Early 90's In Color: Voice Of Reason

About six and half years ago, Marcus posted about the Gear 7 inch from Voice Of Reason on colored vinyl. I had picked up the record on the standard black vinyl back in 1992, but when I read the post from Marcus it had probably been close to ten years since I'd given the band much thought. Still, I remembered that I really liked Voice Of Reason in the early 90's, and his post was a great reminder to revisit them.

Hot damn. Maybe it was nostalgia, but I was floored with how great both Voice Of Reason 7 inches were when I dug them out. The band was out of Texas and played a style that was in line with stuff like Downcast, Struggle, and Groundwork (the Arizona one). Just raw, angry and political hardcore. Fuck yes. I loved this stuff so much back in the 90's, and I was excited to be spinning it again.

I had added the green vinyl pressing of the Gear 7 inch to my Discogs wantlist, and when I saw that someone recently listed a copy for sale I quickly snatched it. Discogs states that this is limited to 50 copies, and given that only 5 copies have ever sold in the marketplace, I guess I'll take that number as fact. Very happy to own a copy of this. Now I just need a grey vinyl copy.

Early 90's In Color: Worlds Collide

Worlds Collide just had their discography LP released and for a quick second I was tempted to pick it up. Initially I was excited to have everything from the band contained on one record, but then when I revisited the All Hope Abandon album, I remembered that it has always kind of bored me. There are a few amazing songs on that record, but for the most part I just don't care to return to it very often. The two songs from the 7 inch and the song from the Voice Of The Voiceless comp, on the other hand, are some of the best hardcore songs to come out of the early 90's. So instead of wasting my money on the discography album, I just picked up a second copy of the Victory 7 inch.

There is something about early 90's vinyl that just looks so good, and I love that Discogs lists this color as gold and not yellow.

Man, I remember this band being so huge in the early 90's... well, as a big as hardcore bands got at that time. They had only the 7 inch, the one comp song, plus the Get Ross live 12 inch when I saw them open for Shelter in some church in Boston. People lost their minds during Worlds Collide, and I remember at one point the stage just being mobbed with people jumping on each other and singing along. That's how I remember it anyway. The best of times.

When we started 2022, and I was thinking about records that I wanted to chase and collecting goals that I wanted to achieve, I wondered how things would shake out if I didn't spend time and money chasing variants for records that I already owned. I didn't even make it one fucking month and I was picking up the gold vinyl to go with my green Worlds Collide 7 inch. They do look damn good together though.

Early 90's In Color: Green Day

For a few years in a row now, early in the year, I've ended up running a series of posts here on the blog around some cheap 7 inches that I had recently picked up. I really get a kick out of picking up some record of a band that not many people remember or care to collect, and those are some of my favorite posts to write. Those series of posts from the last couple of years just kind of came together without much thought, and I wasn't really thinking about doing another round of them this year... but then I suddenly realized that I had recently picked up a few colored vinyl 7 inches from the early 90's. I knew that I could build on that with a few more records that I'd been wanting to pick up, and suddenly I had a theme for another series of posts. So here we go with some colored vinyl 7 inches from the early 90's that I've picked up over the past few weeks.

This green vinyl copy of Green Day's Slappy 7 inch is far and away the most expensive of my recent 90's colored vinyl haul. Everything beyond this post in this series is going to see a big dip in price, so let's get this one out there first so I can set you up for disappointment from here on out.

I don't tend to spin them very often, but I am a big fan of those early Green Day records. I can hang with everything through Nimrod... maybe even the Warning album if I'm feeling in a generous mood towards pop punk. Anything after that though can fuck off. Around five years ago, I got it into my head that I might want to go big with some of the colored vinyl pressings for the early stuff, and I dropped a couple of them onto my Discogs wantlist. This copy of Slappy on green came up recently, and I was kind of surprised at how decent the price was. It was refreshing to find a seller on Discogs that wasn't listing a record at a ridiculous price, and I decided that it was a good time to finally grab a copy. This green vinyl looks so good, and I'm glad to finally own this. Who knows, maybe in another five years I'll make a move to grab another Green Day record.

