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.

Just A Word

I don't know if The Suppression Swing made much of an impact in the mid to late 90's. I mean, I was always a big fan of the 7 inch and LP that the band released, but overall, my impression was that the band didn't generate much attention. Maybe they didn't get out much, or maybe they were overlooked when standing next to bands like Ten Yard Fight, Bane and Floorpunch... maybe it was because the singer used that weird microphone... whatever it was, it feels like the band were underrated.

For me, the big draw to The Suppression Swing back in the day was that Mike Hartsfield was in the band. Outspoken had been one of my favorites through the early 90's, so I was down to check out whatever Hartsfield did in its wake. This band seemed to have a bit more anger than the "Daydream" stuff from Outspoken, and I loved it.

I was able to pick up this 7 inch for just under $6, which for a piece of colored vinyl on New Age, seems ridiculously low. I'm not going to complain, but more people should be chasing this record.

The Pain I Face

Around '92, I originally bought the cassette single for Unbroken's You Won't Be Back. I don't seem to have that cassette in my possession anymore, so I probably sold it off to Doug when I unloaded a bunch of my tapes years ago. When I was recently picking up a couple of records from a Discogs seller, I noticed that they had the colored vinyl for that Unbroken 7 inch, I figured it was a good time to finally get this back in my collection, and in a better format.

I'm certain that I've seen this 7 inch in a local record store through the years, but I've always let it pass me by for the stupid reason that these two songs weren't as good as what Unbroken would release in the years following this. Dumb. While it may not be at the same level as Ritual, these two songs are still some solid early 90's hardcore. It definitely fits in with the other classic two song 7 inches that were released in '92, like Worlds Collide, Snapcase, Blindfold, Ressurection and Four Walls Falling.

I'd never really looked to collect this Unbroken 7 inch, and then shortly after I picked up this copy, Marcus found a pink vinyl version when we were at Wanna Hear It together. Having this orange vinyl makes me want that pink version so much more, and I wish that I'd grabbed it before he did.

Decline Of New Age Records

A few years ago, it was brought to my attention that New Age Records had been releasing some great records that I'd completely missed the boat on. I had a blast diving into bands like Drug Control and The Dividing Line, but there were some that fell a bit flat for me. Decline was one of the bands and their 7 inch did not hold my interest at the time. The band were straight edge, and I definitely wanted to like them, but the songs from that 7 inch just didn't do anything for me. Five years after the release of that 7 inch, Decline are back with another record.

After reading the No Echo interview with Decline, and hearing them echo the same sentiments that I've been feeling the last few years in regards to racist MAGA bullshit, I knew that I was going to have to check out the new song that they released as a preview for the album. Compared to that 7 inch from 2017, the Broken album sounds like a completely different band to me. Where the 7 inch was raw and rough, this new record really reminds me of the Joe Nelson era of Ignite, or The Killing Flame. There is a nice polished youth crew revival feel to this whole record, except with some pissed off and political lyrics. I'm quite surprised with just how great this album is.

I didn't bother messing around with the 77 pressing and those small labels. Nah, that's okay. I'll just stick with the tri-color pressing. Limited to 115. Nice looking screen print on the b-side!

The Impact Of Life Force

When I went back, last year, and started digging into some of the recent New Age Records releases, one of the bands that I discovered was Life Force. The band play a pretty straight forward style of hardcore, with a slightly modern sound. They are very much a straight edge band, with X's all over their records, so I was sold on them and picked up their album last year. It is a solid record and I figured that it was about time that I grabbed their 7 inch as well.

The Impact was originally released back in 2019 on Blind Rage Records. Since New Age released the Life Force LP, it looks like they have taken ownership of the 7 inch and have given that one a 2022 reissue. The songs here are good, but the LP is definitely a step up. Still, it's a good spin when I want to listen to newer hardcore records.

