Record Release In Flames

Earlier this year, I was listening to a lot of early 2000's hardcore. It had been years since I'd listened to Down In Flames, but it was so much fun revisiting some of their stuff, I couldn't resist picking up a couple of copies of their Start The Fucking Fire 7 inch. I don't know why I was compelled to buy two copies at the time, but here I am with a third copy, so life is full of fucking mysteries.

You might think that I'd focus on picking up the Down In Flames LP, or maybe the first 7 inch, or even their split with Gate Crashers... nah, fuck that, I'm going to buy another version of the only Down In Flames record that I already own. I mean, there are 12 different versions of the Start The Fucking Fire 7 inch, so owning three of them is a typical collector move. Who knows? It wouldn't surprise me if I never bought another copy of this and maintained an incomplete collection for the rest of my life. Still, it was a fun purchase, so who cares?

This record release version comes with a newspaper clipping cover and is numbered out of 100. The inside cover design has the DIY level of quality that you would expect from this style of hardcore.

This Is Struck Nerve Hardcore

When I first heard the Rattle The Cage record from Struck Nerve at the end of 2020, I wasn't too excited over it. I thought it was okay, but it wasn't something that I returned to very often. By the time the vinyl arrived ten months later, those songs were finally clicking with me, and now I'm loving this record... so much so that I'm apparently buying additional copies now.

Youngblood had made some special covers of the Rattle The Cage Record for This Is Hardcore 2022, and when they had a few leftover after the fest, they threw them up in the webstore. Luckily, I was paying attention and was able to quickly grab one. Numbered out of 50 made.

I really dig the look of this metallic silver ink on the black cardstock. Damn. I didn't mean for this to snowball, but now I want the test press with the gold ink... and while I'm at it, I also would like the record release cover. For a record that I initially wasn't interested in collecting, my position on that has changed quite a bit since this TIHC2022 pressing arrived.

CIAC Tour 2013

Over the summer, I managed to pick up the record release version of the You've Lost 7 inch from Caught In A Crowd. That record was released back in 2012, and it was kind of cool to finally get my hands on it ten years later. It also got me thinking about the band again, and as I was looking at their Discogs page, I noticed that there was only one record that was keeping me from having a complete CIAC collection (minus test pressings, of course)... the 2013 Summer Tour release for The Fight 7 inch.

As luck would have it, Discogs had a few options to pick up this record. It seems that some sellers still want to price the record based on the highest value from 2015, but I was happy to pick it up for a price that is a bit more reasonable.

Handnumbered like all good tour pressings should be.

A complete collection means you've got to get the group photo. I guess I'll have to go through this exercise again if I ever get my hands on the 7 inch test pressings.

Seven Sisters Of A Fallen Star

Seven Sisters caught my attention at the end of 2015 with their fantastic debut 7 inch, Lost In Time. That record, along with The Warden demo from the year before, blew me away with their old school New Wave Of British Heavy Metal style and I was looking forward to big things from the band. Their self titled album from 2016 was good, but it didn't really stick with me, and as time moved forward I kind of forgot all about it. I was really starting to focus more on newer hardcore bands around that time, and when the band released The Cauldron And The Cross in 2018, I barely gave it any attention. Yet, when I started to hear talk about a new Seven Sisters album in 2021, I figured that I'd check it out.

Even though Seven Sisters had cooled off a bit for me, as soon as I heard the first preview song from the new record, Shadow Of A Fallen Star Pt 1, my interest was burning again and I jumped in to place an order for the vinyl. That was July of 2021... the vinyl finally arrived over a year later in the summer of 2022. It was a long fucking preorder. While I tend to not really listen to an album until the vinyl arrives, this wait was ridiculous, and I had to jump into Spotify to give it a few spins. This is a really solid traditional metal record, and easily would have made my Top 10 list for last year... but the blog rules state that if you can't get the vinyl out during the release year, it doesn't count in the ranking. Sorry, Seven Sisters. You missed it.

This colored vinyl was listed as "marbled green", but it is obviously blue. Really a great looking record that matches the cover art perfectly.

My record came with a signed postcard, which was a nice addition to the package. Great stuff.

