Test Tour Remission

There was a time, not that long ago, when the first thing that I'd do each morning was open my latest Discogs wantlist message to see if there was anything new that I should buy. Over the past 6 months or so, I gave that routine up. Same shit everyday with the same shit prices. It was frustrating, so I started ignoring them. A couple months back, I was itching to buy some records, but didn't know what I wanted... so I hit one of the wantlist messages and was surprised to see something that I wanted... and at a good price.

What? Posting my second test pressing this year? Damn, this almost feels like a record collector blog again. I've got a pretty solid Remission collection, so when I saw this test available on Discogs from the guy that used to run Amendment Records, I quickly added that shit to my cart and bought it.

This has been a nice reminder of how great Remission were. This record came out near the height of my record collecting mania, and it is cool as fuck to get my hands on this test press eleven years later.

I exchanged a few messages with the seller after he had shipped the record, and discovered that he also had a copy of the tour press that I was missing. I was so excited about the test press, that I failed to look to see what else he had available when I ordered. We worked a deal off Discogs, and quickly another Remission record was headed my way.

There were 110 copies on blue vinyl, with the European Tour 2013 stamped dust sleeve.

The tour press also included a couple of nice inserts with tour dates and stuff. Cool additions to capture the moment in time. This completes the Pain Understood collection, and now all I need are the tests for the two albums (and a transition press of Winds Of Promise if you want to get technical about it).

Reason To Believe In Remission

2019 has been pretty quiet on the record collecting front for hardcore so far, but when the opportunity came up to pick up a special pressing of the newest Remission album, I quickly added it to my cart without a second thought. I've built a nice Remission collection over the years, and I wanted to keep it going, so there was no way I was going to let this one pass me by.

This is such a solid album. When I first heard it, I commented that it had a Reason To Believe/Jon Bunch vibe...hell, when I blogged about the record last year, I even titled my post Remission To Believe...so it was cool to see them do a special pressing that is a tribute to the artwork for the Reason To Believe album. Man, this looks so damn good.

Hand numbered, limited to 50, and only available direct from the band.

Remission To Believe

There was a time when I was all about Remission, and would get wild when it came to collecting every pressing that I could get my hands on. It has been over five years since they released the Pain Understood 7 inch, and I was surprised to see that they were still around when React Records announced preorders for a new album. Damn. I was initially underwhelmed with the last Remission 7 inch, and while I did grow to enjoy it, with so much time having passed, I wondered if the band could still deliver.

Without a doubt, this is a strong hardcore album. Remission have not missed a beat, and keep going with their Verbal Assault influenced sound...although this time around, I get a little Jon Bunch/Reason To Believe flavor here and there...even that screaming face on the cover is reminiscent of Reason To Believe.

Here I am buying Remisison records from React. It feels like it's 2010 all over again, and that put me in the mood to buy multiple copies.

150 pressed on white colored vinyl, and 350 on red.

React To The Crowd

Dude, I love Hardcore. My passion for this music has not faded since I first started checking out Sick Of It All and Slapshot around 1990. Over 20 years later, and I still get a charge from checking out new Hardcore bands...and when it comes to new bands, REACT! still deliver. This started to get a little sketchy there for awhile with Damages, Tranzmitors, and Fell To Low. I appreciated what Aram was doing, but I wasn't going to be giving that stuff a lot of playing time. I love where Ev is taking the label, and the signing of Caught In A Crowd is a perfect fit for REACT!.

I remember first seeing Caught In A Crowd three years ago, and feeling excited for this up and coming Straight Edge band out of Massachusetts. It was a bit of a struggle getting their first 7 inch from Camp Records, so it was nice that CIAC found a home with REACT!. Solid band with a solid label.

I'm going to need to pony up for those special pressings that REACT! has at some point. This record is so good.

220 on purple vinyl, 300 on white, and 400 on black.

While I was picking up my CIAC preorder package, I decided to add the Remission 7 inch on white vinyl to the cart. I wasn't thrilled with this record when I picked it up on blue vinyl earlier this year, but I did eventually warm up to these two songs.

Two Song Remission

With an incredible Verbal Assault influence, Remission were one of my favorite bands from the past few years. Their Winds Of Promise 7 inch, plus the split with Police & Thieves shot to the top of my Best of 2011 list, and I was looking forward to what the band would do next. My expectations were high for the new Pain Understood 7 inch. Produced by Don Fury, I was prepared to fall in love.

