Intro / Coke Bust

Coke Bust have been around for a while now. I remember first deciding to check them out back in 2007, as I'd been hearing their name a lot at the time. I downloaded their 2006 demo, but along with the terrible production and crazy, chaotic sound, I promptly deleted it after listening to just one song.

Fast forward six years, and I get an email from Grave Mistake, announcing that Coke Bust has a new LP available for order. There seemed to be some excitement around it, so I said "what the hell", and downloaded it to preview and see if my opinion had changed. Given that Sectarian Violence and Coke Bust share the same singer, it shouldn't have been a surprise, but damn, this is really good. Insanely fast, rough, raw and angry...recalling bands like Infest, Crossed Out, and Think I Care. I slept on this band for far too long.

200 pressed on red vinyl, and the LP comes with a gigantic poster.

While I was picking up the Confined LP, I figured that I might as well add the Degradation 7 inch to my order as well.

Another solid record. Six fast and loud blasts of anger, clocking in at six minutes total.

Double Done Dying

I've always been a fan of all things Dan O'Mahoney...well, I've never bothered to check out God Forgot...but with that one exception, I've always been excited to check out Dan O's new bands. I'd been hearing about Done Dying all summer, with word about two 7 inches on the way, and as soon as they dropped, I pounced on 'em.

When you bring together ex-members of No For An Answer, Outspoken, and Collateral Damage, you've set my expectations pretty high. Thankfully, Done Dying do not disappoint.

Reaper Records gave us the Shelf Life EP, and I'm loving these songs. When I first heard the old Carry Nation song, Temple Walls, kick in at the end of the record, I was ready to lose my mind in excitement. As I'm getting ready to start moshing through my music room, the song starts to fade 20 seconds in. What the fuck? Goddamn it...what a tease! I would have loved to finally have a studio recording of this song.

300 pressed on red vinyl. 400 pressed on yellow.

While Reaper gave us Shelf Life, Irish Voodoo releases Dress For Distress. Only three songs on this one, and it's over in 6 minutes. Thankfully we have both records, because just one would not be enough.

A total of 500 pressed for the first press of Dressed For Distress...100 on clear vinyl, and 200 each for red and black. Second press is now available, and looks to be going fast.

While Reaper threw their Done Dying test pressings up on eBay, to score over $100 for one auction, Irish Voodoo decided to sell their test pressings direct through their webstore, and charged the ridiculous amount of $6.00. Fucking scumbags at Irish Voodoo are looking to rip kids off with those prices. If this was the 90's, people would be calling for boycotts.

Seriously though, how great is Irish Voodoo? Support them and buy this record...well, not THIS record, because the test pressings sold out in about 5 minutes. You should still go pick up something from them though.

Such a great looking cover for the test pressing...weird that it is on colored vinyl. Only 28 of them, and I snagged number 9.

Bringer Of War

Last month, Rob, Paul and I took a quick roadtrip to Worcester to catch the Legends Of Thrash tour as it made it's one stop in Massachusetts. Both Overkill and Kreator were co-headlining, but in my opinion the night belonged to Overkill. I love those old Kreator records, and I'm even down with the new ones...but live, man, they just fell a bit flat. Overkill on the other hand, were just a tornado of energy...full of smiles and running all over the stage. They seemed to really love what they were doing.

I was trying to limit my spending, so at the merch table I had to decide between a sweet Overkill shirt (with a great looking Aerosmith rip off design that was made just for the Worcester show), or the new Warbringer vinyl.

Yeah, vinyl wins that battle every time.

Warbringer were one of those bands from the New Wave Of American Thrash that started kicking around in the mid to late 2000's. Not many of those bands from that era have been able to keep up with Warbringer, as they release their fourth album. While watching the band live, I found that I couldn't keep a smile off my face. They really embrace that whole 80's Thrash vibe, and once their set was done, I knew that I was going to have to pick up their new LP before the night was done.

After buying the vinyl, we started heading out of the club, and bumped into the singer on our way. We stopped and told him that they played a great set, and he was very appreciative and wished us well. As I was getting to my car, it dawned on me that I should have taken the opportunity to snap a picture with him and me, holding the new record. It would have made a nice addition to this blog post. Damn. Missed opportunity.

My Favorite Blue Job

I really enjoyed the Red Hare album that Dischord/Hellfire released earlier this year. I like it so much that there have been times when I've flirted with the idea of putting it in the number one spot for my Best of 2013 list.

I was very interested when I heard that Dischord was doing a second pressing of the record, but once I saw what they were doing to it, I didn't hesitate to order a copy.

The first pressing was on red vinyl, with all the art done in the same color...an obvious choice for a band named Red Hare. The second pressing, however, gets a makeover in blue.

