Lost In Backtrack

I really enjoyed the last Backtrack album, Darker Half. It was much better than I was expecting, yet for some reason, I really wasn't all that interested in their latest release, Lost In Life.

I think the main cause of my indifference was the strong similarities between the new cover artwork, and what we saw with Darker Half. I assume that the band was looking for some consistency with the look of their albums, but for me, it just seemed boring. Because of this, I ignored the Bridge Nine preorders. No sweat. 2014 has started with a strong Metal presence on my playlists, and I figured that I could wait on the new Backtrack. I was too busy banging my head, and throwing up devil horns to be concerned about checking out this new album.

When Bridge Nine announced that they were doing a second press of Lost In Life, I finally started to pay attention. The second press was some horrible florescent green and orange color, so if I wanted the best looking vinyl of the bunch, I'd better grab the blue and white split color from the first press before it sold out.

After placing my order, I decided to check out my instant download from B9. I'm not sure why I was so surprised, but this album is amazing! It reminded me what I loved so much about Darker Half, and somehow managed to improve upon it. If you were disappointed that the new Down To Nothing record was missing that harder edge like they had on The Most, this new Backtrack album is for you.

While I was in the Bridge Nine store, I took the opportunity to pick up the newest pressing of Have Heart's The Things We Carry. Ninth pressing, and limited to 1,000 on solid yellow colored vinyl.

Youngblood Thinner

I recently had my eye on some Worn Thin vinyl on eBay. I figured that kids today might not have this band on their radar, and for a second, I gave though to providing a wake up call and posting the auctions on Vinyl Noize.

Whoa! Slow down a second. I need some of this shit. I hoped that maybe I could make a run at some of them, and help build up my anemic Youngblood collection for cheap. In the end, I found myself finishing off my collection of the Remnants 7 inch.

First up is the regular white vinyl press from the second pressing. Limited to 362.

A steal at 99 cents.

The next 99 cent deal on deck is the tour press on white vinyl. This one comes with the special tour lyric sheet.

As another way to differentiate the white vinyl pressings, the dust sleeve for the tour press is also stamped and numbered. 126 out of 138.

The heavy hitter out of this bunch is the record release pressing on clear vinyl with the special vellum cover. This one was for high rollers only...winning bid...$8.

The vellum cover lays nicely over the inside cover that was stamped and numbered for the record release.

Number 31 out of 100.

I started pulling out my Worn Thin 7 inches to see where the collection stood and figured that I'd snap a group photo. Youngblood 7 inch is complete, but I have no idea what may be missing for the self titled Malfunction 7 inch.

30 Years Of Holy Diver

Last year, Holy Diver turned 30. 30 years old, and this album still kicks my ass...just total Metal perfection from start to finish.

For the anniversary, we didn't just get another pressing of the classic Holy Diver LP. Instead, we get a special vinyl pressing of Dio's live show from 2005, where the band played all of Holy Diver from beginning to end. Some of these songs had never been played live before, so to have them captured here on this recording is a real treat for this fanboy. While this live show was originally released on CD and DVD back in 2006, this 30th Anniversary edition is the first time it has seen a vinyl release.

Unfortunately, in an effort to avoid any ugly edits the actual set list has been adjusted so that the concert could best fit the six sides of this triple LP package. I'm cool with that, but some of the cuts are a mess...most notably when Ronnie James Dio gives a nod to the late Cozy Powell and announces that the next song is the Rainbow classic Gates Of Babylon...only to have Man On The Silver Mountain queue up next in the playlist. Sloppy and inexcusable.

There isn't a week that goes by that I don't listen to one of this man's albums. Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio, Heaven and Hell...they never get old. Long live RJD.

Winds Of Change

I'm really not a big fan of compilations. I am, however, a big fan of REACT!. Therefore, I had to put my prejudices aside for their latest release, the Winds Of Change 7 inch comp.

