Bats In The Belfry

After Christmas, it seemed like eBay was a ghost town. All the records that I was watching with the thought of "I'll take it if I can get it for a good price", were just falling into my lap. No one else was bidding, and the deals were too good to pass up. I'd already spent a lot more money than I'd wanted to this month, but then I saw Overkill's ReliXIV album on vinyl with a low starting bid...once again, I'd found myself as the only bidder.

Overkill are one of my favorite Metal bands of all time. They first released their Power In Black demo in 1983, and here they are, over thirty years later, still putting out consistently impressive albums. How many bands can you name that have that strong of a track record? Impressive as fuck.

As much as I love Overkill, my record collection for them is pathetic. I hope to remedy this over the coming year, and the first step is with their 2005 album, ReliXIV. While this album did get the vinyl reissue treatment in 2013, I made sure that I grabbed the original first press that was on some label out of Sweden. Vinyl obviously wasn't a hot commodity back in 2005, but I'm impressed to see that someone still cared enough to release it on wax.

Siren Song

It was probably about 9 or 10 years ago, when I first started going to my friend Jeff's house, and checking out his record collection. Up until that point, I'd only been familiar with the Combat Records pressing of the Sirens album from Savatage...yeah, the one with the little kids creeping towards you brandishing weapons. When Jeff pulled out the first pressing on Par Records with the blue cover, my jaw hit the floor. What was this?!?

I desperately wanted a copy, but when I checked the regular going rate on eBay, I was immediately dismayed as the price was way to rich for my blood. At the time, I had no idea that there was a market for Metal vinyl, and was surprised to find that the record was typically selling around the $100 dollar mark, and if you wanted the colored vinyl press, you could expect to pay three times that. Disappointed, I resigned to the fact that it was unlikely that I was ever going to own a Par Records pressing.

Fast forward to this month, and while I did a decent job at limiting my spending for the past month or so, I quickly lost control once the Christmas and New Year holidays were behind us. It started with a couple of really cheap records, and it just snowballed from there. When I found the Sirens LP on eBay with a reasonable starting price, I couldn't resist the urge to throw in a bid. Everyone else had their eyes on another copy of the album that was listed at a lower starting price from a different seller, and I ended up winning with the only bid...and while I still paid a very fair price for mine, that other recorded ended in a bidding war and sold for a higher price. Good deal.

Armored Saint EP

The first Armored Saint EP is another record that I've been after for a while now. I'd find myself hot to chase it, but then for one reason or another, I'd let the eBay auction end without bidding. It's not like these are hard to come by, and I've always figured that I could pick one up at any time. With no one bothering to fight with me over this eBay auction, I figured that now was a good time to pick it up for cheap.

Metal Blade reissued this EP back in 2012 with a couple of bonus songs from the original recording session. While it was tempting to grab a copy on the great looking red vinyl, there was no doubt that I needed the original 12 inch pressing. Three songs here...with Lesson Well Learned showing up on the Metal Massacre II comp, False Alarm ended up on the March Of The Saint LP, and On The Way, which only shows up here. I'd never heard this exclusive track before, so it made my day to discover this hidden gem. I do love me some early Armored Saint.

To top things off, I just found out that Armored Saint will be playing in Massachusetts with Saxon this May. You are goddamn right, I want to go.

Eternal Champion For Metal

A while back, Marcus was asking about bands that have a sound similar to Stone Dagger. While he isn't a Metalhead, even he couldn't resist how good that 7 inch is...like most of us, those two songs weren't nearly enough, and he was craving more. In an effort to steer him in the right direction, Doug made a few suggestions. One of those bands was Eternal Champion.

Doug has mentioned Eternal Champion to me in the past, but other than a quick listen on bandcamp, I didn't pay much attention. Still, the guy would not stop talking about them, and I finally broke down under his never ending praise, and sat down to really see what they were about. Damn. I don't know why I drag my feet on some of his Metal recommendations, because he always ends up being right. Eternal Champion are straight up old school Metal, and I was surprised to find that Jason Tarpey of Far From Breaking/Iron Age sings for this band. Man, he has come a long way from those youth crew Straight Edge days. He grabbed one of the Iron Age guitarists, threw in a few other musicians, and deliver these two great songs. Give me more.

