Square One / Turn Of Phrase

Scheme Records is my go-to label for good music right now. I'm not interested in all that the label releases, but if it's on Scheme, I'll definitely be checking it out. So while, I'd never heard of either Square One or Turn Of Phrase, when I saw that the label was releasing split 7 inch featuring both of those bands, I figured that I'd at least give it a quick listen to see if it interested me.

Square One is described as New York Hardcore with groove, and states they have a likeness to Supertouch and Beyond... I don't know man, they remind me more of recent stuff like Abuse Of Power or Fury. Their two songs that kick off this split certainly caught my attention and very quickly I knew that I was going to have to buy this 7 inch.

Side two of the record has Turn Of Phrase, and holy shit, I love their songs here. London melodic hardcore that makes me think of stuff like Speedway. Damn, these songs are so good.

200 pressed on this very dark transparent pink vinyl.

Dead Heat Elimination

When I was in the Metal Blade shop picking up the new Armored Saint, I was surprised to see that they had a new Dead Heat album for sale as well. I mean, I know that I haven't been paying attention to discover new releases, but still, I thought that I might have heard along the way that Dead Heat had a new album out last year.

The new Dead Heat was an instant buy for me. I didn't bother to preview the album first... nope, just drop it in the cart and check out. Shortly after making my purchase, I queued the album up on Spotify, and my first thought was that maybe I'd made a mistake in jumping to buy it so quick. That initial listen was very underwhelming. It felt flat and lifeless and I regretted buying it. I didn't bother to listen to it again, and the record has been sitting untouched in a pile of new vinyl for the past two months. I figured that I'd give it a spin this week, so that I could write about it here and move on... but you know what... this record is actually great! I don't know what my problem was when I heard this back in March, but I'm so glad that it is clicking for me now.

I've previously compared past Dead Heat records to the crossover style of Suicidal Tendencies album Join The Army, but listening to Process Of Elimination right now, all I hear is straight up thrash. Had I picked this up last year when it was released, it would have easily made my Best Of 2025 list. This album rips.

Armored Factory Reset

I'm not gonna lie... it has been a bit of a struggle with new metal records this year. Hell, it feels like it's been a slow year for new music in general... but for metal especially. Here we are now seven months deep into 2026 and this is only my second new metal release that I've picked up. Has the year really been this dry, or am I just stuck in the past listening to old 90's hardcore records and not doing my homework on new shit? Whatever it is, there was no way that I was going to let a new Armored Saint album slip by me.

I know that I can always count on Armored Saint. They do what they do and they deliver every time without fail. Traditional metal fired straight down the barrel and it always hits the target for me. They have been releasing an album every five years or so since 2010, so it was good to see a new Saint album, Emotion Factory Reset land this year.

Man, John Bush doesn't age, and his voice still sounds strong on this latest record. It always amazes me when bands that were releasing their classic albums back in the 80's, can still release something as fresh and as exciting as this so many years down the road. Respect.

Parting The Sea

Touche Amore are a band that I've wanted to get into, but they just never clicked. I initially heard them described as having that 90's emo sound (which I love), but when I checked them out back in 2011, I didn't hear it and quickly moved on. I know that my blogger bud, Doug, was really into them at the time... but I didn't get it... and in recent years, I've heard a Touche Amore song here and there in my brother's car, and while I thought it was interesting, I never followed up to check them out beyond that... but when my good friend, Alex, sent me a link to the song ~, telling me to check it out, I was immediately hooked. Maybe the time was right, or maybe her recommendation meant more... or maybe it was both... but it didn't take me long to dive straight into the full album of Parting The Sea Between Brightness And Me.

While I didn't really hear that 90's emo sound when I first checked out, looking back at Doug's post were he describes them as "the emotion and angst of the 1995 Ebullition catalog, combine it with a modern hardcore sound and recording quality, and there you have it". He kind of nails it, and I was an idiot for waiting until 2026 to finally get into this band.

Initially, I was thinking this was a good record, but the more I listen to it the more I liked it and it finally got to a point where I knew I needed the vinyl. As I was looking at Discogs to see what I could pick up for the album, I noticed there was a Deluxe Edition option listed amongst all of the other colored vinyl versions. There weren't a lot of photos listed, and I couldn't truly make out what this package looked like... so I had to order one to find out.

