Frost Return

While I was very excited to raid Tim's collection and get my hands on Into The Pandemonium, the real Celtic Frost highlight was a couple of early EPs.

I think that the Tragic Serenades EP was my introduction to Celtic Frost. I bought it on cassette back in the day because the cover art was so rad... I don't know, there is something about the stark black with the skull in the center that just looked so cool to me... plus there were only three songs here, so it was cheap enough for me to take the chance on it. I don't think that Celtic Frost made much of an impression on me at the time. I mean, all I owned was this EP and Into The Pandemonium, and that album was too much for my teenage brain, so I think it just some some extra time for me to fully appreciate this band.

Sure these songs appear on other Frost records, but these new versions are cool enough to check out... plus that skull cover still looks fucking cool.

I've had the Emperor's Return EP from Celtic Frost on my wantlist for a long time, mainly because I'm basically still a 16 year old kid, and I thought the cover art was so great. I've been holding out for an original German Noise pressing, but with the Metal Blade version in my hands, it was impossible to say no. Plus, I still have a soft spot for those original Metal Blade axe labels.

I'm very excited to add to my Celtic Frost collection. Maybe I'll get one more before I finish with Tim's collection.

History Of A Time To Come

It is always such a charge for me when I add an old 80's thrash record to the collection. There is just something about that classic thrash period that I connect with deeply. From those formative years of about 16 to 20, thrash metal was my entire personality. Band t-shirts, my CD collection, and endless scribbles of lyrics and band logos on my school notebooks. It was everything to me. Because of this, it always feels special when I pick up an old thrash record.

1988 was a huge year for thrash. Every band in the Big 4 dropped an album that year, but it felt like a ton of other bands were popping off that made the Big 4 sound tame in comparison. On of my favorite records that year was History Of A Time To Come from British thrashers, Sabbat. I specifically remember listening to this album on the drive back and forth from college in the Fall that year. The vocals were unique and the lyrics sounded evil... plus the songs were nice and fast for me to headbang behind the wheel on my drive. It was such a perfect album and it still rips today. So good.

I kind of wanted an original German pressing from Noise for this album, but I guess the US pressing straight out of Tim's collection will do the job... even if the corners are crushed to hell. Plus, I kind of really dig those US center labels.

No Good At Goodbyes

There are some bands and styles of hardcore that just don't work for me. When I was going to a lot of shows, there were some bands that I did not like based on the crowd they drew. A lot of really hard and tough shit I just didn't hang with. I preferred high fives and stagedives over demonstrating my style. So when Triple B starting putting out records that seemed to fall more in line with that tough guy style, I stopped paying attention.

Gridiron was one of the bands that turned me off when I first saw their No Good At Goodbyes record in the Triple B store. Meh, the album cover was giving bad Agnostic Front vibes and I wasn't interested in checking them out. At the end of 2022(?) the guys on the 185 Miles South podcast were talking high praise for the band in their yearly recap, and so I finally broke down and checked them out, and to my surprise they weren't bad. They play hardcore mixed with a kind of hip hop swagger that reminds me of Biohazard... and I've never really liked that band... but here and now, I could appreciate the fun and ignorant (not derogatory) vibe that Gridiron brings.

After sitting with the songs on this record for a while, I finally decided that I did need to own this. No Good At Goodbyes is just such a fun time. Fuck the hard stance and tough attitude and lets just have a good time with this record. I've got friends in Pennsylvania, and they like sports things, so when I saw that Triple B was doing a pressing on "Eagles swirl" colored vinyl, I thought it would be a fun tribute to my PA pals and I grabbed copy. 250 pressed.

Belly Of The Beast

I really liked the first couple of Combust records. They have a great NYHC vibe in the vein of early Cro-Mags and Killing Time, and while I really liked those records when I bought them, I haven't really spent a lot of time with them over the past couple of years because I've been pulled to listen to other things. So I wasn't sure how a third Combust record was going to land with me, and I kind of expected to feel indifferent towards it.

I've slowly been getting back into a hardcore mindset this year, and the new Combust has been a big part of that. I didn't really expect much with Belly Of The Beast, but surprisingly it has been a bit of a catalyst that is reigniting my love of hardcore. I don't know what it was... but this record has a swagger that just hooked me and made me want more. It's hard. I has some groove. I just makes me want to move. I didn't even know that I needed this, but here we are.

The colored vinyl is your typical Triple B pattern with a few different colors all filtered through a 5th graders imagination of what looks good. Red and bone white on one side and a black splatter on the other. Limited to 300.

Siamese Pumpkins

Over the past couple of years, I've come to really like The Smashing Pumpkins... well, I've come to really like Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by The Smashing Pumpkins and a bunch of random songs from the band. However, it seems that most fans tend to view Siamese Dream as their favorite Pumpkins record... and while there are some songs here that I really like, I've never spent enough time with the full album to appreciate it as a whole.

Earlier this year, my local record store posted that they were taking preorders for a special RSD edition of Siamese Dream on "red smoke" vinyl, and I figured that it was time I took the plunge and committed fully to the album. As a bonus, if I didn't have to go out on Record Store Day to fight crowds for it, even better. Supporting record stores from the comfort of my home.

Okay look, I can see why people love this record, because it is a great album... for me it still isn't as good as Mellon Collie, but that's cool that people still ride hard for this one because it is deserved. I can't believe that I'm actually writing about a Smashing Pumpkins record on this blog... never saw that coming.

Lastly, the vinyl for this looks amazing. Man, remember when all colored vinyl looked this good and not some shitty splatter pattern on cheap plastic. I guess big bands like this can affort to use the best pressing plants.

Candy Relapse

If you ever wonder just how much my friends mean to me, and how much I value and listen to what they say, just take a look at my record collection. I picked up this Candy record because of the influence of two different friends.

I was talking to my friend Alex a couple of months ago, and she mentioned that she needed to listen to something aggressive. When I was curious about what she was reaching for, she told me it was the Candy album It's Inside You.

Now I was familiar with the Candy name from when they did a couple of records with Triple B, but I never really gave them much of a chance. With Alex's recommendation, I figured that I'd give them a spin and yeah, this is raw and delivers on the aggression. This record is hard to pin down and define. Yeah, there is a definite angry hardcore vibe going on, but I also feel a bit of a nu metal influence. It feels unique and not like any other band that I'm currently listening to. I'm sure that I would have hated this 5 years ago, but today this definitely hits me square in the fucking chest.

I wasn't sure if I was going to buy this record so quickly after first hearing about it, but then I noticed it was released through Relapse and there was a clear vinyl version available on Discogs. I know that for Relapse releases, Marcus will only buy the clear vinyl because A) it isn't a shitty looking splatter pattern from the label, and B) the label only presses 100 copies and they aren't available to the general public. Seeing a clear vinyl copy available for a good price on Discogs had me very interested and I quickly scooped it up so that I could be a bit like Marcus.

Not For You

Earlier this year, I made it out to a show to see Municipal Waste play. There was a local hardcore band, Corrective Measure, that was opening the show, and I was surprised at just how good they were. Seeing them play kind of reinvigorated my love of hardcore. I've been so wrapped up in discovering other kinds of music the last couple of years that I think a part of me forgot how great hardcore is and how excited it can make me feel to hear that straight forward no frills style of music.

After seeing Corrective Measure live, I quickly picked up their 7 inch... and then when I noticed that Refuse Records out of Europe was releasing their latest record, Not For You, Not For Anyone, I quickly ordered a copy of that as well.

9 songs in 10 minutes is exactly what I want here. Angry hard and fast is how I like my hardcore.