Line Drive Death Cave

Earlier this year I picked up the first Line Drive 7 inch on a whim as I was picking up other records from a seller, because why buy one record when you can buy many. I was familiar with the band's name, but never really had the opportunity to check them out too deeply. Grabbing that record was finally the time to do it, and I was immediately hooked... putting those songs from the 7 inch on a playlist alongside Forethought and Flagman for my daily dose of 90's hardcore.

Shortly after I got that post up for The Few, I was surprised to find a comment from the Line Drive singer, Gray, telling me that he still had a few copies of their second 7 inch laying around and that if I wanted one to drop him an email.

Soon after exchanging a couple of emails with Gray, and sending him my address, the Lead On 7 inch arrived. Sure I could have picked up on Discogs for cheap, but it was such a kind and generous offer from him and I'm grateful to finally have this copy in my collection. Shame that the record label didn't give us a colored vinyl version.

Man, I just love this style of early 90's hardcore. This shit never gets old for me, and it is so exciting for me to finally hear these songs in 2026. Yeah, I love new music... especially when it's 30+ years old.

In addition to the Lead On 7 inch, Gray took the opportunity to ship off a record from one of his more recent bands, Saddam Death Cave.

I usually ignore free records that people throw in with my order from labels and Discogs. Generally, I'm not interested in helping someone clean clutter out of their house, but I was grateful that Gray sent the Line Drive record, so I figured that I could at least check it out. Right off the bat I notice that the band does a cover of Naked Raygun's Rat Patrol, so my interest was piqued... and then I saw the band bio on Spotify that said "The elevator pitch was, and I quote, "Let's be like Poison Idea but without the morbid obesity. Like, just record a 7" and then one of us dies in a car accident."... that was it... I was suddenly interested to hear this band.

This Planned Obsolescence 10 inch is really quite good. I'm not too familiar with Poison Idea, but I can hear the influence... and the influence kind of make me think of Clifford from Bl'ast... so yeah, I'm digging this. Thanks Gray!

It's A Long Way From The UK

I love meeting up with my old blogging buddies from the UK, and when they are available I'll make every effort to get together in Boston for the day. I was able to catch up with Sandwell back in October, and I was very happy for the opportunity to meet with Marcus and Anna when they made a quick stop in Boston while on their way to Florida. Even if we didn't really care for each other, we still made the excuse to hang out so we could trade some records that we'd had shipped to the other so we could save a few dollars on overseas shipping.

I few days before Marcus checked in to see if I wanted to have any records mailed to him that he could bring over with him, I'd just discovered a pressing of AC/DC's High Voltage album with the cover art that was unique to the UK. I was in love with how this cover looked, and as soon as he made the suggestion for me to ship stuff to him, I was on Discogs and ordering the record from a UK seller. This thing is as beautiful as I'd hoped it would.

I've made some good progress with my AC/DC collection this year, and next to the Dirty Deeds Aussie pressing, this UK pressing of High Voltage is one of my favorite additions.

It was a fun day driving down to Boston with my wife to meet up with Marcus and Anna for some pizza and pastries, and then we got down with a little wife swap back at the hotel...no...wait...record swap...I meant record swap.

Disciples Of The Watch

When Sandwell was over from the UK last year on his annual trip to NYC, we agreed to meet in Boston for the afternoon. As he was leaving, getting back on the bus for his return trip to New York, he mentioned that he had extra copies of the first two Testament albums back at home in the UK, and if I needed them, he said that he'd bring them over to me on his next trip to the US. I absolutely love those two Testament records, and since I didn't own copies of them, I took him up on his offer. Still, we weren't sure when he would be back to the US, so I didn't put much stock in it...so it was quite the surprise when we got together again in Boston this year, and based on our conversation from a year ago, he brought those Testament records.

The first Testament is one of the best thrash albums. You take Metallica and Slayer out of the mix, and standing side by side with the first albums from Sacred Reich, Vio-lence, Overkill and Exodus, you'll find The Legacy on my list of favorite thrash records of all time. This album never gets old for me, and from start to finish it just slays.

European pressing from Megaforce.

