Pummel For A King

I'm not sure what it is about the Pummel 7 inch, but it is one of the few newer records that I feel compelled to collect. It is a solid hardcore record from a band out of Boston, the label didn't get stupid with a bunch of different color vinyl options, plus the band has broken up, so I know that this one 7 inch will cover their entire output... essential traits if I want to bother attempting to collect everything for a record.

Picking up the Joey's World cover for the Pummel 7 inch last summer was the tipping point. Prior to that I was content with the two copies that I owned... one on blue and one on white... but with the special cover added to the collection, suddenly I wanted them all. Luckily as I was adding to the collection in Discogs, I saw there was a seller that had the record release version with the lion cover, and I was able to spend more money.

I remember when Pummel played their record release show. Covid was really starting to kick in, and while I really wanted to go to the show, the thought of the two and half hour drive down to Massachusetts and south of Boston was enough to turn me off and keep me home. How the fuck was that six years ago? Oh well, got that record release cover eventually.

Wrong War II

I was surprised with the Wrong War record last year. The band features the singer from the old 90's band Current, and while I didn't expect much from his new band, I was immediately set straight. This wasn't any lightweight indie shit. Wrong War are a full on hardcore punk band that still manages to carry a level of anger and angst that rivals those old 90's Ebullition days. As an old angry dude myself, I really appreciate when people from back in the day can still deliver that level of discontent with something new.

With their second album, Once Upon A Weapon, Wrong War still tears it up with some old school hardcore vibes in the vein of Articles Of Faith, while Matt Weeks voice still has echoes of those old Current records. Smart lyrics and fast hardcore. Try and keep up.

I was surprised with how heavy this record feels in my hand. I'm not sure where the vinyl was pressed, but this is a thick slab of wax. Limited to 250 on "sand" colored vinyl.

Currently In A Wrong War

One of my favorite bands from the first half of the 90's would have to be Current. I mean, if I'm honest, my list of favorite bands from that period is pretty long, so let's just say that during those years I really fucking liked Current. Goddamn. Their Coliseum album from '93 is perfection. Anyway... so when I saw over on noecho.net that the singer for Current had a new band going, I was kind of interested to see what they would sound like. I didn't expect much out of Wrong War, and kind of thought it might be some "mature" indie rock bullshit, but man, my expectations couldn't have been more wrong.

The nine songs on the Fixed Against Forever 12 inch hit hard and fast. The No Echo article mentions comparisons to Born Against, and over at Atomic Action Records they mention Articles Of Faith. Oh yeah, these songs have the AOF influence all over them. Damn, this was a nice surprise.

When the record went up for preorder, Council Records (another connection to those old Current records) had the exclusive red vinyl pressing, while Atomic Action was offering the clear vinyl exclusive from them. In the end, I opted for the clear vinyl option. Limited to 100.

Pummeled Again

For someone that claims to no longer play the game of buying multiple copies of records, I've certainly been buying multiple copies for a lot of records. I don't know if it is because I've recently been obsessed with newer hardcore bands or what, but it has been fun picking up some additional copies of some of my favorite records from the past couple of years.

Pummel are a newer hardcore band that flies the Boston Hardcore flag. Given the band name and that horrible cover art for their 7 inch, I would have normally ignored them... however, they were playing the Vantage Point record release show that I went to back in January last year, and after checking out thier live set I was impressed enough to pick up their record from Atomic Action. This record really grew on me, and it quickly became one of my favorites last year. With four songs clocking in under ten minutes made it real easy to throw the record on for a quick blast.

I've been itching to pick up the blue vinyl pressing for a while now, and being in the Atomic Action webstore for the Chain Reaction record recently, gave me the push that I needed. 400 pressed.

Chain Reaction

Chain Reaction feature guys from big name Belgian bands like Congress and Rise And Fall, so there was some hype for this band right out of the gates. I honestly have never heard either of those bands, so it didn't really do anything to draw me in initially. There was a bit of attention being given to the new Chain Reaction record on Instagram, and since I was down to check out some new hardcore, I decided to give them a shot.

Chain Reaction play some straight foward aggressive hardcore. It's funny...I'm not really drawn to listen to this record, but when I do I really dig it... and the video for Power Corrupts is kind of cool too.

Atomic Action in the US was selling the purple vinyl pressing for the Figurehead 12 inch so a grabbed a copy. Good stuff.

Pummel Power

I was riding a hardcore high the last few months and was hungry to check out any new band. When I went to the Vantage Point record release show back in January, I made an effort to check out every band on the bill prior to the show. I'd seen the name Pummel thrown around over the past year, but honestly, I was never interested in giving them a chance as the band's name kind of put me off.

Seeing how Pummel were playing the Vantage Point show, I decided to check them out on Spotify. Much to my surprise, they were kind of good. They had a 7 inch due out soon on Atomic Action, so I checked out a song from the upcoming record and really liked that as well. After catching them live, and watching the crowd go off to them, I made up my mind to preorder the new record, Our Power.

This record is really cool. Great solid hardcore. 100 pressed on white vinyl.

Absolutes | A New England Hardcore Comp

Another 7 inch compilation. You know I'm not a fan of these things, right? In this internet day and age, do we still need 7 inch comps to introduce us to new bands? I don't really think so, but still, this New England hardcore comp opened my eyes to a couple of bands...and I live in New England, so I guess it did it's job.

The biggest selling point for me on this comp was Sweet Jesus. They are one of Pat Flynn's many bands...the guitarist also plays in Dropdead, which makes for an interesting combination. Sweet Jesus, however, play in a style that in a similar vein as Swiz, so yeah, it is pretty fucking cool.

Death Injection deliver again with some angry Straight Edge Hardcore, but Straight Razor brought a nice surprise. They are another Brendan Radigan (Rival Mob/Magic Circle/Stone Dagger/Battle Ruins) band, and they deliver some solid Hardcore. While I'm not a big fan of Test Of Time, the song here isn't too bad...on the other hand, I have no issue skipping the Holy Hands track every time through.

There were 100 pressed on white vinyl, but according to the note from the label, they came out as pink instead. That's cool. I'll take pink over white vinyl any day.