Once again, Ev and the REACT! crew deliver. This time, they highlight six up and coming bands from today's Hardcore scene. Each one impresses me, and having really only heard Violence To Fade and Enough, I'm looking forward to what the others will bring to the table with future releases.

350 pressed on red vinyl.

All of the bands on this comp are great, but that Violence To Fade song is absolutely amazing.

150 on "smoke" colored vinyl, or more commonly known as "grey".

The packaging on this 7 inch is very well done. With the six panel spread, allowing to change the the band on the cover to whichever one you wish, and wrapped in a screen printed OBI strip, the label continues to deliver quality releases. Another job well done.

500 pressed on black vinyl.

Shortly before the regular pressings shipped, Ev posted on the REACT! Facebook that there was a test press available and hidden in their webstore. Like a bloodhound, I sniffed that bad boy out! The price was a little higher than I would have wanted to pay, but damn, with it staring me in the face, it was too much to resist, and I quickly added it to my cart and checked out.

Nice and clean look, with the white cardboard sleeve and the black and white screened OBI strip.

Number 24 of 24. Doesn't get much better than that.

Test press count for 2014 is at six.

Triple Threat From Turnstile

I've been buying each pressing of Turnstile vinyl since I discovered that first 7 inch back in 2011. I'd missed the pre-order pressing for Pressure To Succeed, and I'd vowed to never let another one get by me. It hasn't been to difficult to keep up so far, but when Reaper released three new colors of both records, I had to pause for a second. Well, I'm in too deep to turn back now.

As much as I dislike the cover for this record, I will say that the multiple vinyl colors all look great with it.

A total of 2,000 pieces of vinyl were pressed for the third pressing, so hopefully it will be a while before I have to sink more money into this one. 400 on silver, 600 on purple, and 1,000 on baby blue.

Reaper changed the b-side labels between the first and second pressing, and it was cool that they changed it again with the third press.

No cool b-side label changes for the third pressing of Pressure To Succeed, but the new orange colors for the cover is a nice touch.

Again, 2,000 pieces were pressed for this run. 300 on blue, 700 on orange, and 1,000 on clear.

Yeah, I know that I'm missing a couple, but I own enough copies of these records, so I figured it was time to get a group shot.

The Higher You Go...

Nothing to see here, folks. Move along.

Another day, another copy of the Reveal 7 inch. When I said that I was obsessed with collecting this record, and would purchase every cheap auction on eBay, I wasn't fucking around. This is serious business.

When Marcus gave me the heads up that Number 3 was available on eBay, I knew that it would be mine. Four dollars and the only bidder. You're goddamn right.

The funny part of this deal was that the seller lives about a half hour from me. I found it extremely odd that there was another dude from my home state that also had a copy of this record. I sent him a message through eBay, asking how he came across this copy, but unfortunately my question went unanswered.

Obligatory group shot, showing all the numbers that I own.

Strange that covers for number 3 and number 37 use the same color of yellow paper, while in the middle of them is a much brighter yellow for number 24.

CIAC Limited Band Pressing

Little known fact about me: I'm a big fan of React! Records. I know...I'm full of surprises.

When Caught In A Crowd posted up some copies of the limited "band only' pressing in their webstore, I jumped at the opportunity to grab one. Thankfully I didn't have to play the eBay game for this one. I love it when a band or label includes a little personal touch when packaging records. Right on.

130 pressed on clear with black smoke vinyl.

Forced Dying

Back in December when I was posting about the new Done Dying records that I'd received, I stopped by the Irish Voodoo site to get some info on pressing numbers and was surprised to see that a second pressing was available.

Of course I didn't hesitate to order a copy.

100 pressed on clear with black vinyl. It looks like a third pressing will be available soon, so I'll have to keep my eyes open for that.

While in the Irish Voodoo store, this Forced Down record caught my eye. Nothing really new here. The band found some lost copies of the Rise 7 inch in storage. They were without covers, so they worked with Irish Voodoo to help sell them. There were three different covers in all, but the one that interested me the most was the one with the Record Store Day sleeve.