This record comes packaged in a nice hardcover book format with some pages of arty photos. It's all really well done, and kind of a cool version to own... but now I can't stop thinking that it would be cool to have a colored vinyl version with the regular cover as well.

See It Through

Somewhere along the way, I saw that New Age was going to be releasing a record from a new band called See It Through. I was hot on New Age a few years ago, but then they suddenly just dropped off my radar. I really liked the Decline record they released back in 2022, but after that... I basically just stopped caring. Nothing the label was releasing seemed interesting enough for me to even check out a song, and I stopped paying attention altogether. When I saw the cover for the new See It Through 7 inch, however, suddenly I found myself curious.

The cover for the Together We Can 7 inch looks like a Mindset record... the red line across the top, the thick block letters for the band name, the live shot... just move the Together We Can text up under the band name and make it red, and it is a nice rip of the Leave No Doubt LP. Hey, if that was the intent, it worked and caught my attention because I rush out to listen to these songs.

It's gonna suprise no one that I'm all about this record. Great straight forward hardcore that reminds me of the glory days of this blog in the early 2010's when bands like Stick Together and Outlast were releasing records and I was buying multiple copies of everything. The vibe that See Through It bring on this record just matches those times for me, so I'm here for it.

100 pressed on transparent blue vinyl.

Vinyl Of The Demon

Pulling another New Wave Of British Heavy Metal record from Tim's collection.

Demon are a strange fit in the NWOBHM as their debut, Night Of The Demon, feels a bit dated for its 1981 release. It feels like it crawled out of the mid 70's and fits better alongside more straight forward rock bands like Kiss, instead of the frantic energy of Iron Maiden and Raven... and because of this I kind of dismiss them and rarely take them out for a spin these days.

I do still really dig the first two Demon albums (even though I tend to enjoy The Unexpected Guest quite a bit more), so when Jeff quoted me a price for Night Of The Demon I figured that I might as well add it to the collection.

How Soon Is Now

My collection for The Smiths consisted only of their two compilations, Hatful Of Hollow and Louder Than Bombs. While I was happy to pick up those two comps, it kind of triggered me to enterain the thought of collecting singles for The Smiths... and I feel like that could be a dangerous road to start down. Still, when the opportunity landed in my lap to pick up a couple of singles, I didn't hesitate to grab them.

My friend Jeff had another batch of records from Tim's collection earlier this year, and my interest was piqued when he said there were a couple of singles from The Smiths in there. He immediately tried to discourage me from the 12 inch single of William, It Was Really Nothing by telling me that it was probably too expensive for my taste. Don't fucking challenge me like that because it will just make me want to prove you wrong.

The German pressing for the William single was on colored vinyl, and apparently it carries a price tag a little higher than the other versions. If I was on the hunt myself for the single, I would have gone for the original UK press, but with the colored vinyl option staring me in the face... I couldn't resist paying the extra money for it.

For the Shoplifters Of The World Unite single I ended up with the UK press, but looking at the colored vinyl German press on Discogs now... damn, it would be nice to have either the pink or the green one to compliment my William single. Fuck. I can't start thinking like this.

Man, I love the six songs on these two singles so much. It's funny how a few years ago I would have told you that I hated The Smiths, and now after writing the post, I know that this is going to be the only thing that I'll be listening to for the rest of the day.

Purity

It has been a while since I dipped into more of the records that I've picked up from Tim's collection. It took some time for Jeff to prep the next batch of records he was selling from the collection, and then I put stuff on hold with him and didn't rush to pay for it and pick it up... but I've got a little stack here now, so let's start to chip away at them.

I really love New Model Army. When I listen to them, I feel like they are all I want to listen to... but then I'll get distracted and for some reason I don't get back to them for months and months. I really only listen to the first few NMA records, but recently I've been feeling the urge to pick up the next one in line, their 1990 album Impurity. As a bonus push to get me to check out that album, I ended up getting the Purity 12 inch single handed to me earlier this year.

This record came from Tim's collection and since Jeff introduced New Model Army to me back in the early 90's, he felt that I should take this piece of vinyl at no cost and just handed it to me.

