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 5,000.

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.

R.E.M. 8 X 12

A few years ago, I had a slight R.E.M. obsession going. I probably listened to them more in 2023 than any other year... including the early 90's when I first discovered them. I was in deep that year, and I was very excited about picking up a couple of albums... and was giving serious thought to chasing some of the R.E.M. singles. Like most of my obsessions, it faded with time, and R.E.M. was just another band that I would occasionally take out for a spin.

When Jeff offered me eight R.E.M. singles from Tim's collection earlier this year, I wasn't really that interested. Did I want to spend the money and dedictate the shelf space to these records? Not really... but still that old obsession was scratching at the edge of my mind, telling me that I may regret it if I let them pass me by... plus they were all UK 12 inch versions, so with an average price of about $10 for each one, I said "fuck it" and just bought the lot of them.

S. Central Rain (I'm Sorry) was the first single from R.E.M.'s Reckoning LP in 1984. That song is really good, and combined with the non-LP track Voice Of Harold on the b-side makes me happy to own this as I listen and write this post at 10:00 at night. So calming for my brain that has been frazzled from a busy Monday. Finishing up the single is a cover of Lou Reed's Pale Blue Eyes, which is just okay but still I nice exclusive song to end the 12 inch.

(Don't Go Back To) Rockville is the second single from Reckoning, and might be my favorite song off the album (although admittedly I'm not really too familiar with this album). The rest of single includes Wolves, Lower, which is a killer song from their Chronic Town EP, plus live versions of Murmur's 9 - 9 and Chronic Town's Gardening At Night. My copy has some water damage to the cover, but whatever, it was cheap.

Now we move on to the 1985 album Fables Of The Reconstruction, and the lead single Can't Get There From Here. Another great song, as I'm listening to these singles while I write this post, I'm feeling more and more glad that I bought these. It's such a nice late evening vibe. Two more exclusive b-side songs here with Bandwagon and Burning Hell.

Another single from the Fables LP with this one for the song Wendell Gee. This one seems like an odd choice for a single. The song's okay, I guess, but I don't love it. B-side has a cover by another Athens band, Pylon, for the song Crazy, plus a live version of Driver 8.

There are times when I think that Life's Rich Pageant might be my favorite R.E.M. album, and this single for Fall On Me is from that one in 1986. Great song, with the b-side instrumental of Rotary Ten, and then an amazing cover of Aerosmith's Toys In The Attic. That cover was such a cool surprise.

Another one from Life's Rich Pageant with this Superman single. I had no idea that this song was a cover, until I was writing this right now. The b-side has a surf rock instrumental, White Tornado, and another Lou Reed cover with The Velvet Underground's Femme Fatale.

Arguably another possible favorite R.E.M. album with Document, with probably the band's biggest single, It's The End Of The World As We Know It. The b-side here is for live versions of This One Goes Out and Maps And Legends.

Another single from the Document LP with Finest Worksong. We get two different mixes of the song here, including a "lengthy club mix", plus a live version of Time After Time.

Whew, that was a lot of R.E.M. and a lot of work for eight singles, but putting this post together made me appreciate these records a bit more... which is nice because I was really dreading having to write this one up.

Sub Pop Screaming

A couple of months ago, I mentioned a music project that I've been doing with my friend Sarah. At the start of the year, we picked 12 albums from 1996 (happy 30th anniversary) and we would dedicate a month to each one... getting together on a call to discuss them. It has been a lot of fun, and it has introduced me to a number of bands that I most likely wouldn't have listened to otherwise. While I don't feel the need to go back and listen to a few of those full albums again (Sebadoh and Cake specifically), we have still been able to pull some songs we've enjoyed from each release and create a Spotify playlist that is a fun listen.

One of the more interesting experiences has been for the Screaming Trees record, Dust, that we did in May. I initially struggled a bit with that one, but it really grew on me over the month, and now I think that I really enjoy it. Dust was the last record from Screaming Trees, and in the middle of checking it out, I had told Sarah that maybe it wasn't the best starting place for me with the band.. like I really should have checked out someting earlier in their career first.

I took a quick look at the Screaming Trees discography on Discogs, and when I saw that they had a double 7 inch release on Sub Pop, I figured that I'd check that one and compare it to what they were doing with Dust seven years later... plus that cover photo, live on stage, just looks cool to me. Oddly, the Sub Pop songs weren't available on Spotify, so I did a quick download from Soulseek and settled in to listen.