Socialized Hate

I go back and read my old posts here on the blog quite often. Is that weird? I don't know. It seems like every other day I'm on here searching to see what a I wrote about a certain record, or to check to see what I was buying in 2016, for example. The amount of time that I spend reading my own blog seems a bit excessive... to the point that it might be weird.

Anyway, I've been listening to a lot of old school thrash lately, and it had me going back to read the 1989 in 2019 series that I had done a few years back. Man, I remembered how much fun it was to hunt down those records at that time. My collection for those classic thrash records is kind of weak, and considering just how important they were to me in my late teens, I quickly got the itch to chase more of them.

Atrophy were from Arizona in the late 80's, but they easily can stand alongside the more well known Bay Area bands from that time like Forbidden and Vio-lence They only released two albums, Socialized Hate in 1988 and Violent By Nature in 1990, and then the guitarist took off for medical school and the band fell apart. Both of their albums were released when I was out of High School and was going to college, which was probably my peak for thrash. I lived off campus, and didn't socialize with anyone at school. In between classes, you'd find me in my car listening to the latest thrash CDs instead of hanging out on campus with anyone. That first year at college, no one else in my classes was remotely interested in metal, so I wasn't interested in being around them. College proved to be just an extension of that High School awkwardness.

Atrophy were a band that didn't just sing about standard metal themes of satan and serial killers. They had something to say. Aside from the goofy Beer Bong, every song on their Socialized Hate album is an angry critique on society and politics. Listening to this album today, it still sounds as vital and relevent as it did back in 1988. I've been spinning Atrophy a lot this year, so it felt good to get their first album into my collection.

Hunter's Moon

I was recently talking with a friend the other day about how crazy the prices are for older Ghost records. The Secular Haze 10 inch single that I bought back in 2013 currently has an average selling price of $90... and that is for the common black vinyl pressing. Kind of makes me wish that I'd bought the Year Zero single around that time as well... and don't even get me started on the original single for Elizabeth... that is a whole other level of insanity. Anyway, the point is that when I heard that Ghost had recorded a song for the Halloween Kills soundtrack, and were releasing the song as 7 inch single, I made sure that I added one to my collection.

With each new Ghost album, I always expect to hate it. I don't know why I'm so hesitant on them because I always come around to their new records, but I always seem to fight against them and then eventually get won over. This single for Hunter's Moon, plus the video for Call Me Little Sunshine, on the other hand, both have me really looking forward to the new Impera album due out later this year. Hopefully the album can build on the excitement of those two songs and deliver something special. I'm really expecting that this new one will hit me hard.

The Hunter's Moon single was pressed on red vinyl for indie stores, and I was happy to grab this from a local Bull Moose store.

Bedside Woman

A few years ago, I picked up a Krokus record on a whim at a local record store. At the time, I hadn't really given the band any attention since I was a kid, and in a fit of nostalgia I thought it might be interesting to see if they had aged well. I was blown away with how much I was enjoying them, and very quickly I became obsessed with the band and bought a bunch of their records. I've never really thought too much about making any kind of a serious collection for Krokus, but when I saw a couple of cheap singles from a Discogs seller that I was already buying from, it was just too easy to add them to the cart.

I get excited over colored vinyl from back in the day. For the most part, everything was just pressed on black vinyl through the 70's and 80's, so when I find that a record has colored option from back then, it just seems extra special. This UK single for Bedside Radio looks great on clear vinyl, and I love that front cover photo of the guitarist breaking his back and rippin' a mean solo live on stage. Kick ass.

The Metal Rendez-vous record from 1980 is one of the last early Krokus albums that I need to get into my collection. In the meantime, I'll happily take this single.

I'm not sure if it was record label pressure or if Krokus just loved to play cover songs, but the band included one on every record that I can think of. They weren't even subtle about it by picking a deep cut to cover... nope, they would just deliver their version of other band's hits and someone was probably hoping they would bring in some easy money. On the One Vice At A Time record, from '82, Krokus gave us their version of American Woman. It is a decent song, but like most of their covers, it was the weakest spot on the album. The marketing team was really aiming for that teenage boy demographic here with that cover... oh hell, it is obviously a winning formula because it got me to buy it too.

