Losing My Head Over Dekapitator

Relapse released The Storm Before The Calm from Dekapitator last year. If I had heard this when it was released, it would have certainly made it to the top list for my top Metal albums in 2007. Man, this album thrashes from start to finish, but from dudes with names like Matt Hellfield, Dan Bulldoze, D. Attacker and Andy "Atomic" Maniac, it is exactly what you would expect. Great stuff from one of the better bands to come out of the thrash revival. This album was pressed on orange vinyl and limited to 1,000.

You Complete Me

What a surprise! On Monday, I got home at 1:00 in the morning from the Celtics game, and there next to the computer was a box from Youngblood Records. What the Hell? I know that I'm not waiting for anything from Youngblood. I open the box and inside, along with the Fired Up 7 inch on purple, and the Lights Out LP on white (limited to 202), is a note that simply says "From Marcus". A few posts back I mentioned that I was missing these two records, and Marcus helps out my endless quest, and goes ahead and contacts Sean from Youngblood and has him send them to me. Wow. Impressive in the fact that this Lights Out pressing has been sold out for a while. I haven't known Marcus that long, and then only through our blogs, so the level of generosity from this man is mind blowing. Thank you so much, man.

So with this final pressing of the Lights Out LP, my collection of Overload is complete.

Having An Ebay Powertrip

I'm still trying to get caught up, going through the pile of new records sitting here beside me at the computer. Here is the end of my September shopping spree on ebay. I could not let this one pass me by when I saw it up for auction...the record release pressing of Powertrip from Nothing Done. I love this band and on a whim I did a search to see if anything was available on ebay. Nothing Done records don't show up very often, so I was happy to find this, and even happier that it only went for $10.50. Considering this is limited to only 60 with the special record release cover, I was prepared to pay a lot more than I did. Pretty sweet find. Mine was hand numbered 42.

Buy The Best...Fuck The Rest

I'm not sure if I would classify them as Hardcore or Metal...but either way SSS fuckin' rule. I've been looking forward to the release of their new album, The Dividing Line, but I had not been able to find it in any stores. I emailed Thrashgig back and forth a few times, but I never really got a final price from them on what it would cost for me to pre-order the new album along with some other pressings of the first album. Finally, I said "fuck it", and just went to ebay. Found the album in the Earache ebay store...but not just any regular pressing...no, I found they were selling the special Splatter Set (although mine is lacking in a lot of the splatter pattern), which is limited to 100. It cost about twice as much as the regular color pressings, so I know that Earache was probably just looking to squeeze some extra cash out of the collectors, but screw it, I bought it anyway. The album is better than I had anticipated. 20 songs of kick ass thrash. Plenty of songs about skating (Skate and Destroy, Ride the Best) sure give it a genuine old school feel. The 7 inch that came with the album features some antics from Frank Sidebottom. I had no idea what a Frank Sidebottom was, so I did a search on youtube....what the fuck?!?!!? I'm not sure what to make of him...some dude in a mask singing these absurd simple songs...I don't know if it is for a children's show or what...friggin' bizarre. Anyway, Frank does some funky intros to a few of the songs on the 7 inch, and then does an interpretation of his Christmas song about SSS. "SSS is fantastic in the morning, SSS is fantastic in the evening...". Like I said, friggin' bizarre character...but on the 7 inch it comes across as pretty funny. Get this record and thrash.

Putting Me Six Feet Under

A while back, I got an email from Six Feet Under Records, saying that they only had a few copies left of the tri-color vinyl for the True Colors album. Afraid that I was going to miss the opportunity to buy this pressing, without having to search and bid through eBay, I immediately placed an order. Limited to 158 pressed for this color.

Six Feet Under also had the Perspective 7 inch from True Colors in stock as well. Since this was released through Powered Records, I was excited that I was able to pick it up through a US distributor. This is going to be another one fighting for the top spot on my best of 2008 list. What a great band...I really regret not seeing them on their US tour a couple months ago. 425 pressed on red and white wax.

