Face Aggression

In addition to the Ancient Heads record, React! also deliver a new 12 inch from Break Away.

Break Away play HARDcore...this is some angry and heavy shit. I think I've made some comparisons to Right Brigade in the past, and I'd say that still holds true with this latest record. The sound is tough, without sounding like some tough guy, meathead shit that I stay away from. Bonus points awarded for getting Mark Porter to add guest vocals to one of your songs.

Once again, React! does an amazing job with the layout and design for this release. I love the colors, and how the vinyl looks next to the cover. Nothing but quality.

150 pressed on white, 350 on orange, and 500 on black vinyl.

Retaliator/Vigilance

Jason Tarpey has made some serious changes as a singer since fronting the straight edge, youth crew inspired Far From Breaking back in the early 2000's. His style got more dark and aggressive when he took the mic with Iron Age in the latter part of the decade, and now with Eternal Champion things are full on metal.

I fell in love with his new band when I finally checked them out earlier this year. That two song 7 inch was not nearly enough to satiate my appetite, and now they follow it up with a one song split 12 inch. I wasn't going to take any chances on missing this limited pressing, and ordered my copy from overseas at No Remorse as soon as they became available.

The song Retaliator rules, but for the love of all that is metal, this band needs get in the studio and record a proper album! Three songs released over the past two years, and I want more.

The flip side of this split features some epic metal out of Canada with Gatekeeper. This is a pretty good introduction to the band, and I'm digging their contribution, but really, all I want to do it listen to the Eternal Champion song over and over again.

React Heads

My record collecting habits have changed quite a bit over the past year or so. Part of this change has been a strong pull to listen to more and more metal, and the result of this shift has been that I find I'm not as quick to check out each and every hardcore band. I still love the music, but I haven't had the drive to chase many new bands. The second change in my behavior has been in the desire to buy each and every pressing for each new hardcore record that I like...I'm not feeling it anymore. Thanks to the constant stream of REV reissues, and Reaper shoving four new pieces of colored vinyl down our throats every six months for each Turnstile record...it lost the magic.

One of the eye opening things about focusing my attention on buying older metal records is that back in the 80's, labels at that time didn't give you ten different colors of vinyl. You want the vinyl? Here it is...black vinyl is your only option. Take it or leave it. Collecting shit from those days, the only decision you are faced with is, do you want the US pressing on Combat, or do you go for the overseas pressing from Under One Flag. Sure you could get into it deeper, and start looking at if it is a green label Combat pressing, but really, it is basically that simple. I guess that for the most part, the same could be said about hardcore bands. Somewhere over the last few years, things changed. Shit got out of hand.

Record collecting is about the love of the music, and the passion for chasing the vinyl...preserving a piece of history. When labels continually churn out different pressings of limited colored vinyl, it becomes a commodity and collecting loses the appeal...I start to feel like I'm being taken advantage of...I get bitter, say "fuck off, I'm not playing". I won't contribute, and I hope labels choke on their excess.

Now that I've had my rant, and can step off my soapbox, I'm going to post the recent release from React! Records...where I bought all three pressings that were available at the time of preorder. React, along with Youngblood, are still one of the few labels that I continue to have a love affair with. These labels still have a level of integrity, and I don't feel that they are just pushing a product. I feel there is a deep appreciation of the 'core with these labels...and while I'm not looking down on any other labels...all I'm saying is that React and Youngblood are the only two that I still feel that dedication towards, and I will step up and buy whatever it is that they are selling. No questions asked...just take my money.

Don't go looking for anything new with the latest Ancient Heads record. This is just straight forward, hoods up, x's on hands, hardcore. These young dudes are all fired up over their hardcore pride and the straight edge, and their passion is infectious. Hardcore needs bands like this.

150 pressed on red, 350 pressed on white, and 500 pressed on black vinyl.

Re-engage

I might not be paying very close attention to new hardcore releases this year, but it is still a safe bet that I'll be jumping at anything that Youngblood releases. This label, along with React, are probably the only two hardcore labels that I will still follow religiously.

I've always liked Disengage, so this purchase was a no-brainer. Still, given my metal state of mind, I didn't expect to listen to it regularly. Six songs in five minutes, hardly seemed like it was going to be enough to really chew on. Much to my surprise, along with Aggression Pact and Public Suicide, the new Disengage is getting regular spins on my iPod.