While there were 800 pieces of black vinyl pressed for this 7 inch, I was surprised to find it was sold out at each distro that I checked. I started to panic, but was relieved to find a seller had one available over at discogs.

Don't Want No Rich Fat Daddy

I never really set out to collect Raven. The albums were obviously essential, but the early singles were never on my radar. When I bought the Crash Bang Wallop 12 inch, all that changed.

I was first made aware of Raven's first 7 inch, Don't Need Your Money, through the Living Fast debut, where Ryan Waste interviews John Gallagher. During their conversation, they mention these early recordings, and Ryan flashes a copy of the record cover. I'd never done any homework on the early Raven vinyl releases, and this was the first time I'd known this record existed. That record cover looked so cool, and primitive with it's black and white photo and white lettering. It seemed almost...ummm...Hardcore, and I knew then that I wanted a copy. The problem was that since it was an early Neat Records release, and carried huge historical significance from those early days of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, well, I just assumed that it was rare and an expensive record, and I didn't pursue it.

Fast forward to this month, when I'm digging around on Discogs for pressing info on the Crash Bang Wallop record, and I discover that those early Raven singles actually sell for dirt cheap. At that point, I'm all in, and I go on a buying spree grabbing whatever is available.

Unlike the Don't Need Your Money 7 inch, the Hard Ride single is boring as fuck to look at. Damn, someone didn't want to put much effort into the design of this one. Oh well, for five dollars, I'm not going to let it pass me by, and I added it to the collection.

My final impulse buy was the Break The Chain 7 inch from 1983. I don't know man, Metal 7 inches are fucking cool. I've always just focused on the band's albums, and never given much thought to the singles, but owning these three records shines a whole new light on everything.

NEAT06, NEAT11, and NEAT28.

Okay Neat, what other trouble can we get up to.

Streets Run Red

Apparently the first pressing for the new Battle Ruins LP came and went without me knowing. By the time I was aware that the album was out, the record was already commanding big money, and the label was putting up preorders for the "second and final pressing".

To be honest, I wasn't that excited for the record when I first heard it. Meh...it didn't do much for me, and I wasn't too concerned about settling for the second press. As we moved into January this year, I finally started to really pay attention to this album...the more I listened to it, the more I liked it. Now I'm at the point where I want to listen to this everyday.

RnR Disgrace Records do not mess around. When preorders were posted for the red vinyl they posted a disclaimer that if you wanted to be a cunt, and complain about how long it takes you to get your record, they would gladly refund your money and ban you from ever buying from them again. Damn!

500 pressed on red vinyl.

Mark Of The Squealer

A few years ago, I started keeping a mental list of records that I was hoping to score each year. It was pretty loose, and was basically just a handful of records that were important, but for one reason or another, I'd just never buckled down and seriously chased one. You know me...I get distracted easily, so I hoped that making this "list" would help me focus and get serious about adding certain records to the collection. This year, I decided to make that list a bit more solid, and publish it here in the sidebar of this blog. Now, the goal isn't to purchase all of these by the years end, but to at least hopefully keep me focused on crossing off some big records from my list.

Leeway's Born To Expire has been on that list since I first started mentally putting it together...in fact, it was one of the major reasons that I started making this list in the first place. For the past few years, each January would come around and I'd set a resolution for myself...this year I'm committed to finally buying a copy...and then before I'd know it, we be in December, and I'd still be sitting there without one.

With the start of 2015, and reviewing my Want List, once again I found myself committing to acquire a copy of Born To Expire. Enough of this shit. I immediately hit eBay and I found a copy that wasn't beat to shit, or with cut corners. Unbelievably, I was the only bidder with a $30 starting price. Mission finally accomplished.

Non-Stop Feeling

There was a lot of hype for the new Turnstile album. While I was initially disappointed with the band's last record, Step 2 Rhythm, it eventually grew on me in a big way. Would I experience that same kind of disappointment with the new record? Would Turnstile be able to carry that energy level across an entire LP? While I was looking forward to Non-Stop Feeling, I was still hesitant to set expectations very high.

