Don't Break Melissa's Oath

I loved collecting the silver label Megaforce and green label Combat records. I've knocked off a number of the bigger ones, but Mercyful Fate has always felt a bit intimidating to chase. Having the chance to pick of both of them from Tim's collection was too good to pass up.

The first Mercyful Fate album, Melissa, was originally released on Roadrunner over in Europe, but got a US release through Megaforce here in the States. It was the third Megaforce album release and has those great and collectible silver labels. I now have the the first eight Megaforce albums with the silver labels, which includes some heavy hitters like Anthrax, Exciter, Raven and the first two Metallica albums... so I'm feeling really good about adding this Mercyful Fate record to the collection.

I sometimes forget, or overlook, these Mercyful Fate records. I love King Diamond's vocals here, but I tend to reach for bands that are a bit more gritty in their sound when I want to listen to that early 80's thrash sound. Picking up these two records has reminded me just how great they are.

The second Mercyful Fate album, Don't Break The Oath, also saw a Roadrunner release over in Europe, but this time Combat handled the US pressing. Combat didn't really have an impressive track record up to this point, with releases from Oz, TKO and Helstar, so I imagine getting the rights to release this Mercyful Fate record was a huge win for the label, and maybe helped them land bands like Megadeth and Slayer soon after.

Now that I have these two albums, it kind of makes me want to finally put up the money it would take to grab the first Mercyful Fate EP. That's going to be an expensive move, so we will see when I can pull that off.

Creeping EP

I kicked off the blog this month with six posts of old 90's records that I'd recently picked up, and then followed that up with six posts for new 2025 records. It's been a productive month, so let's move into another recurring theme for this year, and dip back into some records that I've picked up from Tim's collection.

I'd never given much thought to adding the Metallica EPs to my collection. Just owning the albums seemed good enough for me. However, when I saw the Whiplash 12 inch available from Tim's collection, and looking at the layout and photos, it suddenly hit me how cool they were... and it became crucial that I own it. Obtaining the Whiplash single just made it apparent that I needed the Creeping Death 12 inch from Tim as well.

There are a number of different colored vinyl options for the Creeping Death single, but the copy from Tim was just the black vinyl... and that's good enough for me.

Scowl Angels

Continuing down the same path that we took on the last post for the new Higher Power record, I also wasn't too hot on the new Scowl either. I loved their last record, but for some reason with Are We All Angels, I just couldn't get myself excited for it. I'd given the songs a couple of spins, but it felt flat to me and I kind of dismissed it. When I saw Marcus post about the record, the pink colored vinyl immedately made me want to give it another shot... plus his description of Scowl's sound for this new release sounded exactly what I'd be interested in, so again I had to adjust my restrictive mindset and approach it with a more open attitude.

I'd recently seen a clip of Scowl covering Zero by The Smashing Pumpkins at the Sound and Fury fest and I thought it was really cool, so with that alongside Marcus throwing out alt rock grunge to describe where the band is now, I suddenly found myself excited to revisit the new record. Sure Are We All Angels is another step away from the traditional hardcore sound that Scowl started with, but this is still really fucking rad. I don't know what my problem was when I first listened to this.

Yeah, pink was definitely the color vinyl for me to chase for this. Thankfully I was able to scoop one off of Discogs for a good price.

Absolute Bloom

I have a system of posting records here on the blog... first in, first to post. Records arrive in the mail and they go to the bottom of the stack, so I'm always posting those that I received first. However, in the case of this post, I had to deviate from that plan.

The latest Higher Power record, and especially the song Absolute Bloom, was definitely my soundtrack for the summer. That song was definitely caught up in my Spotify algorithm and ended up in the playlist every time that I would use their radio, plus I was spinning the album quite a bit... so yeah, the new Higher Power was definitely setting the summer vibe for me.

The thing is, I really didn't expect to like this record, and initially I'd planned on just ignoring it. I ended up really liked the last Higher Power record, 27 Miles Underwater, but even then they were moving away from the typical 90's hardcore sound that had first attracted me to them. With this new record, I just assumed that they were going to further distance themselves from hardcore, and I just wasn't interested in seeing what their next step was... but soon I recognized that I was falling into the typical limited thinking and resistance that I used to get trapped in. I adjusted my mindset and decided to check out the new Higher Power record, looking for something new and surprising... and while it isn't my favorite Higher Power record, it was still a perfect record for what I needed this summer.

So, while the vinyl only just arrived in the mail yesterday, I felt that the proper thing to do was to move it to the top of my backlog stack, and get this posted before summer officially ends tomorrow.

