White Magic Circle

There are a number of new records being released this year that have me a bit excited. One of those new records that tops my list in terms of anticipation is the new Magic Circle. Given the number of Brendan Radigan bands that have come and gone, each new Magic Circle album feels important...like an event to be celebrated...so I had some high expectations with Departed Souls.

Not wanting to miss out on the most limited pressing, I made sure that I was available to place my order as soon as the album went up for preorder over at 20 Buck Spin. 110 pressed on white vinyl.

The first couple of listens of the new album had me kind of underwhelmed...although to be honest, my mindset was more in line with Badlands, or the Lick It Up album from Kiss...dude, I wanted the rock and roll party, and I'm not sure that I was prepared for the hard and heavy sounds of Magic Circle.

I've been listening to Departed Souls a bit more over the past couple of weeks, and it is starting to grow on me. It isn't as immediate as their second album, Journey Blind, but it has been worming it's way into my brain, and repeat listens have me enjoying it more and more.

Funny enough, given my obsession over 80's hair metal bands this year, I'm not sure if I was more excited over the arrival of the new Magic Circle record, or the card of Jeff Labar from Cinderella. Seriously...I need more of these Rockcards.

Blind Leading The Blind

I seem to recall that a couple of years ago, there was a bit of a mad scramble to find a copy of the first Magic Circle LP. I didn't want to get caught up in that mess, so as soon as I saw that Deathwish had the new album, Journey Blind, available for pre-order, I jumped on it and ordered a copy. I was a little premature, as a month or so later, the label pressing the album, 20 Buck Spin, posted pre-orders for the limited colored vinyl. Ugh. What was the Deathwish preorder, some general black vinyl pressed in the thousands? Oh yeah, better get that up for pre-order. *rolls eyes* Christ, why not just put them in your store when they arrive?

It was no big deal in the end, as Deathwish allowed me to cancel my order, and refunded my money when I grabbed the limited colored vinyl direct from 20 Buck Spin.

Hot shit, that album cover looks amazing. That is some epic looking metal artwork right there. So good.

Journey Blind has a bit more polish to it, compared to the first album, but it is just as infectious. These riffs are so damn powerful, I want to listen to this daily. Glad to have one of my favorites from 2015 finally in my hands.

160 pressed on blue vinyl.

Lighting Her Magic Circle

Okay...after posting three of the records that I picked up from Grave Mistake this month, I guess it is time to post the one record that drove me to the webstore in the first place. The Magic Circle 7 inch...

Within minutes of ordering the new Step Forward and Violent Reaction records from Painkiller, Marcus tipped me off that the new pressing of the first Magic Circle was available as well. I'd missed it, and I couldn't be bothered to go back and buy one. I just let it go.

A month later, I saw that Grave Mistake had some in their webstore, and I finally made my move. The funny thing is that missing out on this record with Painkiller paid off, as I now have a copy, yet my Painkiller order has not arrived yet.

So this is the Scream Evil 7 inch that the band released prior to last year's full length. You know, because Boston bands featuring Brendan Radigan, Chris Corry, and DFJ, tend to suffer from lack of attention and need all the extra hype they can get. Wink wink. The promo obviously did what it was supposed to do, as the LP sold out quickly, and the label struggled for a while to keep it in stock.

The original pressing was limited to 200, and became quite difficult to acquire. This second pressing is limited to 500, and comes with a proper sleeve. The flipside of Scream Evil features a non-LP track, Lighting Her Fire. Man, this song is so good. I'll be spinning this, along with the Stone Dagger 7 inch, on repeat for weeks now.

Magic The Gathering

What do you get when you take the singer for Rival Mob, the drummer from Boston Strangler/Mental, the guitar player from Mental, and add in another guitar player from Prisoner Abuse/No Tolerance? Who would have guessed that you get a killer Doom Metal band? Seriously. Where the fuck did this come from?

Doug was asking me about this band back in February, and honestly, I had no clue what he was talking about. Never heard of them. I've been on a huge Doom kick lately, so I was excited to check it out. He sent me a youtube link for the song Scream Evil...I checked it out...loved it...downloaded the album, and it has been getting regular spins since then.

As soon as Painkiller announced that they had copies of the LP, I was adding it to my cart and checking out.