Line Drive Death Cave

Earlier this year I picked up the first Line Drive 7 inch on a whim as I was picking up other records from a seller, because why buy one record when you can buy many. I was familiar with the band's name, but never really had the opportunity to check them out too deeply. Grabbing that record was finally the time to do it, and I was immediately hooked... putting those songs from the 7 inch on a playlist alongside Forethought and Flagman for my daily dose of 90's hardcore.

Shortly after I got that post up for The Few, I was surprised to find a comment from the Line Drive singer, Gray, telling me that he still had a few copies of their second 7 inch laying around and that if I wanted one to drop him an email.

Soon after exchanging a couple of emails with Gray, and sending him my address, the Lead On 7 inch arrived. Sure I could have picked up on Discogs for cheap, but it was such a kind and generous offer from him and I'm grateful to finally have this copy in my collection. Shame that the record label didn't give us a colored vinyl version.

Man, I just love this style of early 90's hardcore. This shit never gets old for me, and it is so exciting for me to finally hear these songs in 2026. Yeah, I love new music... especially when it's 30+ years old.

In addition to the Lead On 7 inch, Gray took the opportunity to ship off a record from one of his more recent bands, Saddam Death Cave.

I usually ignore free records that people throw in with my order from labels and Discogs. Generally, I'm not interested in helping someone clean clutter out of their house, but I was grateful that Gray sent the Line Drive record, so I figured that I could at least check it out. Right off the bat I notice that the band does a cover of Naked Raygun's Rat Patrol, so my interest was piqued... and then I saw the band bio on Spotify that said "The elevator pitch was, and I quote, "Let's be like Poison Idea but without the morbid obesity. Like, just record a 7" and then one of us dies in a car accident."... that was it... I was suddenly interested to hear this band.

This Planned Obsolescence 10 inch is really quite good. I'm not too familiar with Poison Idea, but I can hear the influence... and the influence kind of make me think of Clifford from Bl'ast... so yeah, I'm digging this. Thanks Gray!

Clutch Collector's Series #5

When Clutch first started their Collectors Series, I'm pretty sure that I read somewhere that they were only doing four of them. Maybe I'm mistaken about that, or maybe they decided to extend that because they had been selling so well. Either way, I was excited when number five in the series was announced.

Earth Rocker, from 2013, was where Clutch really took off for me. I was surprised with how hard that band hooked me at the time and I could not get enough of them. Earth Rocker may have been my favorite release that year... every song on that record was fantastic and seeing them touring the record and playing nine songs off the new album was very cool. So, yeah, I was excited to discover that the album was going to be a part of the collectors series.

Records in Clutch's Collector's Series always look fantasic. With the reimagined artwork, diecut cover and "grape ghost" colored vinyl for Earth Rocker... this is a great looking package, and I'll step up to buy these every time.

Like all of the albums from the Clutch Collector's Series, this comes with an art print that is signed and numbered out of 6,000.

Processing Fire

It feels just like it was just a couple years ago that I picked up the Steel Jaws 7 inch from Process. I remember specificallly writing that post and how I was feeling abouut that Process record in the moment, so my brain hurts trying to understand how it was actually six years ago. Time is so weird.

I never checked out Process back in the 90's. Well, I guess that's a lie, because I just realized that I own the Regeneration record from them, but I don't think I liked it at the time and haven't listened to it in 30+ years. But anyway, when I picked up the Steel Jaws 7 inch I'd never heard those songs, and listening to them in 2020 I thought they were okay... nothing special, but it was fun to hear them for the first time so long after it's release. I happened to spin those songs again earlier this year, and they really clicked with me... which made me check to see what else I might want to check out from them. I downloaded the songs from their 1992 album, World Of Fire, and immediately knew I was going to need to buy it.

It amazes me that I can go this long without hearing some of these 90's hardcore records. My work is never done.

Look, World Of Fire, isn't going to be the best thing I've discovered this year, but I'm having a great time finally getting to know it. I wonder how big of an impact this would have had on me if I'd heard it back in 1992. I can see it sitting comfortably in with the Endpoint and Outspoken albums from that year. Shame that I ignored this one for so long.