The Impact Of Life Force

When I went back, last year, and started digging into some of the recent New Age Records releases, one of the bands that I discovered was Life Force. The band play a pretty straight forward style of hardcore, with a slightly modern sound. They are very much a straight edge band, with X's all over their records, so I was sold on them and picked up their album last year. It is a solid record and I figured that it was about time that I grabbed their 7 inch as well.

The Impact was originally released back in 2019 on Blind Rage Records. Since New Age released the Life Force LP, it looks like they have taken ownership of the 7 inch and have given that one a 2022 reissue. The songs here are good, but the LP is definitely a step up. Still, it's a good spin when I want to listen to newer hardcore records.

When I bought the Hope And Defiance album through Discogs, the seller sent me a different color vinyl version than the one that I had ordered. I wanted the black, white and blue stripe color, which looks great with the cover art, and instead I got some orange and blue swirl that isn't very exciting. I didn't sweat it and decided to just keep it. When I ordered The Impact 7 inch from New Age, I had added the blue vinyl to the cart. As they were preparing to ship my order, New Age sent me an email to apologize because they no longer had the blue vinyl. They offered me a refund or the latest 77 pressing on orange vinyl. Not wanting to mess around and have to chase down a different version, I agreed to just take the orange (even though it looks red in these photos). If Life Force release another record, maybe I'll actually get the colored vinyl that I order.

Moral Law

In recent years, Marcus turned me on to a bunch of great records that New Age had been releasing that I'd been completely ignoring. Sure, I'd seen pictures of their records floating around Instagram, but I'd been too stubborn and just made assumptions that it wasn't something that I was going to be interested in. That was a mistake. Once I finally dove into what New Age had been doing over the past few years, I was amazed at how good some of that shit was. It was time to start paying attention.

I wasn't familiar with Moral Law when I heard that New Age was going to be releasing an album from the band this year. As I was checking to see what the band was about, I started seeing the term "metalcore" thrown around and I immediately lost interest. I'm trying to fight initial knee jerk reactions like that, and so I forced myself to still check the band out. I'm glad that I did, because Moral Law reminds me more of the 90's hardcore bands than the metalcore stuff that I was expecting. I ride hard for the 90's hardcore sound, and I was really liking what I'd heard as a preview to The Looming End, so I ordered two copies. What can I say... I got caught up in the moment and ordered multiple copies of a record that I really don't intend to fully collect. Still, this is a great, hard as nails, uncompromising, vegan straight edge record.

I couldn't resist the '77 pressing for this on pink vinyl, but the center labels here are smaller than the regular LP edition and look almost comically small on a 12 inch record. If New Age keeps using these weirdly small labels, I don't know if I'll bother with the '77 pressing in the future. I wanted the pink vinyl, but maybe I should have just ordered the regular pink press.

Savage Master Of The Hunt

At the end of 2019, I finally discovered the band Savage Master, and I then spent 2020 hunting down a copy of each of their records. They were easily one of my favorite bands for that year, and I listened to them a lot. While I haven't really been listening to much metal this year, when I heard that Savage Master had a new album on the way in 2022, that was one that I was really excited for.

Savage Master are part of the New Wave Of Traditional Heavy Metal, and Those Who Hunt At Night is their fourth album (number five if you are counting the Creature Of The Flames EP) and the band continue to grow. I was a bit nervous with the intro bass line to Hunt At Night, as I was afraid it was going to be too poppy and wasn't going to fit what I was looking for from Savage Master, but when the guitars come into the song, and then Stacey gives that "Here we go!", I knew they weren't going to let me down. This entire album is another strong showing from one of my favorite newer bands... pure metal.

It was a tough call on which version to pick up. Savage Master was offering a liquid blood filled vinyl option, and while it was tempting to get one for the collector in me, I just worried about the hassles of storing it, so I opted out. Sitting here today, they are of course all sold out and I'm kind of regretting that choice. Anyway... I'm happy with the look of the "red and black tears" colored vinyl.

I do like a nice gatefold sleeve.

