and I had to look to see if I'd missed anything potentially interesting. There were a couple of records that caught my eye from Record Store Day, but there was only one that I needed to have.

Forbidden was a late 80's / early 90's thrash band. There first two records are absolute classics for me. There next two records were from the early 90's, and I had stopped listening to metal at that time, but when the band reunited and released Omega Wave in 2010, I didn't hesitate to check it out. There were a bunch of older thrash bands reigniting that spark around that time, and Forbidden jumped in to ride that revival. They did not disappoint. Omega Wave sounded like it could have been released 20 years earlier. Russ Anderson's voice was still amazing and Craig Locicero could still shred... it was a great comeback record. Somehow, I never bought the CD or the vinyl at that time, so I obviously needed it now.

I was buying a bunch of records in 2010, but for metal albums, CDs were still my primary focus. I clearly remember checking vinyl prices for Omega Wave at the time and thinking it was prices ridiculously high at $40, or whatever it was, and I was not going to spend that kind of money on a metal record. Add it to the pile of record regrets as that original pressing is currently listed on Discogs for over $300. That's okay, this Record Store Day reissue will get the job done.

400 pressed on red and blue splatter vinyl, and includes a special lyric insert with some history on the band and how the reunion came together.

Burning Desire To Draw Last Breath

The Gulch album was one of my favorite records that I discovered last year. It is abrasive and chaotic, and not something that I would have ever thought that I'd be interested in from a "modern" hardcore band... but Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress fucking floored me. I picked up the vinyl for that album earlier this year, and it didn't take too long before I was on the hunt for more from the band.

Burning Desire To Draw Last Breath was the first Gulch 7 inch back in 2018... and it was only released on black vinyl, and limited to 250 copies. I assuming that the band blew up at that point, as any additional pressings of the EP were bundled with the songs from their demo, and was released as a 10 inch, before finally landing on this one-sided 12 inch record.

I never would have expected that this band would have hit me as hard as they have, and this 12 inch delivers the same kind of intensity that I loved from their album. So good.

I wasn't concerned which version I owned for this, and scooped this 2021 pressing of the 12 inch on the sea blue swirl color.

Spiritual React

Back in 2017, Spiritual Cramp released their first 7 inch through React Records, and I straight up did not like it. I probably listened to one of the songs for about 10 seconds before I wrote it off as crap. I'd followed just about every React release for years, buying multiple copies of each one... but leading up to the Spiritual Cramp record, the label had slipped a bit and a few of the releases hadn't been very exciting for me, and I didn't give SC much of a chance.

Here we are, seven years later and suddenly I'm giving Spiritual Cramp the chance they deserve, and of course I'm fucking loving them. What I didn't understand about their sound back in 2017, is very much what I'm looking for in 2024. However, record prices today are not cheap, and checking the string of 7 inches the band has released over the years... well, it feels like they are all priced too high on Discogs. While I did find this red vinyl for the Mass Hysteria 7 inch at a good price, trying to get the more limited clear vinyl isn't happening as quick as I'd like. Man, I hate having to wait for someone to list records at a decent price. I don't have patience for that game.

350 pressed on red.

Clutch Collector's Series #3

I love the Clutch collector's series. The first two, Blast Tyrant and Robot Hive/Exodus, both were well done and looked fantastic... so when number three in the series was announced, of course I jumped in to order one.

After the first two records in the Collector's Series were released, it looked like the band was focusing more on those albums after the band started making the shift in their sound and take a more "rock" approach. I was hoping that we were going to get some of their earlier albums, but it was starting to look like that wasn't the direction the series was going to take... so I was completely stoked when it was announced that the next record in the series was the first Clutch full length album, Transnational Speedway League.

I know that some people tend to prefer the early records from Clutch, but I've never really spent much time with them. Outside of songs like A Shogun Named Marcus and Rats, I really didn't know anything from this album, so I was was excited to buy the vinyl and force myself to finally sit with it. These early records definitely have a more raw sound, and while I've always leaned more into their more recent straight forward rock stuff, I'm really starting to appreciate the 90's sound that Clutch had going on here as well.