Another great looking UK single.

Restraining Warfare

It has been a couple of years since Restraining Order released their album, This World Is Too Much. Man, that album title turned out to be a bit prophetic. When I saw the band live at the end of 2019, they had me pretty amped up to get out for more hardcore shows...and then Covid came through and burned everything to the ground. Hardcore shows have been back for a little while now, but I'm still not feeling too confident about getting out and seeing bands live with kids jumping all over each other. I'll continue to sit them out for a bit longer. Still, Restraining Order have been hitting the road quite a bit as it seems that the band is always heading out for some quick tour. Fuck, I really want to see them again. In the meantime, though, at least the band dropped a couple of new songs on a split 7 inch with a band named Warfare.

Apparently Warfare features Sam from Triple B on vocals, and his label released a 12 inch from the band a few years ago. For one reason or another, I ignored it at the time, but the songs here on this split have made me see how dumb I was to let that first Warfare record get by me. These two songs are great, and I'm definitely going to need more from them.

Obviously, the two Restraining Order songs here are great. Fuck. This band is so good. This split 7 inch was hyped as "the return of fast hardcore", and it delivers on that promise. My only complaint is that it is way too short, clocking in around four and a half minutes total. Give me more.

Let's Go With Vardis

Vardis are another New Wave Of British Heavy Metal band that I want to get into my collection. Their 100 MPH album is a classic from that period, and something that I definitely need to get my hands on. Instead of chasing that first Vardis record, I'm over here fucking aroudn with one of their singles.

I'd never really paid any attention to Vardis until a few years ago. I picked up the New Electric Warriors comp, and that record was just full of obscure NWOBHM bands that I'd never heard of before. The Vardis song on there, If I Were King, really grabbed my attention. The band has so much infectious energy and it made me want to check out more from the band.

I really dig the front cover photo on this 7 inch. It gives off such a cool vibe that the band is bashing out their live set in a small Working Men's Club in front of a crowd of punters. Man, it must have been amazing to be there when this shit was taking off. Anyway, I grabbed this single for Let's Go (with the bonus 7 inch featuring a couple of live tracks that I'm pretty sure were taken from that 100 MPH album) when I was recently picking up a couple of other NWOBHM 7 inches from a Discogs buyer, because it only makes sense to add more records to your order when you are already paying for overseas shipping.

In The Stars

One of the classic New Wave Of British Heavy Metal bands that I want to get into my collection this year is Witchfynde. They are just one of those bands that you have to have their records if you are into the NWOBHM. I actually bought a copy of their first album a few years ago, but as luck would have it, it wasn't in the condition that the seller had listed it as so I ended up returning it...and I haven't gone back to try and find another one. I really hope to correct that this year.

While I've always really liked the first Witchfynde album, Give 'Em Hell, it took me some time to warm up to their second record, Stagefright. Initially, Stagefright just seemed to try to push itself to be more than it was. The vocals seemed to be a bit forced, and there were points that would make me cringe as it tried to push the boundaries of what was going on for metal in 1980. I've definately warmed up to that record over the last couple of years, and I really appreciate it these days. While I still need to get my hands on that second album, I was happy to recently grab the single that was released for it when I was picking up a few 7 inches from a UK seller.

Both songs on this In The Stars single are from the Stagefright album, but even though there isn't anything really new here, the songs are still great. I've always liked the look of those Witchfyne labels that Rondelet Records did, and the whole packaging here is a good look.

Trespassing With The NWOBHM

My copy of the second Jameson Raid 7 inch arrived a few weeks back, and when it did, I paid a visit to my friend Jeff for a bit of a vinyl brag. Like me, Jeff is a big fan of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal stuff, and for years he has taken every opportunity to rub it in my face how much better his collection is than mine. Since he had discovered Jameson Raid last year through some recent discography LP that was released, I couldn't wait to show off that I'd bought the real deal with an original single from 1980. After spending the evening giving the record a spin on his turntable and talking about obscure NWOBHM singles, I was itching to rush back to Discogs and see what other trouble I could get into. The next day, I'd loaded up a few more NWOBHM records into my cart and was clicking the Place Order button.

