If God Only Knew 2025 Was Dead

The past couple of years have been turbulent ones for my musical landscape. In 2023 I started opening myself to be more accepting to some music that I'd previously built up walls against and it was a freeing experience... and then 2024 was a bit of an extension of that as a I grew from accepting a song or two to fully embracing albums from those bands. I hate to use the term "growth" when it comes to reaching out beyond my foundation of hardcore and metal, but it did feel nice to spend some time appreciating stuff that I would have normally ignored... so I'm indebted to friends that helped push me to that point.

For 2025 though, this past year I've felt myself returning a bit to my natural center. Sure, I've still found myself obsessing over bands that are still new to me like The Smiths and The Cure... and even spending periods listening to a lot of Lorde and Lana Del Rey... but where I really spent most of my time was with 90's hardcore. While I'm no stranger to periods of 90's hardcore obsession, this past year had me digging into a bunch of bands that I really didn't appreciate back in the day. Bands like Disembodied, Harvest, Union and Despair fueled my preoccupation with that era of hardcore, and that only ignited my desire to collect records. The past couple of years, this blog has limped along, barely making it to double digit posts each month... but by July this year, and after picking up vinyl for those old 90's bands... suddenly, I was buying a ton of used records and was excited to post about it. While I didn't end up putting up big post numbers for the year, I feel like I'm back on track. So let's get into what I got up to for 2025.

Looking back at records that I blogged about here this past year, there didn't seem to be a lot of big ticket items... not a whole lot that will make serious collectors take notice, but then again, that's not the stuff that I'm usually drawn to. Still, here are some of the highlights that I was excited about buying.

1. Disembodied 'If God Only Knew' and 'Psalms of Sheol' - Checking out Disembodied on a whim at the start of the year set off a chain reaction that had me desperate to discover stuff like this that I didn't pay attention to back in the 90's. This band was huge in setting the pace for what my year would look like and my 2025 would not have been the same had I not uncovered them.

2. The Cure 'Jumping Someone Else's Train' and 'Killing An Arab' - The Cure have become one of my favorite bands, and I really need to quit fucking around and pick up the vinyl for a couple of my favorite records... but when I found a seller with the first two singles from the band available, I didn't hesitate and spent a lot of money.

3. Bloodlet 'self titled' 7 inch on red vinyl - I love those first two Bloodlet 7 inches, and I've been desperate to get the red vinyl for the self titled on Smorgasbord Records for years. As I was obsessing over this kind of 90's metal influenced hardcore from Disembodied, this was the perfect time for me to find an buy a copy.

4. Thought Crusade test pressings - Buying a test press kind of makes me feel like a serious collector, even when it is for bands that no one really gives a shit about anymore. Buying these two Thought Crusade tests and completing my collection was a bit of a flex.

5. Druid 'Vampire Cult' - When my friend Jeff said that I couldn't buy the copy he was selling because it was too expensive, it made me more determined to buy a copy off eBay. Buing out of spite is satisfying.

6. Harvest 'Worn Through The Layer Of Separation' on purple - Look, all I wanted this year was every colored vinyl pressing of every Harvest record. I didn't think that I was asking too much, but apparently that shit isn't easy to come by. This 7 inch on purple vinyl was the only Harvest record I was able to pick up, so it makes the list by default because I fucking loved that band this past year.

7. Mercyful Fate Megaforce and Combat pressings - I've kind of been intimidated to chase the first two Mercyful Fate albums on their respective Megaforce and Combat pressings, but I was excited to be able to grab them in one shot from Tim's collection.

8. Face Reality 'Positive Change' 7 inch with Significant Fest cover - This one was special because it is so limited, with only 15 getting this Significant Fest cover, and I was able to find it in the wild while shopping at Wanna Hear It Records with Mark.

