Clutch Collector's Series #3

I love the Clutch collector's series. The first two, Blast Tyrant and Robot Hive/Exodus, both were well done and looked fantastic... so when number three in the series was announced, of course I jumped in to order one.

After the first two records in the Collector's Series were released, it looked like the band was focusing more on those albums after the band started making the shift in their sound and take a more "rock" approach. I was hoping that we were going to get some of their earlier albums, but it was starting to look like that wasn't the direction the series was going to take... so I was completely stoked when it was announced that the next record in the series was the first Clutch full length album, Transnational Speedway League.

I know that some people tend to prefer the early records from Clutch, but I've never really spent much time with them. Outside of songs like A Shogun Named Marcus and Rats, I really didn't know anything from this album, so I was was excited to buy the vinyl and force myself to finally sit with it. These early records definitely have a more raw sound, and while I've always leaned more into their more recent straight forward rock stuff, I'm really starting to appreciate the 90's sound that Clutch had going on here as well.

As with all of the records in the Collector's Series, I really like the newly reimagined artwork, and the spot varnish in certain spots, and the foil letters on the back, really gives the cover dimension and really pop. The numbered and signed insert is a nice touch as well.

Yeah, I love this series. You can tell that Clutch care about the product that they are releasing and make sure that it is special. I'm hoping it continues.

Chain Of Death

Last year, I was excitd to check out the new album from the band Planet On A Chain. The singer had been in Tear It Up and Dead Nation, and since I love both of those bands, so I had high hopes for POAC... however, even though I liked the record, it didn't end up exciting me as much as I thought it would. Still, when preorders went up at Revelation for the follow up album, Culture Of Death, I still quickly grabbed one.

I'm not sure what it is, but this POAC record is hitting me harder than the last one. I hadn't listened to it until I started to write up this blog post, but it had an immediate impact on me, and I was looking forward to giving it another spin. Maybe it's my mindset, and my ears want to hear something hard and fast like this right now, but Culture Of Death has me hooked from the start and I want more of it.

While the Boxed In record had a straight forward hardcore look, Culture Of Death goes for something a bit different. From the death metal font, to King Kong ripping the roof off the building, and the black, magenta and yellow colorway on the cover... this record has more of a creative look... and while I really liked the front cover for Boxed In, I'm digging the different look for this one as well. 330 pressed on a color vinyl that makes a nice attempt to match the cover.

Good News For People Who Love Modest Mouse

Back in the early to mid 2000's, I was searching for music that was new and interesting to me. I'd fallen out of the hardcore scene a bit and was feeling a bit lost, so I was downloading anything that might catch my attention... and that included a lot of hip hop, 70's and indie rock bands... some of it hit the mark, but a lot of it was disposable and I didn't stick with it much longer than two or three spins of the burned CDR that I'd made for my car stereo. One of the bands that I was checking out at that time was Modest Mouse. There was something about them that I found interesting, but I think that I was just consuming so much new music at the time that it was overwhelming, and I never really gave them much of a chance.

So while I'd never really given Modest Mouse much of chance back in the 2000's, as we were closing out 2023, my friend Sarah shared the song Dramamine with me. I'd never heard that song before, but it was a perfect fit for the musical headspace I was in at the time. I sat with that one song for a few months before I started to really crave more from the band, and then I started to dig out more and more songs from them. Soon Modest Mouse became a full on obsession, and there was not a day throughout April and May that I was not listening to something from the band.

Because sometimes it is all about the timing, but as my Modest Mouse obsession was ramping up, I noticed that there was a 20th anniversary edition of Good News For People Who Love Bad News that was due to be released in the coming weeks... and holy shit, it looked fucking nice.

From the new design on the front cover, to the colored vinyl, and lyric booklet... this was just so pleasing to my eyes that I couldn't pass it up.