When I bought the Hope And Defiance album through Discogs, the seller sent me a different color vinyl version than the one that I had ordered. I wanted the black, white and blue stripe color, which looks great with the cover art, and instead I got some orange and blue swirl that isn't very exciting. I didn't sweat it and decided to just keep it. When I ordered The Impact 7 inch from New Age, I had added the blue vinyl to the cart. As they were preparing to ship my order, New Age sent me an email to apologize because they no longer had the blue vinyl. They offered me a refund or the latest 77 pressing on orange vinyl. Not wanting to mess around and have to chase down a different version, I agreed to just take the orange (even though it looks red in these photos). If Life Force release another record, maybe I'll actually get the colored vinyl that I order.

Moral Law

In recent years, Marcus turned me on to a bunch of great records that New Age had been releasing that I'd been completely ignoring. Sure, I'd seen pictures of their records floating around Instagram, but I'd been too stubborn and just made assumptions that it wasn't something that I was going to be interested in. That was a mistake. Once I finally dove into what New Age had been doing over the past few years, I was amazed at how good some of that shit was. It was time to start paying attention.

I wasn't familiar with Moral Law when I heard that New Age was going to be releasing an album from the band this year. As I was checking to see what the band was about, I started seeing the term "metalcore" thrown around and I immediately lost interest. I'm trying to fight initial knee jerk reactions like that, and so I forced myself to still check the band out. I'm glad that I did, because Moral Law reminds me more of the 90's hardcore bands than the metalcore stuff that I was expecting. I ride hard for the 90's hardcore sound, and I was really liking what I'd heard as a preview to The Looming End, so I ordered two copies. What can I say... I got caught up in the moment and ordered multiple copies of a record that I really don't intend to fully collect. Still, this is a great, hard as nails, uncompromising, vegan straight edge record.

I couldn't resist the '77 pressing for this on pink vinyl, but the center labels here are smaller than the regular LP edition and look almost comically small on a 12 inch record. If New Age keeps using these weirdly small labels, I don't know if I'll bother with the '77 pressing in the future. I wanted the pink vinyl, but maybe I should have just ordered the regular pink press.

Early 90's In Color: Ressurection

This is the final entry for this series of recent records from the 90's that I've picked up on colored vinyl. There are times when I really want to stop chasing multiple copies of records that I own, but I still get a pretty good charge when I occasionally dive into that game... and this quick spending spree was definitely a fun time.

While I did enjoy Ressurection in the early 90's, as the years went by I paid less and less attention to their records. None of bands that Rob Fish did after Ressurection appealed to me, and so as time ticked by I kind of pushed those Ressurection records aside for stuff like Mouthpiece and Unbroken. As I was listening to bunch of early 90's stuff at the end of last year, I decided to dust off that first Ressurection 7 inch, and I was amazed at how great it sounded. Wow. I'd forgotten how great this was.

I only had the regular black vinyl pressing that I'd picked up somewhere in the early 90's, and seeing how much I was digging it lately, I was excited to grab the purple vinyl pressing. Not only does it look great, but I was surprised at how inexpensive this was. $8 is a steal for this thing. What are the chances that I get get the red vinyl version for a good price?

Owe You Nothing

I've discovered a lot of newer hardcore bands this year, and I've been having a blast digging into records from the last few years that I somehow missed the first time around. There have been so many great hardcore bands kicking it recently, but one of my favorite finds this year was The Dividing Line. I love my straight edge hardcore full of anger and rage, and TDL certainly hit that sweet spot for me. Their 7 inch from 2018 has been an amazing find for me this year, and when I heard that the band was going to be releasing an album on New Age, I was on the edge of my seat waiting to mash that preorder button.

It feels like I've missed the start of a number of preorders lately, so it felt good to be there on the New Age site as soon as they were launched for the Owe You Nothing record from The Dividing Line. I got burned not having any media mail options, and was stuck having to pay $17 for Priority Mail, but fuck it, I was desperate to get my order in for this record.

I was so excited for this record that I bought two copies...and I'm tempted to go back and grab the white vinyl as well as I think the three colors go great with the cover art. The shitty REVHQ and Cortex colors are gross, so I don't feel the need to get those, so any "collection" I build for this will most likely be incomplete. This album rules though. So pissed off. So straight edge. I can't get enough of it.

