Sound & Forced Order

Apparently the Sound & Fury fest is still a thing. I remember being on the hunt for special Sound & Fury editions for Verse and Have Heart records back in 2007... and to still be chasing S&F covers in 2025 feels bizarre. These big fests generally don't interest me these days, and looking at the line up here, there were only a handful of bands that I would have been excited to see, but when Triple B announced that they had some leftover merch in their store, I didn't hesitate to see what might be available.

I really like the Forced Order record on Triple B, and oddly is really the only thing that I listen to from the band. When I saw there was a special S&F cover for One Last Prayer, I was hoping that there would be leftovers in their store and I could grab one there because I thought that the cover shot of the singer with the "fuck their mind control" shirt looked really rad. Thankfully I was able to get one, but I guess it wasn't the hot item that I expected it to be as three months later it is still available.

Triple B was able to use up some of their unsold black vinyl copies for this record, and convince me to buy one because of a limited cover. Number 25 of 100.

Mania For Conquest

One of the cooler things that I've discovered in going through Tim's old collection has been just how much I love those early Discharge records. I picked up both the Warning and Ignorance singles early when I started going through his stuff, and when I saw the Why 12 inch in the latest back from Jeff, I was excited to grab that one too.

Discharge's Why 12 inch was their earliest record that was available from Tim's collection, and it comes at you harder than the other records I've picked up from them. With the record cover photos of dead children, and ten tracks that clock in at a total of 15 minutes, this record is raw and heavy. It's so good and I've had it on repeat the last few days. It's over so quick and I'm left wanting more.

This is probably the last classic Discharge record that I was able to scoop from Tim's collection, but now that I've picked up a few of them, I'm itching for more.

Living Outside Society's Shit

When G.L.O.S.S. released their demo back in 2015, it seemed like there was a lot of hype around it at the time. Seemed like everyone was talking about how great this band was... and because I can be dumb sometimes, the hype turned me off. Nah, I don't need to check out a band that everyone has nothing but good things to say. Who wants something like that? *heavy eye roll*

I can't remember why, but a couple of years ago I decided that it was finally time to check out G.L.O.S.S. The band is a trans-feminist hardcore band out of Washington state, and I don't think that I really expected the straight forward pissed off hardcore sound that the band delivered with these demo songs. This shit had my attention immediately, and I loved it. I checked the pressing info and figured that since there weren't multiple colored vinyl copies pressed for this thing that it would be cheap and easy to pick up. I was not expecting the price tag that this carried... but that is the landscape of record collecting these days... everything seems expensive.

I didn't pick up the record for the G.L.O.S.S. demo when I first heard it, but a couple of months ago I finished reading a book by Michael McDowell called Gilded Needles, and it seemed a perfect match with this 7 inch. Gilded Needles is set in the late 1880's and follows Lena Shanks, who leads a ring of female criminals in an area of Manhattan... and it seemed to pair perfectly with a band/record named Girls Living Outside Of Society's Shit. Every once in a while I'm moved to post a book and record combo on Instagram and this match seemed to perfect to pass up... so it was finally time to put up the money needed to acquire this 7 inch. I found a listing on Discogs that included the zine that the record came with and I jumped on it. Such a great hardcore record with important things to say. Happy to finally appreciate and to own this.

Coroner Noise

Back in 2017, I was excited to pick up an original German pressing for the Punishment For Decadence album from Coroner. I was pretty excited at the prospect of chasing down a bunch of other German Noise pressings, and even added a few more over the following years... but the mission ran out of steam and it feels like I had lost that spark to chase original pressings for old metal records. Going through Tim's collection and picking up some 80's metal vinyl has kind of reinvigorated me on that, but the only problem has been that Tim was mostly picking up US versions at the time... which leaves me in kind of a bind since I prefer to buy UK/European pressings for UK/European bands. So I'm forced between immediate satisfaction in settling for an available US pressing from Tim's collection, or deciding to hold out for the pressing that I really want. Unfortunately I'm an immediate satisfaction bitch.

Coroner was a technical thrash metal band out of Switzerland, and back in the day I picked up three of their CDs. I remembered really liking Punishment For Decadence, but with R.I.P. (1987) and No More Color (1989), I don't remember giving those albums much playing time. I remember a few years back, my old blogger friend Lins told me that I really need to go back and check out R.I.P. again, and when I saw it in Tim's collection, I figured that the time was now.