1. Combust - Belly Of The Beast

2. Speedway - A Life's Refrain

3. Spite House - Desertion

4. Berthold City - No Brotherhood

5. Scowl - Are We All Angels

6. Spiritual Cramp - Rude

7. Drain - ... Is Your Friend

8. AFI - Silver Bleeds The Black Sun

It is kind of hard to judge the state of the hardcore nation for this past year. I feel like I didn't really listen to a lot of new records until the second half of the year, and some of these I didn't start checking them out until the last couple of months. So any ranking that I attempt to do here, is subject to be wildly inaccurate six weeks from now. Still, there was some really good hardcore records released this year, including Never Again, Dynamite and Higher Power that all got bumped off the list at the last minute. This makes it seem like it was a good year, since I actually had to think about what I needed to trim off my list of Top 8. The Combust record is such a solid hardcore release that it was an obvious choice for me at number one, but who knows, I really like that Speedway record as well, and as I get more familiar with it, maybe it jumps to the top. I also had some variety here, as Spite House, Spiritual Cramp, Scowl and AFI are all a bit different than the standard hardcore and punk offerings. They are all unique and interesting, and it was really tough figuring out where to place them here. Interesting year for sure.

1. Gruesome - Silent Echoes

2. Zig Zags - Deadbeat At Dawn

3. Savage Master - Dark & Dangerous

4. Testament - Para Bellum

5. Seven Sisters - Shadow Of A Fallen Star, Pt 2

6. Sanhedrin - Heat Lightning

7. Coroner - Dissonance Theory

8. Midnight - Steel, Rust and Disgust

These days I have a strange relationship with new metal records. I really enjoy them when I first get the record and listen to it, and I'll spin it throughout the year, but then once the calendar changes to the new year, I rarely look back and those records largely get ignored. Sure there are some expections, I still really love to listen to any Savage Master record, but for the most part, I'll look back at previous lists and be like, oh yeah I forgot about that album. But still, there is some great stuff here... the new Gruesome album surprised me with how much I liked it, and Zig Zags was a fun find with their brand of punk influenced metal... Savage Master wasn't as great as their past stuff, but it was still some great metal that sounded like it came straight out of the 80's. So yeah, some great stuff here... I just hope that I don't lose track of it with 2026 starts tomorrow.

Since I wasn't listening to a lot of new releases, I guess it is good to cover where I was spending most of my time. Some of this I've already covered as rediscovering bands like Disembodied and Harvest were a big part of my year, but I also spent a lot of time with Union thanks to a tip from Marcus. The Cure released Songs Of A Lost World in 2024, but I loved that record so much that I kept obsessing over it this year as well. Same with Karate... they were on this list last year, but I kept slowly checking out their back catalog and loving everything that I've heard. I never expected to see Kingpin live again, so when they reunited for a show this past summer, I listened to their songs a lot. Discharge was basically a new discovery for me this past year... and while I'm not sure which early record of theirs I listened to the most, I did pick up the Why LP from Tim's collection, so I guess that that one gets the nod here. Yeah, Marilyn Manson was a bit of a surprise. My friend Sarah started off the year asking me if I wanted to listen to Manson's "worst" record, Born Villain, with her... we would dedicate some time to it and then report back with our thoughts. I ended up having such a good time with it, that I dove into some other Manson albums and ended up spending a lot of time with The Golden Age Of Grotesque. Shockingly fun. And then finally, Gypsy. Damn this record never gets old for me, and after introducing my friend Alex to one of their songs, I spent a lot of time spinning the record as it sunk its hooks into me again.

So yeah, there is my wrap up for the year. Like I said, I'm feeling good again about writing this blog, and I'm excited to be back at chasing records that mean a lot to me. To think that I'm coming up on my 20th anniversary in February of doing this silly record collecting blog, it kind of blows my mind. This blog has always been for myself first and foremost, but if you hang out and read the nonsense that I put down here, thanks for checking it out. I don't think that I have anything really important to say, but I have a good time with it.

Berthold Brotherhood

I'm squeezing in one more 2025 release before we flip the calendar over to 2026.

It's always good to see a new Berthold City record released... and by "see" I mean that figuratively because hands down, War Records has some of the worst looking vinyl. Man, this purple and green with black splatter just looks bad... and there really weren't any good options, so I figured that I might as well grab the ugliest one.

Still, this four song 7 inch is a great listen. Berthold City have always delivered great straight forward hardcore, so there was no way that I was going to let this No Brotherhood EP pass me by... no matter how bad the vinyl looks... and once again the band delivers. Six minutes of pure hardcore that leaves you wanting more.

Fugazi Medicine

I've been concentrating on getting all of the new 2025 releases up on the blog before the year's end, but after seeing the Fugazi post from Marcus the other day, I figured that I'd pull one of their records from the pile and work that into the mix.