The single contains the song Purity from the album, plus two songs, Curse and No Sense, that were exclusive to the b side here. I've been having a lot of fun with these songs, and the Impurity album is proving to be great as well. Going to need the vinyl for that one soon as well. Shame that Tim's collection didn't have one available. Guess I'll have to do some work to find a copy myself.

Stiff State Of Summer

There is something about obnoxious snotty punk that just feels perfect for summer. Yeah, warm weather and an "I don't give a fuck" attitude just go great together.

I discovered Stiff Richards last year with their GFC 7 inch and very quickly I decided that I needed more than those two song. I decided to check out their State Of Mind album and it instantly became part of the soundtrack to Summer 2025. It was just so fun.

I tried in vain to pick up a copy of the record, but because the band is from Australia (with labels from Australia and Europe releasing it) it didn't seem to be easily available from a seller in the US. I decided to wait for something to come up here in the States, and then forgot all about it.

A couple of months ago, as the temps were rising and summer was on the horizon, a Stiff Richards song popped up on my Spotify radio and it reminded me how much fun they are. I immediately put the State Of Mind album back into my daily playlists and listened to it a lot. I checked Discogs and was happy to find a copy available in the US and quickly added it to my cart.

Second Oversight

You know I'm a sucker for 90's hardcore right? And the more obscure the better. Like I should probably be out chasing Unbroken's Life Love Regret on blue vinyl, or something else that is equally important and crucial, but instead I'm over here grinning like a nut because I was able to pick up a record from 1992 that I imagine maybe a total of three people care about in 2026.

A few years ago I stumbled upon the band Oversight. They were a hardcore band from the Syracuse/upstate New York area in the early 90's, and I ended up discovering them as I was checking out what other bands Shane Durgee from Framework may have been involved with. I tracked him back to Oversight on Discogs and I was able to quickly pick up their 7 inch, After This Day, on grey vinyl. At the time, I noticed that there were a few other colored vinyl options for this record as well, but I wasn't sure if I really wanted to try and collect them all. Well, here we are a few years later and I was excited to find a blue vinyl version available and quickly snapped it up... so yeah, I guess I'm doing this.

Blue vinyl was limited to 100.

I still need that Justice Coming 7 inch from Framework, but until something becomes available, I guess that I'll just focus on my Oversight collection.

Sweet NWOBHM Danger

When I was buying a couple of New Wave Of British Heavy Metal records from a UK seller, I figured that I might as well add to the order to try and make it worth the overseas shipping fees.

I already own the one crucial Angel Witch album, the self titled from 1980, but the band has a few early singles that I've always wanted to collect as well.

The first Angel Witch single was for Sweet Danger, and was on EMI before the band got picked up by Bronze. The 12 inch has two songs that didn't appear on the album and are exclusive to the single... Hades Paradise and Flight Nineteen were originally on the band's earlier demos, so it is nice that they got an official release on the b-side here because the songs are so good.

With the paper sleeve it is going to be difficult to find one in great shape 45+ years down the line, and this one definitely has some wear and tear, this copy looks better in person than the pictures. While this single isn't something that I've ever set out to chase, I'm very happy to have this in the collection now.

Seven Inches Of Splendour

Jameson Raid were a New Wave Of British Heavy Metal band out of Birmingham in the late 70's / early 80's. They released two 7 inches during their career and shortly after my friend Jeff put the band on my radar back in 2021, I obsessed about them for six months and I grabbed one of their records. Man, I love this shit... young bands that just love what they are doing. They probably made a bit of noise in the scene at the time, but they never got major label recognition and therefore tend to get forgotten as the years tick by... so finding stuff like this gives me such a charge of discovery.

Like I'd mentioned, the band only released two 7 inches back in the day (and I'm not sure that I care to bother checking out their newer stuff from 2014/2015) and having one of their records already, I was itching to pick up the other and complete the collection.

There were two pressings of the Seven Days Of Splendour 7 inch... the first with a white cover and the second with a black cover. While I would have liked to grab a copy of the white cover, once I had the oppotunity in front of me to grab the second press I couldn't let it pass me by and I jumped on it.

Head On Into NWOBHM

I haven't done a good job of keeping up with collecting New Wave Of British Heavy Metal records. I had been steadily picking up pieces but saw it come to a grinding halt in recent years. Picking up the Gaskin record from Tim's collection earlier this year was a good reminder that I needed to get back to it. I don't spend the time obsessing over the NWOBHM like I used to, but there are still a number of classic records that I still need to get into my collection.