Forced Down were around in the late 80's/early 90's. Still worth picking up vinyl from them almost 25 years later.

Numbered and limited to 50.

Buying My Freedom

Okay...look, this was released on Back To Back, so it's not like I was going to ignore it...but to be honest, with a name like Freedom, I really wanted to avoid this. The name just brings to mind Oi! and skinhead imagery...two things that I have no interest in. But it was on B2B, and it did mention they were "inspired by hardcore staples such as Agnostic Front and Straight Ahead". Damn...now I have to see what this is about.

I hopped over to the Back To Back webstore and see they have a Freedom song posted for you to check out. Oh damn. I'm glad that I was convinced to give this a listen, because this fucking rules. Fast and frantic with some solid mosh...total early 80's New York worship.

100 on red.

Great packaging, and I love the creative use for the song titles and Back To Back tag.

150 on white.

Black Is The New Orange

I was recently spinning some early 80's hardcore/punk, and Agent Orange came up on the playlist. I listened to it once, and enjoyed it so much, I set it up for a repeat listen. I couldn't get those songs out of my head, and found that I needed to revisit them daily. I was so obsessed that I started searching for an original Posh Boy Records pressing.

I believe that the first pressing for Living In Darkness had yellow Posh Boy labels. I'm not exactly known for my patience when it comes to record collecting, and when I didn't immediately find a copy with yellow labels, I figured that the second pressing, with silver labels, would have to do.

A few years ago, I was still stoked on vinyl reissues, and I grabbed the orange vinyl pressing that Drastic Plastic did for Living In Darkness. I was cool with it at the time, and figured that it was all that I needed. Nope. Don't get me wrong, I still love the look of the orange vinyl, but I'm glad to finally have a Posh Boy pressing.

REV Catch Up

The REV repress machine can be overwhelming. I refuse to get sucked into buying every record they press, but there are still a bunch that I feel the need to keep up with. I didn't immediately jump when some recent ones were posted, and then lost track of which ones I still needed. I hope I caught most of them with this latest order.

It's Youth Of Today, and although I didn't start buying YOT vinyl until REV started mass producing these reissues, I've vowed to not miss any of them. Someday, I'll work on a few pressings that I missed the first time around.

I wouldn't have guessed it, but this blue vinyl looks great. Nice match to the blue lettering from the cover.

Chain Of Strength falls into the same category as Youth Of Today. I've ignored vinyl for this band for too long...never again. One of the best bands ever.

In My Eyes is one of the few bands that I have a complete collection for, so it's not like I'm going to let any new pressings slip me by. I'm still not a fan of the new labels for this album, but hey, if you want the original labels, buy the original pressing.

While picking up these new pressings, I figured that it was time to finally grab the green vinyl for the new Down To Nothing album. I was nervous that I was going to open this and find it was on blue vinyl.

There, I'm now caught up...oh fuck...what do you mean REV just repressed more of their classic catalog? Damn.

Little Effort Made Towards A Test Press

I never really made much of an effort to collect the Efforts Made 7 inch. I picked up a copy when the record was released back in 2006, and while I enjoyed it, I never set out to collect more of them.

When I saw a copy of the test pressing on eBay, I knew that interest in this little known band was going to be low. While I wasn't out to really collect the band's vinyl, I figured that if I could grab the test press for cheap, I'd take it. Yeah, the three other bidders for this didn't want to invest much either, but I came out on top for ten dollars and some change.

Jeff, who runs Bottled Up and Start Today Fanzine has an amazing Misfits collection, so it is no surprise that his label produced this great looking rip off cover for this test press.

Test press count for 2014 is at five.

