Pummel For A King

I'm not sure what it is about the Pummel 7 inch, but it is one of the few newer records that I feel compelled to collect. It is a solid hardcore record from a band out of Boston, the label didn't get stupid with a bunch of different color vinyl options, plus the band has broken up, so I know that this one 7 inch will cover their entire output... essential traits if I want to bother attempting to collect everything for a record.

Picking up the Joey's World cover for the Pummel 7 inch last summer was the tipping point. Prior to that I was content with the two copies that I owned... one on blue and one on white... but with the special cover added to the collection, suddenly I wanted them all. Luckily as I was adding to the collection in Discogs, I saw there was a seller that had the record release version with the lion cover, and I was able to spend more money.

I remember when Pummel played their record release show. Covid was really starting to kick in, and while I really wanted to go to the show, the thought of the two and half hour drive down to Massachusetts and south of Boston was enough to turn me off and keep me home. How the fuck was that six years ago? Oh well, got that record release cover eventually.

Full Speed Ahead

This post is gonna make you feel like we have traveled back in time. Welcome to 2012, when this blog was popping off with almost 200 posts for the year and it was loaded with records like this Rain On The Parade 7 inch. In fact, I picked up seven ROTP records that year, so it feels funny to think that we are here 14 years later and I'm like "yeah, it's time to finish that Full Speed Ahead collection".

I remember at the time having a bit of a difficult time tracking down Full Speed Ahead with the yellow cover. Fast foward to last summer and when I was picking up the Lights Out 7 inch on yellow, I noticed that the seller had this ROTP record available as well, and I didn't hesitate to add it to the cart.

When I was bouncing around on the internet looking at Rain On The Parade historical pricing, I found that this exact record sold on eBay back in 2016 for $21. Cool to see that some prices have stayed relatively flat over the years as I picked this up for only a few dollars more.

Grabbed a picture of the full set with this cover variation... although thinking about it now, it feels like I should have just pulled out all ten different versions that I have of this, and included them all in a family photo.

Yellow Lights

I was hyped on hardcore last year, and in my mania I was chasing down a bunch of cool records that I've wanted for a while. Give me all the hardcore records.

I always tended to overlook the Get Out 7 inch from Lights Out. Their Overload album was just so perfect to me that I found I rarely made time for that first EP. Twenty years later and I'm finally getting down with that Lights Out 7 inch. I had picked up the posi numbers version early last year and very quickly ended up wanting to build that collection. I found a seller on Discogs that had the first press yellow vinyl available and I jumped on it.

So I still need the record release cover for this, and while I would say that I don't normally buy the black vinyl version, the collector bug bit hard and I do want to chase down those two different black pressings with the center label variations.

New World Discharge

Discharge's Grave New World album has a reputation... and it isn't a good one. I've heard people tearing down this record for years, but I'd never actually listened to it, and just accepted the critiques on blind faith. However, when I saw the record was available from Tim's collection, alongside a few of the band's classics, I figured that maybe the time was right to see if it was as bad as everyone says.

After seeing that Jeff had Grave New World available from Tim's collection, I immediately queued it up on Spotify to listen to it on the car ride home. Sometimes I can enjoy the shambles of a band trying to do something different, so I was kind of excited to check out this messy Discharge (yes, I'm aware of how that sounds)... however, I only made it partway into the second song when I texted Jeff from the car to say no thanks and that he could sell it through eBay. It was a rough listen and I could easily see why people generally do not like this album. But then months later when I was posting about the Ignorance record from Discharge, I thought that I might want to try Grave New World again.

Look, I totally get why people wouldn't like this album, but there is something about being the contrarian that attracts me, and after approaching Grave New World knowing what to expect, I didn't think it was terrible. Sure it's A TERRIBLE DISCHARGE RECORD, but taken out of that context I found that I could kind of enjoy it (although it would be better if they cut the 15 minute long song The Downward Spiral). Since I have affection for owning bad records from bands that I really like, I reached back out to Jeff to see if he still had that copy of Grave new World. My luck, my loss... he did.

Drastic Actions

There have been a few records from Tim's old collection that have carried a higher price tag than I'm used to spending, and I've been on the fence if I should pull the trigger on them or not. In every instance where I stepped up and threw money out the window for a classic record, like Social Distortion or Minor Threat, I've never regretted the decision... while I still kick myself for letting The Smiths Hatful Of Hollow with a misprint sleeve go because I thought it was too expensive. So when I saw the first Bad Religion EP 12 inch available from Tim's collection, I again started wringing my hands over the price.

The Bad Religion EP is such a classic punk record and one that I needed in my collection regardless of the price. The original 7 inch pressing of this carries a much higher price tag, and while the 12 inch reissue from 1984 is still expensive, it is a price that I am much more comfortable paying.

I was really not going to find this record in better condition, so it was money well spent.

Haunting Tim's Collection

16 years ago I picked up a colored vinyl reissue of Slayer's Haunting The Chapel EP. Checking my post for it at the time, I seemed pretty excited about it. I was pretty thrilled about the vinly resurgence at the time, and it felt like any new record purchase was a vote to keep the format alive. Also I was deep into a collector's mindset and wanted stupid amounts of different colored vinyl options for every record I bought. So yeah, when the early Slayer catalog saw it's first vinyl reissue in 20 years, I was excited to rush out and buy them.