I have fallen in love with this record label recently. I had never really heard of them before, until I placed my first order with them a few months ago for the retarded Down To Nothing 7 inch. I started to check out the label a bit more closely after that order and found a bunch of great records that they have released. To start things off, I ordered and introduced myself to the Loud and Clear album. I ordered the gold and silver pressing with the silk screened cover...mine was numbered 117 of 160. Holy shit, this album is awesome. Straight ahead, rippin' hardcore with the singer of Justice...and not even coming close to that weak-ass Supertouch sound. Right on.

Finally, I also grabbed the Mental demo 7 inch...limited to 350 on red and blue vinyl. I'm not sure why I sat on this record for so long and didn't pick it up. Now I wish that I had bought one of the fucked up pressings that Six Feet Under were selling a while back. This record has Growing Pains, which is one of my all time favorite Mental songs...no one took this shit for real, you fuckin' pussies changed. Ha! Awesome.

The Road To Hell Is Paved With Colored Vinyl

I've been wanting to expand my Slayer vinyl collection for a while now, so I was very excited to hear that Metal Blade was finally making the first four records available on vinyl again. I headed over to my local record store the day that they were to be released, and asked if they were planning on getting any in stock. The guy behind the counter checked the computer and said that their distributor had already sold out, and they would not be getting any in. I rushed back to work and jumped online to check Very Distro, and as luck would have it, they had some available. They were a little expensive at $24.00 a piece, but I still didn't hesitate to pick up Show No Mercy and Hell Awaits. It's a good thing too, because I just checked and they are now out of stock on both of these LPs. This is my first vinyl copy of Show No Mercy, and the vinyl looks beautiful. The red and black colors look amazing. I wish they did Hell Awaits with the similar style. Instead, the blood splattered gold vinyl is a picture disc, and not nearly as cool looking. I was hoping to pick up Haunting the Chapel and Live Undead this month, but here we are on the 11th, and I've already dropped way too much money on eBay, so I'll have to wait until another time to finish the collection of these new releases.

If It's Here When We Get Back, I'll Take One

Another record from my eBay shopping spree. This one is the final chapter for One Up...a two song 7 inch. I remember seeing this for sale when Rob and I went to Posi Numbers in 2005. It was the second day of the fest, and I had already dropped a large amount of cash on records, so I didn't pick it up. Fast forward three years, and I still hadn't heard this record yet. I love One Up, so I'm not sure why I sat on this for so long. The band had an amazing progression, and because they would cover a Turning Point song when they played live, I suppose I would use that band as a fair comparison. The band started out with some pretty raw Youth Crew hardcore, and slowly evolved into something much more polished, without losing any of the passion or urgency that made them great. This last record is a testament to that, with one fantastic original song, and a cover of If It's Here When We Get Back It's Ours by Texas is the Reason. It is so good that I would prefer it over the original version. This copy of The Single is pressed on green vinyl. There is another pressing on blue, but I have no idea how many were pressed of each.

Hit The Lights

For the most part, I've been avoiding eBay for a while. I'd mostly been focusing on buying new releases, and had really started to slack off on filing in old holes in the collection. Then I stumbled upon The Endless Quest. I could immediately relate, as Marcus was using his blog, like mine, to capture all the new vinyl that he was adding to his collection. I had started my blog back in 2006 on a whim...just something to occupy my endless fascination with collecting records, and I was completely amazed to find someone else doing the exact same thing. After reading through Marcus' blog, I suddenly had the itch again to start buying some older vinyl and dove headfirst back into eBay. My wife is still giving me a hard time about our finances so I did manage some restraint and only looked to pick up some crucial stuff for relatively low prices. The first thing that caught my eye was the Overload LP from Lights Out. Man, I can't get enough of this album, and right now it is the album that I have listened to the most over the past few years...yes, I'm a complete geek and I actually keep track of that stuff. I picked up the "pre-press" of the album, with the screened cover and photocopied lyric sheet, which was limited to 325. I also got the pink colored vinyl press, which was limited to 225 as was sent out for pre-orders. I think that the only pressing that I am missing for this album is the second pressing on white vinyl.

