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.

Screaming For More Vinyl

I got my Have Heart order from Bridge Nine a while ago. When I got the package, my wife had written a funny little note on the outside of the box. Jokes on her though...there is no such thing as too many records. Who's laughing now?!?! Seriously though, money is TIGHT right now, and each month I start it off by saying that I'm going to cut back and not buy as many records as I have been. By the end of the month, I'm surprised to find that I've dropped over a $100 again on new shit. The collector's motto : "Buy it now, or spend three times as much later on eBay.".

Let me start by saying that the cover for Songs to Scream at the Sun is the worst. I'm all for trying to not just have another generic hardcore album cover, but this idea sucks. Reminds me of some lame Blink 182 shit. The album on the inside however, that is a thing of beauty. While not even coming close to the brilliance that was The Things We Carry, the new album is still pretty impressive. You can tell from Pat's lyrics that his mind was on some serious personal shit. Maybe that's why it isn't grabbing me like their last album. It has taken a few listens to start to sink in, and some of the songs are really strong, but time will tell if this really grabs me.

There was some pressing plant mess with the blue vinyl, and the label found themselves with more than they had intended. They ended up shipping a bunch back, and getting 1,000 on white vinyl. This caused a bit of a delay in shipping, but I'm happy to have all three colors. Yellow vinyl is limited to 500.

Along with the album, I also got a couple of 7 inches from Bridge Nine. I'm really not sure what the point is of these records, as they have two songs that you can find on the LP. Other than just being something additional to collect, and having a much better cover than the album, this kind of record is kind of pointless. 500 pressed on black, 1,000 pressed on yellow.

Happy Birthday From A Friend

Speechless. I was completely surprised when Rob delivered two records to my desk at work for my birthday. Grateful. Friends don't come much better than this. I had spent the weekend out record shopping and had thought about buying Waste 'Em All by Municipal Waste, and Maiden's new "Best Of" album on vinyl, but I ended up putting both of them back on the shelf. Then there I was on Monday morning with a birthday surprise....it's like he was reading my mind. Thankful. We met at work over 10 years ago, and I am so thankful to have found such a friendship. I have very few close friends, and if he wasn't around, I know that I would really miss that outlet to just act like a complete retard. It has been a long 10 years, from Magic the Gathering tournaments to Unreal Tournament...from mountain biking to snowboarding...from ICP concerts to Xbox nights...from Celtics games to weekend roadtrips. None of this would have happened without him. Man, those have been the best of times, and here is to many more. Thanks for everything friend.

The One Thing That Still Holds True

Inspired by the new banner that Tyler added to his blog, I decided to try and add some personality to my layout as well. I have also been thinking of renaming this blog for a while now. I loved the Record Nerd name when I created the blog two years ago, but I wasn't aware that the name was already being used by a website to show off your record collection. I had probably heard the name at one point and stored it in my brain subconsciously. With a new banner, comes a new name, The One Thing That Still Holds True. The name, of course, comes from the band Chain of Strength. When I was running through song and album titles, trying to find something that clicked, this one just seemed perfect. Music has played such a huge part in making me who I am, and it is something that even now, after all these years, is still such a big part of my life. So there you go, Record Nerd is dead...long live this one thing that still holds true.

Happy Birthday From The Family

38 years old. Holy shit. Each year that my birthday rolls around and I'm forced to recognize how old I am, it always surprises me. When did get this old? In some ways I feel like I'm such a different person than I was at 20, but in many ways I still feel that young...like I've never really grown up. I think that a part of it is that I'm still strongly attached to the same music that I loved through my teenage years. I need music and crave it at all times. I can't drive the car without needing to throw a CD into the player. If I have 5 spare minutes at home, I'm hopping on to the computer to check out a new song that I had downloaded. When I get home with the kids, it's a race to see if I can get the stereo on before they get the TV on. On a good day, I can make my way through 9 or 10 CD's while I'm at work. I surf around on the internet, checking ebay for records that I really can't afford to buy. I live and breathe this stuff. It keeps me young. My family is so good to me, that when my birthday rolls around, they give me gift cards to either Newbury Comics or Bull Moose Music so that I can go music shopping for myself. While this year, I also got some gift cards for Home Depot to buy materials for my music shelving, I also got enough for a good shopping trip.

The first item on my shopping list was the new album from The Raconteurs, Consolers of the Lonely. The band includes Jack White from The White Stripes, and this new album is simply an amazing rock record. I've even grown to appreciate the one song that includes some violin. The gatefold packaging for this double album is spectacular and well worth the $30. While shopping, I couldn't resist picking up the Metallica S&M triple vinyl. The album was priced at $16 with a "50% Off" sticker on it, so I grabbed it for $8. Sweet deal. The rest of the money from my birthday went towards a bunch of CD's that I wanted for my collection to replace those shitty burned CD's that I had.

We're Back!

I got back from my week long vacation today. A week on the lake with the family. No stereo...no computer...no distractions. While it was nice to get away, man, I missed the non-stop barrage of music. First thing that I did, once everything was unpacked, was hit the stack of new vinyl sitting here next to my computer.