Of course these days, cooler heads prevail, and a constant stream of vinyl reissues has gotten tired and boring. Haunting The Chapel alone has seen at least three additional reissues since that one from 2009, and I couldn't care less. My collector head really is only interested in the original pressing at this point, and to be able to pick up this mint copy from Tim's collection, still with the shrinkwrap and hype sticker, had me feeling like I finally got it right this time.

Classic three song EP. Classic pentagram logo. Classic Metal Blade center labels. Perfect.

Line Of Refuse 25

I had my love for hardcore rekindled in big way during the last half of last year. I was excited checking out 90's hardcore bands that I kind of missed the first time around, I had a blast picking up some fun records at Wanna Hear It, I was picking up some cool shit from bands that no one cares about in 2025, and there was some fun new hardcore poppin'. In the middle of all that, I was buying a bunch of records that I didn't get posted up here because the backlog outweighed the number of posts that I could produce at the time. So yeah, here is something that I picked up last August.

So in my hardcore mania, I happened to stumble upon Line Of Sight. I really liked this band when I heard their Dissent 7 inch back in 2018, and it is a shame that they seemed to have disappeared after that record. I dunno, man, listening to this again today, and I'm inclined to say it is one of my favorite hardcore 7 inches in recent years (you know, if 7 years is recent).

When the Dissent 7 inch was released, Refused Records over in Europe combined it with the band's demo and pressed it to a 12 inch. As I was hungry for hardcore last summer, I was checking Discogs to see if there was any Line Of Sight records available, and I was happy to discover that a US seller had the Refuse 25th anniversary edition availble for a good price.

Number 23 of 25 made.

Sacred Surf

Growing up with thrash metal through my teens, it really helped to set the foundation for a lot of my core beliefs. While there were certainly those bands that focused on more fantastic themes of violence and satan, there were also a large number of bands that were more grounded in reality... pushing back on expected norms with more progressive lyrics around questioning authority and social justice issues, such as environmental concerns, attacking big business, class and race issues, as well as general vibes about a more peaceful world. For every Slayer that was screaming "Do you want to die" there was a Nuclear Assault and Testament singing about handling the earth with care and the greenhouse effect... and while I loved the satanic stuff, the songs that called out real world problems had the most impact on me.

One of those bands that was big for me in the late 80's was Sacred Reich. Their lyrics on Ignorance, especially Administrative Decisions, hit me hard, and I remember a video clip of them on Hard n' Heavy where they said they hated George Bush, and I was just like "fuck yes" this band gets it. As a young kid, they just seemed so smart and wanting to make a positive impact on the world around them. Honestly, stuff like that was a huge influence to my jump over to hardcore and punk around 1990.

Anyway, yeah, Sacred Reich were a huge band for me, and I clearly remember listing to their Surf Nicaragua tape in my car a lot on the drive to college or between classes. With a song about the problem of US intervention in Central America and One Nation fighting against prejudice and bigotry, it just seemed important. We need more bands like this in 2026.

I've been wanting to pick up the vinyl for this EP for a long time now, so I was very happy to grab it from Tim's collection.

Predator Or Prey

Clearly this record is problematic, but look, I'm a sucker for cheesy 80's metal, and when I saw this in Tim's collection I knew that I needed to own it.

I rembember seeing this album cover in metal magazine ads in the mid 80's and being struck by it. To me it was just peak horror movie vibes, and I didn't really pick up on the sexual assault intent here... and yet while I was always interested in this record, I never came across it at the stores that I'd frequent each week. Years passed and I forgot all about that Predator record, but seeing it in Tim's collection it all came back to me an I needed to finally get my hands on it.

It's really no surprise that this record isn't going to blow anyone's mind. Some of the lyrics are cringeworthy, and the second half of this record is kind of tired and boring... but there are some moments of 80's metal gold, especially with Masters Of The Night. For me, the record was worth it for that song alone.

Join The Army

Starting off the new year by getting back to some records that I've picked up from Tim's collection. I can't believe that I've been stretching this out for over a year now. When Jeff gave me the list of what was available back in 2024, he gave me plenty of room to pick through it at my leisure, but honestly, I need need to get this wrapped up. I still have a few big records that I need to pick up from him, and plenty sitting in a stack here to get up on the blog.

I've been looking forward to picking up the Suicidal Tendencies album that Tim had in his collection for a while. Join The Army was such a change for the band at the time. I clearly remember listening to the cassette in my car on the drive home from the mall after picking it up, and not really sure what to make of it. Was this the same band that did songs like Subliminal and I Shot The Devil? It felt like such a departure that I had to double check to make sure that there wasn't another band using the Suicidal Tendencies name. I obviously came to really enjoy Join The Army and all of the crossover bands from that time, so it felt good to finally pick up this classic.

Man, listening to this really puts me in an 80's state of mind. Good thing I have a bunch of other records from Tim to help feed the obsession.