Back in the day, I guess I considered Red Medicine to be the end of Fugazi's run of great albums. I enjoyed it at the time, but there were songs where the band was pushing themselves out of my comfort zone. I could hang with the album, but by the time End Hits came around it was too much for me and I bailed on the band. Over the years, I kind of lumped Red Medicine in with End Hits, often times confusing the two, and I've spent the last 20+ years largely ignoring it.

Earlier this year I was influenced to check out The Argument, and I loved it so much that I started to think that maybe I should revisit some of those Fugazi records that I didn't really care for the first time around.

I dug out Red Medicine to check out the songs and while I can definitely hear what turned me off back in 1995, after spending a lot of time with bands like Karate and Modest Mouse the last couple of years, I can appreciate the different textures that Fugazi was playing with on this record. I listened to it quite a bit at the end of summer and through the Fall, and obviously needed to add it to the collection. These colored vinyl pressings look so nice, and it makes me want to replace all of my black vinyl versions.

Dissonance Coroner

Earlier this year, I picked up the Coroner album R.I.P. from Tim's collection. I didn't really expect much from that record, but surprisingly I really got into it. As I was writting up the blog post for that record, I discovered that Coroner had just released a new album... and caught up in my own hype over the band I decided to check it out.

I'd seen some praise for the new Coroner album, Dissonance Theory, so I approached it with a bit of hope and it did not disappoint. The band has not released an album in 32 years, and the last that I heard from them was No More Color from 1989, and yet this new record feels like Coroner have not missed a step with their brand of technical thrash. I love it when bands from the 80's can still deliver something that is still so heavy and urgent sounding.

When I was ready to buy the vinyl, it seemed that it was a hot commodity and I rushed to buy this colored vinyl version on coke bottle clear from Discogs. There weren't many options at the time, and I probably paid too much for it because now there seem to be plenty of copies available. Oh well, I needed to get this shit in my collection before the end of the year and I was desperate.

Rude

I was late getting into Spiritual Cramp. I did not care for them at all when I checked out their first 7 inch on React Records back in 2017, but I happened to hear a song from the band at the end of 2023 as their new album was about to drop, and I quickly became obsessed with them. That new record blew me away and Spriritual Cramp became my favorite band of 2024.

Having falling so hard for Spiritual Cramp, there was no doubt that I was going to preorder their newest album. I was so excited. I didn't need to hear preview song or anything... no questions asked... take my money.

When the album arrived, I couldn't wait to give it a spin... and then was promptly disappointed. Rude did not have that same driving energy that I heard with the self titled debut album. This record was missing that urgency that I loved with the earlier Spiritual Cramp stuff, and it felt a little tame and watered down. It took me a long time to finally come around with Rude, but eventually the songs began to click with me in a big way. I love this record, but it did take a handful of listens for me to get there. Honestly, the more I listen to it, the higher it climbs on my favorites of the year list.

Blue, red and black marble vinyl is limited to 250.

Drain Is Your Friend

With the latest Drain album, ... Is Your Friend it feels like they missed an opportunity by releasing this in November, because Drain definitely bring a summer vibe. Dude, the tunes, the album cover and photo... this would have been THE RECORD to thrash around to over those hot summer months. Instead, I have to play these songs through my earbuds as I'm out shoveling snow. Shit doesn't seem right.

Once again Drain deliver their blend of hardcore/crossover and this shit is so much fun. For me, nothing tops their last record, Living Proof, and I'm assuming that one will fall in behind the Drain debut if I'm ranking them, but this is still a solid release for a hardcore band that is three albums in.

Bands love a gimmick name for colored vinyl, and Drain have a number of them for this album. Chum bucket swirl... frosted coke bottle... kewpie blue dream splash... but I picked up Santa Cruz sunburst because I thought it might pair best with the album cover.

Restraining The Future

The second Restraining Order album never reached the heights of the first one. I liked it well enough, but Locked In Time didn't give me anywhere near the amount of excitement that I get when I play This World Is Too Much. When I heard that there was a new Restraining Order album on the way this year, there was no doubt that I was going to have to order it, but I expected that I'd listen to it and then shelve it without giving it much thought.

I'm not sure what it is, but for me Future Fortune hooked me straight out of the gate. Maybe I'm just in a better mindset for this kind of hardcore right now, but this shit gets me moving. I haven't really spend much time with this record, but I'm already appreciating it more than their last one... so that is a nice surprise.