I completely forgot that I'd ordered the clear vinyl pressing for the Turn My Back On The World 7 inch. When I opened the package, I was surpised to see this and I thought that New Age might have dropped it in for free. Nope. I guess I was just super excited for TDL records and I forgot that I'd added it to my order.

Drug Control

Earlier this year, Marcus tipped me off to a bunch of recent New Age Records bands that I'd missed out on. I'd lost touch with what the label had been doing lately, and thankfully Marcus was there to get me back on track. My intention was to buy a ton of records direct from New Age's online store but the shipping prices were so ridiculous that it was easier for me to just pick the stuff up from different Discogs sellers. One of the bands that I wasn't able to get during my first Discogs sweep a few months ago was Drug Control, so when I was grabbing some records from a seller recently and saw they had the Clear Sight records as well, I didn't hesitate to add it to the cart.

Clear Sight, released back in 2018, was the third 7 inch from Drug Control. Apparently I downloaded their Stabbed EP back in 2017, but it didn't make much of an impression on me as iTunes shows that I only listened to it twice. I'm going to have to revisit it because Clear Sight is fucking impressive. I love the energy and rage here, and any record that has a song that rhymes the words "booze" and "lose" is automatically going to be a favorite of mine.

I suppose that I could have chased after a more limited pressing, but goddamn, I just love the look of that red vinyl. Who knows, I like this record enough that I might pick up another colored vinyl pressing at some point.

The Dividing Line

Digging into the New Age Records releases from the past few years, I think that the record from The Dividing Line is my favorite.

Again, I had been caught up in the mindset that New Age no longer released records that I was interested in, so I was ignoring anything that the label did. This was a stupid mistake, as I definitely missed out on some cool shit. The Turn My Back On The World 7 inch from The Dividing Line is some rippin' straight ahead hardcore. Probably every song on here is about the straight edge, plus they use the word "fuck" in every song as well...combining these two elements makes for a winner in my book. Seriously, this record is great and if I was going to put in the work to collect multiple copies of a New Age release, this would be the one I would chase.

200 pressed on white vinyl.

Dear Furious

I've had a weird relationship with A18. When they were putting out records in the early 2000's, I really liked what the band was doing, but as time moved on I grew tired of them. Issac's vocals were quite grating and it got to the point where they were really rubbing me the wrong way, and I figured that I never needed to listen to the band again. I got to this point 10+ years after the last A18 record, and right around that time a couple the those dudes decided to get together with some Mean Season guys to form Dear Furious (named after the last A18 record).

I obviously ignored that Dear Furious record, but when Marcus posted about it earlier this year, I thought that maybe I'd give it a chance. Upon my first listen, I struggled with Issac's vocals during the first song...however, by the end of the record I had gotten used to it and was kind of enjoying it. After spinning those songs a few times, I was excited over discovering this record and knew I needed to track down the vinyl. Somehow the '77 pressing was still available at New Age Records so I jumped in and grabbed one.

I'm surprised at how much I'm enjoying this thing. The packaging is outstanding and I love the look of the cover art, and these songs are killer...I've even gone back to the A18 stuff and find that I appreciate it again. This 7 inch was released back in 2017, but hopefully the band has more to give.

Cutting Through Empathy

I first heard Cutting Through when I downloaded their demo a few years ago. Given that it had ex-members of bands like Get The Most and Fired Up, I had really high expectations for the band, but unfortunately that demo fell a bit flat and failed to grab me right out of the gate. After that demo in 2016, the band followed up with a couple of records with New Age, and I promptly ignored both of them.

When Marcus was catching up with some New Age Records releases earlier this year, I was desperate to listen to some newer hardcore bands so I followed his lead and started checking out a few records that I'd missed out on the first time around. One of the records that he'd posted about was the Empathy 7 inch from Cutting Through and it seems like a good time for me to revisit the band.

While this still doesn't deliver the hooks that we saw with Get The Most and Fired Up, this is still a good straight forward hardcore record. I'm about three years late for this 7 inch, but the timing was perfect for me to dig into it this year as it delivers exactly what I was looking for.

