Anthrax Worship

Earlier this year, I went on an Anthrax spree. I listened to the band's entire discography, and was picking up CD's for those holes that I had in my collection. I grew up with the Belladonna era throughout the 80's, and while I've always looked down on the Bush albums...I found myself really appreciating Sound Of White Noise and We've Come For You All. With all this build up, I was excited to hear the news that Joey was back in the band, and that Anthrax was recording a new album.

I could not wait to hear Worship Music. The two songs that Anthrax put up for free download were a nice tease, and had me excited to rush out on release day to buy this.

The day of the albums release came and I was on the edge of my seat. Before I left for work that morning, I hit the internet and did a search for a download. I found one, and loaded it on to my ipod for my drive in. The first three songs, Earth On Hell, The Devil You Know, and Fight 'Em 'Til You Can't, were exactly what I was looking for. Powerful, heavy, with some great bursts of speed. The rest of the album, however, left me feeling underwhelmed. By the time I arrived at work, I knew that I would not be rushing out to the record store at lunch as I had initially anticipated. I felt the same level of disappointment I experienced when I rushed to pick up State Of Euphoria back in 1988. Still, I felt like there still might be something with this album. I stuck with it, and while nothing else came close to the greatness of those first few songs, repeated listens had me appreciating the entire album more.

The time had come for me to invest in a vinyl copy. In an age when new vinyl releases tend to be priced over the $20 mark, I was surprised to find Worship Music at my local record store with a $14 price tag. I was sold.

The gatefold packaging and vinyl on this release were all well done. Scott Ian may still seem like a dick, but Anthrax is respectable again.

Rearranged

When Aram first started REACT!, it seemed like he was just looking to help out his friends and put out a limited run of records for their bands. Get The Most, Mindset, ON, Breakthrough (hey, when is that record coming out?). The label seemed to take off, and quickly became a major player in the hardcore scene. I wonder if he ever saw REACT! getting as big as it is. Look at some of the bands from the 2011 roster. Remission (Chili), Common Cause (Norway), Clearsight (Ukraine) and the newest addition, Rearranged (Russia). Impressive. REACT! has been preparing for worldwide Straight Edge domination. Let me be first in line to join the revolution.

I honestly don't know if I would have bothered checking out Rearranged if they weren't on REACT!. The only thing that I'd heard from them was one song from a compilation last year, and while it was decent, it didn't really grab me. This new 7 inch, on the other hand, is a big step up.

It's got a cool hardcore sound that brings bands like Uniform Choice to mind, but I'll be damned if Drilling doesn't remind me of some of the early 90's emo/hardcore stuff like Bob Tilton.

Another quality record from REACT!. The Rearranged record went up for pre-order along with the new Skin Like Iron album. I checked out some of the Skin Like Iron stuff, but I was really not feeling it...at all. It pained me to do so, but I couldn't bring myself to spend the money on it. The first REACT! release that I didn't buy all available pressings. In fact, I didn't even order one copy. I feel incomplete.

200 on white, 300 on blue, 500 on black.

While I was in the REACT! store, I also grabbed a copy of Rearranged's New Forms LP. Released on Anger Battery Records, black vinyl was limited to 300.

Straight And Alert

Edge Day 2011. Faces come and go, but at the end of the day I'm still standing here, unwavering from the set of beliefs that I discovered at the age of 19 or 20. Something that made so much sense to me...something that I felt so strong about...something that I carry it with me to this day. Straight Edge.

Thankfully there are still bands out there that represent the Edge with some integrity and pride. Alert, from Massachusetts, are one of those bands. Three years after releasing their demo, they finally follow it up with a release on Six Feet Under Records.

Find Your Way continues along the same path, giving us a healthy does of Uniform Choice influenced Straight Edge Hardcore. Bands like this keep the spirit and energy alive for Straight Edge. I can not praise this band enough.

150 pressed on "violet" colored vinyl.

When I first opened my Alert records from Six Feet Under, it looked as though I received two copies on black vinyl. After Keith from Alert told me that the pressing included some on clear dark purple , I pulled the vinyl out of my music room, and this time I held them up to the light. Phew, crisis averted...I did have all three different pressings.

317 on clear dark purple vinyl.

605 pressed on black.

If someone can hook me up with one of the Fest pressings, this will be complete.