Get Right...Or Get Left Behind

A couple of posts ago, I was complaining that there hasn't been too much that's been released in 2008 that has blown me away. Thank you Right Idea and React Records for giving me exactly what I want. Right Idea is dedicated to The Straight Edge, and the music is classic '88 style...at times it reminds me of Unit Pride. As the song On Edge states, "The Spirit, The Message, The Music - Is Still So Fucking Strong". Right now, this record, along with Connection from The First Step, are at the top of my Best Of 2008 list.

Once the pre-orders went up, I didn't hesitate to order all three colors. Because of the numerous delays that Aram had with pressing plant errors, he slid some test presses and color variants with stamped dust sleeves as a special "thank you" for everyone's patience. Needless to say, I was fucking excited to receive one. Mine was the white vinyl with a few blue streaks...Aram only stamped about 25 of these so I feel extremely lucky to have one. Also in the package was a square of cardboard that had the React logo screened on to it. I'm already planning on getting a frame for this for the wall of my music room.

Four of a Kind

Here is another pressing of the Have Heart demo from Bottled Up Records. This time around we get 4 new versions...a black vinyl pressing, and mine was hand numbered 43 out of 100, plus 145 on clear purple, 177 on solid orange, and then 234 on solid purple. These four copies push my collection up to 13 pieces for the Have Heart demo 7 inch! That has got to be the most copies I own of a single record. At one point I was keeping a checklist for a bunch of records that I wanted. All the Have Heart stuff was on that list. I'm going to need to dig that out and figure out what I am missing.

When I ordered the Have Heart stuff, I figured that I'd give another band from the Bottled Up catalog a chance, and I picked up the Crumbler 7 inch. Meh, it is okay. I guess songs about prostitutes and beaver shots aren't really my bag.

A Couple Pieces Of Redemption

Why does 1917 Records hate me? This is the second pre-order I've done with them for I Rise vinyl, and both times I have failed to get the most limited pressing. It happened with the Down 7 inch, and now again with the new full length, For Redemption. I ordered two copies, and got the red and green split, limited to 200, and the mint green pressing, limited to 500...but I missed out on the pink vinyl which was limited to 100.

Maybe it is me, but once again I'm feeling underwhelmed by a new release in 2008. I'm not sure what it is...maybe it is high expectations, but the three albums that I have been looking forward to the most...Have Heart, Verse, and now I Rise...just haven't floored me. Sure they are good, and with repeated listens I'm enjoying them more and more, but overall, I'm just not getting my ass kicked. Maybe it is just my mood. Please, can someone release a no-bullshit, youth crew hardcore record, and make me happy?

More Steps

I was hoping to receive one more pressing of The First Step's newest 7 inch before posting this, but it didn't arrive, so here you go. I've had the blue vinyl from Rivalry for a while now. It is the second pressing, and limited to 1,270. Both the clear vinyl, 175 pressed, and the red vinyl, 325 pressed, were released on a South American label called Waking the Dead Records. There was a guy on eBay from Chile, that was unloading a few of these. I was able to pick them up without dropping a ton of money on them.

Old is New in 2008

Metallica's new album, Death Magnetic, is an amazing return to form. Sure it doesn't come close to the brilliance of Ride the Lightning or Master of Puppets, or even Kill 'Em All for that matter, but damn it, this would fit in nicely between Justice and the Black Album. I can't get over how great this album is, as it continually finds it's way into my CD player or turntable...yes, I own the CD for this as well. I wasn't willing to drop the $100 for the deluxe five album version of this, but I didn't hesitate to pick up the double LP. Fuck all the haters.

Another old metal band to release a new album is Motorhead. With Motorizer, the band releases another album, fitting nicely into the mold they cast 30 years ago. The band doesn't change up their sound too much, and that is fine with me. As long as the songs are good, I have no problem with a band sticking with their sound. Bands that "out grow" their sound, or try to experiment typically end up sucking shit. Here's to Motorhead for releasing another solid album of "more of the same".