Also as luck would have it, Modest Mouse are playing a live show with The Pixies in New Hampshire this month. I don't know anyone else that would have been interested to seeing them, so I would have to go to the show by myself, and that felt a little weird. Like, I have no problem going to small hardcore shows alone, because once the music starts and I've got my place in front of the stage to sing along and get jumped on, being there by myself doesn't matter. But a big concert, with assigned seating... I dunno, it just felt weird to think about going to that by myself. In the end I just said "fuck it", and I'm gonna be weird. I bought my ticket and can't wait to see the band perform some of my favorite songs this year live.

Loyal To 90's Straight Edge

In the early 90's, I picked up an album that was released on Crucial Response for an Italian straight edge band named Think Twice. They actually toured the US and I saw them open a show in Boston for Kingpin. It always seemed kind of cool that was able to catch the band live as it didn't seem that European bands made it over to the States very often at that time. That Think Twice album received plenty of time on the stereo back in the day, but it isn't something that I reach for often these days, but I do have a bit of nostalgia wrapped up in it with those vocals and the Italian accent.

When I was picking up the Man Will Surrender and Deepwater records, I saw this Think Twice 7 inch from the seller as well. I didn't even know that Think Twice had released a 7 inch record... I thought that the LP was all they did... so I added it to the cart as well.

Look, this 7 inch isn't going to blow the minds of anyone checking it out, especially in 2024, but as a slice of early 90's straight edge hardcore, this is fucking fun.

The Same Deepwater As You

When I was picking up the Man Will Surrender record from a Discogs seller last year, I was checking to see what other hardcore records they had available and I came across something listed with a release date of 1993. I'd never heard of Deepwater, but as soon as I opened the Discogs page for the band, I saw that Jason Jordan from Encounter played guitar for them. I quickly downloaded the songs on Soulseek, and after a quick listen, I was adding the record to my cart.

As soon as I started listening to the songs on this record, the vocals immediately sounded familar. I couldn't quite place them, so I started digging in and following links on Discogs, and quickly found out it was the same guy that sang for Policy Of Three. Holy shit. I loved that band too! I dug in a little further and found that the other guitar player had also been in Point Of View.

Goddamn. Encounter. Policy Of Three. Point Of View. I could not get this record into my collection any faster.

I found it strange that I'd never heard of this 90's hardcore "supergroup" until 30 years later, but then I noticed the record was released on Break Even Point. I always found it weird when US hardcore bands released their record through this label out of Italy. I'm not sure if Break Even Point were big in Europe, but they were basically invisible here in the States... hence, probably the main reason why I'd never heard of Deepwater back in the day.

Instrument Of Surrender

Last summer my music taste went off the rails. For the most part, I was just listening to different shit than I usually did, and because of that my record collecting slowed to a crawl. The new music styles that I was obsessing over had me excited to listen, but for the most part it wasn't something that I needed to buy and collect. So I bought a few old hardcore records last July, and then did a pivot on my tastes, and didn't really bother chasing records again until early this year. So basically, this next group of posts are for records that I picked up almost a year ago and have been sitting around collecting dust since they arrived... and right now I'm very happy to be listening and blogging about them.

Dude. This 12 inch from Man Will Surrender is 30 years old, and I'm just hearing it now. How insane is that? For someone that loves 90's hardcore as much as I do, and I'm still be finding cool shit like this... it blows my mind. Sure I only discovered the band with their Five On The Dime EP seven years ago, but still... why has it taken me this long?

I didn't pay much attention to Conversion Records back in the early 90's. If they were doing a release with New Age, I was into it, but Conversion only records generally didn't get my attention, and I'm not sure why. I guess that they weren't getting the hype that New Age was with their bands (and seeing that I bought this record still sealed with shrinkwrap, I guess that I wasn't the only one), so I never bothered. Glad to finally own and obsess over this record today.

A Sinner's Mood

At the end of 2022, I discovered the band Early Moods. It had been a long time since I'd had a new doom band grab my attention like that, and I quickly picked up their first album. When I heard that the band was releasing A Sinner's Past this year, I jumped in for the preorders.