With the new album, Turnstile continue their tradition of having the worst covers art in recent Hardcore history. Ugh...I'm not feeling it at all. No pun intended. Once we get past the cover though, all is forgiven, as Turnstile deliver the goods. The songs jump off the vinyl, and soon I'm bouncing along. As I'm listening, I can't help but draw vocal comparisons to Zach de La Rocha from Inside Out...hell, even the opening riff to Fazed Out kind of reminds me of a Rage Against The Machine song. Considering how hesitant I was going into this, I'm surprised at how much I'm loving it. Record of the year so far.

While I'm not impressed with the front cover, I do dig everything else about the packaging for this LP. The back cover looks great, the poster conveys the energy that band brings to the stage, and the lyric booklet is pretty sweet.

There was a time when I would have ordered every available vinyl option for this record, but for this LP, I only ordered the one copy. I limited myself this time around for a couple of reasons. First of all, I didn't want to repeat the experience I had with the Take Offense record from the year before, when I spent a ton of money on multiple copies, and then album ended up being a disappointment. One copy of that record would have been sufficient.

The main reason that I only ordered one copy was that I was fed up and disgusted. Record collecting is fun, but I've started to feel taken advantage of when labels churn out an endless supply of limited colored vinyl pressings. Reaper gave us three new pressing each of the two Turnstile 7 inches at the start of 2014, and I bought one of each...six new pieces of vinyl. Then as we approached the end of the year, the label was back with four more pressings of each EP...throw in shipping and I'm looking at another $50 to try and keep up...and then on top of that, we get five different pressing for the Non-Stop Feeling LP? Fuck off. It isn't fun anymore. If the reason that labels like Reaper keep flooding the market with different pressings is because people keep buying them, then I'm not participating.

300 pressed on black vinyl.

Trouble's A Brewin'

For as long as I can remember, I've struggled to keep up to date with this blog. For the most part, I was getting records in the mail faster than I could write about them, and a twenty post backlog became the norm. This is no longer the case. As of right now, beyond this post, I have nothing waiting in the wings. Sure, I still have outstanding orders with a few labels, and a couple records on the way from recent eBay wins, but as of now, I'm all caught up. Worst. Feeling. Ever.

Not many people are going to be too enthusiastic when a band brings in a new singer, and without Wagner behind the mic, a new Trouble album didn't have the same level of excitement around it. For one reason or another, I still downloaded The Distortion Field, and while I wasn't expecting much, I was surprised at how much I ended up enjoying it. Don't compare it to those classic Trouble albums, and this is actually quite a strong release. I don't know...I can't help but draw comparisons to those first couple of Black Sabbath albums when they brought in Tony Martin...it isn't what you expect to hear, but if you go in with a fresh outlook, you are going to be surprised at how good it really is.

A month or so ago, when I was posting about the new Skull album, it dawned on me that I'd never picked up that last Trouble record. I kind of felt bad about rushing out to buy the new album from Wager, when I'd still never bothered to pick up the last Trouble album. Damn, it still has guitarists Wartell and Franklin, so what the hell was I waiting for? Once I found the double LP Euro import, on eBay, from a US seller, for $15, the deal was done.

Crash Bang Wallop

When I first started this blog almost nine years ago, I wrote about some Raven odds and ends that most people wouldn't care about. The records were pretty far removed from what would be considered Raven's classic period...well beyond those early years with Neat Records. Since falling into a cycle of early 80's Metal this past year, I started digging back into the Raven catalog, and it dawned on me that I was missing some of their more crucial records.

When I started researching the pressing info for those early Raven records, I was surprised to find colored vinyl options for the Crash Bang Wallop EP...and once I made this discovery, I needed to own a copy. There were options of purple vinyl, yellow vinyl, black vinyl, and a few different labels for each...and because of my love for pressing variations, and I couldn't get enough of Raven, I wanted them all. Cooler heads prevailed though, and since I still didn't own Raven's Wiped Out LP, I figured it was foolish to buy multiple copies of Crash Bang Wallop.