If The Legacy was one of the best debut thrash albums, The New Order would be one of the best sophomore records...and checking my listening stats, this one is easily the Testament album that I've listened to the most. This album is full of classic Testament songs, and I was lucky to catch Testament playing both this album and The Legacy in their entirety, back in 2015. Such an amazing show to see the band rip through all of these songs.

Interesting that the European pressing of The New Order does not include the cover of Aerosmith's Nobody's Fault. While I do enjoy that song, I'll admit that it does make the album stronger without it.

I'm very happy to have these two albums in the collection, so a big "thank you" to Mark for his generosity.

Forever A Universal Tribe

A couple months ago, Turnstile played their record release show for their new album Time & Space. I was locked away in my house, avoiding people, listening to records and reading a book. Another wild night. I always keep the ringer turned off on my phone, because well, no one should ever need to get in touch with me that urgently...I'll get your message on my terms, goddamnit. Well, when I happened to check my phone that night, I had a message from a friend asking if I wanted a record release pressing. Holy fuck, yes!

Dude has hooked me up with a record release pressing for Angel Du$t and the last Turnstile 7 inch, so I was excited to add another to the collection.

I love the packaging on this. Nice looking insert for the record release, which has all the info from when and where the show was...it's numbered, and slides nicely into the slipcase for the album.

It looks like 700 were pressed on red vinyl for the Turnstile tour, but 200 of them were numbered with the special insert for the record release show.

I'm extremely thankful that this record was offered to me. I probably wouldn't have ever picked up a copy otherwise.

Doing It For Dave

Years ago, a wise man once uttered the phrase, "If you don't ask, you don't get". That advice really stuck with me, and I've put it to use a few times since then.

A couple weeks back, I was posting a picture of my incomplete Search collection to Instagram, and figured that I'd throw it out there that I was looking for the Vision sleeve. I didn't really expect any hits on it, but much to my surprise someone generously offered me their copy. He wasn't looking to flip it and make some easy money...nope...just was just asking for cost plus shipping. I couldn't have been happier to take him up on the offer.

Sadly, Dave Franklin from Vision passed away earlier this year. I'd never met him, but through the outpouring of messages from people about this loss, you could tell that Dave was one of those guys that everyone liked, and he seemed to have left nothing but positivity in his wake.

In April, the Hardcore scene came together for a memorial show in remembrance of Dave's life. To commemorate the occasion, Search packaged their 7 inch with a special cover that pays tribute to the Undiscovered 7 inch that Vision released back in 1988.

The packaging on this record is very well done. Such a great tribute.

This special cover is limited to 100, so once again, I consider myself to be extremely fortunate to have this in my collection.

Now that I have the full collection, I can bring them all together for the family photo.

Contract On A Purson

A while back, full-time good dude/part-time vinyl blogger over at Couch Slouch, Sandwell reached out to ask for a favor. Seemed that he was over from the UK, visiting New York City, and needed some help with some records that he'd ordered while he was in the States. I was happy to help out a fellow record nerd, so I told him to do what he needed to do.

I fall for this shit every time, and when a box from Revelation landed at my door a week or so later, I'd forgotten all about that conversation between Mark and I. I was scratching my head as I opened the package, wondering what I'd ordered from REV. As I started flipping through all the records in the box, I was pretty stoked, as I thought that REV sent me a bunch of cool records for free in error. Then it hit me...fuck...these aren't mine, they are for Mark.

Since I was helping him out, Sandwell offered to send me something in a way of a thank you...and promised me that it would not be a Madball record. That was a relief, as I couldn't think of a thank you gift that was much worse than a Madball record.

Turns out that he had a spare of the The Contract 7 inch from Purson, and decided to send it along to me. Considering that only 300 of these were pressed (100 on clear vinyl, and 200 on black), and were only to be available at Rise Above's 25th anniversary show. 50 of them did make their way to Rise Above's webstore, and sold out pretty quickly. I remember seeing them go up for sale at the time, but couldn't be bothered to spend Rise Above's shipping prices for this one, so I let it pass me by. Very cool to eventually receive one anyway.

While The Contract is also available on Purson's 2013 full length release, the b-side Blueprints Of The Dream is exclusive to this single. Good stuff. The band have a new full length coming out early 2016, but I wasn't a big fan of their 2014 EP, so we'll see if I dig it or if they are getting too spacey and weird for my tastes. Should be interesting to say the least.