Dragnet

When I was recently picking up a few cheap 7 inches from a Discogs seller, I noticed that they also had a Dragnet 7 inch on colored vinyl available. I do own a CD for the We're All Cutthroats album that I picked up in the early 2000's, but I honestly couldn't tell you single thing about it other than they were in a similar vein as the thrashier hardcore bands were doing at the time, like Tear It Up and Knife Fight. I suppose that I could have pulled out that CD to refresh my memory and see if the band was worth my time in 2022, but fuck it, it is more fun to just buy random records, so I added it to the cart.

One of the reasons that I just purchased this record blindly was because of that Mike Bukowski artwork. You could find his work on a number of records from that time, and this simple black and white artwork with the blood splatter across the eyes worked for me and I wanted to own it.

This is some raw hardcore and initially I was a bit put off by the sound, but after a few spins I started to dig that rough and ragged style. Cool stuff that really defines that early 2000's thrashcore style.

Colored Vinyl Collision

A couple of years ago, I picked up a colored vinyl single from Rhythm Collision. I hadn't bought any Rhythm Collision colored vinyl prior to that, and I'd never really given much thought to collecting singles from the band, but that one inexpensive 7 inch was kind of fun to pick up. When I was picking up a few records from a Discogs seller at the beginning of summer, and noticed they had a Rhythm Collision single available for under $4, I figured that I'd grab it because who doesn't like fun?

The single, released in 1990, contains two songs that would show up on the band's first album, Pressure, from '91. So there isn't anything really special about this 7 inch, other than the great looking red colored vinyl.

This single was an early release in the Dr. Strange Records catalog, and even though the Rhythm Collision albums were on the label as well, I never really think of them as a Dr. Strange band. In fact, other than the Gameface Three To Get Ready album, and maybe New Hampshire locals Sinkhole, I can't think of any other Dr. Strange release that interests me... but yeah, Rhythm Collision is probably the best band on the label's roster.

Red Fields Of Fire

There is something about early 2000's era hardcore that has been attractive to me lately. I know that I'd pushed it aside and kind of looked down my nose at it, judging it as inferior for a lot of years. During those years, I thought it was okay, but I wasn't going to a lot of shows and I have this weird disconnected feeling about that time. There was some cool shit going on, but overall I just kind of shoved it aside and forgot about a lot of those bands for many years. I don't think that I'm alone here, as it seems like a lot of people kind of overlook that era... but going back and digging through those bands recently has me realizing just how much fun some of that shit was.

Fields Of Fire was a band out of Southern California in the early 2000's, and they played straight forward hardcore with a catchy injection of punk. I got turned on to the band because Phyte Records released their Keep It Alive CD, and since I was into what Phyte was doing at the time, I grabbed it. I thought it was cool, and grabbed the Kill The Flock CD when that was released the following year. It seems that no one is really interested in collecting the band in 2022, as I started to see what vinyl options were available and was able to pick up the Kill The Flock 7 inch for just under $3.

I've recently started listening to the 185 Miles South podcast, and while I'm not big on listening to podcasts, that one is definately a favorite. The Fields Of Fire singer, Ben Merlis, seems to be a part of the regular crew that talks hardcore on that pod, and it is cool to hear him occasionally drop some info or a story about this band, or his mid to late 2000's band, Bad Reaction. Just listening to that pod gets me fired up on all things hardcore.

FNI United Blood 2013

At the end of 2012, I was feeling a really good about my Fire & Ice collection. I'd just scored the very rare Sound & Fury cover for Not Of This Earth, and I considered it "Mission Accomplished" for my FNI collection. By mid-2013 I noticed that Willem posted on his blog about a United Blood special cover that I had no idea existed. Apparently, I still had work to do.

I'm not sure how rare the United Blood cover is, but this motherfucker has shown up once on Discogs in the past nine years. As soon as I saw that there was one available, you know that I was all over it. For years, Not Of This Earth was one my favorite records, so I could not have been happier to finally finish this collection... again.

The United Blood cover is just some thick paper stock that is folded over the regular cover, and for the most part uses recycled live photos from the regular insert, I still think it is a good look.