The hype sticker for this says the vinyl is an orchid, sky blue and magenta colorway. Limited to 100.

Para Bellum

Testament have been on the four year cycle with albums since they stormed back in 2008 with The Formation Of Damnation... and every one of them has been fucking solid. It has been five years since their last one, Titans Of Creation, but I figure that with covid in the mix, I'll allow them the additional year between records. Still, with Testament's excellent streak of records, when preorders were announced for their new record, I quickly got my preorder in.

With Para Bellum, Testament keep doing what they do best, although there are times here when they thrash so hard and heavy that it reminds me of The Gathering when they leaned into a bit of the death metal sound. Some of these songs really have Chuck growling those vocals and I love it.

It feels like this past year has been fairly low key when it comes to new metal records, but a new Testament album is certainly a highlight.

Black and orange swirl colored vinyl (which looks more like camo) is limited to 750.

Ritual On A Chain

Another year, another Planet On A Chain record. Honestly, I'm surprised at how much this band has released. Three albums over three years, plus a couple of 7 inches before that. It's impressive for a hardcore band.

Ritual Routine keeps doing what POAC does best... unrelenting fast hardcore. I don't think that they really do anything new here, and that's cool with me. While all of their records kind of feel the same and interchangable, there was something about their last one, Culture Of Death, that I really enjoyed more than others... and for me, this new one falls a bit short. Maybe I just need to sit with it a bit more... or maybe there was just something with Culture Of Death that clicked with me more. Who knows... but either way POAC keeps doing what you'd expect POAC to do, and that album cover art is rad as fuck.

330 pressed on yellow colored vinyl.

100% Never Again

I really need a system to keep track of records that I've ordered. A few years ago I used to keep a notebook that I would use to capture info on when I would place an order for a record... writing down the date plus any any info about it that was kicking around in my head at the time, including what put it on my radar in the first place. This was useful when months later I would finally get around to the blog post. My 2026 resolution is to start that back up, because sitting here now and looking at this Never Again record, I have no fucking idea what prompted me to buy it. This kind of thing happens to me more than I'd care to admit. My memory really is shit.

My email records show that I ordered this 7 inch back in February from Cash Only Records, but I'm not sure where I heard about it. I mean I assume that I saw it on the 'gram somewhere, but I'm not sure who would have shared it that it made enough of an impression that I would have to immediately search it out, listen to the songs, and buy it within a 10 minute span... but that's exactly what happened. So whatever it was that made me check it out, I'm glad that I did because this record is that good. Pure straight forward hardcore, and that is exactly what I wanted.

Red/black smash (or more commonly known, dark red) colored vinyl that is limited to 200.

Meantime

I hadn't heard of Meantime until I saw Marcus post about this record a couple of months ago. I don't really follow what Indecision Records is releasing, so I wasn't surprised to find that this came out a couple of years ago and that it had passed me by undetected, but once Marcus dropped comparisons to Go It Alone and Champion, I sat up and took notice.

That isn't to say that Meantime exactly sound like either of those bands, but their sound does bring me back to those mid-2000 hardcore days. Man, those were special times for me with so many good bands, so Living In The Meantime clicked with me immediately and I had to rush over to Indecision to pick up a copy.

150 pressed on this splatter pattern vinyl, and while I'm not really looking to collect multiple copies of this, it would be really nice if one of those record release versions managed to become available to pick up at some point.

Spite And Desertion

I took a chance on the first Spite House record back in 2022, and while I didn't really listen to it a whole lot at the time, it was a really solid album that reminded me of some of the melodic post-punk stuff of the early 90's. I've come to really appreciate that record over the past couple of years, but I was still a bit hesitant when I discovered that they had a new album on the way this year. I'm aware that skepticism is my default reaction, especially when it comes to new music from band that play this kind of style... like, okay your band was good enough to pull off one record, but surely you will fuck up the next attempt and go too soft and melodic... but most of the time bands prove me wrong, and I'm happy that is the case with the new Spite House album, Desertion.

While it took me some time to ease into the self-titled Spite House album, with Desertion, I was immediately hooked. I'm not sure if the songs are better here, or if it was my state of mind, but right from the start I was into it. I'm kind of at a loss as how to describe this... on the one hand they remind me of that 90's melodic style that bands like Garden Variety were doing, but I also hear some Title Fight here... I don't know but it is really good.