200 pressed on blue, and 300 pressed on black vinyl.

Aggression Pact

As I mentioned in my last post, I haven't been very motivated to seek out newer hardcore bands. When your daily playlists are back to back 80's metal albums from start to finish, I guess that tends to happen

When Painkiller announced preorders for some new hardcore band, Aggression Pact, I was tempted to just ignore it. Pfft...who has time for another fucking hardcore band? Still, I live in fear of "music regret"...not wanting to miss out on some hidden treasure...so I gave the band 30 seconds of my attention. After a brief listen of one of the songs, I wasn't completely sold, but I figured that I'd throw a few bucks to the label and grab the record anyway.

Sitting here, a month later, and listening to the full record, I'm thinking that this may be the best gamble I took all year. I can not get enough of this record. Damn...these six songs have got me in a hardcore state of mind. What other shit have I missed out on this year?

150 pressed on green vinyl.

Nuclear Suicide

I've been slacking at getting this blog updated with new records. A couple months ago, I was all caught up and had zero backlog. I committed myself to keeping shit under control, and I was going to blog new records as they came in. Yeah, right. Without the pressure of trying to keep up, I got lazy...and now here I sit with stack of new records to blog about. Time to get serious, and start posting and dig myself out of this hole...again.

Chris over at Unwavering Spirit has solidified himself as a total dude. A couple years ago, he hooked me up with an original pressing of the Nervous Impulse record...for nothing. Just an email of "Dude, what's your address?", and then a record lands in my mailbox. This time around he sends me a photo of a Nuclear Age record that he picked up at the Damage City Fest..."Dude, I know you are a React nut, you want one of these?". Solid fucking dude.

It is pretty sweet to snag an advance copy of this, especially since React hasn't even put them up for pre-order yet. Chris wasn't entire sure what the story was on this pressing. He grabbed a few copies of the record from a merch table at the fest, but it seemed shrouded in mystery. Was it a test pressing? Was it a tour press? I fired off a quick message to Ev at React, and he sorted it out. While the record is technically a test press, there are 100 of them that were quickly pressed up so that the band would have some available for their tour. I can only assume that React also have the standard test pressing...limited to 24 with a cool alternate cover. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled.

While I've been a bit hesitant to dive in to checking out newer hardcore bands this year, when a free record lands in my mailbox, I've got no choice but to give it a spin. Such was the case with the Public Suicide record that Chris included in with the Nuclear Age 7 inch.

Chris didn't just send me the standard pressing for the Public Suicide record...nope...he sends me the record release pressing with some sunglasses wearing cat sticking a gun in it's mouth. Shoot pussy, eat guns.

Chris grabbed one of these for himself as well, but while mine had a blue cover, the cover on his was pink. I ended up with number 3 out of 20.

Damn, this record is actually pretty cool. Nice raging Infest styled hardcore. This is a really cool band that I would have probably otherwise overlooked. Thanks Chris!

Gruesome Death Worship

Suffering from Record Store Day hangover, I swore to myself that I wasn't going to buy any new records for a while. I'd spent way more money than I'd intended on RSD, and I needed to chill for a little bit. Four days. I held out for four fucking days.

I was at work, and killing some time and checking out the latest metal news over at Brave Words, when I saw they had a Featured Video for some band called Gruesome. In passing, I might have just kept on walking, but the album art caught my attention, and I figured that I'd give the song a quick listen. I was half expecting that I'd be investing 20 to 30 seconds before quickly moving on, but I couldn't have been more wrong. This was good...no check that...it was great! I did a quick search on the website for my local record store, saw they had a copy of the vinyl in stock, jumped in my car and 15 minutes later I owned the album. Ain't modern technology and convenience a bitch?

Gruesome are a straight up Death worship band, and they aim for the sweet spot of the Leprosy and Spiritual Healing years. Man, those two albums were in heavy rotation for me back in the late 80's and early 90's, and Gruesome is the purest tribute to what Death was doing at that time. The band logo, the artwork, the sound...hell, they even have a song titled Closed Casket...well done, Gruesome, well done.

Alternative Attack

Last month I picked up a few punk singles, and had a blast revisiting those old classics. Without warning, I had a new obsession, and I was on a mission...searching eBay and discogs for cheap additions to the collection. I was trying to avoid overseas shipping prices, and limit my purchases to the US...and when you are looking at UK punk bands, that limits your search considerably.