Savage Master Power

I immediately fell in love with Savage Master when I first heard the band back in 2020. I went through their back catalog like fiend, eating up everything they had released at the time... and then their records from 2022 and 2025 were easily at the top of my favorite metal records for the year. Yeah, I was definitely in love with Savage Master, and when I heard that Shadow Kingdom was releasing another record for them this year, I jumped on the preorder.

While this wasn't a full Savage Master record, as we end up with a split with Russian thrash band Mystic Storm, I'm still always excited for more Savage Master songs... and these three deliver exactly what I want from the band... a full throttle metal attack from start to finish. Love this. Even the three songs from Mystic Storm are cool here over on the b-side. I haven't been listening to much metal in 2026, but I'm really enjoying this one.

Shadown Kingdom Records had a couple of vinyl options available for this split 12 inch, and I decided to go with the "starry night" version, which has silver glitter in translucent black vinyl.

Culture Oath

My last post I talked about picking up the Roosevelt 7 inch because of rediscovering the split they did with Culture. Well, as I was looking through what else the seller had, I noticed he also had a Culture 7 inch available that I'd never heard before, so I tossed that in the cart as well.

I've only ever been familiar with Culture's Born Of You album. I don't know why that happens... why I'll find that I really enjoy a record from a band, and then never branch out to anything else they did. Such was the case here. As I've been obsessing over stuff like Disembodied, Morning Again and other metal influenced hardcore bands from the 90's, it suddenly struck me that I'd forgotten about Culture, and I should be adding them to the mix. I brought up the Heteronome EP on Spotify and quickly knew that I'd been missing out.

The two songs from the Oath 7 inch make up the foundation of the Heteronome EP (which is slightly confusing)... and along with the song Deforestation and Exchange (from the Roosevelt split), I've been loving revisiting this daily.

Roosevelt 1996

When I was talking with Marcus about Initial Records a couple of months ago, he had recommended that I also check the Roosevelt's Inaugural Parade 7 inch that the label released. The name was familiar, and it turned out that I'd owned the 7 inch, but I was also thinking that I had a split that the band had done as well. After doing some research and digging through my music, I figured out that I was thinking of the Roosevelt split with Culture, and not actually the Inaugural Parade... but that got me thinking about the band Roosevelt and wondering what else they might have done.

In addition to the split with Culture, Roosevelt had only one other record... their self titled 7 inch that was released in 1996. It was only pressed on this "mixed" colored vinyl, and was cheap and easy to track down and pick up (as judged by the 25 cent price tag on the back cover of this one).

These three songs have been a fantastic surprise. I love that mid-90's emo hardcore style and this fits right in the pocket of that Ebullition sound in general. Fuck, I'm in love with this record.

My Statement Of Life

Last year I heavily got into Disembodied, Harvest and that kind of early metal influenced hardcore sound. I was still listening to those bands a lot earlier this year, and when I had a work trip back in March, I put together a playlist with those bands to listen to on my flight to Philadelphia. As the plane was sitting on the tarmac waiting to take off, I was checking my playlist and noticed that Spotify made some song recommendations based on what I'd included. In the list of songs, I noticed that Seasons from Morning Again was included there. I had bought the As Tradition Dies Slowly CD back in 1998, but I didn't like it at the time and quickly shelved it... however seeing that song recommendation sitting there for me, I wondered how I'd feel about it in 2026 and I hit play.

Fuck yes. This is exactly the kind of shit that I crave now. I was so excited over the song that I ran it back three times in a row before switching over to airplane mode and kicking off my flight playlist with Bloodlet. I could not wait to hear more from Morning Again.

I'd come up empty trying to find a copy of As Tradition Dies Slowly on colored vinyl, but after checking out the Morning Again 7 inch, My Statement Of Life In A Dying World, I had my sights set on a new target. I've found it to be more difficult than I imagined to pick up some of these 90's metallic hardcore bands, so when I discovered that I could pick up every pressing of this 7 inch, I switched to collector mode and grabbed all of them. They aren't super limited by any stretch, but I was thrilled to buy them all.

First press on black vinyl with a booklet held together by twine. 2000 pressed.