I'm so glad that I was pushed to finally check out this album again. These songs are so good. I kind of get why 17 year old Mike didn't give this a lot of spins, as he was being bombarded with so much great thrash at the time, but this kind of rough and complex metal suits me well in 2025 and I'm loving listening to this. Shame about those white US Noise center labels though. The German pressing looks so much better!

Themes Of Destruction

The bookclub that I'm in, In The Void, has been doing a quarterly theme this year. For the 3rd quarter, the challenge was to read a handful of books around the theme of Destruction. Occasionally I'll be excited enough over the books that I've selected to read for the prompt, throw them together in a photo and post it up on Instagram. This time around, I wanted to pair the books with some records from the band Destruction, for obvious reasons... but the only problem was, I didn't own any. Still, I was committed to the idea, so the only solution was to head to Discogs to buy some albums.

Picking up old records from Tim's collection this year has definitely brought my attention back to some 80's thrash and I've been listening to it a bit this year, so I didn't need much of a push to hunt down some Destruction vinyl. The band were big for me when it came to 80's thrash. They are still going strong, and even released a new album this year, but for me, it is obviously all about the classics. Their album, Release From Agony, was always a favorite for me back in the day. The songs are so great and abrasive, and the album cover art is iconic. I needed it.

I have a soft spot for 80's metal records on colored vinyl. It feels like the vast majority of metal albums were just on the standard black vinyl at the time, so when I see that a record had a colored vinyl pressing, I need to own it. Release From Agony on white vinyl looks so good.

Only one Destruction record wasn't going to cut it as I was shopping for records for my Instagram book post, and once I noticed that the Mad Butcher EP was on colored vinyl too, I obviously needed to get that too.

Man, it has been fun revisiting these records. There is something about finally buying the vinyl for those old 80's metal records that I only owned on CD as a kid... I get such a charge from it.

Midnight Disgust

Since picking up Midnight's Satanic Royalty back in 2012, I've only skipped buying a new album from them... 2017's Sweet Death and Ecsasty (which I just wasn't feeling at the time, and I've never gone back to check it out again). Midnight have released three albums since then, and I've loved each of them... so when I saw that Metal Blade had a new Midnight record up for preorder, I didn't hesitate to place an order. When it arrived and I gave it a first listen, I was thinking that maybe I should have skipped this one too.

To be fair, I knew nothing about Midnight's Steel, Rust And Disgust when I bought it. On my first listen I couldn't help but think that the songs didn't really feel like Midnight. I wasn't really excited about what I'd heard and then I looked a little closer at the album and realized that they were all cover songs (well, with the exception of two new original songs). That certainly explained why it didn't fully feel like a Midnight record.

After my initial listen, I thought that I could probably just shelve this one, and not concern myself with listening to it again... but as I was just listening to the record while writing up this post, I found it kind of fun. Ten cover songs here, all from Cleveland bands that helped to influence Athenar from Midnight, and they are all so obscure that I've never even heard of most of them... the closest we come is a Dead Boys cover that I may have listened to a handful of times, but I don't really remember it. So overall, this could be a fun record to reach for from time to time because there is some cool shit here when I'm not being too stubborn to appreciate it.

Wanna Haul It: Part 7 - Face Reality

One last record for my haul from Wanna Hear It, and it is a pretty limited one. I've found a few limited tour covers at this store over the years and it surprises me each time. Such a cool feeling to find these in the wild like this.

Face Reality were a straight edge band out of Detroit around 2010. They released three 7 inches, but for me, their first one was always the best. They got a bit more of a rougher sound with each release, but the Positive Change 7 inch just has that straight forward youth crew hardcore style that I love. Hoods up and X's on fists. Fuck yeah.

As I was flipping through the 7 inches at Wanna Hear it, and I saw the Face Reality spray painted cover, I was immediately like "what the fuck is this", and then when I checked the vinyl and saw it was the Positive Change record I didn't hesitate to add it to the growing pile of records that I was buying.