I don't know if it was because I was somewhat familiar with Screaming Trees through the album Sarah and I were listening to, or maybe these songs from '89 just sat better with me, but very quickly I knew that I was going to need to get the record for this.

Screaming Trees have a sound that isn't easy to nail down. They kind of fall into that "grunge" style, but also, not really. All I know is that I really don't think that I would have liked this a few years ago... but here in 2026, this hits perfectly. I love the songs on this double 7 inch, and keep returing to the Dust LP. I see more Screaming Trees in my future.

Keepin It Real

It is kind of shocking to me just how quickly I forget about recent bands and records. Even though I've slowed way down on the number of new releases that I buy, I still find that the majority of them don't stick around on my radar for very long. I listen to them throughout the year they are released, but then in January my brain resets and I kind of leave them behind. After picking up this Struck Nerve 7 inch, I took a look back at what else had been released in 2018, and there was so much good shit that year that I haven't thought about for years. Thanks for the reminder that hardcore rules.

I love finding other cool records when I'm buying from a Discogs seller. As I was scrolling through what else the seller had when I recently added a record to the cart, I was very surprised to see the record release version of the Struck Nerve 7 inch... and even more shocked that it was listed for under $10.

Special record release cover... number 13 of only 15 made.

Tear It Up / Fast Times

When I picked up a few Frostbite records earlier this year, I didn't expect it to spin me into a full-on early 2000 hardcore obsession... but here we are.

Tear It Up were a big deal in the early 2000's, and I can't dive into a playlist from that time without needing to listen to their brand of fast hardcore. As I was picking up some records from a Discogs seller, I noticed they had the white vinyl pressing for the Tear It Up / Fast Times split that Youngblood released back in 2001. Embarassing fact... I've never heard this record. Somehow despite my love of Tear It Up and Youngblood, I just never checked out these songs. I think that Fast Times had a lot to do with it, and while that band isn't bad, I just wasn't interested... and that was enough to put me off from this split for 25 fucking years. However, being in an early 2000's hardcore mindset right now, and finding this for under $4 was enough for me to say, yeah this is the time.

Man, I'm loving listening to this record... even the Fast Times songs are fun here. I didn't expect it, but these two bands are a good fit for a split.

350 pressed on white vinyl.

Bleed Season

Mean Season were one of those 90's hardcore bands that I lost track of over the years. I really enjoyed their Bleed To Me 7 inch, and their comp tracks, in the early 90's, but I never had much interest in their Grace LP. As Marcus and I were wrapping up our conversation from the Initial Records first five project, he threw a few recommendations at me. He knew how hard I fell for stuff like Disembodied and Harvest last year, and he mentioned that if I wasn't listening to the Mean Season album then I really needed to check it out.

I was surprised to find that I still had the red vinyl copy of the LP in my collection, but I really hadn't touched it in 25+ years, so I gave it a spin. Oh hell yes. Listening to Grace put me on a Mean Season kick, and I've been listening to the LP along with the 7 inch and comp tracks from the early 90's quite a bit. Another case where I totally understand why I wasn't digging this when it was released... there was just too much good hardcore being released in 1994... but this stuff hits me hard in 2026.

The version of the Bleed To Me 7 inch that I had in my collection was the regular black vinyl pressing, and since I had a bit of a Mean Season obsession going, I didn't hesitate to grab the clear version when I saw a seller had it listed on Discogs. Scoring it for under four dollars felt like a hell of a deal too.

Initial First Five: Part 4 - This World Rejected

This is my final post for the Initial First Five project that Marcus and I did. Initial Records number 5 was the This World Rejected 7 inch.

Another Initial release that I'd never heard before and I kind of assumed that it would be some kind of tough-guy hardcore that would leave me unimpressed. WRONG. While this might be a little "tough", this record is so fucking good. Easily my favorite surprise from this project. It has that great 90's hardcore crunch and groove that immediately has me moving and finger pointing as I sing along. This record is so rad and I want to collect every pressing. I was doing good and showing restraint for so long... content with just one version of a record, but lately I've found myself going off the rails and wanting to collect every single version that I can get my hands on. I've been listening to a lot of 90's and 00's hardcore this year, and that shit just puts me in a collectors headspace.

I was only able to track down this light blue version with the limited and numbered cover, but man, I really need the translucent blue and orange colored vinyl too.