Recently I'd taken a roadtrip with my friend Jeff to catch a show over in New Hampshire, and since Jeff is also a big NWOBHM fan I set it up so that we would be listening to a lot of it while we were on the road. One of the albums that we listened to was Samson's Head On. Samson were one of those cornerstone NWOBHM bands in the early 80's, and had Bruce Dickinson on vocals for a couple of records before he joined Iron Maiden... and after listening to the songs with Jeff in the car, mentioning that I still didn't own the vinyl for the Head On album, I knew that I needed to make filling that hole in my collection a priority.

It's kind of wild that it has taken me this long to pick up a Samson album. This is such a NWOBHM classic.

Colored Vinyl Heaven

At the start of this year I saw that Scheme Records was releasing an album from a band called Feels Like Heaven. I'd never heard of the band, and if I'd seen this record out in the wild I would have most likely skipped right by it without a second glance... but because it was on Scheme, I figured that I should take the time to check it out.

I listened to a couple of songs and was interested in what I heard, but I quickly noticed that the limited colored vinyl options were already sold out, and being the record collecting bitch that I am, I figured that if I had to settle for the common black vinyl option then I wasn't going to play. I didn't listen to the songs anymore and moved on.

At the end of May I saw that Scheme was doing a second pressing which included a new colored vinyl option, and I figured that now the time was right for me to really check the band out. I queued up the songs again, and felt like a fool for basically ignoring this for the past five months... but also, as we were moving into warmer weather, it felt like the perfect time to get into Feels Like Heaven. Within Dreams has a perfect summer vibe and I've been obsessively listening to this record all month. The band has a great melodic hardcore sound that makes me think of Title Fight and bands in that similar lane and it hits perfectly right now.

Second pressing on green is limited to 208.

Purple Soul Ignition

I guess that Method Of Doubt's latest EP, Total Soul Ignition, technically came out at the end of 2025, but since we didn't see the vinyl release until early in 2026, I'll probably include it as one of my favorite hardcore records for this year. I don't get tired of listening to anything from this band.

When Scheme released a second pressing of the 7 inch, I didn't to hesitate to pick one up. Two options for colored vinyl for the first press, and one new color for the second pressing... as it should be.

300 pressed on purple.

Might as well pull out all three for a group photo.

Smashing Gish

A few years ago I really found an appreciation for The Smashing Pumpkins. I'd been tentatively checking them out around that time, but once I started talking to my friend Sarah about the band, her excitement for them had me tear down any preconceived opinions I had. Going in with an open mind, I was surprised with how much I really enjoyed Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness... but I got so caught up on that one record, and was hesitant to branch out any further. It's like the record was too perfect for me and I feared that listening to any other Smashing Pumpkins album was going to leave me disappointed.

Last year I finally took the leap and bought a copy of Siamese Dream because the vinyl looked so nice. Admittedly, it took me some time to really appreciate that album, but once it clicked, I came to really love it as well.

That left Gish as the only other early Smashing Pumpkins album that I wasn't familiar with. I've heard some people claim that this is their favorite Pumpkins record... and seeing that it was released in 1991, when I'd first checked it in recent years, I'd hoped it had some of that early 90's magic that would immediately draw me in... but it never really held my interest. When I saw that there was a new colored vinyl reissue happening for Gish this year, it brough back memories of my experience with Siamese Dream, and it made me excited to give it another try. I was planning on stopping by the record store last week, so prior to that I started to listen to Gish regularly to see if I really wanted to buy a copy... and very quickly I found that I really enjoyed it.

So when I stopped by Bull Moose to pick up the colored vinyl for Gish, I was surprised that I had another option as well. The metallic foil cover from the 2021 reissue was also in the rack and it looked so good, I suddenly didn't know which one I should buy. I did a quick search and found a few comments that the colored vinyl sound quality wasn't that great, but the foil cover edition seemed to generally get praise for how it sounded... so the metallic foil edition won out.