I grabbed the six copies that I have of Not Of This Earth for a photo. Don't make me pull out the pressings for the Collections LP and the fourteen copies of their 7 inches as well.

KYI / RTA

I've discovered a lot of great hardcore bands over the past few years, but on the list of my favorites, Rule Them All has to rank near the top. The band released some of my favorite shit with records in 2018 and 2019, so when I heard that they had a couple of songs on a split with Kill Your Idols coming out in 2022, I was eagerly looking forward to it.

I don't listen to a lot of Kill Your Idols. Back in the early 2000's, they were just a band that I wanted to like more than I actually did. They play fast straight forward hardcore, and they had some cool records at the time, but none of them really stuck with me in the long run. Fun to pull out and listen to once every ten years or so... but I will say, the two songs on this split are quite good. I don't know if it is the quick, short dose of KYI, but I enjoy going back to these songs again and again.

Meanwhile over on the Rule Them All side, I really enjoy the songs, but they didn't have an immediate impact like their other records. Still cool, no doubt, but maybe two songs is just over too quick and it doesn't really give me the time I want with the band. Give me more.

300 pressed on red and black split vinyl.

Crazier Than A Shithouse Rat

Endeavor were a hardcore band out of New Jersey that was around from the mid to late 90's. They were straight edge and angry about the crushing greed of Corporate America, so basically they were the perfect band for me at that time (fuck, that combo of those two things still makes the perfect band for me now!). As time ticked by and the years added up, I kind of forgot about Endeavor. It happens sometimes when you music library reaches a certain volume... you lose track of some bands for years. As I was digging into my playlist for 1996 earlier this year, the songs for the first Endeavor album caught my eye. I gave it a spin and was surprised with how much I loved rediscovering that album.

Some records I just expect that I'll be able to easily find them available on Discogs. I figured that no one really remembered Endeavor in 2022 and that I'd be able to quickly find a cheap copy with no problem. To my surprise that wasn't the case, and the sales history on Discogs shows that the colored vinyl pressing for Crazier Than A Shithouse Rat, while not expensive, it still only shows up there about once a year. I threw it on my wantlist and as soon as one was availble I jumped on it.

The original pressing for this album is where it is at for me. I think that I've become too accustomed to listening to the versions of the songs from the Don't Die With Your Eyes Closed CD, but hearing these songs here on the original vinyl with the unlicensed samples between each song... man, that took me straight back to 1996/1997. I'd forgotten all about those bits, and I loved hearing them again.

All In A Dream

As much as I've been excited about checking out new records from hardcore bands, there are still times when that old jaded monster comes to the surface. It has been six years since we had last heard from Praise with Leave It All Behind, and I'd assumed that the band was dead and gone... and for some reason, I was okay with that. As much as I'd really liked the past Praise records, when I heard that they had a new album being released on Revelation, it felt like a chore to have spend any time checking out their new stuff. Again, I can't explain why I was a bit put off at the thought of a new Praise record, but I was really prepared to hate on this thing.

I didn't want to like All In A Dream, and with that mindset it was easy to dismiss it after previewing a couple of songs. No thanks. I'll pass.

A couple of months later, I found myself in a more open minded attitude and wanting something fresh, so I queued up that new Praise record again. Oh damn. I've made a terrible mistake. This record is actually a good time, and once I was rolling with the vibes that this record was putting out, I was totally down with these songs. Shit. Now I needed the record, but the color vinyl appeared to be sold out everywhere.

I was checking Discogs every other day hoping to find someone that was listing a colored vinyl pressing at a reasonable price. I got lucky when I stumbled across a new listing for $23, and I didn't hesitate to grab it before someone else beat me to it. I'm not sure where I'll end up ranking this album at the end of the year, and it probably won't crack the Top 10, but it certainly has been a pleasant surprise... but I guess that's what you get when you go in with rock bottom expectations.

Open Your Eyes

A couple of months ago, I was feeling like I might need to reign in my record spending. I've bought a bunch of stuff this year with little consideration paid to my savings account, and felt like I needed to pump the brakes a bit (spoiler alert: I still haven't done that). Before I slowed things down though, I wanted to make a run at something that would make more of a substantial impact to my collection instead of some $5 record from a 90's band that no one remembered.