It would have been so easy to just wrap the new blue vinyl in the same sleeve as the first pressing, and be done with it. Instead, the label went ahead and changed all the colors on the cover to match the new vinyl pressing, and holy shit, it looks amazing.

No shortcuts on this either, as even the insert gets the blue treatment.

Such an amazing job. What's next? Is Dischord going to be able to keep this up with the next pressing?

Finally Got That Supertouch

In the early 90's, when I was just really getting into Hardcore, everyone seemed to be talking about how great Supertouch was. I'd fallen in love with all the bands on Revelation Records, and when the label released The Earth Is Flat, I quickly bought a copy on CD. When I popped it in the CD player, and hit play, my first thought was something along the lines of "What the fuck is this?". I hated it, and quickly shelved it next to my other disappointments at that time, like 7 Seconds' Soulforce Revolution and Leeway's Desperate Measures.

Times change, and sometimes those albums that you left to collect dust years ago, will sneak up and surprise you years later. Over the past couple of years, I have finally grown to truly appreciate that Supertouch album, and watching the band play those songs live at REV25 in New York last year put them on another level.

By the time REV announced that they were repressing the Supertouch LP on colored vinyl, I was so tired of their reissues, that I turned my back on the latest bunch. My resolve managed to last a good week before I broke down. I didn't own this album on vinyl, and goddamn, that blue vinyl and gatefold sleeve looked too good to let it pass me by.

550 on blue vinyl.

Aftershock From Motorhead

20 posts in one month. Do you know when the last time this happened on this blog? Never. This sets a new high for me.

It is crunch time right now, and I've been working hard over the past month to catch up with my backlog of 2013 releases before the year end. Plus, when I saw that Marcus was posting daily, I made it my mission to try to keep up with him. I fell a little short of his production, but I've made some serious progress this month. I still have 13 more posts lined up...and a few more new releases scheduled to arrive in the coming weeks...so I can't let up now. I've got to keep churning them out if I have any hope of catching up before January.

Lemmy is closing in on his 68th birthday, and it was a tough year, healthwise, for him. So you've got to give him a ton of respect for still being able to turn out another great Rock/Metal record.

Motorhead doesn't change their formula for Aftershock, although there are a couple of bluesy tracks included on this one, and Lemmy sounds as solid and as raw as ever. There is no such thing as a bad Motorhead record.

Aftershock has one of my favorite Motorhead album covers of all time, and the "amber" colored vinyl looks amazing as well.

Ancient Heads

I first heard about Ancient Heads when I was getting ready to go to the Triple B Showcase last December. They were scheduled to play, and I'm always down to check out a new, young hardcore band, so I downloaded their two demos. I still get a charge when new bands like this come around...great Youth Crew styled hardcore.

When it was announced that Climbin' Aboard Records was releasing both demo's on one 7 inch, I was all over it. Seriously, a band name taken from a Beyond song, and a record label that takes it's name from an old Supertouch song. I love the influence.

Of course I went for the pre-order package deal. 50 with the silver sleeve, and 250 with the regular sleeve. Both on clear vinyl. What? No green vinyl pressing?

This Means War

When I first got into record collecting, around 2005, vinyl was just starting to be resurrected from the dead. I was new to the game, and I was mesmerized by the shiny, new vinyl reissues...and I bought a bunch of them. Instead of tracking down original Bronze pressings of the early Motorhead records, I was sucked into buying colored vinyl reissues. Same was true of the first Megadeth and Exodus records...plus countless of others as well. I felt as though, somehow, my purchases were casting a vote that vinyl was still a legit format...that vinyl still mattered. Vinyl has made a pretty strong comeback, and nowadays, it is rare to find a new release that doesn't get the vinyl treatment. So why am I still buying reissues?

Over the past few years, the countless REV reissues and Record Store Day releases have started to leave a sour taste in my mouth. What started out as fun, started to occasionally seem more about labels looking to make a quick sale, and I've started to question my attachment to those vinyl reissues.

I've always thought of record collecting as a kind of historical mission...capturing and preserving music history. After some recent conversations with other collectors, I started to question what the point was in buying all of these reissues and I've started to refocus my priorities. I don't have any issues with vinyl reissues, but I now see them as something for either those that don't care about the history, and just want a copy on their shelf, or those that obsess and need every single pressing from a certain band. There is nothing wrong with either of those, but for most of my Metal collection, I don't find that reissues really fit in with the definition of what I want my collection to be. Now if we are talking about Dio, all bets are off, and I'll buy anything.

Recent talks with a few friends has put me in a Metal state of mind. With the additional talk about original pressings, it wasn't long before I was surfing around eBay looking for something to satiate my hunger.

I've picked up quite a few original Metal pressings lately, but one of the first things that got moved up on my endless Want List were the original pressings for the first four Venom albums.