While I was on my search, the dude over at Massive Waste left a comment on my punk post, stating that Attack was probably his favorite song from The Exploited. Whoa...wait...I've been listening to The Exploited since I was probably 15 years old, and over the next thirty years, I'd somehow never heard this song? What the fuck? As I started digging around, I noticed that there were a handful of songs from The Exploited singles that I'd never heard. Damn...that's what I get for only bothering with the band's full length albums.

Thirty three years after its release, and I'm discovering new Exploited songs. Awesome. Finding treasures like this is one of the things that keeps record collecting exciting. Never stop searching.

From Beyond

When I heard that there was going to be a new Enforcer record this year, I was beyond stoked. The band's last album, Death By Fire, quickly became one of my favorite records from 2013, and I was looking forward to the follow up this year.

I was prepared to dig into the savings account and waste my money on overseas shipping to get my hands on the more limited pressing, but thankfully Nuclear Blast has woken up to the fact that US dudes buy vinyl as well, and they had the clear vinyl available to preorder as an import from their North American disto. Awesome.

300 pressed on clear vinyl.

I was a little slow to warm up to this new album, but it has it's hooks in me now, and I can't get enough of it. Now, I listen to songs like Destroyer or Undying Evil, and I'm wondering what the hell took me so long to get into it. Absolutely killer.

Record Store Day 2015 - Part 3: Piano Man

My apologies if we end the Record Store Day posting trilogy with a bit of a whimper instead of bang...consider it the Return of the Jedi after Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back [nerd alert]. After the big RSD record haul, and then the major strike on the Want List with Kill 'Em All, I really wasn't expecting to buy anything as we entered the last used record store of the day. The Metal section was a bust, so I started flipping through some other vinyl, and stumbled upon the Billy Joel section. The prices were cheap, and since I'd recently started getting into his stuff, I started making a pile of stuff I wanted. Five Billy Joel records later, I figured it was time for me to check out.

I grew up in the 70's and I remember those Billy Joel songs being played around the house as I was a kid. I've gotten a bit nostalgic lately, and have been drawn back to those hit songs from my childhood. I first started with the Piano Man LP last summer, but as a whole, it didn't really do much for me, and gave up on it quickly. Earlier this year, I was looking to give him another chance with 52nd Street, and that was when it clicked. Suddenly I couldn't get enough...I was listening to Billy Joel albums daily, and went and dropped a few hundred on a couple of tickets so that my wife and I can see him live at Fenway Park this summer.

Turnstiles from 1976 is a great album...worth it for the song Angry Young Man alone. This song reminds me of myself back during those emo/Ebullition years of the mid-90's.

As I mentioned, 52nd Street, from 1978, was where Billy Joel really hooked me. I remember jamming Big Shot and My Life as a kid...an introduction to music that has a bit of an edge and has something to say.

"And when you wake up in the morning with your head on fire, and your eyes too bloody to see, go on and cry in your coffee but don't come bitchin' to me".

Knowing how much I loved these two songs as a kid, it should be no surprise that I ended up falling in love with punk and hardcore. Yes, I'm saying that Billy Joel is a gateway drug into hardcore music.

I'd never heard 1981's Songs In The Attic when I saw the vinyl in the used bin, but seeing that it was still sealed and had a $6 price tag, I figured that I'd give it a shot. Come on...it was a live album that featured only songs from his pre-'77 records. There was some stuff on here that I wasn't familiar with, so this was a good introduction to some early songs.

Billy Joel's Kohuept album was a gamble for me, as I generally have stayed away from anything past his late 70's period...Uptown Girl still makes me cringe a little bit. However, this double live platter from 1987 paid off. None of the songs from Songs In The Attic were repeated here, and this whole thing was a great surprise. Man, I'd completely forgotten about the song Goodnight Saigon...what a powerful song. Amazing.

While out for some long runs last year, I had loaded some Creedence Clearwater Revival to my playlist...something to just chill me out as I put up some big miles. Whenever a song from their Green River LP started playing, I would absolutely love it. I still remember running some quiet country roads, early in the morning with the sun just starting to break over the trees, and having Sinister Purpose started playing through my earbuds...damn...I felt like I could run forever. Since I don't own the vinyl, decided that it was worth the $5 price tag when I saw it.

So...yeah...overall, I had a pretty solid outing for Record Store Day.