Violet a-side and blue b-side with glitter colored vinyl. Limited to 150.

Tales Of Never Letting Go

When I first got into hardcore and started going to shows in Boston, there was a band named Only Living Witness that would often be on the bill and I saw them a number of times in 1991 and 1992. I bought their Complex Man 7 inch at a show, and enjoyed it, but my taste was rapidly changing at the time and before too long OLW was "too metal" for me. I lost track of the band after that, and completely missed when they broke up and the singer, Jonah Jenkins, started up a new band with Miltown.

Miltown didn't even cross my radar until Marcus mentioned them to me in 2016. The band had released a 7 inch in 1996 and a split with Cast Iron Hike in 1997, and I there I was 20 years after their release hunting them down and obsessing over the new found discovery. Now almost ten years after I first heard those Miltown records, I guess there was more to discover.

Back at the end of 1997, Miltown went into the studio and recorded an album, but then shortly after that, they broke up. I guess they weren't interested enough at the time to get the songs released, so the tapes just sat on a shelf. Thankfully someone recently had the thought to finally release this to the public almost 30 years later. When Marcus sent me a message to let me know that preorders were up for the long lost Miltown album, I was excited to quickly get one into my cart and check out.

It's crazy that things like this can sit around for years just collecting dust. Tales Of Never Letting Go is so good that I can't believe that it took this long to get released. The perfect melodic post-hardcore groove that I can't get enough of from that mid to late 90's era.

297 pressed on glacier blue colored vinyl.

Killing Someone Else's Train

One of my favorite discoveries these past couple of years has been The Cure. The whiplash of having zero interest in the band to having them at the top of my listening stats for two years in a row has been shocking. I've kept my experience with the band pretty narrow, only really listening to Disintegration (1989), Wish (1992) and their latest, Songs Of A Lost World (2024)... and occasionally dipping in to check out Pornography (1982)... but I really love those albums. At one point I was content to just listen to the albums through streaming services like Spotify, but more and more I feel the need to own the physical media and to have original UK pressings in my collection. I picked up the Pictures Of You single last year, and here I am fucking about with more singles from The Cure instead of actually chasing down the albums.

Last month I was checking out one of the Spotify playlists that included some bands that I wasn't too familiar with like Pixies, Basement and Joy Division. Normally I wouldn't stick with a playlist full of songs that I didn't know, but I was in the mood to just chill and read my book, so I took a chance and hit play. After a few songs, Jumping Someone Else's Train started to play, and I was like "oh cool a song from The Cure that I've never heard" and I was excited to give it a listen. I was surprised to find that the song was familiar, forgetting that Miltown covered the song on their split with Cast Iron Hike... but hearing the original version for the first time blew me away. I fucking loved it and immediately set to tracking down which album the song was on.

Turns out that Jumping Someone Else's Train was one of the early singles from The Cure and wasn't on a regular studio album... although it did appear on the US frankenstein version of The Cure's first record, Boys Don't Cry, where the label took a handful of songs from the actual first album, Three Imaginary Boys, and mashed them together with some various singles from that time, including this song. With that useless fact in mind, I kind of wanted the original UK single. The price for this was a bit high, but I was so obessed that it didn't matter... I just had to have it.

Initally I found one for sale from a US seller on Discogs, and I fired off a message to ask for him to confirm that the center label matched what was pictured for his listing. I wasn't even asking for a photo... just a simple confirmation that what he was selling matched what was shown. I got no response, so fuck that guy, and I ordered them from a UK seller on eBay instead.

As I was picking up the Jumping single, I noticed that the seller also had a single available for Killing An Arab. I'd never heard of this song either, so I checked a live version that was available on Spotify and I fucking loved it. That song was so rad that I said fuck it and threw more money to the seller to pick up both of those 7 inch singles.

Killing An Arab was the first single from The Cure, released back in 1978. Apparently there were 5,000 pressed for Small Wonders Records initially, and then two months later it was reissued on the new Fiction Records label. Kind of cool to own an original here... and in great condition.

Maybe I'll get around to picking up a Cure full length album for the collection in 2026.

Gruesome Echoes

I've loved Gruesome since hearing their first record, Savage Land, back in 2015. They came together to pay tribute to the late Chuck Schuldiner and the band Death, and they have stayed true to that mission with each record sounding like a long lost Death recording session. I loved those first three Death albums, so I'm here for what Gruesome has been doing.