Fuck Earmark. Fuck Back On Black. Fuck the multitude of pressings for different countries. I needed the original UK pressings from Neat Records. After losing out on a copy of Black Metal, I managed to score myself a copy of At War With Satan.

Through the Banzai Axe compilation, Rip Ride was the first Venom song that I'd heard...and based on that, At War With Satan was probably the first Venom record that I bought (on cassette of course). I love this album...especially the 20 minute epic of the title track.

Great packaging with the gatefold sleeve made to look like a cover to a bible. Inside reveals a burning cross...Satan laughs...

Headfirst To Last

A few years ago, I went a little overboard with the Underdog double LP discography that Bridge Nine released, and I ended up buying three different pressings. At the time, I was still in a mindset where if I bought a record, I needed to buy every available copy of the record. What can I say? I was still a little overzealous, and apparently had too much money lying around that I could throw at these things.

To this day, Marcus still teases me mercilessly over it. I've calmed down a bit since that experience, and I try not to throw money around so frivolously. Seriously, there are more important records to buy than repressings and multiple copies of discographies. I've learned my lesson, and tend to have a bit more of a conservative approach to these things.

Back when I really started to get into Hardcore around 1990, Headfirst's Back In Control 7 inch was one of the first records that I picked up. When I heard that Indecision Records was doing a discography for the band, I was thrilled that Headfirst was going to get some exposure to today's kids.

There were two things that got me interested in buying the discography. First, there was just one colored vinyl pressing for this triple LP, so there was no chance that I was going to get stupid, buying multiple copies. Second, between a couple of unreleased songs, and two demo recordings, there were a bunch of songs on here that I'd never heard before. Solid. I'm sold on it.

The band's second demo sounds great, and is in the same vein as the Back In Control record, but man, that first demo is a tough listen. I'm glad that it was included to truly document the band's discography, but the production is pretty bad...even for a demo.

Overall, this is a great discography, and I hope that more kids check out this underrated band from the early 90's.

Violent Justice

Back in July, Back To Back put up pre-orders for a couple of new records. I'd never heard of either band, but based on the strength of the label's history, I still bought every copy available. Back To Back stuff tends to sell out quick, and I wasn't going to waste any time dicking around trying to check out bandcamp pages. I put some faith in the label and hoped it didn't come back to bite me.

Blind Justice were an amazing surprise. This record rules...great Hardcore that makes me think of The Suicide File. I was immediately glad that I picked up all three pressings.

75 on blue, 125 on orange, and 300 on black vinyl.

Maybe because it was following up the greatness of the Blind Justice record, or maybe it was the harder edge to Violent Situation, but this record was kind of disappointing when I gave it the initial spin. I set it aside, and ignored it for a few weeks. When getting ready for this post, I put on the Violent Situation record again, and was surprised at how much more I was liking it. I can't hang with this "fuck positivity" mentality, but this is a great Hardcore record that isn't going to take any shit.

75 on red, 125 on clear, and 300 on black vinyl.

True Colors X'd Up

A few years ago, I was all over collecting True Colors vinyl. At the time, my maximum spending price on a record was a bit more reserved than it is now, and therefore, my collection never really got very far. You know how it is though...time marches forward, and new bands take over the focus of your attention, and soon I stopped chasing True Colors vinyl. With the latest pressing of Focus On The Light from Six Feet Under, it has me thinking about how great this band is, and maybe it's time to see what eBay has to offer.

For the second pressing, Six Feet Under mixed things up a little, and went with the red lettering on the front cover. Looks great! For the vinyl, we get a couple pieces of clear vinyl...with one of them getting a nice solid white X across it.

Damn, this album has aged well...still a great listen.

Farrah Loves To Get Off!

I'm not that into live albums. They are interesting, especially for bands that are around for a number of years, in that they capture what a band was doing at that particular time in their career...but, it is a pretty rare case for me to ever give them more than a handful of listens.

I'm a huge fan of of all things Keith Morris, and when I heard that there was a new live album from OFF!, I was interested in checking it out. The Live At Generation Records 7 inch was a bit of a bust, but when I saw the track listing for the LP included Rant 1, Rant 2, and Rant 3, I was curious, as I do love between song banter on live records. Overall, this album is a fun listen. It was recorded back in 2011, so it contains 15 of the 16 songs from the first four OFF! EPs, but it also includes Sexy Capitalists, which has never been released. Worth checking out.

When I first heard that OFF! had a new live album out, I immediately started hearing about how it had sold out quickly. Thankfully, I was able to track down a copy, and I quickly purchased it. 1,000 of these things were pressed on red, white, blue, and yellow colored vinyl (plus a limited run of 100 on pink). I figure that red and blue (and possibly even yellow) would look great with the simple black and white cover, and unfortunately, I managed to get the least exciting color of them all...white.