One of my newest obsessions has been Back On Black...a new record label, like Night of the Vinyl Dead, that specializes in classic Metal vinyl. Back On Black releases look fucking amazing, and have tempted me to start collecting a number of them. My first order from CM Distro was for two bands that have made a pretty strong return to Thrash over the past couple of years. First up was Onslaught. I never heard this band back when they were releasing albums in the 80's, but after a recommendation, I did check out Killing Peace when it was released last year. I loved the album...great modern Thrash, and has made me go back and visit the bands roots as well. The other band making a comeback has been Exodus. Fuck, I loved this band as kid...I even had the album cover of Bonded By Blood as a back patch for my denim jacket. The band has a new singer now, but I am still loving the albums that they are putting out, and Shovel Headed Kill Machine from 2005 is no exception. Brutal album. Since I had downloaded both of these albums, and hadn't bought them, seeing them get the vinyl treatment from Back On Black was all I needed to pick up these two killer albums.

So, yeah, just like some classic Thrash bands, I'm back. The week on the lake was perfect. We had great weather all week long, and I spent a lot of time swimming with the kids. In addition to swimming and hanging out on the beach, I got a ton of reading done. I finished book number two for The Manly Book Club. Brent made the selection this month with Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield. Unlike last month, I actually finished the book before our meeting. If I didn't have this past week off and was away from the computer and music, I'm not sure if I would have finished it. However, as strange as it may seem, I really enjoyed this book. I never would have believed that I would have gotten into a book based on the battle of Thermopylae, but damn, other than my inability to keep the names of all the characters straight, I had a great time reading this one. It's my turn to pick the book for next month. I may take the easy way out and go with something that Rob mentioned that he wants to read....Hell, it looks like a good selection, so I'll probably go with that.

In addition to my Book Club reading, I also managed to also finish reading Judas Priest : Heavy Metal Painkillers by Marin Popoff. This book was more up my alley. All the pictures of the band's old singles, and discussion around each song from every album...man, I really wanted to listen to this band over the past week. A really fun read, and I just love Popoff's books.

And since I can't help but act stupid when the camera comes out, here is a picture of me hitting the books this past week. Word.

Feeling Good

I found this excerpt from a Peanuts comic strip the other day. Someone had it as their signature on a messageboard, and I thought that it was a perfect reflection of my personality. There is no better way to turn around a bad day at work than skipping out at lunch and hitting the record store. I feel pretty lucky that I've got two great stores within a 5 minute drive from my office. When things get shitty and stressful at work, I've got a perfect escape just outside the doors and around the corner. New vinyl makes all the problems go away. Ha!

I got a nice big order from Very Distro the other week. I went a little crazy...they were having a sale on Earache Records titles, and I took the opportunity to grab a few different colors of the SSS record as well as a picture disc of The Art of Partying by Municipal Waste. I've started warming up to the idea of picture discs. While past readers of this blog should be know, I've always despised picture discs....there is no packaging and the sound quality is typically shit. Then it dawned on me the other day, who cares, they are great additions to my collection! For SSS, I picked up the clear and green colored vinyl, plus the original pressing on Dead & Gone Records, which was the bands record label before they moved to Earache. They released the SSS record on about 9 different colors of vinyl....I now have 3 colors. The other album that I picked up was Symptoms of Youth by Bad Reaction. Someone from last.fm turned me on to this band, as we both liked Fields of Fire, and Ben Edge from that band now plays in Bad Reaction. Very cool style of old school punk, in the vein of The Adolescents and early Circle Jerks.

70's Priest

Man, I have completely fallen in love with early Judas Priest. Those first four albums, from '74's Rocka Rolla through '78's Stained Class, are just complete classics. While Sabbath may have "invented" Heavy Metal, Priest were one of the first bands to embrace the style and proudly attach the label to themselves. Between re-discovering these early records and starting to read Martin Popoff's book, Heavy Metal Painkillers, I have started to think more and more about starting to collect some of those early records. A few months ago, on a shopping trip with Jeff, I bought Sad Wings of Destiny and Sin After Sin to get the collection started, but this entry is for the more obscure Tyrant 12 inch on white vinyl. I really have no idea how rare this is, or if it is at all, and it seems like it might be a cash-in for Gull Records trying to squeeze some money out of the band's legacy by releasing this 12 inch single in 1984 for songs that were released in '74 and '75. Either way, I'm happy to add this to my collection.

True Colors of Vinyl

Six Feet Under Records recently posted on the Livewire Records messageboard about a new Down to Nothing 7 inch that they were releasing. I'd never heard of the label, but man, I loved the last DTN record, so I hopped on their site to place my order. While I was there, I saw that the record label had also done the U.S. pressing of the True Colors album. Tyler had turned me on to this band and man, I have been loving the Focus on the Light album lately. This album doesn't break down any musical barriers, it is just solid straight edge hardcore, played with sincerity and passion. I ordered the album on orange vinyl, which was limited to 105 pressed. I'm seriously thinking of going back and ordering the other color of vinyl for this one.

The Down to Nothing 7 inch, Hem Hem, is a little strange....I'm not really sure what to make of it. The cover photo for the record is a pretty good indication that this is coming a little bit from left field. The first song is some pretty ripping hardcore, but the lyrics are so over the top ridiculous that I'm left scratching my head. The rest of the songs are just as odd...Crucifixion of the Bunghole (???). I'm really not sure what the purpose of this record is. Maybe I'm just on the outside of an inside joke. Only pressed on black vinyl, limited to 270.