I've been terrible at keeping my focus on my Top Wants of 2022 list that I keep in the sidebar of this blog. I use this list to keep some major records at the forefront of my attention, with hopes that I'll pick them up over the year. This year, I just haven't cared to focus on that list and have just been going wherever my attention is at the moment. When I was thinking that I'd buy one more record before taking a spending break, I wanted to cross off at least one of those records from my Top 10 Wants list before I found myself in December and the list untouched.

Warzone is one of those classic hardcore bands, and settling for one of those recent Revelation reissues for their classic albums wasn't going to cut it. I needed the original Caroline pressing for Open Your Eyes. Reasonably priced records seem to be a rare thing on Discogs a lot of the time, so when I saw a seller listing this classic at a decent price, I grabbed it. Such a great hardcore record, even though The American Movement makes me cringe every time I hear it.

Completely unplanned, but when I found myself in this same predicament last year, I also used this "one last record" excuse when I picked up a copy of Warzone's Don't Forget The Struggle.

Destroy All Music

I typically add records to my Discogs wantlist on pure impulse. Something will catch my attention and I'll throw it on the list where it will sit for years. Sometimes I'll lose interest and move on like those U.D.O. and Gamma Ray records that I put on my wantlist 7 years ago, and others will sit there as I wait until the stars align and the record condition and price are just what I'm looking for.

Five or six years ago, I found myself obsessed with early punk and was uncovering a lot of classic bands and records that I'd never bothered with up until then. I discovered a lot of great stuff at that time, with one of those bands being The Weirdos. I was really digging their first two 7 inches, and I threw them on my Discogs wantlist. I picked up the single for We Got The Neutron Bomb a couple of years ago, but the band's first record, Destory All Music, continued to evade me as sellers generally ask stupid prices for records. When a seller finally posted one for sale with a reasonable pice, I jumped on it.

The Weirdos were a punk band out of Los Angeles, and you can hear how they influenced bands like Circle Jerks with their frantic energy. This first single from 1977 is Punk history. Outside of these two 7 inch records, I'm not sure that the band really keeps my interest, but that early stuff is fucking great.

Fixation Flexi

On the scale of terrible formats, the flexi may rank below the 10 inch. While the 10 inch is just awkward, the flexi feels like it is a throw-away format. Something that you'd find in your order from REVHQ as a promo for some band that you've never heard of and don't care about, so you just toss it in the trash.

I never throught that I'd buy the Into The Pain flexi from Fixation, and yet somehow here we are. I mean, I really like those first two Fixation records, and was happy to pick up the Marked EP last year, but the flexi from 2019... ugh... it was tough to convince me to actually buy it. Still, when I was in the WAR Records store buying the Abstain 12 inch, I figured that I could throw $6 at this thing. Plus, it was the alternate cover that was limited to 100 and numbered, and since they were still available I figured that I might as well do it.

Like the Marked 7 inch, these songs are fantastic. Fast and agressive hardcore. The band has a new singer, so we'll see if Fixation can make that transition successfully with their new album.

A Straight Edge Hymn

I'm a man of simple tastes. Tell me that a band plays straight edge hardcore, and there is a good chance that I'll eat that shit up.

Abstain are a straight edge hardcore band out of San Diego and play a style that definitely draws influence from those 90's bands like One King Down, Culture and Prison Of Hope era Chokehold. I mean check the singers baggy pants from this recent live show and tell me that they wouldn't fit in with that mid-90's metallic chugga chugga style from that period. Love it! I absolutely love this style, and with the "San Diego Straight Edge" and big X's on the back of the record cover, Abstain deliver exactly what I want here. I just hope there is more to come.

The record was listed as "army green" with each record being a "a slightly different color", and mine definitely has more of a blue tint to it than green. 200 pressed.

New Adventures In R.E.M. Reissues

I don't listen to R.E.M. a lot, but sometimes they hit a spot with me that can't be denied. As I was picking up the latest Dio single for Record Store Day, I was flipping through the record bins at Bull Moose... not really expecting to find anything, but it felt good to flip through the stacks of vinyl... and then I noticed a recent pressing for New Adventures In Hi-Fi.