Second press was limited to 2,000 for this great looking green/black/white marble. The booklet is in the same format as the first press.

The third press was on clear vinyl and limited to 1200. The booklet is stapled and has a different cover.

So yeah, Immigrant Sun Records made a lot of these, but the numbers don't matter. These three songs are so good, and along with the nice lookign colored vinyl and packaging, I couldn't resist buying all three. Now I need to check out more Morning Again and see what other records I can obsess over.

War Wounds Monday

Back when I started this blog, I was working on collecting the Blue Monday LP, Rewritten. I was very interested in collecting all thing Bridge Nine at the time, and ended up with five copies of that record. Meanwhile, I never even attempted to pick up either one of the earlier Blue Monday 7 inches.

It's been a good ten years since I've listened to Blue Monday, but as I've been spending a lot of time in those early 2000 hardcore playlists, it's made me want to revisit them. Twenty years later and I'm finally giving those Blue Monday 7 inches some attention and I'm having fun getting to know them now. Both What's Done Is Done and War Wounds are perfect for when I want to settle into that era of hardcore. Seriously, there are so many records from that time period that I just breezed over back in the day, and I'm excited to spend time with them now.

The War Wounds 7 inch doesn't appear to have a lot of different pressings. Looks like there is only a tour press and this one on blue vinyl (which looks purple in my photos, but trust me, it's blue), so it feels good to know that I don't have to go nuts if I want to collect this one.

Permanent 110

This year, I've spent some time hanging out in my early 2000's hardcore playlists. It feels like I don't pay nearly enough attention to those records that were released post-2000, and I'm trying to devote more time to that stuff these days.

Count Me Out have been a favorite of mine from that era... probably because they were an extension of those late 90's youth crew revival bands and were keeping that spirit alive during those early 2000 years when hardcore felt a bit fractured. Of course I missed buying CMO vinyl because I was strictly purchasing CDs at the time, and I've been wanting to dip in and pick up some of their records for years, but for some reason it has felt a bit overwhelming to take that first step.

As I was obsessing over those early 2000's playlists with bands like Frostbite, The Answer and The Damage Done, Count Me Out jumped out at me. I rolled through their albums on Spotify and knew that I needed to make a move on one of their records.

Permanent is a perfect album. Lyrically it is so good, and with straight edge hardcore being in flux at that time, the line "there's certain things that even time can't change" hit me so hard. Seriously, tattoo that on my body. So when I started looking on Discogs for Count Me Out vinyl, and saw the red vinyl Permanent available at a good price, I didn't hesistate.

165 pressed on red.

When I noticed that the seller had more Count Me Out vinyl for sale, I figured that I might as well scoop up the other stuff he had... starting with the clear yellow pressing of the 110 album that CMO used for their record release show. 110 pressed.

The seller also had the Posi Numbers 2002 version of 110 with the Marilyn Monroe screened back cover. Number 011 0f 110 is pretty fucking cool.

I love this band so much. It is a shame that it has taken me this long to finally add some of their records to my shelves, but I'm happy to start off with these. I don't need to worry about reissues, but I'd like to continue to pick up more CMO vinyl this year.

Undying Forced Order

Back in April, I was driving back from a weekend visiting friends in Pennsylvania. Shortly after crossing the state line into Massachusetts, I pulled into a rest stop to grab some food before my final three hour drive home. Before getting back on to the highway, I opened up Spotify to queue up some music and saw that there was a new Forced Order song featured. I knew that the band had come out of retirement and played some shows last year, but I had no idea that they were recording some new music. I quickly previewed the song on Spotify, liked what I heard and found that I could preorder the record over at Streets Of Hate, and grabbed a copy. Damn, I like it when I can be efficient like that.

The new Forced Order, Undying Spirit, feels a lot like the old Forced Order. I was suprised to find that I liked this band when I finally checked out One Last Prayer in 2019, but here in 2026 there is no doubt that I appreciate this style of metallic hardcore. It's angry, heavy and fast, and this EP clicked with me immediately. I'm not sure what that band will be doing from here, but I'm glad that they were able to push out another handful of songs.

The half black / half white with red splatter colored vinyl was limited to 100 and only available from Streets Of Hate.