Box Of Seaweed

Up until last year, I'd never listened to the band Seaweed...hell, I'd barely heard of them...in fact, the only reason why they popped onto my radar at all, was because of Marcus' blog. He really spoke highly of them, and after reading post after post about their records, I finally broke down and checked out their Four LP. Much to my surprise, I absolutely fell in love with that record, and could not stop playing it. No matter how much I enjoyed that record, I really didn't expand my Seaweed knowledge much beyond that. Four is amazing, and it was all that I really needed. Leave it to Marcus to set me straight once again.

A couple weeks back, I was quite surprised to find a box of Seaweed records on my doorstop. Apparently Marcus had been picking up pieces of vinyl for cheap over the past few months, and in a show of record nerd solidarity, once he had a handful of them, he sent them my way...plus he figured it was the best way to get me to finally post some non-metal records to this blog.

Okay, let's take them in chronological order...starting with Seaweed's second 7 inch, Just A Smirk.

This one was one of my favorites of the bunch, simply because that colored vinyl looks amazing. Had I heard these songs in the early 90's, I would have listened to the shit out of this record. I listened to a lot of bands that played this style at the time, and it still surprises me how I completely overlooked Seaweed until 2014.

Another two song 7 inch that Seaweed released in 1990 was Deertrap. More of that sound that they are great at, and reminds me of bands like Bad Trip, Garden Variety, and that Split Lip LP where they changed their name to Chamberlain..

Up next is the single for the song Bill, which appears on Seaweed's album Weak. Great song, and worth it for the exclusive b-side song, Pumpkin. Released in 1992, this one shows some growth, and while I really dig the earlier work, this is a nice step up for the band.

I believe there are two camps for Seaweed...those that think that Four is their best album, and those that are wrong. Lots of people seem to prefer the band's first album, Weak, and while I think it is still great, it doesn't beat their second LP.

Finally we come to one of the singles from the Four LP...the Go Your Own Way 7 inch. Meh...I really could do without this Fleetwood Mac cover, but it is still a cool 7 inch to own for the exclusive She Cracked b-side song.

The last surprise was inclusion of a record that didn't fit the Seaweed theme. I'm not sure why Marcus included this record in the package, and upon first glance I had zero interest in checking it out. Not wanting to be rude, I put the vinyl on the turntable for the Young Conservatives record. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I really liked what I heard. It is catchy and melodic hardcore, but with a good gritty edge. Quite the surprise.

Clean Break

Some people just "get" hardcore. They understand the purity of it's values, and don't compromise them for their own gain. David at Salad Days Records is one of these people. He is a genuine dude...positive...straight edge...hardcore. Every time I've spoken with him, I walk away with a smile on my face. The integrity he carries with him, flows over to his record label and bands that he plays with. I have nothing but respect for everything he has done.

David's newest band, Clean Break, has knocked me off my feet. If you follow this blog regularly, you know that I've been pretty much doing nothing but listening to a steady stream of Heavy Metal for the past six months. The one big exception has been the new Clean Break record.

Man, this thing is a blast. Straight Edge Hardcore.

105 pressed on black vinyl. 155 on "double mint" green, and 260 on "Halloween" orange.

Clean Break recently did a small tour around Europe. You know what that means, don't you? Special tour press cover!

Number 50 out of 50. It doesn't get much better than that.

In addition to the new record from Clean Break, we also get their 2013 demo pressed to vinyl. I love the raw sound of these songs.

50 were pressed on red vinyl, and 50 were pressed on green.

In addition to the regular pressings, there were 50 green vinyl with a red cover.

...and 50 red vinyl with a green cover.

When these records first went up for sale, David said that he was going to hold some aside for me and get me a price. I waited and waited...I asked him how much I could pay him, and he kept putting me off saying that he was going to get to it. The band went on tour, and still I waited. I stopped asking about them, knowing that when he was ready, he would give me the price to ship them out to me. Quite by surprise, a package finally showed up at my door. Inside were all the Clean Break records and a couple of t-shirts...no charge. Damn, David is one of the good dudes. Thanks, man.

