Karate Fires

There have been a few older indie bands that I've really connected with this year. I've been on a steady diet of stuff like The Cure, Modest Mouse and The Smiths.... but the biggest surprise this year has been my rediscovery of Karate. When I first heard this band in the late 90's/early 2000's, I thought that I might enjoy them, and proceeded to download three of their albums through Napster (or one of the many file sharing services that I was using at the time)... and even though I would give those albums a listen once every year or so, Karate never quite clicked with me and ultimately were forgettable.

20 years later, and looking back on where I was musically, I'm impressed that I even made the attempt back then because this is far outside of what I was listening to on a regular basis. Nice try, younger self.

When I decided to try Karate again this year, and started listening to The Bed Is In The Ocean, I was surprised with just how much I loved it. It was ridiculous just how much I listened to that record over the summer, and as we moved into the Fall, I figured that maybe it was time to try another album from the band. I jumped into Spotify and queued up their record from 2000, Unsolved, to see how it sat with me.

To be honest, I really wasn't expecting much with Unsolved. When I started listening, my 2000-brain kicked back in and I figured this record would be slow and boring. I was fully prepared to accept The Bed Is In The Ocean as the exception rather than the rule, and that it would probably be the only Karate that I liked. I love being proven wrong... because while Unsolved is more laid back, jazzy and chill, I still can't get enough of it.

Because I had picked up a colored vinyl reissue for The Bed Is In The Ocean, I wanted the same deal for Unsolved. After debating for a couple of weeks which version to get the "small fires" color.

Guided Tour

Me and High Vis have a complicated history. When I first checked out Blending from 2022, I immediately loved those first few songs on the record, but felt very underwhelmed with the rest of it. When I went back last year and checked out the band's first album, No Sense No Feeling, I felt that same kind of initial disappointment. There was something there that kept me kind of interested, but I didn't see what everyone was loving about the band. The lesson learned here is that sometimes I just need time, because sitting here a year or two later from first hearing those records, I can tell you that I fucking love them now.

When I first heard that High Vis had a new record coming out this year, again I was hesitant. I mean, I grew to really like those first two albums, but had they pushed themselves too far for me with this latest one? I'm not gonna lie, when I first heard Mind's A Lie, yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking. The electronic drum sound that starts the song, plus the female vocals, had me thinking that me and High Vis were done. Thankfully I didn't let my closed mind completely shut me down, and when the band released Drop Me Out as an advanced single, I fooking loved it. I loved it so much that it had me scrambling to check what options were still available for preorder, and grabbed this "orange crush" version that was exclusive to Going Underground Records (which I've never heard of before).

Man, this record is so rad. Is it my favorite new album this year? I don't know. I can't trust my opinions right now, because this is just hitting me so hard at the moment. Time will tell.

Satan In Crimson

Just when I have hopes that I'll be back to posting every couple of days, the US has an election that shows just how fucking dumb and short sighted people can be, and it immediately crushes any momentum that I had. What the actual fuck? PTSD of Trump's first presidency was triggered and I'm not sure how the fuck I'm going to deal with another four years of hateful bullshit from him and his fanbase. Fuck fuck fuck you.

I'm going to be avoiding a lot of social media and general news for a while, so maybe now that I've shaken off that initial shock, this is the perfect time to focus on records and churn out a bunch of posts.

Satan have been one of those rare New Wave Of British Heavy Metal bands that were able to come back after years of inactivity and just blow my mind with how good they still are. Their 5th album since reuniting in 2011, and Songs In Crimson does not disappoint. I've struggled to stay interested with a few new metal albums this year... like the Saxon and Judas Priest records are good, but I don't find myself wanting to return to them very often... and I worried that might be the case with the new Satan as well. I assumed that I might play it and forget it... but that was not how it went. I started playing the songs as I was working, and quickly lost focus on what I was doing because these songs screamed for my attention. This record is so good, and it is actually quite shocking how great the band continue to be this many years down the line.

700 pressed on "transparent pigeon blue marbled" color vinyl.

Rebirth Of Hardcore Pride

It feels that records from straight forward hardcore bands have been a bit of a rarity this year... or maybe it's just me and I'm that out of touch. Either way, when records like the new Statement of Pride come along, I'm gonna jump on it.

Statement Of Pride play that style of straight edge hardcore that I cannot ignore. Release that shit on Youngblood Records, I'll be there ordering multiple copies. I really liked what I'd heard from the band a couple of years ago, so I'm very happy to see that they had more to give. This 12 inch features four new songs, plus the four songs from the Out Of The Ashes EP from 2022 that never saw a vinyl release. I don't think that Youngblood carries the weight that it once did, but I hope that it is enough to put this band on kids radar because this record is so good.

100 pressed on clear vinyl, and 300 on green. I'd also like to get my hands on the two limited covers that are floating around for this record. Nothing makes me want to collect records like good straight edge bands.