It's been seven years since the last Gruesome record, Twisted Prayers, and I kind of expected that the band was done. I was surprised to see that the band had a new record on the way this year, and I wasn't sure if I was going to really want to spend a lot of time with it. Sure, Twisted Prayers was good, but I've only listened to it a handful of times since its release, so was I really going to bother with a new album?

It took me a couple of months to get around to checking out the new Gruesome record, Silent Echoes, but when I did, the timing was perfect because it was exactly what I needed at the time. There have been a few times this year when I just want to listen to something angry and ugly, and this was one of those times. It hit perfectly and I've already listened to this more than their last album.

Since picking up a couple of Relapse records this year on clear vinyl, I'm kind of hooked on it. These are limited to 100 and only available to friends and family of the band an label, but I've been lucky to grab the few Relapse releases that I've been interested in straight off Discogs for a decent price.

Ignite Anniversary

The first time that I heard Ignite was when I picked up the Scarred For Life CD back in 1994. The CD contained the songs from the first Ignite record, plus a few bonus tracks, but I had no idea that the 7 inch even existed at the time... even though I was buying lots of vinyl at that time... so I was content with the CD. It wasn't until MANY years later that I even realized that the Where They Talk 7 inch was a thing, and by that point the colored vinyl carried a price tag that was a bit out of range for what I'd pay. When I was picking up the Carry Nation records from REV, I noticed that they had this Ignite reissue and figured that I'd grab it as well.

This 12 inch pressing of Where They Talk was released for the 30th anniversary, and includes all five songs from the orginal session (only three appeared on the 7 inch). This early record was before Zoli joined the band for the classic Call On My Brothers, and has Randy Johnson on vocals. I remember initially being a big hesitant on Randy's vocal style here, as he aims for a more melodic approach, but I quickly grew to really like how these songs sound. I kind of forgot all about this recording after getting heavily into Call On My Brothers and Past Our Means, but this anniversary release is a great reminder of just how great this first version of Ignite was.

Nice packaging with the newly designed cover, colored vinyl and insert. As with most anniversary editions, I wish there was more info here on the band's history... how they came together and why they separated with Randy... but overall this looks really nice. 300 pressed on turquoise colored vinyl for the REVHQ store.

Live Nation

I have so many new releases that I need to get posted up here before the year closes out, and here I am mucking about with a new reissue. I may have actually let this one slip me by, but when I saw Marcus post about it this summer, I found myself influenced into picking it up.

In June of this year, there was a memorial show for Big Frank Harrison that featured a ton of great older bands, and it would have been great if I had the forethought to plan a trip out to Cali to check it out... but I seem to be out of the loop with hardcore most of the time, and didn't fully realize what was going on until Marcus over from the UK that weekend for the show. In any case, as Big Frank was a member of Carry Nation, the band decided to reissue their one 7 inch to help raise some additional money for Frank's daughter. This alone made it a worthwhile purchase, but what really sold me was how great the record looked.

The gold vinyl and the new cover design looked so good that I needed to buy this.

The nice thing about this 7 inch is that there aren't 10 different pressings to collect. You just get the original black and clear vinyl pressings from 1989, and then the newest reissue. Got to like it when record collecting doesn't get stupid and just keeps things simple.

Confession time. I've never owned, or been too interested in the No Control At The Country Club live 7 inch that Nemesis put out in 1990. I don't know... one live song each from four bands never really appealed to me as a music consumer (hey, at least the East Meets West live comp had the unreleased Carry Nation song Temple Walls)... and while maybe I should track one down at some point to appear as a real record collector, I've just never made it a priority. For the Big Frank memorial show, the band decided to press all five songs from their Country Club set to wax, and that was something that I could get behind more than the original live comp.

This is a cool recording to have. The drums sound a bit annoying at the start of Grave Mistake, but overall, it is a good reminder of how good the band was, and hearing the song Thinking Of You for the first time here just makes me wish that we got more from Carry Nation.

Specific Wonderland

Moonkisser are a band that I enjoy, but it feels like I rarely listen to. They will release a new record and I'll give it a number of spins, really like it, and then put it on the shelf and forget about it. Then they will release something new and I'll be like, "oh yeah, I should listen to Moonkisser more". Also, when I listen to the band, it will remind me of that mid 90's emo post-hardcore stuff like Lincoln or other Art Monk bands and then I'll just want to listen to that instead. But yeah, Moonkisser is really good and when I heard that they had a new record on the way, I jumped in to preorder.

