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.

Cryin' Sunstroke

Sunstroke is one of those bands that seems to enjoy appealing to the record collectors. Special covers that are cool and creative, and stupidly low numbers for pressings... that shit occasionally tempts me into wanting to chase some of those variants. Earlier this year it got me.

The Cryin' Wolves single is a one sided lathe cut 7 inch and was limited to 50... 30 on clear and 20 on black. It only contains the one song, so if you are only here for the music, it probably isn't a great investment...but when I discovered that one was available on Discogs back in March, the collector in me was triggered and I quickly added it to my cart.

Such a great looking record, and I'm really glad that I was able to get my hands on one. Now if I could just have a copy of I Wanna Be Ignored fall into my lap, that would be great.

The Hope Conspiracy

The last couple of years has really opened my eyes to a number of older hardcore bands that I either straight up ignored, or didn't fully appreciate them at the time. Last year I picked up on some late 90's hardcore bands, and this year, thanks to Frostbite, I've been searching through my early 2000's playlist to see what I should spend more time with.

I was recently giving my CDs a quick look to test a new player that my wife picked up, and I saw the first EP from The Hope Conspiracy stuck in there. I thought it had been a long time since I'd listened to it, so I pulled it out for a test spin.

I haven't listened to these songs for about 15 years, and man, that has been a mistake. This kind of shit is exactly what I want to be listening to right now. So heavy... so angry. Lately it seems that most of these new discoveries for me aren't readily available for me to scoop the record on Discogs, and I'm stuck having to play the waiting game... so when I saw this grey vinyl option listed, I jumped on it.

I honestly haven't bothered with any of the Hope Conspiracy stuff beyond the Cold Blue album. Maybe this is the year for me to dive into that.

Dusted Angel

It's always cool to get a recommendation from a friend out of the blue, and even better when it's a good one that clicks right away.

Back in February, I was getting ready to step out the door to clear the driveway from the latest snowstorm, and I had a message from my old blogger friend Chris, asking if I'd heard Dusted Angel yet. I'd never heard the name before, but I put my earbuds in and queued up This Side Of Dirt, and headed out to shovel snow for an hour or so.

I suppose that Clifford Dinsmore from Bl'ast would be the big "ex-member of" draw here, but holy shit, this is so good. As soon as the first guitar riff from Plastic People started to penetrate my ears, I had the biggest smile on my face, and didn't care that I was outside in freezing temperatures moving snow that was already a foot deep. Blending stoner rock, doom and an undercurrent of punk, I loved what I heard and immediately ordered a copy.

This red, yellow and purple blended colored vinyl is limited to only 100.

Psalms Of Brat

Last year I discovered Disembodied, and very quickly became obsessed with the band. I'd ignored them back in the 90's, but on a whim I decided to check them out last year and it was exactly what I needed. Both If God Only Knew and Psalms Of Sheol immediately took over my life, and Disembodied were easly my favorite discovery that year. That obsession hasn't let up in 2026. I started listening to their Diablerie album earlier this year, and I've been desperate to get my hands on the white vinyl version for it... and then along came the Psalms Of Sheol reissue which I apparently needed as well.

I have a few friends that really like Charli XCX, and for a time in 2024 our group chat was full of comments on her new album at the time, Brat. While I was able to enjoy stuff like Lana Del Rey and Lorde, I never really had that same kind of attraction to Charli XCX... well her song Guess was a lot of fun, but I didn't really spend any time with Brat.

While I was still riding my Disembodied obsession, Marcus sent me a message about a new pressing for the Psalms Of Sheol, and the test pressing that pays tribute to Brat. I immediately wanted it. The Brat design is iconic and since Disembodied have done a few of these kinds of rip off sleeves in the past, it was a great choice here... and personally, owning it felt like a good tribute to my Brat friends that know nothing about Disembodied.

After Marcus let me know that this test press existed, I just kept thinking about how nice it would be to own one... and since the label didn't seem to be announcing anything about selling them, I finally just sent Prime Directive an email asking about it. To my surprise, the guy wrote me right back and said that he would check to see if he had an extra. A week later he got back to me, letting me know that he did have one and he gave me a price. Without hesitation I sent the money. I have no idea how many were made of this test, but I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to own one.

I'm not sure if I would have ended up buying the Psalms of Sheol reissue, but since I owned the test press, it felt like a logical move.

The new cover design for the reissue looks cool, and it was only available on this splatter colored vinyl... which at least matches well. 200 pressed.

Things snowballed from there, and since I was buying the new reissue for the LP, it only made sense for me to pick up an original pressing off Discogs.

Three copies of Psalms Of Sheol picked up within a three week span, and there are still other versions that I would have grabbed if they were available.

Orange vinyl was limited to 333.