Death By Enforcer

I started listening to Heavy Metal around '82, with AC/DC's For Those About To Rock being my first serious vinyl purchase. From there, things got heavier with Judas Priest's Screaming For Vengeance and Iron Maiden's Piece Of Mind, and Metal music became my life through High School...in fact, my senior quote in our school's yearbook reads "If you're not a metalhead, you might as well be dead". I was rocking Slayer, Megadeth, and Metallica t-shirts every day, and covering my books with band logos and angry Metal lyrics. I lived and breathed this music.

By the time the 90's came around, I was discovering bands like Judge and Insted, and I pretty much kicked Metal to the curb for the entire 90's decade. Around 2005, I decided to clean out my CD collection and toss out some of the crap that I'd managed to collect over the years. To help separate the trash from treasures, I came up with the "brilliant" idea to listen to every CD that I had in my collection. Given that I had a couple thousand of them, it was quite the undertaking, and it took me a couple of years to complete the project. During that time, and dusting off those old Metal CDs, I fell in love with that music from my youth all over again. From there I was inspired to dig into what the Metal scene was up to. Here we are in 2013...30 years after Metal music first took over my life...and while many people thought that this was just a fad, and something that I'd grow out of, I still get a bit of an adrenaline rush when I discover a great new Metal band. Long Live Heavy Metal.

Enforcer are from Sweden, but their new album, Death By Fire, sounds like it could have come out of Los Angeles back in 1985, and you would have found it in the vinyl bin alongside bands like Malice, Laaz Rockit and Lizzy Borden. Goddamn, I love this music.

I'm giving serious thought to placing this album at the number one spot on my Best of 2013 list. This album is a blast to listen to, and makes me want to dig out the denim and create a battle vest like Doug.

Sure, I had less expensive options on buying this album, and could have picked up the black vinyl from a US distro, but I felt that this album was worth the extra effort. Overseas shipping be damned...I ordered the limited version from Nuclear Blast Germany.

Hand numbered and limited to 150 on blue vinyl.

Double Or Nothing

After a tidal wave of vinyl repressings, it was nice to get something new from REV with the Rival Mob LP. Even more surprising was that the label managed to get another new release out in the same year with the Down To Nothing LP. I love seeing REV putting out quality Hardcore releases again.

Down To Nothing always deliver, and this new album is no exception. I don't think it is as good as The Most, but this is solid Hardcore, through and through.

I watch the video for the title track, Life On The James, and it makes me want to spend some time in Richmond. Classic summertime song.

In addition to the blue vinyl, REV also pressed this album on green vinyl. Of course, I ordered one of each. Unfortunately, REV fucked up my order and sent me two copies of the blue vinyl. Damn it. I'm going to need to visit REVHQ in the near future, and order that green vinyl...again.

Blood Bl'ast!

I don't know a whole lot about Bl'ast. I enjoy them, but I don't really spend a whole lot of time with their records...in fact I don't own a single piece of vinyl for them. There was a lot of hype when Double Cross announced that the band had found some long lost recordings, and I got sucked into it, and quickly stepped up to order a copy from Southern Lord.

With a sound like mid-80's Black Flag, and an album cover that is reminiscent of the first Black Sabbath album...there was no way I was going to be able to resist buying this.

The album contains unreleased recordings from the In My Blood session, the main difference is the addition of a second guitarist. Like I said, I'm not too familiar with Bl'ast, so I can't really say how much these songs differ from their originals. All I know is that the songs on Blood, just sound amazing.

The limited red vinyl pressing includes a bonus 7 inch, which contains different recordings of the Alice Cooper and Germs covers that initially appeared on their School's Out 7 inch.

Overall, this entire thing was very well done, and I'm glad that I grabbed one while they were available.

Rise Above Singles

Rise Above recently released a couple of 7 inch singles...well, since I'm about two months behind on my posts, I guess it wasn't that recent.

First up is the Uncle Acid single for Mind Crawler. This song is obviously from their latest album, so it was odd to see them release the single several months later. Still, I was interested in checking out the b-side song which is a Charles Manson cover. Yeah, it is a strange trip.

The packaging on this is great. Clear vinyl is limited to 100.

The Uncle Acid 7 inch was cool, but I was more interested in the one that Rise Above was releasing for Horisont. The band had a killer album last year, and I was very eager to check out some new songs. Writing On The Wall is a great preview of the new album, and the video is fucking over the top. Check it out if you are into seeing nuns drinking and driving, running over a baby, vomiting and then making out. Who isn't into that, am I right?

The back cover has an AC/DC Back In Black vibe going on with the layout. I love it. 100 pressed on orange vinyl.