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.

Initial First Five: Part 1 - Pittbull

When I posted a Beck record here back in June, I mentioned that I'd gotten into it because of a monthly music project that I've been doing with my friend Sarah, where we tackle an album from 1996 that neither of us are familiar with. I've found it to be a lot of fun to do my music homework each month, and then the two of us get together to discuss our thoughts on it. I was recently talking about the project with Marcus, and suggested that it could be fun if the two of us did something similar, but have it rooted more in hardcore.

We tossed around a few ideas to try and figure out what we should do to kick off our project. It was difficult to come up with records that both of us hadn't heard, so I suggested that maybe we could do something where we take a smaller label from the 90's, and we tackle their early catalog. Maybe one of us will find something we hadn't heard before or perhaps we may rediscover a record that we'd forgotten about... and as an example, I threw out the name Initial Records. Of the first five records that Initial had released in '92 and '93, I was really only familiar with one of the 7 inches, and had only recently discovered one other. Marcus, of course, knew all five very well, but we figured that it would be an interesting conversation, so we decided to move forward with that plan.

The project was a lot of fun, and I had a blast discovering a few records that I'd never heard before. As a result, I ended up buying some vinyl in the process, so lets cover them all in a series of posts this week.

I'd seen the name Pittbull thrown around, but didn't know anything about them, and never heard anyone talk about them... so I ignored and forgot about them. As soon as we started this Initial Records project, I downloaded the two songs from their self-titled 7 inch, and I was instantly hooked. First record into the project and I was very excited with what we were doing. Honestly, if I'd stumbled upon this record as I was getting into hardcore in the early 90's, I would have eaten this shit up. Maybe it seems a little generic in 2026, but I'm extremely thrilled to discover this.

The Pittbull 7 inch was originally released in 1989 on the band's own Fist-O-Cuff label, and then Initial bought the remaining stock from them and released it as Initial number one in 1992 with a different cover. When I was looking to buy a copy and document this project here on the blog, I would have liked to pick up the pressing from Initial, but there wasn't one available from a US seller... so I went with this first press, and I'm not mad about it.

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.