A copy on purple marble colored vinyl will have to do...for now.

Triumph And Power For 2014

That moment that we have been building up to for the past 12 months is here...my end of the year recap!

I love chasing down new music, and while a large part of my year was stuck in an 80's playlist, I still ended up buying 82 new releases in 2014. There are times when I wish that I could just ignore newer bands, and just concentrate on building my record collection of the older stuff that I know and love. At times, I would love to turn my back on what's happening today, and focus on acquiring more of those classic records...but in the end, that just isn't me. I love the chase of something new...that thrill of discovering a new band. Until that excitement is no longer there, I'll be keeping my ear to the ground...on the hunt for something new.

Still, I purchased 305 new records this past year, with only 40% of them being new releases. I think I'm making a good split in focusing on older and newer records.

Oh yeah, I also downloaded 106 other albums that were new to me...ummmm, yeah...I chase a lot of new music. Someday, I like to think that I'll get around to buying these too.

I made some solid efforts to control my spending this year. I'm not sure how successful I was, but my total numbers dropped quite a bit. In fact, I haven't seen numbers this low in the past five years. Man, it is heartbreaking trying to save money.

Still, let's not lose sight of the fact that I bought some great stuff over these past 12 months. Here are my top 5 pieces of vinyl that I bought.

1. Lights Out 'Overload' test press - I didn't expect to find this one, and I wasn't really looking. It was a surprise, and one that I wasn't going to pass up. This is one of my favorite Hardcore records from the past ten years, and I consider myself extremely lucky to own a test press.

2. Black Sabbath 'Paranoid' Vertigo first press - Easily the most money I've spent on a single record. Worth it for a legit first press with the Vertigo swirl labels, and the Jim Simpson/Big Bear credit on the gatefold cover.

3. Mos Generator 'Electric Nomads' - I fell hard for Mos Generator this year, and I was very happy to be given the chance to buy their this self released vinyl pressing containing some alternate takes and demo tracks. Nothing really earth shattering with the songs presented, although they are still very cool, but it was the handmade album covers with the personal touch that made this record really special.

4. Police & Thieves test pressings - Not one, not two, but three Police & Thieves test pressings. My first post for the year, and it started off with a bang with this lot from Carlos.

5. Metal Church 'Metal Church' Ground Zero press - I think that what made this one so special was that I had no idea that it existed. Sure it would have been easy to find the major label pressing from Elektra, but once I discovered that the first Metal Church album saw an independent pressing on Ground Zero Records, I knew that was the way I had to go. It was like uncovering a piece of Metal history.

Creating my Top 10 list is a process that I work on all year. I'm constantly rearranging it, adding new releases, and moving records up and down on the list. It is exhausting and thankless work, but someone has to get this shit right, and I can't trust any of you shmoes with this responsibility.

I'm going to be totally honest here, while there were some good Hardcore releases in 2014, a lot of the time I just couldn't be bothered to listen to them. While I recognize how great Praise and Sweet Jesus are, all I really wanted to do this year was listen to Black Sabbath.

Out of all the new Hardcore and Punk stuff I bought this year, OFF! was probably the only one that I reached for regularly, and for that, it gets the number one spot.

Okay...now we are talking! Fucking Metal! This shit dominated my playlists this year. When I wasn't spinning old Overkill and Judas Priest records, well, I was spinning new Overkill and Judas Priest records. It was damn near impossible to come up with only a Top 10 list, but really, a Top 20 list would have been a copout.

Since it was recorded back in '74, I couldn't justify considering it for this Top 10 list, but as an honorable mention, I will say that for a new release, the Queen 'Live at the Rainbow' album may have taken my number one spot. I'd never realized how good Queen were, and this record really opened my eyes.

At the end of the year, I love checking my last.fm charts to see which bands came out on top. To see so much Metal and Rock on this list just verifies where my listening habits have been. Typically my charts are filled with bands that have had a new release, but this year, less than half of them did.