Motorhead Live 1995

I still check the list of upcoming Record Store Day releases each year, but it is more of an exercise in confirming that the event only releases a bunch of shit that I'm not interested in. When I checked the list this year and saw that there was a new Lost Tapes record from Motorhead, I kind of rolled my eyes at the thought. This would be the 7th in the Lost Tapes series of live recordings from Motorhead in the last 5 years and as someone that isn't usually interested in listening to live recordings, it was starting to feel like it was too much.

Still, at some point I found myself in a Motorhead mood and noticed that this latest of The Lost Tapes was available on Spotify, so for the fuck of it I decided to give it a spin... for science... to just confirm that it was useless. This recording was from Motorhead's live show at the Whisky A Go Go back in 1995... a time period that I'm really not too familiar with for the band. 6 of the 16 songs are from the band's two latest albums at the time, Sacrifice and Bastards... both records that I enjoy, but never really spent much time with... so I was at least interested to see how the live set would feel with a good number of newer songs for that time. Much to my surprise, I loved listening to this. The show was Lemmy's 50th birthday party, and it sounds like they were all having a great time... plus the songs are an absolute blast.

It was a great live recording, but I wasn't set on buying a copy. If I came across one, cool, but I wasn't going to put forth much of an effort. I kind of forgot all about Record Store Day, and found myself in Pennsylvania with some friends for that weekend. When Alex suggested that we check out a record store nearby, I thought it would be fun to check out since the two of us were interested in looking for used DVDs and Blu-rays to grow our newly started collections. I didn't really expect to find any records, but when I walked in and saw the bins for Record Store Day releases, it dawned on me that it was that day. I started flipping through the new records and when I saw the live Motorhead record, I figured that I'd grab it as a nice souvenier of my time in PA that weekend.

Burning Collateral

Last year I picked up the Collateral 7 inch from Scheme Records. I bought it on a whim and was pleasantly surprised. It's a really good straight forward hardcore record, so when I heard it mentioned on the 185 Miles South podcast that Collateral had a new split this year with Burning Lord, I quickly tracked down who was releasing it and preordered it.

Each band does three songs here, two new ones along with each of them doing a cover from the other band's demo. The songs from Collateral are good... a nice continuation of the rough and fast hardcore sound that they were doing with the 7 inch... but Burning Lord really surprised me. I guess that I was expecting it to have a really agressive metallic hardcore sound that leans heavy into the metal, but this is actually good. I can pin down what they sound like... musically maybe they have a bit of Best Wishes era Cro-Mags... I don't know, I just really enjoy these three songs a lot.

Tribe Dream did an exlusive "celtic green" splatter pattern that was limited to 100, so I grabbed that one.

Line Drive

Back in the mid 90's I picked up a 7 inch comp called What Still Holds True. I bought the comp strictly because it had songs from Chokehold and Burst of Silence, but ended up disappointed that those songs ended up on the bands respecive 7 inches that were released around the same time... so the comp 7 inch largely went ignored. At some point years later when I was hungry to discover some 90's hardcore that I'd missed the first time around, I started looking at those old comps for smaller bands that escaped my radar at the time.

Line Drive were a straight edge band out of North Carolina and given the small obsession that I had with collecting Naked Angels years back, discovering that Rob R Rock was also in this band gave me a bit of a thrill. I'm sure that I'd heard the Line Drive name back in the early 90's (outside of the one comp song that I had) through zines or distros, and I know that if I'd seen their first 7 inch, The Few, I would have definitely picked it up... but it somehow never crossed my path at the time. I eventually downloaded the songs and it absolutely fits that early 90's hardcore sound.

The Line Drive stuff has just been hanging out on my iTunes for a while now, and a couple time each year it would catch my eye and I'd hit play... but man, there is something special about just owning the physical record. Since this record arrived in the mail, I've listened to it more in the past couple of months than I have in the past 20 years.

Another Greasy Spoon

After the third Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell album, Keep It Greasy, in 2016, I started to get a bit bored with the band. I really wanted to love their stuff, but I just didn't find myself wanting to return to it very often. I guess that could be said for a number of newer bands that I get hyped up for and then let their records sit untouched and collecting dust on my shelf for years after their release.

So just as I was getting ready to give up on the Admiral, they came along with Very Uncertain Times in 2019, and they hooked me back in. That record was so damn good and it remains my favorite record from the band... still occasionally getting pulled out for a spin every now and then.

