Guidance In An Age Of Vice

Man, bloggers should get paid some kind of commission for those records that we introduce to others. Time and time again the vinyl blog community has recommended some cool shit that I probably otherwise wouldn't have heard of. We are basically spending money to help advertise this stuff. I need a sponsorship from REACT! or something. Ha!

This time it was Chris over at Unwavering Spirit that provided the recommendation.

Now, I've picked up a few records from Anger Battery over the years, and I've always been impressed with the bands on their roster, yet somehow, I completely missed it when pre-orders went up for the Guidance record. Thankfully, Chris keeps his blog more up to date than mine, and when he posted about this record back in August, Anger Battery still had a few copies of the limited pink vinyl available.

Only 100 were pressed on pink vinyl.

The record itself has a pretty good early 90's straight edge sound. I initially thought that the band would have fit in nicely on the b-side of the New Age comp, Words To Live By...maybe sandwiched between Counter Punch and that early Undertow song. Listening to the record now, I reminds me more of a mid-90's era Crucial Response band. Either way, it is pretty cool in my book.

Think Twice Test

Sometimes I'm easily influenced. On February 12th, I saw that Anger Battery put some test pressings up in their store. The label was looking for some extra cash to help fund future projects, and while I wanted to help out, I convinced myself to save my money and walk away.

On the 24th, Marcus posted about the two tests that he had bought.

By the 27th, I had placed my order for the one remaining test press that Anger Battery had available.

Yes, just seeing that Marcus picked up a couple of tests, was enough to break my will. Actually, I was pretty surprised that the label still had any of the test pressings available. I grabbed a couple copies of the Think Twice 7 inch last year...great stuff...so I was happy to get the test pressing for this one as well. Thanks for the push, Marcus.

Number 3 of 13.

The Year of the Iron Curtain

I bought the first Iron Curtain record because it was on Anger Battery Records. When the new 7 inch went up for preorder, I ordered it because it was Iron Curtain.

Compared to the 2011 demo, Year of the Wolf has a bit more of an edge to it...it seems a bit angrier...but maybe it's because the demo had cartoon monkeys on the front, and this one has a snarling wolf.

50 of the gold vinyl got pre-order stamps on the inside cover and were hand numbered.

160 on green colored vinyl.

210 on black vinyl.

Iron Curtain, representing the London Straight Edge. XXX

Think Twice

Back in the early 90's, there was a band out of Italy named Think Twice. They put out an LP on Crucial Response, and I managed to catch them live when they played in Boston during some kind of Suburban Voice showcase with Kingpin, Said & Done, and Third Degree. I liked 'em, so when I heard that Anger Battery was releasing a 7 inch this year from a new UK band with the same name, I was hesitant to check them out. I'm not a big fan of having different bands loaded to my ipod with the same name. It makes things messy...and I'm not a fan of messy. Funny enough, for everyone of those bands that played the SV showcase, there ended up being another Hardcore band that would come along years later with the same name.

Still, because of the strength of Anger Battery's recent records...Rearranged, Iron Curtain, Times Together...I've found that I need to check out anything they release. The Deficit Youth 7 inch should not be overlooked...blasting through 6 songs in under six minutes, including a great Beyond cover. I'm so glad that I didn't hesitate, and that I grabbed this one when I did.

There were 100 pressed on clear vinyl, 50 of them were going to be used for pre-orders and only 25 were stamped and numbered. The remainder when to the band for their UK tour. Clear vinyl also comes with colored dust sleeve that ties in with the colors from the record cover. Nice touch!

Number 24 of 25.

200 pressed on black?

Iron X Curtain

When I ordered the Times Together vinyl from Anger Battery, I also grabbed a couple copies of the Iron Curtain 7 inch the label had up for sale. I'd never heard of them before, but since they were described as "raw hardcore in the vein of early Lockin Out Records like Mental or the Righteous Jams demo" I figured that I'd take a chance on them. Good move because this London Straight Edge band, are pretty fucking cool.

Has there ever been a record cover with monkeys that hasn't ruled? I can't think of any. While this cover for the Iron Curtain 7 inch looks awesome, I'm a bit confused because they look like gorillas with tails.

Black vinyl is limited to 100, but 30 of them had the dust sleeve stamped and numbered for pre-orders.

200 pressed on white vinyl.

Second Times Together

While I do enjoy it that younger kids are still forming bands, and keeping Straight Edge Hardcore alive, I also get a charge when older dudes keep that Youth Crew spirit going strong. Not all of us threw out our BOLD tshirts, and started listening to Sunny Day Real Estate and Iceburn when we got older. No, some of us still cling to our Wide Awake and Turning Point records, singing along to those youth anthems as though they were still relevant in our grown up lives.

Thankfully older guys like Times Together are still kicking around, and putting out solid Hardcore in 2011. I really liked the cool Uniform Choice/Unity vibe of the first 7 inch, but I had no idea that Times Together were releasing a follow up this year.

After receiving the Rearranged LP a few months ago, I decided to check out what else Anger Battery Records had released, and was pleasantly surprised to see that the label had just put up pre-orders for a new Times Together record. In order to try and keep up the collection, I ordered the three pressings that were available.

100 were pressed on clear vinyl, but only 30 of these got the limited pre-order cover.

The limited cover is a nice touch, and is hand numbered on the back.

Number 30 out of 30. Right on!

I love the layout of this record. The block pattern is a great look.

250 pressed on black.

Times Together were going for a Chain of Strength look and feel with this layout, and they nailed it with the back cover. Nicely done.

150 pressed on green vinyl.