So there we have it. That was my year of record collecting. This blog has always been about me and what I buy. Things have changed since I started this blog eight years ago. There have been times when I was heavily into buying only Hardcore records, and this past year has seen a lot of Metal. I can't control the ebb and flow in my tastes, or what I'm passionate about buying. I have no idea where things will go in 2015, but if you have been sticking with this for any amount of time, and enjoying the ride, I thank you.

A Metal Sanctuary

Back in early '88, I had probably been in my first steady job, flipping hamburgers at McDonalds, for about a year. It was the first time in my life that I was pulling in a steady paycheck from working on the weekend, and any money that didn't end up in my savings account, was devoured by my growing addiction of buying music. Each Saturday night, you'd find me at the Mall flipping through the CD longboxes, sweating over which new Metal album I was going to buy with my hard earned money.

Back in the 80's, Dave Mustaine's name carried a lot of respect, and with him producing the debut Sanctuary album, it created a bit of hype. I was looking forward to getting my hands on a copy, and that thing did not disappoint...well, maybe the exception being their cover of White Rabbit...I think that we all could have done without that song. I clearly remember sitting on the edge of my bed at that time, surrounded by the four walls of my bedroom, which had been plastered with hundreds of pictures cut from Metal magazines, and listening to this album. Goddamn...fucking Battle Angels is still an insanely good song.

When Sanctuary's follow up, Into The Mirror Black, was released in early 1990, I thought it was pretty good, but honestly, I was more intested in bands like Slapshot and Sick Of It All, and was quickly moving away from Metal.

By the time Sanctuary broke up, and singer Warrel Dane started up Nevermore, I couldn't have cared less. Even after getting back into Metal over the past ten years, I still never bothered to check out Nevermore. Yet, when it was announced that Sanctuary were reuniting and releasing a new album in 2014, for some reason I held hope that it was going to be solid. Hey, for most of this past year I'd been riding a Metal high like I was 17 all over again, so I was allowed to hold out some hope that Sanctuary would meet my expectations, not matter how unreasonable and unfounded they might be.

Slightly worried of facing disappointment from my high expectations, I stepped up to check out the band's new video for Frozen....and within the ten seconds it took to bang out a drum into, and then get knocked over by the lead riff, I was on my ass...when Warrel comes in at the 30 second mark, growling his vocals...no matter how foolish he looked wearing that stupid cowboy hat...I was fucking hooked. I was transported back to those Winter months of early 1988, and I was a 17 year old kid again, excited for another solid Metal album. If this Sanctuary album is this good, it makes me wonder what Warrel Dane has been up to with Nevermore over the past 15 years or so.

Not making the same mistakes of my 17 year old self, I skipped the CD release with The Year The Sun Died, and went straight to the vinyl. I was tempted to go for the good looking orange vinyl from Century Media, but since they wanted to charge a ridiculous $10 in shipping, I decided to just buy it local, and I ended up with black vinyl.

Seven Inches Of Fury

Of course, just because I mentioned that the Big Contest record was probably my last Hardcore post of the year, Triple B had to come along and prove me wrong.

This past month, I've been diligently working on tightening up my year end lists. Because this stuff is so important, I've been spending my time repeatedly listening to this years output of new releases, trying to nail down a Top 10 list for 2014. This shit is a science, and not to be taken lightly. Then, just when I think I've got things complete, Triple B has to fuck it all up with a new package in my mailbox for the last week of December.

I must have heard some good things about the Fury 7 inch, because even though I'm cutting back on buying multiple copies of every Hardcore record, I still felt the need to buy three copies.

Man, there is something about this record that really hits me. Triple B describes Fury's sound as influenced from Battery and Turning Point, but the vocals really remind me of Issac from Amendment 18 as well. This record sounds like it wouldn't have been out of place on New Age Records around 1990. I'm digging this much more than I expected to. Time to adjust that Top 10 list...again.

Black vinyl was the more limited pressing at 150. 250 were pressed on red vinyl, and the "Dodger Blue" vinyl was limited to 600.