Life Force And Defiance

When I first saw the album cover for the Life Force record, Hope And Defiance, I immediately disregarded it. With that X and hand on the front cover, it just seemed like another generic straight edge band, and I ignored it. I'm not sure exactly why I did that, because I love generic straight edge hardcore! As I was looking over the New Age Records roster recently and looking for something new to check out, when I saw the Life Force name I knew it was time to finally check out this band.

Life Force isn't as "generic" as I expected...there is something there that gives this record a bit more of a modern sound without having all personality sucked from it. While some newer bands are easy to track their sound back to specific bands or era's of hardcore, I'm having a bit of a difficult time nailing down Life Force. They just play solid hardcore without blatently trying to sound like any particular band.

The photo on the back cover with everyone crowded around the microphone with X'd up hands makes me want to see this band live.

Rage Of Vanguard

It has been a long time since I've bothered with anything from New Age Records. The label has released a lot of stuff since 2000 that I've just never bothered with... choosing to ignore it based on the assumption that their bands were playing a modern style of hardcore that I wasn't interested in. When Marcus did a series of posts for records from newer New Age bands, I figured that maybe it was time for me to dig in and see what I've been missing.

Vanguard is one of the newer bands from New Age, as it looks like their 12 inch EP, Rage Of Deliverance, just dropped earlier this year. Initially I resisted checking out this record as it was giving off some heavy Earth Crisis vibes, and outside of those first two 7 inches, I just don't understand the attraction. Still, I'm trying to keep my mind open to checking out some newer hardcore bands, so I queued up the new Vanguard songs on Spotify to give them a chance. Holy fucking hell. I'm already calling it... this thing is going to be my favorite record of the year... in fact, if the majority of the different colored vinyl pressings weren't so atrocious looking, I'd probably jump in to buy multiple copies. Last year, I got caught up listening to One King Down's Bloodlust Revenge record over and over, and this Vanguard record easily feeds off that same mid-90's straight edge hardcore vibe.

No doubt, Vanguard are here to push an agenda of animal liberation, and if you can't get down with that hardline message, you best step away because Rage Of Deliverance takes no prisoners. Cut every fence. Smash every cage.

New Age Restraining Order

Like Magnitude, I didn't pay much attention when Restraining Order released their first 7 inch. It wasn't until both bands released full length albums on Triple B this year that I actually tuned in to what was going on. Seeing both bands at the AHC fest a couple weeks back gave me the opportunity to pick up those 7 inches directly from both bands.

Restraining Order were a blast to see live. The singer was a ball of energy and you couldn't help but get pulled into the excitement. I really hope they come back to play Boston soon so that I can catch them again.

Thankfully Restraining Order had some colored vinyl available at the merch table. Second pressing on blue and limited to 500.

Abuse Of Power

New hardcore records have been in short supply for me in 2016. I imagine that some of you will be less than impressed when I post my Best of 2016 list next month. I'm not sure if I've really missed some great records for this year, or if I just don't give a shit about trying to keep up with everything these days.

I do keep up with record collecting blogs though, and when Chris over at Unwavering Spirit posted about Abuse Of Power last month, it caught my attention.

I've been seeing posts recently from New Age Records, about a couple of newer bands that they were working with. Abuse Of Power were one of those bands.

Chris seemed impressed with the record, and said that the band would have fit in nicely with the Words To Live By 7 inch back in '91. I was a little skeptical, since New Age hadn't released a new record that was worth my attention for over 15 years now. I was doubtful that this release was going to be anything different, but since Chris was down with it, I decided to give it a chance.

Damn! I'm impressed. The hype was deserved as this does sound like it would have fit in nicely with those songs from the Words To Live By record. I quickly jumped to the New Age store to make sure that I got a piece of that delicious looking "pink lemonade" colored vinyl. 200 pressed.

While I'm trying to ease up on buying multiple pressings for records, I couldn't resist adding another color to my Outspoken collection for A Light In The Dark. Since I already had four copies, I figured that I might as well go for five.

Plus that Reason To Believe pressing looked too good to pass up. R.I.P. Jon Bunch.

200 pressed on red colored vinyl.

Survival Of The Splittest

A month or so ago, Lins posted a picture of an Outspoken 7 inch on instagram. What was this? A pressing of Survival on a transparent clear and orange split vinyl? Damn! I'd never seen that before!