Show Some Love

Almost a full year after Youngblood first sold copies of the Sacred Love 12 inch at the 2010 Showcase, and we finally get the regular pressing of this record. Pre-orders went up in May, which was supposed to kick off a bunch of releases Youngblood had lined up for the summer. Here we are headed into Fall, and nothing else has gone up in the Youngblood store. If you can say one thing about Youngblood, you can say they are consistent...always releasing quality hardcore, but consistently later than they anticipate. No problem though, because Youngblood always come through.

One sided 12 inch vinyl, with a silky smooth back side. 201 pressed on red vinyl.

265 pressed on black vinyl.

Yeah, the 2011 Youngblood Showcase was last weekend. It was my second option for the annual roadtrip, but my brother was scheduled to work, so that squashed that plan.

While I was placing my Sacred Love pre-order, I took the opportunity to grab a couple of releases that I missed the first time around.

Touchdown were from 1988, but they are closer to Walk Proud than Bold or Gorilla Biscuits. Looks like 2003 rolled around and Youngblood and Malfunction decided that this needed a vinyl release. Notable for being the first Youngblood Vaults release.

Also released in 2003 is the Cleaver 7 inch from My Luck. I don't know much about this band, but they certainly remind me of the 2001/2002 Bridge Nine scene with bands like American Nightmare and The Distance. Abrasive hardcore.

Second pressing on red vinyl. 500 pressed.

This Is Hardcore

I was hopeful that I could convince the guys to take our annual roadtrip to the This Is Hardcore fest this year. The proposal didn't gain much interest, and as it turned out the entire roadtrip seemed to lose some steam this year. After six straight years of an annual guys roadtrip, this was the first year where we didn't have one. Bummer.

With or without us, the This Is Hardcore fest still took place, and bands still had some cool limited merch that I missed out on. Thankfully, Back To Back put up the left over Disengage records in their webstore, and I was quick enough to grab one.

While I liked the Disengage 7 inch when I received my first copy back in November last year, it wasn't until after I had posted it to the blog, and I had listened to it more than a few times, that it really started to sink in. I love this record. Straight forward, no frills, Straight Edge Hardcore. I couldn't ask for anything more.

Special screened covers were made for the This Is Hardcore repress. Limited to 100.

Secret People

Some bands get zero hype. They are on a small unknown label, and they get little to no press (wait a minute, does this even exist in today's world). No one is jocking them, and unless you are from the band's hometown, regardless of how great the band is, you may never hear of them. Secret People may just be this type of band. Made up of ex-members of Right On, and fellow blogger Disposable Income, last year Secret People released one of the best records that you haven't heard.

I'd never heard of this band before. I had seen their 7 inch in the REACT! webstore for a while, but I never really had any desire to check them out. When I found out that Matt from Disposable Income was in the band, I figured that I'd give them a chance. Honestly, this 7 inch impressed the Hell out of me, and I've since committed myself to spreading the gospel of Secret People.

350 pressed on black vinyl. Get into it.

Two Songs of Praise

I received another box of records the other day, so I can cross another pre-order off the waiting list. The thing that made this order a little different from my typical REACT! pre-orders, is this one wasn't for 9 pieces of vinyl from 3 bands, and didn't cost me $80. Just a nice small order for three copies of the new Praise 7 inch.

This order included another REACT! cardboard mailer. Hey, I've received this same mailer with my past three orders. Has REACT! stopped making new ones?

This 7 inch gives us two more songs from Praise, and is appropriately titled Two Songs. The band keeps on with their Dag Nasty influenced sound, and gives us another record with a feather on the cover. You can't point fingers at these guys for following any formulas on designing their record covers.

200 pressed on white.

300 pressed on grey.

400 pressed on black.

All records come with the assorted extras that are standard with each REACT! release. Solid.

Youngblood 2008

Back in early 2008, Youngblood Records put up pre-orders for 7 inches from both Police & Thieves and Coptic Times. I'd never heard of either band, and money was tight, so I skipped ordering immediately. As typical for Youngblood, the records turned out to be great, and I regretted not picking them up initially. That just means that I've had to pick up the pieces here and there over the past few years. When I found the last pieces I needed for these records in an eBay store for $6.00 each, I quickly grabbed them.

The more I listen to Police & Thieves, the more I fall in love with these songs. 300 pressed on green vinyl.

The Coptic Times 7 inch that I needed was on clear vinyl.

I'm not sure what the pressing info is for the Coptic Times record. Sean Youngblood needs to update the label's discography page!

The eBay store also had a copy of the first Police & Thieves 7 inch that I was also missing.

300 were made of the first Police & Thieves 7 inch with "The People's Soldier" cover. Some are on gold vinyl...some are on black vinyl. I'm not sure of the numbers for each, but I've now got both of them.