Having not really listened to a lot of metal this year, it took me some time to appreciate the new Early Moods record... but once it clicked, it CLICKED. A Sinner's Past keeps on in a similar vein as the self titled album with the heavy doom influence of Candlemass. This is so good and I'll be reaching for this record a lot when I want this style this year.

I have no information about the colored vinyl, but I like how it looks!

Evident Truth

When I was buying record in the early 90's, I didn't know that collecting colored vinyl and limited editions was a thing. If I bought a record on black vinyl, I just assumed that was the only option. Multiple versions was not a concept that ever entered my head at the time. I picked up the two Voice Of Reasons back then and since they were both on black vinyl, I figured that my job was done. 25 years later, I was in deep with collecting records and discovered that the Voice Of Reason 7 inches actually had colored vinyl pressings and so I started the hunt. I finished off the Gear collection last year, and I was happy to finally get the last piece of the collection recently.

Voice Of Reason were out of Texas and fit that early 90's Ebullition style that I was eating up at the time. Downcast, Struggle, Born Against... that shit ruled my world at the time, and Voice Of Reason were just as good as any of those bands getting recognition and more of the spotlight. Maybe because it played such a large part in shaping who I was to become and how I saw the world, and they were my formative years of discovering hardcore, but I still never tire of this style and I return to it often.

Parody To The Righteous was the first 7 inch from Voice Of Reason, and I'm sure that I picked it up from the Ebullition mailorder in those early days. Buying this colored vinyl version with the limited cover all these years later has me more excited than you can imagine. Holding this 7 inch in my hands, makes me want to only chase 90's hardcore records.

The "Silence = Death" sticker on the inside sleeve for the record is a sign of the times. Tell me you were a political hardcore band in the early 90's without telling me...

Full group photo to signal the complete collection of an obscure hardcore band that very few people will know or care about.

Amusement

After seeing a few people post about Amusement on Instagram recently... and Lins making comparisons to Seaweed... I figured that I'd check them out.

The first thing that caught my eye was the simple cover design. The look is very straightforward and it reminds me of something that would have come out in the late 70's. It is a great aesthetic.

Amusement come right out of the gates with two 7 inch records... one from Extinction Burst, and the other from Council Records. Extinction Burst had a bundle with both records on colored vinyl, so I grabbed mine from there.

While I can kind of pick up on the Seaweed comparison, to me, Amusement's sound falls more in line with something like Pegboy. I really like the four songs here, and I enjoy them more with each listen.

I'm glad that I pulled my head out of all of the weird and different shit that I've been stuck in so far this year, and that I checked out this band. Hopefully there is more to come.

Razzle Dazzle

When I picked up the new Blood Ceremony album last year, I was kind of surprised that Rise Above Records was still going. The label started to release some stuff that I wasn't interested in at the end of 2019, and then they fell off my radar completely. It was nice to get the Blood Ceremony album from them last year, and when Sandwell sent me a message that the label was releasing a new single from a band that I might be interested in, I figured that I'd check it out.

I wasn't sure what to think when I heard the name Bobbie Dazzle and saw that Rise Above described them as 70's inspired glam rock, but the record cover did catch my attention, so I figured that I'd check a song to see if I should pick up the record.

Initially, I thought these two songs were just okay, but the more I listen to them, the more I like them... and it is only a two song single, so it makes it really easy to throw this record on for a quick listen. This record has been a nice surprise and I'm hoping that we see more from this band soon.

100 pressed on purple sparkle colored vinyl.

Second Of June

There is no better feeling than discovering some long lost 90's hardcore punk record that puts your jaw on the ground with how great it is. As strange as my listening habits have been this year, I still keep returning to those 90's Ebullition style emo bands. So through the deluge of Tiny Little Houses and The Cure songs, I'm still giving bands like Moss Icon and Shotmaker plenty of playing time. As I was fucking around in Spotify earlier this year, I was checking a list of recommended similar bands for Current and I saw Plunger in there. I'd basically forgotten about that band, and figured that I'd check to see if they struck a chord with me in 2024. Oh shit. Yes, this is exactly what I want in my ears right now.