Tis The Season Of... Goatwhore

I've never really been into Death Metal. I'll eat a steady diet of Thrash, Doom, and Traditional Metal, but outside of the band Death, I've never been able to really get into this growling vocal style. Last year, I was in the mood for something a bit uglier than what I'd been listening to, and since the newest Cannibal Corpse album was getting high praise, I figured that I'd check it out. While I really liked it, I assumed that it would really be the only Cannibal Corpse album I'd ever need. When the band released their new album, A Skeletal Domain, this year, I couldn't resist checking out the zombie filled video for Kill Or Become. I absolutely loved it, and the album has raced up my Best of 2014 list. Surprisingly, I found myself in an unfamiliar position of needing more Death Metal, and I turned to my Metal brother, Doug, for help.

Doug soon directed me in the direction of Goatwhore, and I was sold on them within 10 seconds of the video for Baring Teeth For The Revolt. The pentagrams, the spiked forearm guards, and the roar from the vocalist (who reminds me of either early Sepultura or Celtic Frost)...oh, fuck yeah, I had no idea what I'd been missing. Goddamn, either that song or their song FBS are probably my favorite new songs at this point. Those riffs...Fucked. By. Satan!

I was loving this album, and couldn't wait to pick up the colored vinyl from Metal Blade...and with the label having a sale on the Goatwhore vinyl, I'm just counting down the hours until I can head back to their store and buy another album.

Big Contest

I still have a few more posts lined up to close out the year, but unless something else arrives in my mailbox in the next week or so, this may be my last Hardcore post in 2014.

I'd heard a bit of hype around Big Contest recently, so when preorders went up over at Moshers Delight, I figured that I'd take a chance on it. The band contains members of Disengage and Intent, so it wasn't really much of a doubt as to if the band would be good or not.

I love that Hardcore bands wear their influences, literally, on their sleeves. Glancing at the back cover, with band members wearing shirts for Dead Kennedys, Chain, and Stop And Think...you can tell if this band is for you or not. Great NYHC sound from a time when bands were on the verge of moving to a more Crossover sound. In some ways, this Big Contest album reminds me of the Crumbsuckers Life Of Dreams LP, so I'm expecting their follow up to be similar to B.O.M.B..

Life. Love. No Regrets.

In addition to the regular Record Store Day extravaganza each April, the industry also attempts to sell us on more over-hyped reissues on Black Friday: Record Store Day 2.0. I've never participated in this second Record Store Day as it had the stink of greed all over it...like record companies found a good thing with RSD, and they had to take advantage of it, and force it down our throats a second time each year. It felt dirty and corrupt...or maybe I'd just never had any interest in the previous Black Friday releases.

There were a few things that caught my attention with the BF RSD this year...but nothing that I was going to go out and fight through mobs of people packing the stores looking for Christmas sale deals. Fuck that. Maybe I'd venture out to the stores the following week, once things had died down. When I noticed on Instagram that someone had posted a picture of the 20th anniversary pressing of Unbroken's Life Love Regret LP, I was suddenly very interested. I'd had no idea that this was coming, but I definitely wanted one. Still...I figured that I could wait and pick one up at my convenience. A couple of days later, I'd started to hear some rumblings about the Unbroken record being sold out online, and how prices were starting to climb. I was sure that my local record store would have a copy when I stopped in, but small seeds of doubt had been planted, and soon I was starting to get nervous about missing out on one. As the minutes ticked by, my panic grew, and soon I had to get to the store as soon as possible. A couple hours later, I was flipping through the vinyl racks and had secured myself a copy. No big deal since the store still had around seven other copies of the Unbroken LP in the bin. Oh well...better safe than sorry.

When Judas Priest released their excellent Redeemer Of Souls LP earlier this year, there were five bonus songs that were included on the CD. For Black Friday, we finally get those songs pressed on vinyl...a ten inch record titled 5 Souls. I've heard people say that these five bonus songs are just as good as the songs from the LP. I don't think so. They are still good songs, but I find them to be a step down and I can see why they were cut from the regular album release.

Metallica got in on the Black Friday game this year as well, offering us a 12 inch single for their new song Lords Of Summer. The band previewed this song live at their summer shows, and decided to press it to vinyl to tease us with what is to come as they write and record a new album. As a Metallica fanboy, I love the new song...now record a new album already!

A simple b side etching for this one sided Metallica single.