I figured that the New Age Records webstore would be a good place to grab one, but it seems like that entire site has been taken down. It never occurred to me to ask Lins where he might have gotten it, and instead I set out in a panic, desperate to find myself a copy. Not too long into my search, I was in the Irish Voodoo webstore, pulling some pressing info for my latest Done Dying post, and that's when I saw it...that mysterious clear/orange split pressing. It was listed that there was only one copy left in stock, so I scooped it up.

Irish Voodoo had it listed as a special pressing for Outspoken's European tour. Good lord, is this band still out touring without John Coyle?

I recently found out that this record is also available in the Outspoken bigcartel store, so go grab one there if you haven't done so yet.

Mouthpiece Tour 1995

Yeah, I may have started collecting vinyl late in the game, but I've got to tell you, there is nothing more satisfying as when I pick up one of those records that I ignored the first time around. Feeling as strong as I do about this kind of music, it is hard not romanticize the experience...it's like these are records that I'm supposed to own...they belong in my collection, and finally acquiring them all these years later is like reuniting long lost friends.

In 1995, Mouthpiece released their Face Tomorrow 7 inch on New Age Records. It was a strange time for me, as I was still heavily into bands like Shift and Christie Front Drive, plus I was digging on Endpoint's last record with the slide guitar...yet, under the surface bands were starting to make a more straight forward, traditional Hardcore sound. Bands like Fastbreak, Floorpunch, and Ten Yard Fight were starting to make some noise, and reminding me that music didn't have to be uptight and pretentious all the time...it didn't always have to be an ultra-serious experience. Right there in the middle of this revival was Mouthpiece. They had stuck it out through some of Hardcore's darkest days, and they survived to release their strongest record with Face Tomorrow.

I don't believe that there are countless special pressings for the Mouthpiece records, therefore I haven't been too tempted to really make a run at collecting their vinyl. Where was the challenge?

Prices seem to have come down for Mouthpiece vinyl, as popsike shows that a few years ago this record went for $85, then last year one went for $40...in 2012 one went for $28, and then I picked up mine for under $20. Seemed like a good time to pick one up.

On Trial

Back in September, I ordered the new Trial repress from New Age Records. So much time had passed since then, that I'd forgotten exactly what I'd ordered. When Sandwell posted four copies on his blog in December, I didn't remember ordering that many copies. For some reason I only remembered ordering two copies. If this was true I was going to need to place another order with New Age, and I was not looking forward to that possibility.

When the package finally landed in my mailbox in January, I was thrilled to find that I had ordered all four copies.

200 pressed on grey vinyl.

300 pressed on clear.

500 pressed on brown vinyl.

For best results, hold up to light.

Don't forget about the '77 pressing that New Age does with each repress. 77 copies on grey vinyl with the Walk Proud labels. Damn, did they have that many labels left over from the original Walk Proud run, or has New Age been printing them just for these '77 pressings?

In addition to the Trial 7 inches, I also picked up a copy of the Suppression Swing LP. Of course I originally bought this on CD back in the late 90's, but for $4.00 I figured it was time to grab a vinyl copy. Much to my surprise, I found that the vinyl has a bonus track that wasn't on the CD. Truly, one of the last great New Age releases.

Deny The Flow

Set adrift.
They drift away.
I reach to save them.
But how can I save those who won’t save themselves.
Goodbye.

Outspoken had some pretty powerful lyrics in their songs, and the words to Current may be one of my all time favorites. Therefore, I was pretty excited when New Age Records recently reissued the final, and best, Outspoken record on vinyl.

I don't have the original pressing of The Current on vinyl, so I'm not sure if this CD booklet insert is a cop out for this reissue. Did New Age go this cheap with this insert the first time around?

147 on blue/grey colored vinyl.

Keeping with their reissue tradition, New Age also did a limited "77 pressing" complete with the limited alternate cover and Walk Proud record labels.

Probably the biggest bonus for this New Age order was that my records didn't take 6 months to arrive. Seems that they now have someone reliable managing the distro for New Age, and my order got here within a week.