Plunger were one of the many bands in the mid-90s doing this style, and while other bands might have caught more of the spotlight at the time, Plunger were still making their own mark. Checking out their discography on Spotify reminded me just how much I loved their 7 inch, and splits with Blank and William Martyr 17. A year or so after the release of those early Plunger records, I was moving on to the youth crew revival stuff, and so I quickly forgot about them and completely missed that the band released an album in 1997.

Listening to this record today is like travelling back in time. I don't think that there are bands doing this style anymore, and if there are, I'd be surprised if they could pull it off as successfully as those bands were doing it back in the 90's. Honestly, this record has some of the best music that I'll discover this year. I love this shit so much.

As it was required for all 90's emo bands to do something extra with their packaging, this Plunger LP comes with a 10 page booklet with lyrics and various writings from the band.

Hell, Fire and Saxon

I really like Saxon, and I've really enjoyed all five of their newer albums that I've picked up over the past 13 years... but to be honest, I'm kind of at a point where I'm asking myself if I really need more. It's all good shit, and when I give those records a spin, I do like them... so maybe it is just where my head is at musically, and I'd just rather listen to something else.

When Hell, Fire And Damnation was intially up for preorder, I was kind of annoyed that I was going to have to buy another Saxon record. I didn't want to, but seeing that I've bought each new album from the band over the years, I felt obligated. However once I started looking online to purchase, it seemed that I was only seeing the black vinyl option in the US, so I quickly moved on.

I listened to the songs a couple of times on Spotify, and even though I wasn't in the mood to listen to it, I recognized it as another really great record for the band. Had I not seen the record on colored vinyl in a local Bull Moose store here, I may have never bought a copy... but holding it in my hands was too much of a temptation and I bought it. I'm not too excited for it right now, but we'll see how I feel about it when my mood eventually shifts and I want something newer from Saxon.

Late Retaliation

I'll admit it. Sometimes I'm a little slow on the draw. Some bands just take a bit longer to hit for me for one reason or another, and The Chisel was one of them. I've dipped in to check them out occasionally since I first heard of the band back in 2021. I'd hear someone giving them a bit of hype and I'd queue up a couple of songs, but then would quickly move on when I wasn't really feeling it. Maybe I was just stuck on Chubby and the Gang, and didn't want to allow any other UK bands to come close to that style, but I could not ride with The Chisel... until earlier this year.

Say what you want about Spotify, but it has straight up introduced me to so much music. Earlier this year, when I was listening to the Spotify radio, which builds a playlist based off of your listening tastes, it threw the song So Do I at me. I heard the song and had to check to see who the band was... and then a half hour later they were serving the song Unlawful Execution, and at that point I figured that I needed to pay closer attention to the band. I saw there was a newer pressing of the record available, and the vinyl was looking good, so I quickly added one to my cart.

This record is really good. I tend to think that I'm not interested in the Oi sound in hardcore, and The Chisel gets that tag a lot... and that may have been part of why I was so hesitant... but this is good fast hardcore with plenty of snotty attitude, and I dig it. When I picked up Retaliation I had no idea that The Chisel had a new album out this year as well, so I'm definitely going to have to track down the What A Fucking Nightmare record at some point too.

Talkin' Spiritual Cramp

So far, 2024 has given me two newer albums that have had me straight up obsessed. I posted about the new IDLES record earlier this month, but right there alongside it as one of my favorites this year is the latest from Spiritual Cramp.