Number 7 of 15 made for Significant Fest with the special cover. Adding this one to the collection really makes me want to get the last few versions that I need for this record... but of course Discogs isn't helping me with that right now. Maybe my next visit to Wanna Hear It will prove to be more helpful.

Overall, it was another fun day meeting up with Sandwell while he was in town, and I was happy for the excuse to spend the day in Boston and pick up some great records.

Wanna Haul It: Part 6 - Free At Last

Free At Last are one of my favorite bands in recent years... and by "recent" I really mean more like "in the last fifteen years". I'd like to collect more from the band, but I'm out of the collector mindset so I don't always think about chasing multiple versions... and then when I do start to hunt, it is tough to find anyone selling. I don't know if hardcore kids from this era bought this shit and then quit and stuck it in the back of their closet because it's too much hassle to try and sell, or what... but special versions are hard to find from a band that I expect not many people care about.

When I was at Wanna Hear It and came across a special tour cover for the Free At Last 7 inch, Pave Your Way, I was beyond excited to snatch it up.

The packaging here isn't much to talk about... just a thin slip of paper printed front and back for the special cover. It is still a good look though.

Only 26 made for the band's 2014 west coast tour, and it amazes me that one of them made it back to Boston for me to pick up at Wanna Hear It. Excited to have this.

Wanna Haul It: Part 5 - Soul Control

Five years ago, I met Sandwell in Boston and I picked up a bunch of different versions of the Soul Control / I Rise split 7 inch. So it felt right when I saw another version when we were at Wanna Hear It Records this year.

When this split was released in 2007, I felt that Soul Control and I Rise were a couple of my favorite bands at that moment. I don't listen to them much these days, but when I pick up a new version of this record and hear the songs again, it helps to reinforce those old feelings. These four songs are so good. Fuck... this makes me want to listen a bunch of shit from this era again.

This is my sixth version of this split (seven if you count the two versions of the blue vinyl pressing), and posting about this latest one makes me want to track down and buy the last two that I need to complete the collection. No one seems to care about this record... this was only $5 at Wanna Hear It... so technically it should be a cheap and easy goal. We will see.

I had picked up the blue tour cover for this record with Mark 5 years ago. Good to have the white cover now as well.

Wanna Haul It: Part 4 - Water Front

While it was cool to grab the Once And For All 7 inch at Wanna Hear It, and to actually buy an old 90's hardcore record that I'd never heard before, it was very exciting to also discover something completely new while I was digging through the shelves.

As I was flipping through 7 inches, I saw the cover of this Water Front record, and my first thought was "well, this looks like some 90's hardcore." The store had a label on the front listing that it was from 1992 and was for fans of Turning Point and Dag Nasty. Well, that was all that I needed to know and I added it to the pile of records that I was going to buy that day.

Man, I love finding shit like this... bands that I've never heard of, from my favorite era of music. While I don't know if you can really draw comparisons to Turning Point or Dag Nasty, it is some great early 90's hardcore... and as a huge fan of early 90's hardcore, this is gold to me.

I'm so glad that I found this record at Wanna Hear It. It seems that it was also pressed on blue vinyl, and maybe purple as well (or is that just a blue variant), but oddly it seems that there isn't a single copy of this record on Discogs for any pressing. Are people holding on to this because they don't think they are worth selling? Come on... someone sell the blue vinyl to me!

Wanna Haul It: Part 3 - Once And For All

A wise man once told me that all the good stuff is in the 7 inch section at used record stores, and once again that is proven true on this latest trip to Wanna Hear It Records. It was so fun flipping through those records, and pulling out surprise rarities and a few cheap finds that I decided to take a chance on.

Back when I was getting into hardcore around 1990/91, Nemesis Records was a pretty big deal. Records from Vision, Insted and Against The Wall were all important to me at that time, and the Nemesis label carried a lot of respect. Looking back on their catalog now, I'm like, "wow, they released a bunch of weird shit too"... stuff that I never really associated with Nemesis... but still, when I saw the Once And For All 7 inch at Wanna Hear It, I knew that I needed to buy it. I'd never heard this record before, but figured that in 2025, 35 years after its release, the time had finally come.

This Once And For All 7 inch is full of those early 90's hardcore traps... the slap bass... the attempt to be funky... the influence of hip hop styles... and honestly, I can see where some people would be like "yeah, not for me", but I'm a sucker for this shit, and I love that I can occasionally still discover stuff like this.