I've been slow to check out any new record that I've received this year. I won't hesitate to buy it, but then I'll just let it sit there for months before going "well, I guess I've got to blog about this, so I should probably listen to it". So over the past two days, I've listened to Specific Wonderland five times... and not just so that I could act like I knew what the fuck I was talking about in this post, but because it is really good. I've even gone back and pulled Summer's Fleeting Majesty off the shelf to listen to that one as well. Yeah, this band is so good. Thank you new record for the reminder.

The label lists this colored vinyl as "neon magenta" but I prefer to just call it "hot pink". Looks so good. Limited to 100.

Dynamite Hardcore Pride

Last year I missed out on the colored vinyl pressing for the Wreckage 7 inch from Scheme Records. That shit hurt, and still a year later I haven't been able to track one down. So when I saw the label announce preorders for the Dynamite 7 inch earlier this year, I didn't hesitate to get my order in.

Dynamite flies the London Hardcore flag proudly, and play a great straight forward style that never gets old for me. Five songs in eight minutes is the perfect hardcore blast. I'd never heard of the band before this record, but apparently they also released another 7 inch last year on Quality Control that might be worth tracking down... if one ever becomes available over here in the the States.

Everything about this record feels like a Youngblood release. The music, the design... it all just feels like it would fit with what that label does, so all around this is a solid release... and honestly it kind of makes me want to collect this kind of stuff again.

100 pressed on red vinyl.

Living With A Harvest Complex

I've found myself obsessed with a few 90's hardcore bands this year. Bands that I didn't think that I really liked all that much, but suddenly I've found myself unable to get enough. The problem that I've found with some of these bands is that their records seem more difficult to find than I had expected. Because of course, since I wasn't listening to or collecting records for these bands, no one else was, right? I should be able to scoop these records fairly easily. Wrong. I want this shit now, and Discogs and eBay aren't delivering. With Harvest, Marcus even asked a friend of his if he wanted to part with any of his records, but it seemed like that was one band that he still wanted to hold onto. Fuck.

As I was scouring the internet, I found a label called Hardcore Matinee that was doing a special run of Harvest shirts. It was a preorder where they were only doing the one run to cover orders and then it was done... and I kept playing with the idea of buying one. I went back to the store every couple of days to wring my hands over if I should buy one, and then I noticed that they had found a few copies of the Living With A God Complex reissue that they did back in 2018, and they put them up in the store... so I took it as a sign and bought the record and the shirt.

I try to stay away from reissues, but this 21st anniversary edition is so nice... and since I haven't been able to track down an original copy, this one will do for now. That's okay though, because this edition is really nice. With the special sleeve, the thick booklet with lyrics and photos, and all the special touches like the stamped labels, I'm happy to own this.

Number 268 of 300.

Mil-Marathon

When I picked up the World House record from Mil-Spec back in 2020, I really enjoyed it. I played it quite a bit for about two months, and then we moved into a new year, and my focus shifted to other things. I forgot all about the band for about five years, until Marcus sent me a message recently to let me know that Lockin Out had colored vinyl available for the second Mil-Spec album, Marathon.

Marathon was released back in 2023, and honestly, I'd never even heard of it. I know that I'm not connected too well with happens in hardcore most days, but I still figured that I would have been aware of this record. I didn't really remember anything about Mil-Spec, and wasn't even that excited to revisit World House, but I figured that if Marcus took the time to give me the heads up on a record, I might as well check it out. I found Marathon on Spotify and from the first song I was interested. They had a familiar sound that I couldn't place... I was thinking it was something like Abuse Of Power, but Marcus said that they just sounded like Mil-Spec and maybe he was right... but I was really liking what I heard and so headed over to Lockin Out to buy the record.

Apparently the there were 220 pressed on orange vinyl, with 70 of them getting an OBI strip for a Japanese tour. This one obviously doesn't have the OBI, but at least the colored vinyl matches the front cover. Also, strange that the packaging for this record does not mention "Mil-Spec" anywhere on it, except for the small print copyright info on the back sleeve. If I saw this in a shop, I would have skipped right by it, thinking this was some band named Marathon that I'd never heard of before.