A Cruel Seven Inch

Another one of those 7 inch singles from Bridge Nine, this time offering us a preview of Cruel Hand's new album, and nothing more. Just two songs that will be on the band's album that will be up for pre-order in the next day or so. 300 on brown and 700 on maroon colored vinyl. The coolest thing about this 7 inch, though, is the sick cover art. Shit looks awesome. The artwork looks like it was from Pushead, but I'm pretty sure that it is a rip off. Anyway, these two songs are great, and I'm looking forward to the new album. When I ordered this record from Bridge Nine, I was really feeling the pinch financially, so I had to pass on buying the new Ruiner vinyl. Maybe I'll pick that up when I pre-order the new Cruel Hand.

Pure Hell

I keep wanting to expand my pathetic Slayer vinyl collection, but it seems that whenever I search eBay for their stuff, it is always more than I am willing to spend. A couple of weeks ago I was on a HUGE Slayer kick, and once again found myself on eBay searching for their shit. I came across a double LP, gatefold sleeve, pressing of Hell Awaits from a Korean seller, and I committed myself to it. I was bound and determined to win this classic. I already own the original Metal Blade release on vinyl, but I was pretty excited to win this double vinyl re-release. Considering it was coming from Korea, I was surprised at how quickly it arrived. This thing just looks incredible. Everything in this package was dead mint...from the vinyl, to the album cover, to the poster.

Getting Fired Up

This has got to be one of the most underrated releases of 2006. Fired Up's first 7 inch, When the Lights Go Out, is one of my favorites from the past couple of years. Straight up, no frills hardcore. To top things off, the record has been released on 7 different colors of vinyl, which has been a collector's wet dream. I'm still missing the record release cover for this, plus the newest pressing on purple, so I'll have to keep my eye out for those. I've had the blue vinyl for a while now, but I'm just now getting around to adding it to my collection. Picked it up on eBay back in March for $5.00. Sweet deal since it is limited to 250 pressed. The yellow vinyl was from the third pressing of the record and is limited to 100. I picked this up from the Youngblood table at the final show for The First Step. This one has plain orange labels, and the Youngblood stamp on the dust sleeve.

Roadtrip for The First Step

Originally, we had planned to take our annual roadtrip up to northern Maine and spend the weekend four-wheeling through the mountains. Once I found out that The First Step was playing their last show at the beginning of September, the plans were changed. Rob, Paul and I piled into my car and took the eight and a half hour drive down to Pennsylvania for the weekend. We had a blast the whole weekend...shenanigans in the car, stopping at Sheetz for free sandwiches and a PB&J smoothie, walking around Harrisburg, hanging out by the river, and taking a trip to the movies to see Death Race. What a great time. The highlight of it all, of course, was the show.

We walked into the club and were greeted by Aram. So nice to catch up with him. The first couple of bands that played didn't do much for me...the only name I can remember was Warpriest. Hostage Calm and Mindset played great sets. I was hoping to pick up some vinyl from each band, but all they had was CD's, so I walked away from their merch tables empty handed. I went down to the front of the stage halfway through Mindset's set, for the Youth of Today cover, and then proceeded to have the guitarist jump straight into me. I caught him with no problem, but as you can see from the picture above, I wasn't aware that he had a serious case of "swamp ass". Get The Most were a lot of fun and played Straight on View by Unity...I felt like a dork when I wanted to sing along but couldn't remember the words. The First Step were amazing. They must have played damn near every song they wrote, and the crowd was right up front for the entire show. The set was full of sweet dives and sing alongs. What a great, positive atmosphere...no bullshit. The show was at Championship Records, so between the store and the merch tables, I walked out with a nice haul of vinyl.

I picked up the final Damage Control 7 inch. I can't remember which merch table I bought this one from. This is good melodic straight edge hardcore, and the packaging on this record is outstanding. Nice 12 page booklet that is a fitting end to this band. Great layout of pictures and a summary tribute to the band from Stephen from The First Step.