Trespass were one of those NWOBHM bands that probably should have made a bigger impact than they did, but for one reason or another never made it to that next level... maybe it was because the band never released an album, and only dropped three 7 inch records over a three year period. I'm always fascinated by bands like this... bands that only left behind a small string of independently released records before fading into obscurity (no, I haven't bothered to check out their album from 1993, or what they have done since resurrecting themselves in 2014).

Jealousy was the second 7 inch from Trespass, and the two songs here are great. The shipping for this was super quick. From the UK to the US it took about five days. Amazing.

Heavy Metal Shuffle

Back in the early 80's, when I was discovering bands like Def Leppard, Krokus, Quiet Riot and Twisted Sister, one of the records that I took a chance on was Vices from Kick Axe. Hey, I was a 13 year old boy, so a name like Kick Axe seemed very clever and slightly dangerous at the time. They were a good gateway band as I was discovering heavy music, but they quickly paled and probably after a year or so I put them in my rearview mirror as I started to discover harder bands like Maiden and Priest.

A few years ago, I kind of got obsessed with those early 80's bands that introduced me to heavy metal music. I hadn't thought about Kick Axe since the 80's, and I didn't have high expectations when I decided to check them out again. Man, I was surprised with just how much I enjoyed that record. It isn't going to melt your face or anything, but it is a fun album. I mean, the video for On The Road To Rock perfectly captures their early 80's metal cheese, and I fucking love it.

I've been wanting to grab the vinyl for Vices for a while now, and when I saw that my new favorite eBay seller was auctioning off his copy, I knew that I wanted to make a run at it. No sweat. I was the only bidder.

I was recently going through some old notebooks and stuff from school, and I discovered a folder with some old drawings that I had done. I'd completely forgotten how much I used to enjoy drawing as a kid, and it was a kick to find this old stuff. I didn't have a super imagination, but I did like to copy and freehand album covers and Dungeons & Dragons type stuff at the time. Finding my old drawing of the Vices album cover just shows how much of an impact this album had on me at the time.

A Comprehensive Guide To 25 Years

Reissues generally don't interest me, and for the most part, I try to stick with original pressings for my record colleciton. At one point, I was toying with the idea of chasing the first pressings for the Good Riddance albums. Then over the past few years a number of colored vinyl reissues for the band have caught my eye. They looked too good to resist, so I picked up one... and then another... and before I knew it my entire Good Riddance collection was reissues, but you know, I was okay with it.

I discovered Good Riddance around 1996/1997 with A Comprehensive Guide To Moderne Rebellion. The band was on Fat Wreck and I didn't give that label much attention at the time because I figured that everything on that label was kind of a joke pop punk band. With that mindset, I was completely surprised by Good Riddance. They played some great hardcore with lyrics addressing some serious topics. For the next five years or so, Good Riddance were my favorite band. I'm not one to overplay an album, but with A Comprehensive Guide I did just that. I loved that record so much and couldn't stop listening to it at the time, that I eventually got tired of it and shelved it for years. Listening to it today, this thing still holds up.

Last year I picked up the 25th anniversary pressing of the For God And Country album, and I loved the look of that thing. It was only a matter of time before I picked up the anniversary pressing of A Comprehensive Guide as well. With the alternate cover colors, the foil stamped logo, and the wild colored vinyl... this package is really well done.

Krokus Dynamite

Back in 2019, I was neck deep in early 80's nostalgia and obsessing over those bands that first hooked me as a kid to that heavy rock and metal sound. One of those bands was Krokus, and while I hadn't listened to them over the past 30 years, in 2019 they hit me hard and I couldn't get enough of them. I downloaded their entire catalog from the 80's and was chasing down their records (note to self: I still need a copy of Metal Rendez-vous and Heart Attack), but I never bothered with the seven albums Krokus released after metal's golden years.