Kissing Time

I stopped by my friend Jeff's house the other day, and he had a couple extra pieces of vinyl that he offered me. The covers were a little beat up, but the vinyl was mint, so I took advantage of a couple of free records. 70's rock. I love it.

I worshipped Kiss as a kid. Well, maybe that isn't quite right. I was probably around 7 or 8 years old, and I was really only familiar with the song Beth. I held "Kiss parties" in my room (complete with constuction paper chains for decoration), and I remember being facinated with Kiss on TV shows and in the movies and comics. I guess I didn't worship Kiss, so much as I was in awe of the Kiss image. By the time I started to seriously get into music, Kiss had dabbled in disco, and I no longer had interest in checking out anything they had done. I was more interested in AC/DC and Judas Priest, and Kiss was no where close to my musical radar with the Lick It Up album.

Fast forward 20 years or so, and on Jeff's recommendation I finally open my mind and check out the first three Kiss albums. I don't know what I was expecting, but there was no Beth, no disco, and no weak 80's rock. This was just straight forward 70's Hard Rock. Hell yeah.

For the next few years, I didn't dare break out of my Kiss comfort zone, and I just stuck with those first three studio albums. Somewhere along the line, my Mom's boyfriend gave me his vinyl copy of Destroyer, and I found myself forced to check it out. It started out promising enough with Detroit Rock City, but the song Great Expectations irritated me so much, it took me another year to bother with the album again and begin to appreciate it. I've slowly branched out with Love Gun, and now, thanks to Jeff, I've got a copy of Rock and Roll Over as well. I can now appreciate and enjoy those first six studio albums for the guitar driven 70's Hard Rock that it is.

The other album that Jeff sent my way was UFO's 1974 album, Phenomenon. While not the band's first album, it is there first with guitarist Michael Schenker, and is my starting point for the band's discography.

When Jeff was giving me these albums, he slid each one out of the record sleeve, checked the label on the vinyl, and mentioned that they were first pressings. It got me interested in the different designs that record companies would use for the labels on vinyl. I geeked out and took a couple pictures to see different labels that both Casablanca and Chrysalis had used.

I'm not going to go over the top, and collect the different labels for this stuff, but I do find this stuff cool.

Two More Fire & Ice

Another day, another step closer to completing my Fire & Ice collection. 14 pieces of vinyl down, and only 2 more to go. This time around, I picked up two more copies of the band's first 7 inch, Gods & Devils, courtesy of eBay.

Fire & Ice hit the road at the end of 2009, and designed a Winter themed cover for their tour. Let it snow.

This one is limited to 100.

The second copy of Gods & Devils that I picked up was one of their United Blood covers from 2010...that's right, they had two different ones.

This one pales in comparison to the Agnostic Front rip off they also did, but hey, it's a limited special cover, so it's still cool as far as I'm concerned.

This one was limited to 100 as well.

The First Step Demo Blues

I'm a huge fan of The First Step. The band was amazing, and I wouldn't hesitate to include their What We Know LP as one of my favorite Straight Edge albums of all times. That said, I've really dropped the ball on collecting any of the 7 inches prior to their LP. This is my first step.

Back when Livewire was a fully funtioning label, they pressed the 2001 Demo from The First Step to vinyl. Man, this demo really captures the youthful energy and passion of the band. Sure, it doesn't stack up next to What We Know or Connection, but the intensity and fire was certainly there from the start.

The Livewire discography page doesn't seem to have any information on the second pressing of this record. Thankfully, it was all captured on the back sleeve, because I'm a geek for this kind of info.

Hand numbered and limited to 100, yet I was still able to pick this up for under $10. Yeah, I was stoked.

Street Prowl

I managed to catch Rotting Out's set at the Triple B Showcase last year, and they impressed the Hell out of me. They played an amazing set with lots of energy and a really cool early Suicidal Tendencies/LA vibe. After the show, I was hot to get my hands on some vinyl from them and I picked up their second 7 inch. Unfortunately, the vinyl didn't capture the feeling of their live show.

This year, the band follows up their impressive song on the America's Hardcore comp from Triple B, with a brand new full length, Street Prowl. The singer from those first two 7 inches has been replaced, and the band now seems to capture a bit of that live energy on the new record. Definitely a step up.

I was planning on ordering this album from REVHQ, but when I noticed that they didn't stock the colored vinyl for Street Prowl, I headed over to Hellfish instead. 300 pressed on red vinyl.