The band caught my attention last year when I was chasing all kinds of new and different music. I was on Spotify and noticed they had a playlist for new releases that they put together based on my listening tastes. Normally, I would have ignored it, but given my mood most of last year, I figured that I'd give it a quick check to see if anything jumped out at me. One of the first things that I saw was a song called Earth To Mike from Spiritual Cramp. Given that my name was in the song title, I decided to listen to it... and it was so much fun. As I was getting into that song, Spiritual Cramp were set to release their new full length record, but I was still hesitant to commit to the band. I mean, Earth To Mike and a couple other songs from the Here Comes More Bad News EP were cool, but did I like them enough to hang with a full album?

As we were closing out February this year, early in the morning one of the newer Spiritual Cramp songs, Talkin' On The Internet came up on Spotify and I was instantly hooked. I immediately jumped in to listen to the full album, and by 10:00 that morning, I'd run through it three times. Fuck. It was so good. Two months later and I still can't get enough of this record, and I have to actively choose to NOT listen to it for fear that I'm going to overplay the damn thing. In fact, I'm also trying to not rush out and buy the three other vinyl options for this record like an addict.

Rattle Your Boots

Back on my bootleg bullshit. I posted one earlier this year when I added another live Slayer boot to the collection, but I had the itch for more, so this is my first one for Megadeth.

I wasn't too impressed with the goofy looking cover art for this Megadeth bootleg, but since it was a very early live set for the band, I couldn't resist it. Recorded live in San Francisco on February 19th, 1984, so these are the very early years of the band. We are a full year out from the release of Megadeth's first album, and Mustaine is still cobbling together musicians trying to find a group that works... in fact, based on the time frame, I'm fairly certain that this live set is one of the five shows that had Kerry King on guitar before he went back to focus on Slayer full time.

The setlist had me excited to check out these songs but the sound is so rough at the beginning that I can't tell what is playing. The first song is Hook In Mouth, and I was curious if this was an early version of the song that ended up on the So Far, So Good album from '88, but the sound is so bad that I have no idea... same with the next song Burnt Offerings...it is just a blur of noise. Thankfully things clear up and sound much better by the time we hit Chosen Ones, and the rest of the album is a lot of fun to listen to. It is very raw and really captures the young thrash scene with Mustaine's over the top between song banter... and yes, he talks plenty of shit on Metallica. Overall, this record is very raw and what I would expect from a live bootleg from this time period.

Red Chunks

At some point last Fall, Marcus reached out to me with an eBay link for someone that had a copy of the Last Rights 7 inch on red vinyl for sale. It was no surprise that I hadn't heard anything about this colored vinyl pressing, but Marcus appeared to be stumped as well. We couldn't find any info anywhere online. Was it a legit TAANG release, or was it a boot? Well, for $15 I figured that I'd take the chance.

Turns out, TAANG is selling the record on Discogs, and have it listed as only 200 pressed on red, so it appears to be an official release. Surprisingly though, Discogs shows the selling history is at zero. None of these have sold through Discogs... and I'm one of three people listed as owning it there? Kind of weird for a classic hardcore record reissue that has been available for at least six months.

I love the Last Rights songs... a lot. Their entire output is some of the best Boston Hardcore, but the reality of me owning an original pressing of the Chunks 7 inch was very low. Sure, I've dropped $500 on original pressings for albums... but, man, to spend that for a two song 7 inch... I don't know. Seeing this colored vinyl version seemed like a good enough option to get something into my collection.

Test Tour Remission

There was a time, not that long ago, when the first thing that I'd do each morning was open my latest Discogs wantlist message to see if there was anything new that I should buy. Over the past 6 months or so, I gave that routine up. Same shit everyday with the same shit prices. It was frustrating, so I started ignoring them. A couple months back, I was itching to buy some records, but didn't know what I wanted... so I hit one of the wantlist messages and was surprised to see something that I wanted... and at a good price.

What? Posting my second test pressing this year? Damn, this almost feels like a record collector blog again. I've got a pretty solid Remission collection, so when I saw this test available on Discogs from the guy that used to run Amendment Records, I quickly added that shit to my cart and bought it.