Generations Of Thieves

I first meet Jim back at the Posi Numbers fest in 2005. I was wearing an Undertow tour shirt that he wanted, so we worked out a trade...I gave him the shirt I was wearing, and he bought me shirts from Have Heart, Gorilla Biscuits, and Triple Threat from the merch tables. Solid deal.

Years later, around 2011, I saw his band Nation Of Thieves play at a gig at the Democracy Center near Harvard Square in Cambridge. We were talking after their set, and he mentioned that they were going to be recording some new songs for a 7 inch.

Fast forward a few years, I caught up with Jim again at the REV25 shows in New York. I asked him what became of that Nation Of Thieves record, and if memory serves me correctly, he'd said that band fell apart after recording, and they just never pulled the money together to get it a proper mix. I told him that was a shame, because those songs sounded really good when I'd seen them live.

Jim recently reached out to me, and asked for my address, as he wanted to mail me a surprise. I was really hoping it was those unreleased songs from that recording session, and I was not disappointed. Man, these songs are so good. It is such a shame that this release never saw the light of day. Great early 90's inspired Hardcore with influences from Undertow, Unbroken and Outspoken. I asked Jim if it would be cool if I could make these songs available for download, and he gave it the okay...so grab it HERE, and appreciate.

Along with the Nation Of Thieves unreleased songs, Jim also threw in a piece of vinyl for one of this other bands, Generations. I've heard this band's name before, but for one reason or another, I'd never checked it out. Released back in 2006, I guess it is better late than never.

Overall, this is pretty good. At times it sounds like it could have been an early Youngblood release. A good solid record.

Number One For New Jersey Straight Edge

A month ago, Marcus and I were exchanging some blogger related messages, and he mentioned that he was currently looking at a list of records that someone was selling. On the list was the Reveal 7 inch with the numbered cover, and he said that if it was available, he was buying it for me. I laughed it off, thinking that he was making a joke of my Reveal obsession, but I would have certainly welcomed another copy to my collection.

A couple weeks later, and I get another message from Marcus, telling me that he had bought me a record as a way of saying thank you for helping him out recently. When I got home that night, the record was there in my mailbox, and it ended up being much cooler than I expected.

I wondered which cover Marcus managed to pick up for the Reveal record. Was it the yellow, blue or orange one? I pulled it out of the packaging, and...whoa...it's brown? Holy fuck. I didn't know there was a brown cover!

Not only did it have a brown cover, but it was number 1 of 100. Outside of the test press that Casali owns, this is the coolest Reveal record that I've seen. Thanks, Marcus!

I pity the fool that doesn't have a Reveal record with the Mr. T stamp!

This one makes the sixth numbered cover I own. When I bought my first copy of this cover from Brian Murphy back at Posi Numbers in 2005, I never guessed that it would blossom into an obsession like this.

Hell, I might as well pull them all out for a photo. Yeah, I challenge anyone to come up with a better collection than this. Ha!

Unwavering Spirit Of Nervous Impulse - Good Dudes, Part 3

I thought that if I did another serious of posts, it would motivate me to bang them out real quick. Hey, it worked with my REACT! posts. Not so much this time around, as I've just been having some difficulty finding the time to keep up with everything lately.

Still, I've enjoyed spotlighting some good dudes with these last few posts. Let's close out this series with the Nervous Impulse record that Chris over at Unwavering Spirit sent me.

I've been pretty excited about this record lately, and when I posted about it last month, Chris let me know that he had an extra copy of the band's self released pressing...if I was interested, it was mine. I was quick to reply that I was. You see, I was sure that I had seen a photo of this record on blue vinyl somewhere, and yet Bridge Nine's pressing info only listed it on yellow vinyl. I scoured the internet, desperate to find some info on this mysterious blue vinyl that I had seen, but I kept coming up empty handed. I was starting to think that maybe I'd imagined the whole thing, and it didn't really exist. Then Chris comes along with the proof that I needed to restore my sanity.

Not only was Chris gracious enough to send me his extra copy, he did so without asking to be paid for it. I offered to send him something to cover his costs, but he stated that he was just happy to get the word out on this great band. Thanks, man. Much appreciated.

The packaging on this pressing isn't much to speak of...and the Bridge Nine release is much better...but damn, that blue vinyl looks amazing.