When a new song was posted on Remission's bandcamp page, I couldn't wait to check it out. Whoa, what the fuck is this? I wasn't expecting this. Remission have slowed things down and decided to rock out. Disappointing to say the least. I listened to the song one time, and moved on. Still, I loved Remission, so I didn't want to completely write it off. When it was available, I still felt the need to order the record from REVHQ.

This record doesn't come close to their past greatness, but after spinning it a few times, it is starting to grow on me. The songs sound more like something off 411's This Isn't Me LP, and less like Verbal Assault. Bands grow and change. It isn't always a good thing, but with Remission, I think that I may be okay with it.

The Remission Mission

I love Remission, but it took me a little while before I decided to try and collect all of their vinyl. Because I was a little slow out of the gate, I missed out on the white vinyl pressing of the Accept LP.

It's all good though, as I was able to grab a copy through eBay for roughly the same price that Amendment Records was selling them when the album was first released back in 2009.

210 pressed on white vinyl.

I do love pictures of collections of records. So with the addition of this white vinyl pressing, I decided to capture my Remission collection. Outside of a couple of test pressings (which I consider more of a bonus, rather than a requirement for full collections), I think I might have everything for this one.

Tour 7 Inch Split

Back in September, Remission and Police & Thieves got together and did tours on the East and West coast to promote their new split 7 inch on Amendment Records. What a perfect pairing for these two amazing Hardcore bands.

Remission travelling up from South America to tour the States was a special occasion, and one that was worthy of a limited tour cover for their new split 7 inch.

Limited to 100. Upon first glance, it looks like they were supposed to be hand numbered, but closer inspection show there was probably an error with the printer and all the cover were created with "1/100" on the back. To fix the error, the band just put a sticker over the number 1. Still, I wish they were numbered.

The 7 inch includes the tour flyer on the back of the lyric sheet. Nice touch. As you can see, the closest they came to me was New York, and I was not going to be able to make that trip. It was too bad that I missed them, but thankfully Amendment Records put up the leftovers in their webstore, and I was able to grab one.

While I was shopping with Amendment Records, I also picked up the oddball pressing of Remission's LP. What we have here is the second pressing of the album on clear vinyl from Amendment, combined with the Euro press cover from Assault Records. This is what happens with a record label has leftover vinyl with no covers for them. They pull together whatever they can.

To differentiate this special pressing, Amendment stamped the Remission logo on the inside of the album cover.

Test Of Promise

Hurricane Irene is blowing through New England today, and there is a pretty good chance that we'll be losing power or our cable connection some time soon. Seeing that Winds Of Promise was next up in my blogging queue, I figured that today was an appropriate day to get it posted here.

I'm becoming more and more interested in collecting REACT! Records test pressings. Aram recently posted more of his personal collection and REACT! rarities on eBay, and it was my extreme good fortune to win a test of the latest Remission 7 inch. Not only does this record have a good chance of being my favorite release from 2011, but I was able to pick it up for a relatively cheap price.

Number 10 out of 24.

Police & Thieves / Remission split

Remission released a new 7 inch earlier this year on REACT!, Police & Thieves are supposed to have a new record out later this year on Youngblood, and between those two releases, Amendment Records gives a split 7 inch with both bands.

I love both of these bands, so ordering all three pressings of the new 7 inch made sense to me. As a bonus, Amendment threw in a bonus DVD that contains a live Remission show. Quality.

Remission fucking rule Hardcore right now. Holy shit, this band can not do wrong. Following up their amazing Winds of Promise 7 inch, these two songs follow the same path. I know that I've always compared them to One Step Ahead and Verbal Assault, but something about these new songs also remind me of 411. Seriously, it sounds like Dan O is going to jump in and sing a verse of Seeded. I can not get enough from this band right now.

I've been lucky enough to catch Police & Thieves live a couple of times over the past year. When I first heard their Amor Y Guerra record a couple years ago, I really liked it, but seeing them live and repeated listens of those songs only made me appreciate it more and more. We got a teaser from Youngblood last year with the Blizzard Sessions cassette, but I'm thrilled to get two new songs with this split. Great stuff, that leaves me looking forward to the new record even more.

150 on teal blue, 350 on gray and 500 on black.

Remission Euro Press

A record so good, the Europeans needed a pressing for themselves.

Remission's 2009 debut LP, Accept, was recently repressed by Assault Records. The label did a great job with this pressing. Dark purple vinyl and a new design for the cover. While the cover doesn't look as nice as the original that was pressed on Amendment Records, I'll still give them props for using something different for the Euro press. My only complaint on this whole thing is the logo for Assault. A pair of crossed guns, looking like some kind of vegan warrior record label from the early 90's...lame.

