Jesus Is Dead

Once upon a time, Atomic Action put up the new Sweet Jesus LP for preorder. Everyone in the Hardcore world rushed to buy a copy of the most anticipated record of the year. Seasons passed...empires rose and fell...the earth struggled under the march of "human progress", and as she breathed her last breath, it's human inhabitants abandoned her to colonize distant planets...and then, and only then, the grandchildren of Hardcore kids' grandchildren opened their mailbox to find a box addressed to their long deceased ancestors, containing a strange circular wax object with the strange words "Sweet Jesus" emblazoned across the front cover.

Delay after delay plagued the release of Sweet Jesus' debut LP...it was so long ago that I can't remember all the details, but I think at some point the band just gave out free downloads to those of us that had pre-ordered. I'm odd, and in some cases I don't want to listen to the songs until the vinyl arrives, and that was the case with the Sweet Jesus LP. Unfortunately, it took so long for the record to arrive that by the time it got here, I no longer gave a shit, and couldn't muster up the interest to pay it much attention.

As I worked my way through my vinyl backlog for the blog, and was preparing to write this post, I was forced to finally give the vinyl a spin.

Okay, I knew the album was going to be good, but once I sat down with the record and finally paid attention I was surprised with just how good it was. For the Pat Flynn comparison...if you threw You Destroy Yourself into a steel cage death match with Have Heart's Songs To Scream At The Sun, this Sweet Jesus record would be the only one walking out alive.

Still, regardless of how much I liked this record, when the REV exclusive yellow vinyl was made available, or when Atomic Action made the orange vinyl available in their store, I couldn't be bothered to buy more fucking copies. A choice that I may someday regret, but for now, I just don't have the money to keep pouring into this record.

Because of the extended delays with the record, the label included a special Sweet Jesus flexi for those that had waited the longest with pre-orders. All the cool kids had one included with their order, and if you didn't get one, you were a giant loser.

Pretty cool flexi with Sweet Jesus doing a couple of covers. Void on one side, and In My Eyes on the other.

Jesus In A Box

Ever since Sweet Jesus released their demo back in 2012, I have been itching for them to do a proper release. There have been a couple of songs to show up on compilations here and there, but it is good to finally have a piece of vinyl with the band's name on the cover.

Sweet Jesus play a style that is similar to Swiz...in fact on the inside sleeve of this 7 inch, it even directs you to "Now listen to Swiz". Subtlety is not a strong suit for this band. I've always thought that Swiz was a bit underrated, so maybe this helps introduce the band to a new audience. Although it seems that Triple B is far from selling out on even the limited white vinyl, so maybe Sweet Jesus will be the best kept secret from 2014.

330 pressed on white, and 770 pressed on red vinyl.

Absolutes | A New England Hardcore Comp

Another 7 inch compilation. You know I'm not a fan of these things, right? In this internet day and age, do we still need 7 inch comps to introduce us to new bands? I don't really think so, but still, this New England hardcore comp opened my eyes to a couple of bands...and I live in New England, so I guess it did it's job.

The biggest selling point for me on this comp was Sweet Jesus. They are one of Pat Flynn's many bands...the guitarist also plays in Dropdead, which makes for an interesting combination. Sweet Jesus, however, play in a style that in a similar vein as Swiz, so yeah, it is pretty fucking cool.

Death Injection deliver again with some angry Straight Edge Hardcore, but Straight Razor brought a nice surprise. They are another Brendan Radigan (Rival Mob/Magic Circle/Stone Dagger/Battle Ruins) band, and they deliver some solid Hardcore. While I'm not a big fan of Test Of Time, the song here isn't too bad...on the other hand, I have no issue skipping the Holy Hands track every time through.

There were 100 pressed on white vinyl, but according to the note from the label, they came out as pink instead. That's cool. I'll take pink over white vinyl any day.