This has been a nice reminder of how great Remission were. This record came out near the height of my record collecting mania, and it is cool as fuck to get my hands on this test press eleven years later.

I exchanged a few messages with the seller after he had shipped the record, and discovered that he also had a copy of the tour press that I was missing. I was so excited about the test press, that I failed to look to see what else he had available when I ordered. We worked a deal off Discogs, and quickly another Remission record was headed my way.

There were 110 copies on blue vinyl, with the European Tour 2013 stamped dust sleeve.

The tour press also included a couple of nice inserts with tour dates and stuff. Cool additions to capture the moment in time. This completes the Pain Understood collection, and now all I need are the tests for the two albums (and a transition press of Winds Of Promise if you want to get technical about it).

New Idles

Last year, I was all about checking out new music that was outside the normal spectrum of what I typically listen to. I was really craving something new and different for me, and I found all kinds of stuff that was fresh and interesting to me. In that spirit, I stumbled upon the band IDLES as I was checking out some new music on Spotify. The artwork of the pink frosted cake for the single Gift Horse caught my eye, and I figured that I'd take a chance and give it a quick listen.

I was really digging the Gift Horse single and quickly checked the other two song that were on Spotify to promote the upcoming album TANGK. I listened to those songs a lot... partly because I really liked them, but also because I wasn't sure how much I really liked them. A couple of the songs were a bit raucous but still restrained, and one of the songs, Grace, was really laid back... and I couldn't easily define the band. I could feel myself starting to obsess over the songs, and after being drawn back to Grace over and over, I started to wonder if I wanted to buy the record.

There was a deluxe edition of the vinyl available, and I was wondering if I should make the jump for it. It cost a bit more than the regular version, but the holographic cover sounded like it would be a cool touch... but I still wasn't sure if I wanted to spend the cash for a band that I didn't know too well, so I stared at it in the webstore for about a week... and then it sold out. I was mad at myself for not making a move sooner and for playing it so safe... and then a couple of days later the webstore had it in stock again, so I quickly pulled the trigger.

Initially I wasn't sure how I felt about the full album, but after a few listens it really started to click with me, and it is one of the most listened to records for me so far this year. I'm still listening to a bunch of stuff that is a bit different for me, and this IDLES record is definitely one of my favorite things right now.

The entire packaging of this record is so good. The metallic holographic TANGK logo on the front, the great looking vinyl, the large booklet insert, and the Love Is The Fing sticker on the front. There is also a sticker that is stuck over the opening for the record, and I had to carefully peel that off to get into the gatefold cover, which was a bit of a pain in the ass, but was a unique touch. Well done all around.

Out Of Takes

I'm not big on alternate recordings for songs. It just doesn't interest me. All I need is the final version that ended up on the record. Anything else is wasted on me. So when I heard that there was a new Minor Threat record with some outtakes, I didn't give it much thought. However, as I was listening to the DJ station on Spotify and it queued up this different version of In My Eyes, it caught my ear and I thought it was kind of cool.

Okay, a little backstory. Chad Lutzke is an author that I enjoy quite a bit. He writes short novellas that tend to come in just over 100 pages, and focus on darker coming-of-age themes and slice of life stories. He writes in a very stripped down style that works incredibly well for him, and I binged seven of his books to start the year, including his classic Of Foster Home And Flies and a reread of one of my favorite novellas ever, Out Behind The Barn. The other thing about Chad is that he loves old school hardcore punk, and we have exchanged a few messages and comments through Instagram... but I was surprised when he had tagged me in a post a few months ago asking if I'd picked up the new Minor Threat 7 inch. While I hadn't really considered buying the record, getting called out like that had me rushing to the Dischord store so that I didn't lose any punk points with the man.

Was I happy that I caved to peer pressure when the record arrived? The packaging is great, with the story on how this recording came to be, plus the photos from that time are a perfect documentation of history... the clear vinyl looks great, and the songs are fun as hell. Does that answer your questions, motherfuckers?