I guess I didn't really need to pick up the new AC/DC 7 inch, as both of these songs are included on their new album, but I got wrapped up in the hype of Record Store Day, and bought one anyway. Two solid songs from the band, and after all they have been through with Malcolm Young's dementia, I'm glad to see the guys are still at it.

City's Gonna Burn

It happens every year at this time. As the year winds down, I start feeling the effects of my record spending and the savings account sinks dangerously low. I scale back on what I'm buying, and try to stay away from the temptations of eBay...limiting myself to only new releases...but some days the call is too great, and I can't resist picking up a record that won't stay off my daily playlist.

I grew up listening to Laaz Rockit, and loved both the Know Your Enemy and Annihilation Principle albums as a teen. I'd never bothered with the band's debut from 1984, City's Gonna Burn, until I downloaded it around 10 years ago...but even then, I hardly spent any time with it. For some reason I queued it up in my iPod over the summer, and suddenly I couldn't get enough of it.

Laaz Rockit formed in 1982, shortly after Metallica, and played that same Bay Area scene...Hell, Metallica even opened for them at one point. While they may have been outcasts within the Bay Area Thrash scene for not being as fast or as raw as what was quickly gaining momentum at the time...Laaz Rockit perhaps borrowing more from Judas Priest than Motorhead...there is still no denying that their brand of Speed Metal was still intense and valid.

I love finding these little independent labels from the 80's. I'd never heard of the Target label prior to this, and they didn't really release anything noteworthy, outside of a couple of Laaz Rockit records...but discovering stuff like this is like digging into the history of Metal and I'm fascinated by it.

Another piece of history from these old records is the merch sheet insert, and I needed to insure that the copy of City's Gonna Burn I bought came with one.

Runaway Girls Got Limits

Rise Above Records has been releasing some pretty cool 7 inch records this year. We've seen some cool shit from a couple of favorites of mine...Blood Ceremony and Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell...and recently the label has given us three more.

I initially ignored the first Death Penalty release, the Sign Of Times 7 inch. I wasn't interested in another female fronted band, so I didn't bother checking it out this little two song record. When the band released their self titled LP a few months later, there was enough buzz for me to give them a shot. It ended up being worth my time, and after buying the LP, it only made sense to go back and get the 7 inch as well.

500 pressed on purple vinyl.

When I can, I've been trying to avoid the high shipping prices from Rise Above. The records get some solid distribution in the US now, so I tend to only empty my wallet when Rise Above has a solid Die Hard pressing with some cool extras. The new Uncle Acid 7 inch, Runaway Girls, did not count as one of those Die Hard editions that I needed to have...but since I was picking up something from the Rise Above store anyway, I figured "What the fuck", and I bought the clear vinyl pressing that was limited to 100.

I haven't really listened to any Uncle Acid lately. While I enjoyed most of their last LP, there were some songs that kind of dragged a bit at the end, and because of this, they haven't showed up on my playlists lately. This 7 inch, makes me rethink that stance. The Runaway Girls song is really good, and the acoustic version of Devil's Work is haunting. A great reminder that I need to move this band back into rotation.

The final 7 inch in this trilogy is for Horisont. The band has yet to disappoint, so I was really looking forward to this release. The artwork for the record seemed like an odd choice for the band, but a quick peak at their video for Break The Limit, and I was sold. Classic hard edged 70's rock.

200 pressed on red vinyl.

Jesus In A Box

Ever since Sweet Jesus released their demo back in 2012, I have been itching for them to do a proper release. There have been a couple of songs to show up on compilations here and there, but it is good to finally have a piece of vinyl with the band's name on the cover.

Sweet Jesus play a style that is similar to Swiz...in fact on the inside sleeve of this 7 inch, it even directs you to "Now listen to Swiz". Subtlety is not a strong suit for this band. I've always thought that Swiz was a bit underrated, so maybe this helps introduce the band to a new audience. Although it seems that Triple B is far from selling out on even the limited white vinyl, so maybe Sweet Jesus will be the best kept secret from 2014.

330 pressed on white, and 770 pressed on red vinyl.