Wanna Haul It: Part 2 - MLIW

Other than the AFI album, there was only one other LP that I picked up from Wanna Hear It. I flipped through the racks for every one of them, but this Modern Life Is War album was the only one that I was interested in.

I own the first two Modern Life Is War albums, and while I think they are okay, with the exception of a great song here and there they were never really exciting to me. The third album, Midnight In America, on the other hand is a solid record through and through... very easily my favorite MLIW record, and yet somehow I'd never picked up the vinyl for it. The past few months has had me checking discogs, trying to decide which version I should pick up. I'd hoped to grab an early pressing, but when I was in Wanna Hear It and saw this third press, limited to 300 on gold vinyl, I figured that this would do the job.

When I saw the version of the record in the rack, I wasn't completely sold on it... but once I pulled the record from the sleeve and saw that beautiful gold vinyl, it looked too good to resist. So yes, quality colored vinyl matters. If this was that shitty metallic looking color that people try to pass off as "gold" these days, this record would still be on the shelf at Wanna Hear It.

Wanna Haul It: Part 1 - AFI

Once again I'm deviating from my regular process of posting the oldest acquisitions here first. I spent last Saturday in Boston catching up with my friend Mark, who is visiting from the UK. He is spending a number of days in New York City, but he made the 4 hour bus ride up to Boston, and I made the 2 hour drive down to pick him up at the bus station. Our plan was to then drive over to Wanna Hear It Records and then get some vegan food at Veggie Galaxy before dropping him back at South Station for his return trip to NYC.

I love having an excuse to make the trip to Wanna Hear It. While most record stores tend to be a disappointment, at Wanna Hear It it's pretty much a guarantee that I'm dropping $100 while I'm there. I picked up seven records from the store that day, and figured that I'd run another series of posts to try and get them all up on the blog this week. Let's go.

Shocking, but one of the first records that I picked up was the new AFI album, Silver Bleeds The Black Sun. I've never been a big fan of AFI, although there are a few songs off Sing The Sorrow that I've found this year that I really enjoy... but when my friend Sarah sent me a link for AFI's newest single, Behind The Clock, a couple of months ago, I really sat up and paid attention. It didn't sound like the AFI that I expected... it had some kind of synthy new wave gothic thing going on, and I was surprised with how much I really loved that song. It was almost as if AFI listened to the last couple of Ceremony albums and was like, "hey we should do something really different like this". A few years ago, before I discovered how much I enjoy The Smiths and The Cure, I wouldn't have given this any attention... but today I really appreciate what AFI is doing here.

When Mark and I walked into Wanna Hear It, I saw the new album on the wall, and realized that the guys working there had it playing in the store. I listened to a couple of songs and very quickly I decided to pick up the record. This is a very different sound than I usually reach for, and I'm not sure how it will hold up over the rest of the year, but right now, I'm very much enjoying this record.

The copy that Wanna Hear It had available was the First Run Club edition from Run For Cover Records. The OBI strip states that this is a limited edition, first press vinyl edition, that's available only at independent record stores. "The FRC edition of this record is pressed on an exclusive First Run Club variant, and includes unique extras not available elsewhere." Not knowing any of the pressing info, I thought that this sounded like a cool edition to pick up. Little did I realize that this is basically the most common pressing. The unique extras are a poster that I'll never hang up, a CD sampler that I'll never listen to, and stickers that I'll never use. Hey, at least the vinyl looks good.

4,000 pressed on white/violet colored vinyl.

Better Red Than Dead

Lana Del Rey released a couple of new songs earlier this year, and it had me listening to her quite a bit. It got me thinking of the special cover edition of Chemtrails Over The Country Club that I picked up last year, and I had the itch to add another record of hers to the collection.

Born To Die is probably my favorite Lana record. Sure there are probably other songs that I like more, but as a complete album, this is the one for me. When I started looking into which album I wanted to pick up, I knew it had to be this one. I was hoping for another limited cover, but with Born To Die it seemed like we didn't have any fun options like that, so instead I just went for an affordable colored vinyl.

The red vinyl with the OBI strip was a Target exclusive.