I don't get out to record store much anymore, but when I was flipping through the bins at one of the Bull Moose stores recently, I stumbled upon Dirty Dynamite from Krokus. The album was originally released back in 2013, but it was apparently reissued last year on colored vinyl. While I'd wanted to check out the more recent Krokus records at some point, I wasn't in any rush to get it done...however, seeing a copy of Dirty Dynamite in a local store just made me want to check it out sooner rather than later.

Goddamn. This is a solid record. The band sounds a good as they did back in the 80's and really deliver some fine AC/DC inspired songs. I know that the Music On Vinyl label has reissued the Hoodoo album from Krokus as well, and I'm going to have to check that out to see if that one is worth picking up as well because they did a nice job with this one.

The record is limited to 1,500 and numbered. Looks like my copy was double stamped, so I've got both 793 and 794.

Metal Obsession

It has been years since I've paid much attention to eBay. However, I've recently found a seller that is slowly listing their collection of metal records that they had back in the 80's, and I can't help by check out what auctions they have ending each weekend. Their records are in fantastic condition, so I keep throwing out the occasional bid and winning.

Obsession were from New Haven, Connecticut, and managed to get themselves onto the second Metal Massacre compilation. That comp is loaded front to back with great songs, but their track, Shadows Of Steel is one of my favorites. That one song was the extent of my exposure to the band, until a few years ago when I finally downloaded the songs from the Marshall Law EP from '83. The four songs on that EP are so damn good, and exactly what I'm looking for when I'm in the mood for some early 80's American Metal. When I saw I saw that my new favorite eBay seller had a copy available, I set my sights on winning another record from him.

This is early 80's metal perfection. From the album cover featuring a group of reapers in front of a stack of Marshall amps, to the photo of the dudes decked out in leather and chains on the back, and then the metal assualt from the four songs on this EP...so good! Owning this record, and seeing how much I'm digging it right now, it just makes me want to rush out and buy more of this stuff.

Night Of The Blade

Tokyo Blade are one of those bands where I have a hard time getting my head around where they are from. See, in my brain I always think that the band was from California along with the other early Metal Blade bands. I mean, I feel like the band would have fit in nicely on the first Metal Massacre compilation, and therefore my first instinct is to think of them as an early American Heavy Metal band alongside the likes of Armored Saint and Lizzy Borden. But that is wrong. Tokyo Blade were from Salisbury in England, so they are obviously a New Wave Of British Heavy Metal band...and while it wasn't planned as a part of my NWOBHM Chase of 2022, it still fits the bill so we are counting it towards my goal for the year.

While I was aware of the Tokyo Blade name as a kid, I don't think that I ever heard any of their records at the time. I'm pretty sure that my exposure was limited to the song Lightning Strikes from the Banzai Axe comp. I downloaded a few of the bands early records about 15 years ago, and I'd give them a casual listen here and there over the years, but I never really invested myself too deeply into them. Last year, however, the Night Of The Blade record hit me hard and I listened to that thing a lot. I couldn't get enough of it. When I saw a copy on Discogs at a very reasonable price I jumped on it.

Since Tokyo Blade is a NWOBHM band, I was tempted to go for the original UK pressing on Powerstation Records, but with my obsession over the green Combat labels, that was obviously the only way that I was going to go here.

Pushing Shit Back Into My Ass

Beyond were a hardcore band out of New York in the late 80's. They might not have been at the level of Youth Of Today or Judge, but their No Longer At Ease record could definitely hold its own against some of the bigger bands at the time. I loved that record, and think it still holds up incredibly well today. In the early 90's when I heard that Kevin Egan was fronting a new band, I was excited to check it out. While still hardcore, 1.6 Band was a different animal than Beyond. The lyrics were more cryptic and the music was doing different things, but I don't know if I've met an early 90's hardcore band that I didn't like, so I was down with what they were doing.

I was buying records in the early 90's, and bought both the Tongue Family Style 7 inch and their album from '92, but somehow I missed out on their second 7 inch the following year. The four songs from Pimpin' Ain't Easy were unknown to me until I bought the Broke Up discography CD in '95. 25+ years later and I'm finally picking up the vinyl for it.