Man, I love Dead Stop. They play an angry, fast style of hardcore that is just straight out of the early 80's. This is the third pressing of their self titled 7 inch on Six Feet Under Records. Red vinyl. I have no idea how many were pressed for this color, or even if Six Feet Under was the label to originally release this.

I've always considered Cornerstone to be the band that really kicked off the Youth Crew revival in the mid-90's. I can't think of anyone else that was really doing this style when I picked up their demo in 1994. At the time I was buying too many shitty records from Ebullition, and this was a nice change of pace. Beating the Masses was released in 1995 on Lost and Found out of Europe. I can't remember when Under Estimated Records released this on vinyl with this awesome gatefold packaging. I was glad to finally grab this on vinyl from Championship.

Sean Youngblood was late to the show, but I was happy to see him finally arrive with some vinyl to sell. One of the things I bought from him was Worn Thin's Long Road Ahead record. This is the pressing from the Youngblood Showcase back in May. Black vinyl with white labels...hand stamped and numbered 47 out of 75.

Another record that I was happy to find at Championship was the Black SS album. I must have downloaded this a year ago, so it was about time that I finally bought a copy. Man, this is a fun record. Kind of a punked up early Boston Hardcore sound, and the singer really reminds me of Kill Your Idols. This is the second pressing on Reaper Records...limited to 1000 on "yellow with blue puke vinyl".

Never Hold Back

Here I am again, making a post for another record that I got some time ago, but held off on posting it because I was hoping to add more of their records to my collection. Rancor were a band from the late 90's Youth Crew revival. I've never really considered them a very well known band from that era, but their vinyl is hard to come across on eBay. I saw them one time. They played a show in Boston with Floorpunch, Fastbreak, and Ten Yard Fight. It was just as all those bands were starting to take off...I think that I had picked up the Floorpunch demo just weeks before the show. Man, everything was so exciting at that time.

This is Rancor's second 7 inch, Never Hold Back, released on Youngblood Records back in 1998. I loved the band's first record, but it was years after their second 7 inch released that I even found out that this record existed. Thank you Internet. Anyway, this one was pressed on black vinyl, and is limited to 580 pressed.

War Dogs

I've had this one for a few months, holding off on posting it, with the expectation that I would be getting another record from Night of the Vinyl Dead. There was a time when I was really hot to buy a bunch of releases from this label specializing in putting out some classic Metal albums that never got the vinyl treatment. You can't order directly from the label, and it seems like you can only find them in the Nuclear Blast Germany webstore where they rape overseas orders on shipping charges. I tracked down a few that I really wanted on eBay, and ended up paying quite a bit for them, but these pressings are pretty limited and sell out quickly, so I didn't mind paying extra. In the end though, it got to be too much of a hassle searching through eBay, and then hoping to place the winning bid, so I just stopped looking. They still have a bunch of releases that I hope to add to my collection, but for now I'm chasing my next obsessions.

So here is Saxon's Dogs of War album. Pressed on a nice "sandy" colored vinyl to match the album cover, this pressing also comes with a bonus set of stickers which is pretty cool and unique. While this is a far cry from Saxon's glory days of the early 80's, this album, released in 1995, isn't too bad...although, truth be told, I probably wouldn't own this if it hadn't been released on Night of the Vinyl Dead and pressed in such a limited amount. Hand numbered 87, out of 333 pressed.

Inspired To Have Group Sex

In the back of my mind I have always wanted to collect the Circle Jerks first album, Group Sex, on vinyl. It is an absolute classic...so much fun and just full of attitude. Frontier Records is still pressing it on vinyl, and on lots of different colors. I've wanted to start adding them to the collection, but I just kept putting off...buying other things, feeling safe that they would just always be there for me. After reading Lins87's posts on Black Flag vinyl, I was inspired to finally pick up an old school punk classic. I knew that one of the local record stores had a copy of Group Sex, and so yesterday I skipped out of work and picked it up. I have no idea how many Frontier is pressing for each color, but I ended up with yellow vinyl. At some point, I'll have to head over to their site and pick up a few more colors.