It has been seven years since Very Uncertain Times, and I kind of assumed that Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell had packed it in and called it a day... so I was surprised when Sandwell hit me up with a tip that Rise Above had their new album up to order. I was in Jersey at the time for a business meeting, but made sure that I could break away to get my order in for the Die Hard version before it sold out.

No doubt, The Trouble With The Shovell is a good record. It just doesn't have that same swagger and attitude that I loved with Very Uncertain Times. Instead, the new record feels like more a flashback to those earlier albums that were a bit slower and dirtier. It's still good, but it ain't going to be my favorite from the band.

Typical Die Hard pressing with only 100 on clear vinyl, and a bonus 7 inch that has two songs that you won't hear anywhere else.

1996 Novacane

My friend Sarah and I have done a few musical projects together over the past few years. Her taste in music and her song recommendations rewired my brain. Honestly, some of the music I listen to today... The Cure, The Smiths, Life Of Agony, Gulch, Lana Del Rey, etc... I would not appreciate if it wasn't for her. So when she suggested we do a monthly project for 2026 that is more album focused, I was obviously excited to jump in and see what music we could discover together.

We talked back and forth for a bit, trying to come up with a theme, and eventually decided that we would focus on albums from 1996 that were celebrating their 30 year anniversary, and with a couple of exceptions they would be full albums that neither of us was really familiar with. We narrowed it down to twelve and planned to randomly pick from our list at the start of each month, focus and listen to it all month and then follow up to discuss and share our thoughts. We are halfway through the year, and it has been such a fun project so far. We have listened and talked about records from Carcass (January), Modest Mouse (February), Beck (March), Sebadoh (April) and Screaming Trees (May) so far, and each month has been an interesting journey. I'd wanted to pick up a record so that I could commemorate the project here on the blog, and honestly expected that it would be Carcass, so the fact that it ended up being Beck was truly shocking.

When Sarah mentioned including Beck's 1996 album, Odelay, in our project, I kind of groaned inwardly. I had zero interest in anything to do with Beck, and I kind of had this closed minded view that gave "drunk white girl at a wedding reception singing 'two turntables and a microphone' on the dance floor" vibe. It made me cringe... so I had already built obstacles around enjoying this full album.

The first few listens I was surprised to find that I enjoyed hearing a couple of the singles (Devils Haircut and The New Pollution) again, but overall I was kind of tired of the record by the time we got to the end of its 52 minute playing time. One of the pieces of the project is that Sarah and I each have to pick a favorite song from the album so that we can build a playlist from our choices, so I was committed to finding something here that stood out to me, and I kept queuing up every few days to listen again... and the more I listened, the more I enjoyed it. I ended up picking the song Novacane, while Sarah chose Lord Only Knows, and in the end I really came to enjoy the entire album (although I do tend to skip Where It's At each listen). It is such a cool vibe throughout the entire record and I never tire of hearing it months later. Truly a great and unexpected discovery.

I was happy to pick up this great looking colored vinyl edition from 2016. In addition to the "Jackass" sticker, there was also a 12 X 12 art print that was included in the Vinyl Me Please reissue, and it makes for a nice package.

Eyes Of Salt

At some point this year I saw a promo card for a new release from War Records. I don't typically pay much attention to these things, and usually just toss them aside, but for some reason I decided to actually read what this one had to say. It was for a band I'd never heard of before, Eyes Of Salt, and it described them as drawning inspiration from bands like Modern Life Is War, Hope Conspiracy and Incendiary. The list of influences certainly had my attention, but the promo card also said that "Eyes Of Salt makes a politically charged statement that confronts the current social climate" and given my frustration, anger and disgust at most things happening today, this seemed like something that I should check out.

This Eyes Of Salt record fits my mood perfectly. Perfect conduit to channel my anger from the US political climate. So pissed off and urgent. In addition to the list of influences that were listed for Eyes Of Salt, I'm also getting a bit of Verse here... and while I'm not usually excited about guest vocals, hearing dudes from Sinking Ships and Ruiner on a couple of songs was actually pretty cool. It is all just so good.

Given that War Records tends to use the the worst vinyl colors and patterns, I was surprised to find that this Eyes Of Salt record was only pressed on black vinyl. Limited to 275.