When Marcus and I were going to start this Initial project, I saw the cover for the Jackhammer 7 inch (Initial Records number 4) and was like, nope never heard of them. When I started to dig into the details on Discogs and saw the back cover, I was shocked. Wait. This image with the band logo across the top was suddenly familiar and I knew that I did own it.

I have a box of around a hundred 7 inches that I've shoved into the back of my closet... records that I bought back in the 90's and did not like, but also never wanted to take the time to get rid of them... so there they sit and collect dust. As soon as I saw the back cover of the Jackhammer 7 inch, I knew that it was in that box, and rushed to dig it out.

Look, I totally understand why I didn't like this when I picked it up in 1993. It has a slower, more metallic hardcore sound that kind of reminds me of Integrity... and I didn't really like that style at the time. Listening to it today, I can appreciate it much more, and I'd love to get the colored vinyl version of this for the collection someday... but right now I guess I'm stuck with only the black vinyl.

At the end of the project, Marcus and I did a ranking of the first five Initial releases and mine looked like this:

1. Guilt - Empty?

2. This World Rejected - S/T

3. Ricochet - Evolve

4. Pittbull - S/T

5. Jackhammer - Estranged

As we were wrapping up the project, Marcus made some recommentations for me to check out beyond the first five. One of the things he mentioned was Initial Records number 12, the Roosevelt's Inaugural Parade 7 inch from 1995. As soon as he mentioned it, I jumped out of my chair and ran to that box of records in the back of my closet again. Yes! I owned this one too and had just tossed it aside back in the mid 90's.

This was a great one to revisit. I don't know, I just find it cool to pull a record out of the collection 30 years after you'd decided that you didn't really like it, and be proven wrong. Again, I can see why this didn't interest me back in 1995, but today this is fun to listen to.

So while this isn't technically a new record purchase for me, like the Jackhammer 7 inch, I'm considering it a new find and since I'm finally officially adding them to the collection, I'm getting them documented here as part of the project.

Yeah, this project was a blast, and I'm excited to see what other things Marcus and I tackle together and discuss.

Initial First Five: Part 3 - Guilt

Initial Records number 3 is the Guilt 7 inch. This was really the only record from the first five that I was really familiar with. I'd originally picked it up around '93, and I assume that it was listed somewhere as "features members of Endpoint", so I quickly grabbed it and immediately loved it.

It has been many years since I've really sat and listened to that Guilt 7 inch, but as soon as I gave it a spin for this project, I was floored. It all came rushing back to me on how much I loved these songs, and it was a blast to revisit it again. As I was picking up other records from the Initial catalog, I didn't hesitate to grab another version of this one.

There are a lot of different variations listed on Discogs for this 7 inch, and I'm not sure how many of them I want to chase. I have the white vinyl with the blue cover... so do I need the white vinyl with the red cover? Plus there is a purple vinyl listed... but is that really just the dark red pressing? I don't know. The clear vinyl, on the other hand, was an easy decision.

My two copies together.

Back in the day, this was really the only Guilt record that I listened to. I picked up the Synesthesia 10 inch as soon as that came out, but I did not like it very much at the time and kind of gave up on Guilt. In talking to Marcus during our conversation on this First Five project, he mentioned that I really needed to check out the band's album on Victory. I took him up on that and I've been loving it. Another record to chase for another day.

Initial First Five: Part 2 - Ricochet

Initial Records number two was the Ricochet 7 inch. I only discovered this band last year, when Marcus posted about their record. It always surprises me when I find a record like this that I'd never heard before. I liked to think that I was pretty knowledgeable about obscure 90's hardcore, but more and more I'm finding that I still have a lot of work to do. Thankfully, that tip from Marcus last year had me better prepared for this First Five project.

I'd grabbed the purple vinyl for the Ricochet 7 inch last year, but digging into these early 90's records with Initial had me in a collector mindset and I wanted more. I wasn't able to get my hands on the blue or the green vinyl pressing, but the full color cover looked too good so I grabbed the black vinyl for less than $3. Got to love a record that still sells at 90's prices.

The more that I listen to this Ricochet 7 inch, the more I like it. I enjoyed it when I first heard it last year, and still really enjoyed revisiting it repeatedly for this project with Marcus... but still, when we ranked the Initial first five, I fear that I still ranked it too low. I've been listening to this record on repeat as I prepared this post, and it is just so good.

My two copies of Ricochet. Give me more.