Violence To Fade

I was first introduced to Keith when he was playing bass for Alert. He is a hell of a nice guy, and when I would show up to shows by myself, he was always a friendly face that was quick to come up and talk for a bit. Once Alert dissolved, I was happy that he jumped right into another band, this time singing for Violence To Fade. They played a show in Maine a few months ago, and opened their set with the intro to the song Black Sabbath. It may have been one of the best intros I've ever seen a band do.

If I learned anything from the January Record A Day challenge on Instagram, it was that I'm not alone in my dislike of splatter colored vinyl. Seems the general rule of thumb is that all collectors hate it...so why do labels still press this shit. 150 pressed on gross splatter vinyl.

Violence To Fade is a bit more raw when compared to the Youth Crew style of Keith's last band, Alert. They have a more of a rough New York Hardcore kind of sound. I can dig it.

200 on green vinyl.

I can't seem to place an order with Life To Live, and have it arrive in one piece. First, I got a badly warped piece of vinyl for Losin' it, then I had a package that was nearly destroyed from water damage...this time around, I only received the pink vinyl from my three record pre-order package. Thankfully Dan, was quick to admit his error, and shipped out the missing vinyl within the next week. Whew...crisis averted.

300 pressed on pink.

Clusterfuck Of Used Records

Back at the Cruel Hand show last month, in addition to the Clear 7 inch that I bought, I took the opportunity to go through a box of used records. Of course, there were a few in there that I wanted.

The first one that I pulled out of the pile was Painkiller number one...The A-Team 'Clusterfuck'. I've had the 'A Is For Asshole' album for a while, but never really looked into what else The A-Team had released outside of that. Holding the first press on orange vinyl in my hands, I figured that now was as good a time as any to finally grab something else by them. Good stuff.

Limited to 321.

Next one to be pulled from the box of records was the Soulside 7 inch. I love this band, and I've been digging a bunch of this kind of Dischord stuff recently. I bought the Trigger LP back in the early 90's, but after buying their discography CD, I never bothered with any more of their vinyl. When I saw this 7 inch, I knew it was time to fill this hole in my record collection.

Finally, I grabbed the R'N'R 7 inch. Their follow up LP fell a little flat for me, but the two songs on this EP are amazing. First press on Cadmium Sick Records. I'm glad to finally have a copy of this.

Exhumed / Iron Reagan

Okay...okay...I admit it. I was way off base when I wrote about the Iron Reagan LP last year. It failed to excite me when I first heard it, and kind of wrote it off with a yawn.

By the end of year, I could not get enough of the Iron Man album, and when listening to my 2013 Playlist on my iPod, it would jump right from Iron Man to Iron Reagan, and soon I was hooked each time the Iron Reagan album would kick off with that "1..2..3..4...*riff*". By the end of the year, Iron Reagan had almost worked themselves into my Top 10.

When I heard that Iron Reagan were doing a split with Exhumed, I didn't hesitate to order from Tank Crimes.

Iron Reagan deliver once again. Excellent crossover thrash. Exhumed on the other hand were new to me, and were a pleasant surprise. Pretty cool grinding and growling Metal. Four songs from them, with two of them being covers from Minor Threat and Negative Approach. Very cool.

I love the look of this record. The front cover is Metal as fuck, and the red/black/white tri colored vinyl just completes the package.. 300 pressed.

Clear Heads

Dan drums for Strung Along and lives a few miles up the road from me. I've sold him some of my old cassettes, and an Only Living Witness t-shirt in the past. When he was looking to sell off his copy of the This Is Hardcore pressing of the Clear 7 inch, he came to me first.

We agreed on a price back in June, but it wasn't until January that we were able to finally get together for the exchange. Seven months. It was ridiculous that it took so long, but I can be a terrible procrastinator, and I never carry cash, so time and time again I failed to make any concrete plans. Since we were both going to be at the Cruel Hand show, it was finally time for us to seal the deal.

Dan is hell of a guy, and when I meet him at the show, he took the agreed upon price for the record and cut it in half. There is no way I should have been able to get this record for such a great price, but the dude is cool like that. Thanks, man.