These songs continue what 1.6 Band were doing from their first 7 inch and LP, and they give a nice slap on the ass.

The Nightcomers

As we were coming to the end of 2021, it had me thinking of what record collecting goals I wanted to set for 2022. When I started thinking about what I wanted to accomplish this year, my thoughts kept returning to the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. I know that my plans can get derailed and sometimes lose focus when my tastes bounce around to different genres, but right now my mindset is all about building a solid NWOBHM collection. I didn't chase many of those records last year, but picking up that mint condition Savage record was fucking huge, and the Geddes Axe single damn near made it into my Top Five list for favorite records that I picked up. I want more of that. Let's see how committed to this quest I can be, and we will check in a year from now and see how the NWOBHM Chase Of 2022 turned out.

Holocaust are one of the classic bands from the NWOBHM era. Raw, loose and loud... they are the very definition of bands from that period. They were a big influence on bands like Metallica, who went on to cover the Holocaust song The Small Hours for their Garage Days Re-Revisited. When I decided that I wanted to make a move on a big NWOBHM record, I had my sights on the first Holocaust full length album, The Nightcomers.

It took me some time to fully appreciate this Holocaust record. It kind of reminds me of the first Tygers Of Pan Tang album, where the vocals seems to lack the serious power of other bands at that time. However, these past couple of years has seen me really warm up to both the Holocaust and Tygers records, in part due to the raw youthful passion for heavy metal that is on display. These are young kids doing what they love, playing loud heavy metal music, and I'll always get down with that.

Churry And The Gang

One of my favorite records from 2020 was the new Chubby and the Gang album. That thing just exploded with energy, and I couldn't get enough of it, so I was really looking forward to their new record, The Mutt's Nuts.

I was so excited for this new album that I couldn't resist checking out the first couple of songs that the band released. Lightning Don't Strike Twice was okay but the slide guitar was unexpected and initially it didn't sit well with me...and then came Life's Lemons and I was confused as to what the fuck was going on. This was not the band that I absolutely lost my mind over the year before. I hoped the full album would turn things around for me, so even though I was feeling a bit down on it, I still ordered the record along with the Time And Pressure preorder from REV at the end of summer. That Time And Pressure record saw a few delays, so here we are four months later and I finally have the new Chubby record.

It has taken me some time to warm up to this one. There is still plenty of frantic energy to be found here, but overall it is a bit more relaxed than the first Chubby and the Gang record, but there are just too many of the slower, drawn out songs... like the band is searching for another Grenfell Forever hit... and it really holds this album back for me. I just want the band to rip. Despite my complaints, this is still a fun record...it just isn't nearly as exciting as their first one.

NWOBHM Raid

As we were closing in on the end of 2021, I was quickly trying to scoop up some last minute records that made a big impression on me over the previous twelve months. However, ordering from overseas sellers during the postal nightmare of December probably isn't the winning combination for a successful delivery before the end of the year. While I might not have made it before the new year deadline, there is no denying that this Jameson Raid record was my favorite discovery of 2021.

Jameson Raid was from Birmingham, and released two 7 inches in '79/'80 as the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal was really starting to kick into high gear. The band has never really made it onto my radar until my friend Jeff mentioned that I should check them out last summer... although, the band did have a song on the second Metal For Muthas comp, listed as "The Raid", so technically I guess I had heard them before. One of the cool things about the NWOBHM is that there were so many small and independent bands from that period that each time I dig in a little deeper, I keep finding buried treasures like this. When Jeff told me to check them out, I wasn't really expecting too much, so it was a surprise when they hit me as hard as they did.

This shit is great, and even though newer hardcore bands ruled my playlist last year, those two Jameson Raid records were still the best thing that I uncovered. I desperately wanted those records, but to find one in very good condition was going to cost me some money. I kept checking the listings on Discogs for the band's second 7 inch, End Of Part One, through the last half of the year, and when a cheap copy wasn't falling in my lap, I finally just threw in the cash that I needed to get the job done. No regrets. This record rules.

