Gates To The Ceremony

I was recently on a stoner/doom metal kick. The Sword, Pentagram, Danzig, Trouble, High On Fire, plus a bunch of Rise Above bands were getting high doses of exposure in my daily playlists. When Rise Above posted the new Gates Of Slumber and a re-issue of the first Blood Ceremony album in their webstore, I didn't think twice about the shipping charges, and just placed my order.

The last Gates of Slumber album, Hymns of Blood and Thunder, really grew on me, so when I heard that the band had a new album due this year, I was looking forward it's release. While Hymns had some straight up traditional Metal, The Wretch is just soaked in Doom. While I didn't initially like The Wretch as much as their last album, this one is really growing on me.

I almost ordered the Die Hard edition for this LP, but the clear vinyl was more limited, so I went with that instead. Limited to 100 on clear vinyl.

I had passed by the first Blood Ceremony album when it was initially released in 2008. A female fronted, Metal band with a flute? No thanks. Not my thing. Pass. While I might have been a little closed minded back then, I took a chance with the new Blood Ceremony, Living With The Ancients, this year and it really opened my eyes. Thank you Rise Above, for capitalizing on the bands new release and repressing the first album on vinyl for those of us that missed out the first time around.

I'm glad that I waited until this year to check out this band, because the first Blood Ceremony album pales in comparison to the new one. Sure the first one is decent, and you can hear the beginnings of greatness...but man, they really put things together for the new album. Still, as a big fan of Living With The Ancients, I'll give this first album regular spins as well.

The one thing that I enjoy more on the first album is the artwork. The new album doesn't really do anything for me visually, but that first album looks pretty cool.

Limited to 100 pressed on clear vinyl.

Here's Your Warning

If you are a regular reader of this blog, then you know that I tend to be about 10 years behind the times when it comes to collecting Hardcore vinyl from the early 2000's. When Doug recently posted about the first No Warning 7 inch, I realized that I had another hole to fill in my collection. Not only had I failed to pick up the No Warning 7 inch when it was originally released, but I also somehow missed the boat on grabbing the CD when it was released by Bridge Nine...therefore, 10 years after it's release, I still had never heard this record. Sure I had the Ill Blood LP, but never hearing that 7 inch is an embarrassment that I needed to remedy as soon as possible. I began my ebay search, and bids were placed with my sights set on winning a copy of this record.

When all was said and done, I walked away with the 2001 Summer Tour pressing of this record. Like all good tour pressings, this one comes with a special, limited cover.

Man, this is the real deal. Hardcore. Sometimes I forget how great this time was in Hardcore's history. In 2001, Bridge Nine was on fire with bands like American Nightmare, Carry On, and Panic...plus Bane and Reach the Sky were huge. Listening to this No Warning record reminds me of all the good music that was around at this time, and it inspired me to revisit it through a 2001 playlist in my ipod.

Number 127 out of 400 pressed.

Toxic Shock

I've been looking to pick up the new Toxic Holocaust album. I found it at my local record store, but they only had it on black vinyl. Yawn. I placed it back on the shelf, and decided to try my luck online. Trust me, this was not an easy choice to make, as I tend to lean towards instant gratification.

To my surprise, when I was searching the internet back at the office, I found that REVHQ had some in stock on colored vinyl. I jumped on it. When the package arrived a week or so later, I opened the box and found this staring at me.

What the fuck? At first I was shocked...thinking that REV placed the LP in my package by mistake (kind of like the crap Starkweather colored vinyl I also received as a surprise with this order). Then I realized that they just used the album sleeve for protective packaging. Lemuria has to be the polar opposite of Toxic Holocaust. Indie-pop crap from Bridge Nine. Someone at REV must have a sense of humor.

Here we go. This is more like it. The new album from Toxic Holocaust. Joel Grind returns once again, giving us another dose of mid-80's inspired Metal. Take the greatness of early Venom, Slayer and Possessed, throw in some Crossover in the vein of Nuclear Assault, and you have a new Toxic Holocaust album. Thrash!

The artwork for Conjure and Command is amazing. While I love the Ed Repka artwork of the past, the doomy, black and white art for this album seems to push the band to the next level...dare I say, more serious? This album was definitely a surprise for me, and may work it's way into my Metal Top 5 this year.

200 pressed on green vinyl. It also comes with a download card. Of course I had found a download online for Conjure and Command a few weeks back, so I didn't really need the card. I do however really appreciate them when I need them, and it irritates me when labels don't include them with their vinyl.