There was a time when I never thought that I'd need to listen to R.E.M. again, but the last few years has found me digging out their records occasionally, and really having a good time with them. When I saw New Adventures In Hi-Fi in the racks, I felt the need to pick it up. I haven't listened to this R.E.M. record for probably 20 years, and looking at the track listing, not a single song stood out as one that I remembered. I did recall that I liked this album when I bought the CD back in 1996, so I took a chance and on a whim I bought the vinyl.

Wow. It was great revisiting this album, and a few of the songs came back to me as soon as I heard them (Bittersweet Me is so amazing... how did I forget about this song... and damn... E-Bow The Letter hits me hard as well.) I never bothered with any R.E.M. record after this one, so this may be as far as I go with the band, but now I'm curious.

Double Dose Of Donington

Back in 2018, the Dio camp got involved with Record Store Day releases, and started dropping special picture disc singles for each RSD event. With the 2022 Record Store Day, Dio released their 7th single in this series.

Look, I'm a Dio fanboy, so there is no way that I can say no to these RSD releases... no matter how pointless they are. I mean, they are picture discs, so that's gross, and they don't contain anything new outside of the artwork, but I still need them all.

The two songs here were taken from the Dio At Donington double live LP from 2010. I dig the picture disc art, but now I'll stick it on a shelf and not think about it ever again.

Be Cool

For the past 4 years or so, I've really been on my game when it comes to checking out newer hardcore records. That shit gets me fired up and it's where a lot of my focus has been. If a band gets even the slightest bit of hype, I'm there checking them out. Yet, sometimes there are bands that never enter my periphery. Marcus really delivered earlier this year when he posted about Power Alone, and he managed to surprise me again with Coolside. Both bands had records from Indecision a couple years ago, and somehow I managed to miss out on both of them at the time.

I'm not sure what I was expecting when I opened Spotify to give this Coolside 7 inch a quick listen, but I certainly didn't think it was going to hit me as hard as it did. I absolutely love this record. I'm not really sure who to compare them to, but they just play hardcore the way I like it. It didn't take long before I was hitting up the Indecision store to buy a copy. Thanks for the tip, Marcus, now lets see who can track down that elusive first 7 inch.

500 pressed on this great looking cool blue vinyl.

End On End On End

It feels like new hardcore records have been poppin' off left and right this year. There have been a number of really solid records lately, and I've been excited to check out any new band that makes the slightest ripple. Give me that new shit.

The only thing that I knew New Morality Zine for was Sunstroke and the first Rule Them All record. Both of those bands have a strong DC Revolution Summer vibe, and so when I heard that the label was releasing a record for a band named End On End, and given that there is a Rites Of Spring song with the same name, I kind of expected they would be borrowing heavily from that style. Nope. Not even close. End On End play some straight forward hardcore. Man, this was surprising and I'm totally digging it.

100 pressed on coke bottle clear vinyl.

Metallica Vinyl Club #6

The Metallica Vinyl Club seems to have worked out those kinks from the inaugural year, and everything has been running smooth with the subscription in 2022. No delays, and this thing continues to pay off with some cool shit.

Everyone likes to bag on Metallica, especially when it comes to St. Anger. I fully understand the criticism, but I also really like that album. When I opened the box to reveal the latest Metallica Vinyl Club selection, I was very excited to see that it contained four live tracks from their most hated album. Lars even includes a short bit of writing about the album and as expected, makes no apologies... even cracking a joke to "turn on the snare and enjoy."

Holy shit. As soon as I dropped the needle and the guitar riff for Sweet Amber kicks in...fucking hell...I'm hooked. It starts off with such a Kyuss-inspired riff before the song fucking explodes. Man, don't tell me that St. Anger doesn't have any good songs. The sound on these live recordings elevates the songs to another level. Man, I would be down for a full album of this.

Like each Vinyl Club release, the packaging is top quality. A nice poster is included along with a nice looking inner sleeve design with the Pushead designed St. Anger fist in four different color patterns, which look great together. Fantastic and exactly what I want from this subscription.