Mental Panic

While I'm trying to be more selective about the vinyl repressings I buy, there are some that I will step up and buy every time. Have Heart, Champion, In My Eyes, Chain Of Strength, Youth Of Today...okay, so maybe there are a lot of repressings that I will buy each time they are released.

Bridge Nine has done a lot of reissues lately, and I've passed most of them by, but there was no way I was going to be able to resist a chance to pick up some more Mental vinyl.

I'd forgotten how great Mental was. It has been a while since I've queued them up in my daily playlist, but this Bridge Nine reissue of Get An Oxygen Tank was a nice reminder of how much fun this band is to listen to. Some bands don't withstand the test of time...Mental has no problem with it.

One of the things that really excited me on this reissue was how great the vinyl looks. Once again, Bridge Nine picks some nice color combos. 300 on white/green haze vinyl.

The original CD pressing of GAOT included the songs from And You Know This, so I was surprised to see that those songs weren't included on this vinyl reissue. Instead, the B Side has the live set from WERS that was a bonus on the Yo! CD. Strange, but I guess it is nice to get the live set on vinyl for the first time.

700 pressed on red/yellow split vinyl.

Along with the Mental reissue, B9 also pressed another version of the Panic discography. The original version of Strength In Solitude only included the first two 7 inches, but this reissue includes the songs from the Circles 12 inch as well, plus some demo and unreleased live tracks. I'm not sure why I thought I needed this, as I already owned all the important pieces of this discography...still, it's kind of cool to have another version of the Strength In Solitude record. Maybe it is time for me to put some effort into building that Panic collection?

300 pressed on white vinyl.

No Need To Panic

A while back, I was stuck in an early 2000's Hardcore mode. I was listening to that shit nonstop. Could not get enough. It was during this listening spree that I stumbled upon the two Panic 7 inches. I'd always liked them, but I really hadn't listened to those songs for years. I spun them once. Wow. They were better than I remembered, and I set the ipod on repeat. After working through those two records a few times, I remembered that Panic had released another record a few years after they had broken up. I wasn't too interested in checking it out when it was released in 2006, but now the band had my attention again and I was curious. With a little searching, I found the songs for the Circles 12 inch online. From the first song, Rise, I knew that I needed to find a copy of this.

My search for a vinyl copy of Circles was easy enough. REV had it in stock, and I grabbed a copy with my latest order. This record really impressed me, and I think it is a great follow up to their Bridge Nine records. I've never made the comparison before, but on this record, Panic reminds me The Nerve Agents. I can dig it.