As with all of the records in the Collector's Series, I really like the newly reimagined artwork, and the spot varnish in certain spots, and the foil letters on the back, really gives the cover dimension and really pop. The numbered and signed insert is a nice touch as well.

Yeah, I love this series. You can tell that Clutch care about the product that they are releasing and make sure that it is special. I'm hoping it continues.

Chain Of Death

Last year, I was excitd to check out the new album from the band Planet On A Chain. The singer had been in Tear It Up and Dead Nation, and since I love both of those bands, so I had high hopes for POAC... however, even though I liked the record, it didn't end up exciting me as much as I thought it would. Still, when preorders went up at Revelation for the follow up album, Culture Of Death, I still quickly grabbed one.

I'm not sure what it is, but this POAC record is hitting me harder than the last one. I hadn't listened to it until I started to write up this blog post, but it had an immediate impact on me, and I was looking forward to giving it another spin. Maybe it's my mindset, and my ears want to hear something hard and fast like this right now, but Culture Of Death has me hooked from the start and I want more of it.

While the Boxed In record had a straight forward hardcore look, Culture Of Death goes for something a bit different. From the death metal font, to King Kong ripping the roof off the building, and the black, magenta and yellow colorway on the cover... this record has more of a creative look... and while I really liked the front cover for Boxed In, I'm digging the different look for this one as well. 330 pressed on a color vinyl that makes a nice attempt to match the cover.

Good News For People Who Love Modest Mouse

Back in the early to mid 2000's, I was searching for music that was new and interesting to me. I'd fallen out of the hardcore scene a bit and was feeling a bit lost, so I was downloading anything that might catch my attention... and that included a lot of hip hop, 70's and indie rock bands... some of it hit the mark, but a lot of it was disposable and I didn't stick with it much longer than two or three spins of the burned CDR that I'd made for my car stereo. One of the bands that I was checking out at that time was Modest Mouse. There was something about them that I found interesting, but I think that I was just consuming so much new music at the time that it was overwhelming, and I never really gave them much of a chance.

So while I'd never really given Modest Mouse much of chance back in the 2000's, as we were closing out 2023, my friend Sarah shared the song Dramamine with me. I'd never heard that song before, but it was a perfect fit for the musical headspace I was in at the time. I sat with that one song for a few months before I started to really crave more from the band, and then I started to dig out more and more songs from them. Soon Modest Mouse became a full on obsession, and there was not a day throughout April and May that I was not listening to something from the band.

Because sometimes it is all about the timing, but as my Modest Mouse obsession was ramping up, I noticed that there was a 20th anniversary edition of Good News For People Who Love Bad News that was due to be released in the coming weeks... and holy shit, it looked fucking nice.

From the new design on the front cover, to the colored vinyl, and lyric booklet... this was just so pleasing to my eyes that I couldn't pass it up.

Also as luck would have it, Modest Mouse are playing a live show with The Pixies in New Hampshire this month. I don't know anyone else that would have been interested to seeing them, so I would have to go to the show by myself, and that felt a little weird. Like, I have no problem going to small hardcore shows alone, because once the music starts and I've got my place in front of the stage to sing along and get jumped on, being there by myself doesn't matter. But a big concert, with assigned seating... I dunno, it just felt weird to think about going to that by myself. In the end I just said "fuck it", and I'm gonna be weird. I bought my ticket and can't wait to see the band perform some of my favorite songs this year live.

Loyal To 90's Straight Edge

In the early 90's, I picked up an album that was released on Crucial Response for an Italian straight edge band named Think Twice. They actually toured the US and I saw them open a show in Boston for Kingpin. It always seemed kind of cool that was able to catch the band live as it didn't seem that European bands made it over to the States very often at that time. That Think Twice album received plenty of time on the stereo back in the day, but it isn't something that I reach for often these days, but I do have a bit of nostalgia wrapped up in it with those vocals and the Italian accent.

When I was picking up the Man Will Surrender and Deepwater records, I saw this Think Twice 7 inch from the seller as well. I didn't even know that Think Twice had released a 7 inch record... I thought that the LP was all they did... so I added it to the cart as well.

Look, this 7 inch isn't going to blow the minds of anyone checking it out, especially in 2024, but as a slice of early 90's straight edge hardcore, this is fucking fun.