Deadguy Travel Services

No rest for Tim Singer. The last few years have seen a couple of records from his latest band, Bitter Branches, plus a real shock with a new album from No Escape... so sure, why the fuck not, might as well resurrect and release a new record from Deadguy as well.

As soon as the record went up for pre-order, I jumped over to the Relapse store to get my order in. I saw the "custom color twist" color and figured that it was the least offensive of the available options, and I grabbed it.

No surprises here, if you liked Deadguy in the 90's... if you liked No Escape, Kiss It Goodbye or Bitter Branches... chances are that you will like this latest record. Just as pissed off in 2025 as they sounded back in 1995... and probably with good reason.

The packaging for this is so good. The full sized booklet with lyrics looks great, plus ordering from Relapse included a couple of buttons and a sticker. Well done.

Soon after I'd ordered the "color twist" from Relapse, Marcus reminded me that the label also does a clear vinyl version that limited to 100 and is supposedly for friends of the band and label only. I thought it would be cool to get my hands on one of those, but I didn't really put much hope into it. I figured that I got lucky when I was able to scoop the clear vinyl of the Candy album from Discogs, but I thought that Deadguy might prove to be more difficult. Apparently there is a friend of the band or label that has no problem flipping these things on Discogs for a decent price, and I didn't hesitate to grab one.

Sanhedrin Heat

The summer of 2023 I was going to attend the Stormbringer metal fest in Worcester, Massachusetts. Savage Master was playing the fest and I was not going to miss my favorite current metal band. Sanhedrin was also on the bill to play that day, so on a whim I figured that I'd check out some of their music before seeing them. Much to my surprise, they were really good and I found myself excited to check them out alongside Savage Master. They were really great live, and I'd intended on picking up their Lights Out album at the time, but it never happened. When Metal Blade put up preorders for their new record, Heat Lightning, I didn't hesitate to add it to the cart and check out.

To be honest, I haven't really been in much of a mood to listen to metal very much this year, so while I was somewhat excited for the new Sanhedrin album, I also wasn't too interested in checking it out when it arrived... so it has been sitting in a pile of new records, untouched since it arrived in the mail. I figured that it was time to get it posted up here, so I opened the shrink wrap to give it a spin and finally check it out.

Initially I was a bit underwhelmed with Heat Lightning. I'm sure that my mindset of 90's hardcore obsession had a part to play in that, because as I've slowly been giving it a chance every few days, it has really started to grow on me. Now that we are moving into cooler weather and we start to leave summer behind, I'm finding myself wanting to listen to stuff like Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath, and Sanhedrin fits that mood perfectly. I'm really liking this album, and it's got me thinking that maybe I need to finally pick up that Lights Out record as well.

500 pressed on ruby red colored vinyl.

Sunstroke Daisies

I love Sunstroke but it drives me a little crazy that they keep only releasing one or two new songs each year. I need more than this. Give me something that I can sit with for 15 to 20 minutes.

The latest from Sunstroke is another two song 7 inch... one new song and one cover. Hell Of A Year For Daisies is such a great song, and it kills me that there isn't more. Sure the cover of By A Thread by Inside Out is cool as hell, but I'm not sure how many times I need to listen to it here. Maybe it would fit in nicely at the end of a 12 inch, but here with just one other song... I fear the cover is going to be a bit tiresome after a while.

175 pressed on yellow.

Despite my complaints of how little is offered here on this record for music, it is still well worth picking up. The songs are great and the gatefold 7 inch sleeve is really well done... plus a bunch of stickers thrown in from Sky Valley Records make this a great package.

There are a number of different pressings for this 7 inch... I think maybe there are seven colors in all... and I'd hoped that we were moving away from this kind of thing, but I guess there are still labels that want to bankrupt anyone that is interested in trying to collect all of them. I was content with just the one yellow copy that I'd picked up, but once I saw that the REV exclusive color went all in with a special cover, of course I had to grab one of those as well.

115 pressed on blue vinyl with an excellent rip of the design from the Inside Out 7 inch.

Void Thrash

Back in May, I was finally posting the new Savage Master record here on the blog. I decided to check Shadow Kingdom to verify pressing info and I noticed an ad for a band named Void on their website. The ad described them as a technical thrash metal band, and it brought to mind bands like Holy Terror... and since I really like Holy Terror, I figured that I'd give this Void a chance and check the songs from their latest two song 7 inch.

