Mind Pressings

I had 8 copies of Leave No Doubt...might as well make it an even 10.

For the second press of Mindset's powerful album, REACT! gives us two more colors. Well, they tried anyway. The white and blue mix color ended up looking very much like the white vinyl from the first press. There are a few faint streaks of blue, but they were damn near impossible to photograph.

Yellow seems like an odd color choice, but somehow it works for me. The yellow vinyl looks great next to the black, white and red cover.

250 pressed on white/blue, and 750 on yellow.

A while back, I was messing around on Instagram, and I stumbled across a picture of Noose's second 7 inch. Wait. This one looks like it is on purple vinyl. I didn't know that this existed on purple.

I check out the REACT! site, and boom, there they are. I'll take one, thank you.

200 pressed for the second pressing. Damn, that purple looks great!

REACT! Week - Part One: Noose

As usual, I'm far behind with my posts for the blog. I've got a large backlog, with a number of them being for new REACT! releases. I hate posting a bunch of different records within one post, so I'm going to separate each release, and try and blast through them over this next week. That's right, this is officially REACT! week here on the blog.

First up is the Noose LP, The Moral Law.

This full length compiles all the previous Noose material, three 7 inches and one compilation track, to a convenient LP. This shit is harsh and angry...hate fueled Straight Edge Vegan Hardcore. Intense. Granted the album cover featuring a gang of guys dressed like Dumb Donald from Fat Albert kind of ruins the mood, but I can see what they were going for.

350 pressed on green vinyl.

REACT! pressed only 150 on pink, with proceeds from this pressing going to the Chenoa Manor Animal Sanctuary. Animal liberation!

I've written here about the number of problems that I've had with Hellfish. REACT! has been using them as a disto, and I've had a string of bad luck. Crushed corners with one order, and wrong colored vinyl with others. The streak continues with this order, as they failed to send me the black vinyl copy of the Noose LP that I'd ordered...plus the Mindset CD was missing as well. I dropped a note to Ev at REACT! to let him know. I wasn't looking for him to fix their error, but I just wanted to give him a heads up. Ev let me know that, thankfully, REACT! is no longer using Hellfish. All mailorder is being managed in-house. Such great news. He was shipping me some other records from a separate order, and he kindly offered to include those items that Hellfish failed to send. No doubt, Ev is a solid dude! Thanks, man.

500 pressed on black vinyl.

Controversial Noose

Noose did a European tour last year that ended in a shit storm of controversy, and getting dropped by Refuse Records. I'm not sure of the entire story as I didn't follow the messageboard gossip machine that closely, but apparently the singer said some inflammatory remarks that Robert from Refuse took offense to. Like I said, I don't know all the details, but when you put out a record from a hardline Vegan Straight Edge band that etches "Go vegan...or go fuck yourself" in the deadwax of the 7 inch you are releasing, I assume you have to know what you are getting into.

Because Refuse is a European label, I didn't order the Depraved Indifference 7 inch right away as I had trouble justifying the overseas shipping costs for one record. When all the drama went down, and the label stopped selling the Noose record, I knew it was a mistake to have waited. REVHQ recently uncovered some extra copies, and put them up in their store, I quickly grabbed one.

When REACT! Records released their demo on vinyl, I thought the band were just okay. I liked them more when the second 7 inch, The War Of All Against All, was released. With their third 7 inch, I'm a fan. The more I hear from Noose, the more I like them. Solid.

300 pressed on red vinyl.

Latest From REACT!: Part 2 - Back On Track

Along with the clunkers of Damages and Fell To Low, REACT! also delivered two records that are more in line with what I expect from the label...new 7 inches from Peace and Noose.

Peace feature members of The First Step, Mindset, and Praise. I'm a huge fan of all these bands, so I've been looking forward to this since REACT! first made the announcement. This does not disappoint. Straight ahead, no frills Hardcore.

200 pressed on red vinyl.

300 on white vinyl.

There were a few changes from REACT! this time around. With Hellfish managing the distribution, records no longer come with the poly sleeve. Saving some costs, I guess. Also with this four record release, REACT! has also stopped including the additional "essay insert". While I rarely gave them more than just a passing glance, it seems odd to not have them included.

400 pressed on black.

After having REACT! press their 2010 demo to vinyl, Noose is back with their follow up 7 inch, The War Of All Against All. This shit is harsh! Intense Vegan Straight Edge out of Chicago...Noose do not let up for a second.

Limited to 200 on green vinyl.

300 pressed on clear vinyl.

400 on black.