As soon as Assault Records announced they were repressing this, Amendment mentioned that they would stock a few in their store. This would save me from overseas shipping so I played the waiting game, and grabbed a copy as soon as they were available.

363 pressed on clear purple mixed with black.

The vinyl for this looks great, but my original pictures didn't really capture the color that well. I had to photograph the record back lit from my bedroom window for the full effect.

Prior to Remission, Philippe and Daniel played in a band called Remains To Be Seen. To be honest, if it wasn't for this connection, I probably would have never bothered to go back and check them out. Boy, I'm glad that I did. Sure you can make comparisons to Remission, but the songs on this record have a strong influence from bands like Insted and No For An Answer. So good.

This is the second pressing for this record. 125 on red vinyl.

Winds Of Promise On Clear

REACT! Records tends to press a run of colored vinyl, limited to 100, for each of their releases. This press is given to the band for them to use for a record release show, or to sell on tour, or use as a friends press...pretty much for them to use as they see fit.

Remission decided to sell their copies to anyone one that wanted one. If you were interested, all you needed to do was fire off an email to the band to get the pricing, and then send the payment. Right now they have them up in their bigcartel store, so go grab one while you can.

Man, I love this record. Three songs in the vein of One Step Ahead/Verbal Assault...straight ahead, early 90's melodic Hardcore. It is ridiculous how good this record is, and will be earning a spot at the top of my Top 10 list for 2011.

100 pressed on clear vinyl.

Worldwide Hardcore

I've never experienced the headaches of running a record label. Therefore, I can't even begin to imagine the effort that it took to pull off the latest pre-orders from REACT!. Three records from bands spanning three different continents...all released at one time. Sure there were some delays, but when you think about what it probably took to pull this off, you've got to be impressed.

You really can't miss with anyone of these records. Each one already has me thinking ahead to my 2011 Top 10 list.

I really liked the Remission LP, but this 7 inch certainly tops their last effort. Three songs of 90's influenced hardcore...I can't get over how much this band sounds like One Step Ahead...Remission play this style to perfection. 200 on baby blue, 300 on clear blue, and 400 on black vinyl.

Not Sorry follow up their demo 7 inch, and keep going strong, with Our Choices. I love the cover artwork on this one. The crashing waves...the ominous dark storm clouds...power just waiting to be released. The art fits the music perfectly. 200 on white, 300 on yellow, and 400 on black vinyl.

It is good to have some new music from Common Cause. It has been about three years since their last recorded material, The Power To Change, and the band keeps things moving with this new 7 inch. Hey, it is straight forward, Youth Crew inspired hardcore, so you know that I'm going to love it. 200 on red, 300 on white, 400 on black vinyl.

Nice job REACT! crew. I'm impressed with the effort that is put forward to keep releasing quality hardcore.

Remission: Past and Present

Remission are so good. If you like Verbal Assault and One Step Ahead, there is no reason for you to not like this band. They are set to have a new 7 inch released on REACT! any day now, there is talk about them doing a split 7 inch with Police & Thieves, Assault Records is doing a Euro pressing of their first LP, and here comes Amendment Records with their second pressing. 237 pressed on clear vinyl and a new insert.

Remission also recently had their demo pressed to vinyl. They packaged it with Tribute fanzine and limited it to 300. Nothing really new here, as all three songs on the demo made it to the Accept LP, still it was cool to finally pick this up.

While I was picking up the Remission records, I saw this 7 inch from Approach. I'd never heard them before, and the cover is so weird that it gives me the creeps...however, the description mentions that it has members of Remission, so I figured that I'd check it out. This record really surprised me. It totally reminds me of the first two Strife 7 inches, before they signed to Victory, and that is definitely a good thing. Great early 90's vibe from this band. 200 pressed on black vinyl.

Remission Impossible

The React Records messageboard has introduced me to some cool new hardcore bands. It is a great place for an old guy like myself to keep in touch with what is going on, and which new bands are blowing up. One of the more recent finds was Remission from Chile. The band name was obviously lifted from the One Step Ahead 7 inch of the same name, because the band really has that kind of melodic style nailed down. If you don't know who One Step Ahead are, they totally coped the Verbal Assault sound in the early 90's...so you can say that Remission have a sound similar to both of those bands. Seriously, if you told me that this was originally released in 1991, I would believe it. Great stuff. Pick this up from Amendment Records. Purple vinyl is limited to 100 pressed.