Blood For Blood Red

This is dedicated to all the outcasts, white trash, and wasted youth. This one's for us. Our kind belongs nowhere. Welcome to exile. Welcome to nowhere. These are the outlaw anthems. So let's fuckin' go.

Blood For Blood are fuckin' hard. They ain't ever had nuthin'. They hang out at the local bar, asking the "gargoyle" waitress for a couple of drafts, and talk about about their jail time and hard luck. White trash from the streets...and proud of it.

Blood For Blood and I have pretty much zero in common. That said, I still love a good ol' "Fuck Society" anthem, and Blood For Blood have them in spades. So much hate for a system that keeps them down, and never cuts them a break...so much hate for the "MTV babies" of their generation...hate for that bitch called hope. Yeah, they've got some kind of hate, and it is fuckin' real. That is something that I can appreciate. When I saw that REVHQ was selling the classic Outlaw Anthems album on colored vinyl, I couldn't wait to pick up a copy.

I love the fact that they lyric sheet has nothing but explanations for each of their songs. They boys aren't apologizing, just stating that their words are the result of real shit that they deal with every day. While I can't always relate, I can respect.

Limited to 200 on red vinyl.

Last Great Burn

I've got some holes in my record collection that are pretty embarrassing. 2002 was a strange time for me. I wasn't buying very much vinyl at the time, preferring to buy CDs, and strangely enough, I was listening to a lot of hip hop. Because of these two things, I completely missed the boat on Burn's Last Great Sea 7 inch. I don't know...I guess at the time, I kept expecting Revelation to package these three songs from this release with the first 7 inch, and release them all on CD. It never happened, and therefore it took me about 6 years to finally hear these songs. Complete shame really, because these songs were written and recorded in 1992, and totally capture that classic Burn sound.

Purchasing the Record Store Day pressing of Burn's first 7 inch really highlighted the Last Great Sea hole in my collection, and I knew that I had to remedy it soon. The eBay search began and it wasn't long before I had myself a copy. It wasn't the blue vinyl pressing that I was hoping for, but the black vinyl was pretty cheap, so I figured that I'd start there.

700 pressed on black vinyl.

Youngblood In The Water

A couple months ago, Lins sent me a message saying that he was selling some records. He sent a list and said to make offers if I was interested. As soon as I saw the Youngblood releases, I knew that I was interested. My YB collection is pretty weak, and I've been wanting to beef it up for a while now. This was a great opportunity for some cheap additions.

Rancor's Flip The Switch would be my favorite Youngblood release...with the Lights Out LP a close second. These dudes, don't mess around.

Second pressing with the green and black cover. 500 pressed.

Hey, speaking of Lights Out, I also grabbed my very first vinyl copy of the band's debut 7 inch, Get Out. Not as strong as their LP, but this still rages.

150 pressed on green vinyl for pre-orders.

That might have been my first vinyl copy of the Lights Out 7 inch, but truth be told, this was the first time I've even heard the Life's Halt record. This stuff is pretty manic, fast paced stuff. It doesn't blow me away, but it's still a keeper.

925 pressed with black ink on yellow paper for the second pressing.

Finally, we have the Shark Attack Blood In The Water 7 inch on My War Records. Another first, as this is my first copy of this on vinyl. Nope, I don't even own a Bridge Nine pressing. Lame. This record rules hard, and I need to cough up the cash and get to work on collecting this.

I have no idea how many were pressed from My War.

As a bonus, Lins threw in some stickers of the early Revelation bands. Sweet, now I can decorate my car just like I did back in '91. Thanks man, cool stuff.

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.

Mike Gets Into The Descendents

I've never really paid too much attention to the Descendents. I owned a couple of thier CDs, but for the most part, they were largely ignored. Sure Marcus jocked them for awhile, but what really got me to seriously check them out was a recent poll on Double Cross, and the write up that Tim did. Look, I respect Marcus' opinion, but when Tim Mouthpiece says that the Descendents wrote some of his favorite songs ever, I'm sitting up and taking notice.

While they aren't going to be my favorite band, I can sure appreciate the Descendents. Sure some of their songs are immature and border on retarded, but damn they keep things upbeat and fun. I had some spare change in my pocket a couple weeks ago, so I picked up this reissue of the Descendents first album.

I'm not a loser.

React Triple Threat

Once again REACT! is coming out strong with another three new releases. Sure it took about seven months for the entire pre-order package to arrive, but with the amount of new records coming in, I'm never in too much of a rush. I know it will arrive when the records are ready, so I don't sweat the wait.