Look, I really wasn't expecting much here. I thought that it would be good but forgettable, but I was wrong. The two songs here, one original that will be on the upcoming LP from Void, and a cover of Celtic Frost's Necromantical Screams, and both were so good that I rushed out to buy the 7 inch. I love it when a new metal band can hook me like this because it feels so rare these days... and I'm not sure if that is just because I'm not putting in the work to find something new, or if I'm just not really interested in what many newer metal bands are doing. But this 7 inch has me excited to check out the new Void LP.

The packaging on this 7 inch is insane. A high gloss foil gatefold cover, with an OBI strip, and a nice looking piece of vinyl. 250 pressed on turquoise colored vinyl.

90's Week: Part 6 - Bloodlet

While I really enjoyed the first two Bloodlet 7 inches back in the early 90's, that was all that I really paid attention to from the band. By the time they released their first full length, I thought they were boring and I stopped paying attention. Hey, maybe now is the time for me to revisit Entheogen. Those first two 7 inches though, are perfect, and I've been kind of obsessing over them the last few years. So when I started to think about what 90's records I wanted to chase for this series of posts, the Smorgasbord 7 inch on red vinyl was near the top of my list.

I originally bought this 7 inch on black vinyl back in the 90's, but memory is a weird thing because if you'd have asked me about it, I would have told you that the copy I owned was on colored vinyl. Like I was certain this was fact. So much that I've had to double check the copy that I had in my collection a few times... even before writing up this post I pulled it out to confirm, yes it's still black vinyl no matter how many times my brain says, "are you sure?" So finally getting this record on red vinyl does a lot for my sanity. There is no longer any question.

Man, these three songs are perfect. So heavy and crushing. As I'm listening to it right now, I'm thinking it easily makes my list of top 7 inches. It is just so good.

500 pressed on red vinyl.

90's Week: Part 5 - Despair

I've already talked this week about a couple 90's hardcore bands that I was familiar with at the time, but didn't really spend much time with them. Let's add one more to the list with Despair. Like with Harvest, I had a couple of Despair CDs back in the day, and I'd give them a spin every once in a while, but I never really found them too exciting compared to other bands that were around at the time and over the years I buried them in a dark corner and kind of forgot about them. As I was picking up a couple of records from an overseas seller, I noticed they had a couple of Despair records available and on a whim I added them to the order.

Despair don't reach the heights of my discoveries this year like Disembodied and Harvest, but they are still a good time. One Thousand Cries was the first 7 inch from Despair in 1995, and definitely fit that chunky hardcore sound from that era. Honestly, this is the type of shit that has been sustaining me the last few months and rediscovering Despair has been so much fun. "Now breathe some life!" *moshes across the room*

Love the look of this orange colored vinyl. Makes me want to pair it with the white vinyl pressing.

When you are on a 90's hardcore kick, why buy just one Despair 7 inch when you can buy two? It helps to justify the overseas order if you can add multiple records to the order.

As We Bleed was released in 1996, and at the time I bought the CD which had one additional song that wasn't on the 7 inch. Now I'm happy to finally have the vinyl in my collection. I'm having too much fun chasing this shit.

90's Week: Part 4 - Seaweed

Seaweed were a band that I got into way too late. Honestly, during the 90's I don't think that I ever came across their name. My view on music did not extend that far, so I never even had the chance to check them out at the time. I took me until 2014, when I finally paid attention to something Marcus said about them, and decided to check them out. Since then I've been in love with that band, and slowly building a collection. I'm desperate for a green colored vinyl of Spanaway, and for a while I thought that was the last full album I needed on vinyl from them... but then a few years ago I realized that there was a 6 song 12 inch that I needed as well.

I had assumed that the Despised 12 inch would be very easy to pick up. There weren't any limited colored vinyl pressings for me to have to chase... just the simple black vinyl pressing, and I figured that I could grab one without much effort. However, when I started to look for one, the only available copies that I could find were from sellers overseas. I did not expect that... and after waiting years for one to show up on Discogs from a US seller, I just finally committed to those overseas shipping costs and bought one when I was buying some other 90's records from someone.

Feels good to finally have this Seaweed record on the shelf. Now if someone would just sell me that Spanaway on green...

90's Week: Part 3 - Falling Forward

There are still so many records from the 90's that I want in my collection. If hadn't been so clueless on record collecting at that time, and hadn't focused on buying CDs instead, just think about how empty my life would be right now. Buying 90's hardcore records in 2025 gives me such a charge.