2021 Owes You Nothing

This past year was a lot of fun for me when it came to record collecting. There were so many newer hardcore bands that I discovered over the past 12 months, and that was what I spent the majority of my time listening to. It seemed that each week I was finding a band from the past few years that I missed out the first time around, and then was doubling back to grab what I could for their records. I also felt locked in and focused on my collecting. I wasn't wasting time and money chasing goofy early 80's MTV singles, and instead I was checking off some big time metal and thrash records that I loved as a teen, and that shit made me more happy than I can explain. I felt like I was making big moves for what I want my collection to represent, and I hope to continue that feeling of satisfaction into 2022.

For 2021, I picked up 194 new records. It was a bit more than I've been hitting the last few years, but where I really saw an increase was in the amount of money I spent. Nearly every month I was adding one or two big ticket items to my collection and it certainly showed when I totalled up how much I spent over this past year. No doubt, I was having fun...and I even managed to cross off five records from my 2021 Want List.

It was tough coming up with my top five records that I picked up this past year. There were so many great ones, but I guess these were the ones that had me the most excited.

1. Down To Nothing 'Life On The James' record release - It had been a while since I'd listened to Down To Nothing, so when Chris mentioned that he was selling his record release copy of Life On The James, I basically bought it only because I owned the record release pressing of The Most, and in my mind it just made sense to own both. Once it arrived, I was reminded how great DTN were and I listened to them a lot for the rest of the year.

2. Foundation 'Turncoat' blue and red mix - I never put much thought into chasing this one, but when a Discogs seller listed it with the description of a "purple explosion in space', I just had to get my hands on it. Limited to 100 and an absolute beautiful piece of vinyl. Worth the price I paid for it.

3. Dark Angel 'Darkness Descends' first Combat pressing - I bought a few first press 80's metal records, and each one had me stupid excited. These were such a huge part of my teenage years, and as I originally picked them up as cassettes or CDs, it feels extra special to add the vinyl to the collection. Honestly, I want to do more of this in 2022. To grab this Dark Angel record from '86 in mint condition was a fantastic find...even if I had to pay a high price tag for it.

4. Split Lip 'Soul Kill' on blue - I spent a fair amount of time this past year stuck in an early 90's hardcore playlist. On a whim, I checked Discogs for Split Lip records and when I saw a seller with the blue vinyl available for sale, I had to feed the need.

5. Righteous Jams 'Rage Of Discipline' on red - Goddamn. I'd forgotten how much fun the first Righteous Jams record was. This thing was huge back in the day but it fell off my radar a bit over the years, and it apparently did the same for everyone else as well because I was able to scoop this up for pretty cheap. That red vinyl with the cover is a good look.

2021 was a big year for hardcore for me. There were so many bands that had me excited throughout the year, and putting together a Top 10 was a tough job. Marcus reminded me early in the year that New Age Records was still putting out some good records, so when I took a chance and checked out the Vanguard record, I was blown away. Considering how much I loved rediscovering Bloodlust Revenge from One King Down in 2020, it was no surprise when Vanguard hooked me so hard. Rage Of Deliverance was easily the record I listened to the most through 2021, but Ekulu, Turnstile and The Dividing Line were no slouch either. There was no doubt that these were going to be my Top Four.

For the most part, new metal records failed to impress me much this past year. To be honest, this Top Ten list covers just about every new metal records that I picked up, and for a while I wasn't sure that I was going to even list ten here. The top five are really solid, and I fucking love Freeways, but really anything at the bottom of this list is kind of a shoulder shrug from me. It's okay, but doesn't knock me on my ass. This was probably the strangest thing about 2021. With bands locked down due to Covid-19 the year before, I expected a flood of new records from bands that I love, but instead things just seemed a bit light. Maybe, metal records will knock me out in 2022.

So there is my 2021 collecting in a nutshell. It might not be very impressive to the serious collectors, but if you are down with some cheap records from hardcore bands that no one cares about, or old 80's metal bands, thanks for hanging out.