One of the first records from the newest REACT! three pack was the Clearsight demo from 2008. Apparently Aram loved what he heard from this band out of the Ukraine, and wanted to do an EP from them. Unfortunately, the band split before the EP could come together. Still wanting to promote the band, Aram decided to just release a vinyl pressing of their demo. It is doubtful that I would have heard this demo if it wasn't on REACT!, so I'm glad that these songs saw a proper release. Great, fast, no frills hardcore.

200 on blue vinyl, 300 on grey vinyl, and 400 on black.

The other demo that REACT! pressed to vinyl was from Noose. They are a Chicago Vegan Straight Edge band, and holy shit, they are fucking pissed. So much rage is captured within the songs on this demo. Get into it, or get the fuck out of the way. REACT! initially stated that this was a ONE TIME ONLY pressing, but the record sold out so quickly, they couldn't help but do a second pressing.

First pressing. 200 on red, 300 on blue, and 400 on black vinyl.

The record that I was most looking forward to was the new Get The Most LP. As this compiles the band's demo and two 7 inch recordings, there really isn't anything new here, but I was excited to finally get proper digital files for the Moment In Time songs...thank you digital download! Plus, Get The Most is one of my favorite bands from the past few years, so new vinyl from them is always a good thing. Too bad the band is calling it quits and will be playing their last show next month.

This LP comes with a HUGE poster/lyric sheet.

200 on purple vinyl, 300 on maroon vinyl, and 400 on black. These colors are friggin' sweet. I want more.

Fugazi Remasters

I own a lot of music. More music than most people could probably keep up with. My database shows that I've got over 1,700 CDs, 1,100 7 inches and 900 LPs (not to mention the 650 albums that I've downloaded but have not purchased yet). Yeah, I've got enough music to go years without repeat listens. I'm extremely lucky to be able to listen to music for much of my day. I can use my iPod throughout the day at work, and my wife is extremely gracious in letting me play pretty much what I want when I'm at home. If I didn't have all this time available to listen to music, I don't know how I'd be able to keep up. Still, because of the sheer volume of music that I own, some albums can fall off my radar and not get listened to for years.

Fugazi is a fine example of this neglect. Man, I can't remember the last time I listened to this band. Feels like it has been ten years since I last gave them a spin. I'm not sure what triggered me to pull them off the shelf again, but it most likely could have been the recent Dischord remasters that made me pay attention to their earlier records again.

The truth is, I never owned copies of their first couple of records. Instead, I've relied on a burned CD copy that I must have recorded from the copy my brother owned. I don't think that the recent Dischord remasters of 7 Songs and Margin Walker are all that new (remastered in 2009?), but I figured that it was time. Shit got too arty for me by the end of their career, but I had forgotten how much fun those early records were.

Regardless of whatever happened to Ian's face for the cover of Margin Walker, Fugazi was at the top of their game up through Repeater...and while I can hang with them for Steady Diet of Nothing and In On The Kill Taker, they can't come close to the greatness of those first few records.

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.

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.

Alert Record Release

I loved the 2008 demo from Alert, and have been eagerly awaiting some new material from this band. Mike and Keith are such nice dudes, and I will travel to Massachusetts whenever I get the opportunity to see them play live. Therefore, I was really happy to hear that Six Feet Under was releasing their new record. These guys deserve nothing but the best, so I hope that SFU gives them a lot more exposure.

While the new record should be shipping in the next few weeks, Alert played their record release show recently and a special pressing available. The show was in Pennsylvania, I believe, and not in their home state, so there was no way that I was going to be able to make it. Come on boys...what were you thinking?!?! Still, they were nice enough to put the leftover merch up in their webstore and I was able to grab the record release pressing.

Great looking limited cover, and handstamped record labels.

Numbered and limited to 50.

Mouthpiece Discography Second Pressing

Every time I've seen Mouthpiece live, it has been an EVENT. Line ups so monumental, that they would make it onto my list of Top 10 Shows Of All Time. Back in '93 with Strife, 4 Walls Falling, and Endpoint...again in 2000 for In My Eyes last show, and finally for the 2004 Youth of Today reunion in Pennsylvania. The band embraced the Straight Edge label when most kids in the early 90's were "too cool" for it..."Yeah, I don't drink or do drugs, but I don't want to call myself Straight Edge.". Fuck that. There was Mouthpiece, X'd up and proud of the label. Band will always have my respect.

500 pressed on "Judge green" colored vinyl.