The Hand Me Down CD from Falling Forward contains songs from both their 12 inch and their first 7 inch. I picked it up back in 1994, and since I started collecting records 20 years ago, I've always wanted the vinyl for those in my collection. As I was checking my wantlist on Discogs, looking to see what 90's records might be available, I was happy to see the Let This Day Pass 7 inch available at a decent price.

Man, I loved Falling Forward back in the day. That typical Louisville brand of emo hardcore was so good and still holds up for me today. I'm glad that their anthology LP was released a couple of years back, but give me the excitement of chasing down the original records like this one any day.

90's Week: Part 2 - Union

While I was obsessing over Disembodied and Harvest, and talking with Marcus about 90's hardcore bands that I didn't pay enough attention to back in the day, he dropped the names of a couple of other bands on me. Things snowballed from there and I bought another 90's 7 inch, and then another. It got me thinking about years past when I would line up a bunch of recent 90's records that I'd recently picked up, and just rip through and post them all up on the blog during the week. I've done a blast of 90's colored vinyl and I did bunch of posts stuck in the 90's, and now I should have enough backlog to do a week of 90's hardcore.

One of the 90's bands that Marcus mentioned to me recently was Union. The name sounded really familiar when he asked me about them, and I was surprised to find that I still owned their In The Shadows CD that I probably picked up from Newbury Comics back in the day. I probably haven't listened to that thing in almost 30 years, but between my obsession in uncovering lost 90's hardcore bands and Marcus pushing me to listen to the first song on the You Fell For It 7 inch, I immediately scrambled to find the songs to check out. Of course Marcus was talking about this record back in 2017, but I failed to pick up what he was laying down... comparisons to the first Snapcase LP and recommending for fans of Cast Iron Hike, and I must have been asleep at the wheel to not check this out right then and there. Seven years later and I'm finally paying attention to what the man said.

Spotify has Union listed as Union_buffalo_hc, which is weird, but at least they have the band's full discography listed, and I've been listening to them a lot. Goddamn. The trifecta of Disembodied, Harvest and Union are gonna carry me through this year.

90's Week: Part 1 - Harvest

There seems to be a point each year where I find myself fixated on 90's hardcore. There is something about that decade that continually draws me back, and it will stick me with delusions that it is all that I want to listen to for the rest of my life. During those deepest obsessions, I'll find myself hunched over the computer in a dark room, my face lit by the glow of the screen, scrolling through the inventory of Discogs sellers and spending money like the end of civilization is just around the corner and nothing matters anymore except the sweet rush of buying a new record. That has been the picture of me over the past few months.

After being knocked on my ass by discovering Disembodied at the start of the year, I've found myself chasing that same rush and looking for other bands that I didn't pay too much attention to in the 90's.

I owned a couple of Harvest CD's back in the late 90's, but to be honest I didn't really spend much time with them. I was all about the straight forward hardcore bands at the time, and Harvest were a bit too metallic for me to really pay much attention to. I'd give the CD's an occasional spin, but nothing really stuck with me other than the fact that it sounded like the singer was doing some weird kind of thing where he was singing the words on the inhale instead projecting the words on the exhale. I don't know... it didn't work for me then, and it had been about 20 years since I'd bothered to listen to the band.

Desperate for something more along the lines of Disembodied, I queued up the Harvest collection, Transitions, that contains all of their early 7 inches and comp songs... and holy shit, I loved it. This was exactly what I was looking for. It was chunky and screaming, angry and metallic hardcore... and I fucking ate it up.

The next step was to obviously hunt down some records, and I assumed that I'd be able to swoop in on Discogs and buy a bunch of them for relatively cheap. Surprisingly that was not the case. I guess that I assumed that people wouldn't be paying any attention to 90's metallic hardcore bands in 2025, but apparently I'm wrong. Finding any Harvest records was tough work, and what I did find, sellers weren't letting it go for cheap. Maybe I overpaid for this purple vinyl copy of this Harvest 7 inch from 1996, but I don't know, I was just desperate to feed the obsession and I grabbed it.

Harvest appeared to like contributing to comps in the late 90's, showing up on The Difference Between Us and A Document Of Nothing, and while I'm not sure I want to chase comp albums, I had no problem grabbing the blue vinyl for this Twin Cities Hardcore 7 inch comp.

Other than Harvest, I'm really not familiar with any of the bands on this comp. I actually own a Killsadie CD that I bought back in the day, but haven't listened to it since then and I couldn't tell you anything about it, but listening to their song, as well as the one from Silent Fall makes me want to check out more from these bands.