Record Store Day 2015 - Part 2: Jump In The Fire

I'd already spent a large chunk of change on Record Store Day purchases, and heading to the used record stores, I didn't think that I'd be spending much money. However, I wasn't expecting to hit the Megaforce silver label jackpot.

The store had a Bang Your Head section for their Metal and Hard Rock records, and my jaw dropped when I flipped a few records in and found a first pressing of Metallica's Kill 'Em All vinyl. I've chased this record on and off for the past year or so, and even though the price was a bit high, having it in my hands was too much to resist, and I crossed this heavy hitter off my Want List.

My biggest hang up on buying this record previously, has been trying to find one that wasn't beat to hell. I needed one in great condition, and it obviously needed to include the insert...and this copy fit what I was looking for. As soon as I found it, I fired off a message to Doug, and he was just the bad influence that I needed to convince me to pull the trigger.

Silver labels, baby!

Record Store Day 2015 - Part 1: Seek And Destroy

Record Store Day is what people make of it. You can choose to focus on the endless stacks of worthless vinyl reissues, or you can celebrate and support your local record store...if you are lucky enough to have one. Look, I love Deep Purple, but what is the point of a 7 inch vinyl pressing of the Black Night single? If you want one that bad, hit up discogs and buy yourself an original pressing for a fraction of the price...unless that foil Record Store Day Exclusive sticker is worth that much to you. Leave that shit to collect dust in the dollar bins, and really celebrate record stores by visiting them and purchasing stuff that really matters.

I ended up hitting three stores on Record Store Day, so let's go through my haul while I try to justify my purchases and not come off as a complete hypocrite after that RSD rant. This is part one, and focuses on my first stop...and includes a bunch of RSD vinyl.

At the top of my RSD Want List for this year was the Clutch vinyl for their From Beale Street To Oblivion LP. This was the album that introduced me to Clutch after catching their video for Electric Worry on Headbangers Ball. It is such a great album, and given that this RSD release was the first time it had ever been pressed on vinyl, I had to have it.

I got to the record store about an hour after the doors opened, so most of the crowds has come and gone by the time I got to the store. As I walked through the door, I saw this Clutch album on display, and breathed a sigh of relief that this was still available. With this in hand, I had all that I needed...but while I'm in the store, let's see what else I can grab.

I was torn on whether to buy the Get Behind Be Satan album from The White Stripes. There was a time a few years ago, that I used to listen to the shit out of this band...I could not get enough at that time...but it has been a while since I've given any thought to listen to them. I'm pretty burned out on their style, and I no longer pay any attention to what Jack White is doing these days. Put Meg on a drum stool, bouncing beside him, and I may start to pay attention again. In any case this is probably my least favorite White Stripes album, but it still has some great stuff on it. Like the Clutch LP, this was the first commercial pressing of Get Behind Me Satan, and with the 3D lenticular cover that alternates between the album cover and the Blue Orchid single cover, it looked too good to resist.

I've seen some good reviews for the new Venom album, From The Very Depths, and as I've never been one to turn away from a new release from Cronos and company, this was a "must buy". While I've seen some nice praise for this new album, I don't know if it is really much better than any of the bands releases from the past 10 years. Solid stuff, but I don't imagine it will much of an impression on my "Best of 2015" list. Time will tell.

Okay. You got me on this one. The Strange Days LP from The Doors may be a throw away release for Record Store Day. I had no intention of buying this, but on the way to the store, my friend, Jeff, spoke so highly of the mono recordings...and how expensive the originals of Strange Days can run...when I saw it in the bin, it was a pure impulse buy. I was a sucker for his hype on this thing...and since this was the only Doors studio album that I didn't own on vinyl, I figured there was no harm in picking up a copy here.

While I was able to justify the purchase of the Strange Days album, I've got nothing for this one. This Curated by Record Store Day pretty much encapsulates all that is shitty about RSD. I'm not sure what the purpose is of this piece of vinyl. Eight tracks that were hand picked by independent record store owners...blah blah...who the fuck cares? This was originally pressed for the Black Friday RSD in 2013, and was on sale for 50% off. I was riding a Doors high at the time of purchase, and the die cut front cover, with the sale price, tricked me into thinking that I wanted this.

Slayer. Sorry...I mean, Fucking Slayer! For Record Store Day, Slayer released a 7 inch single for the song When The Stillness Comes which will be on the new album that is due out later this year. This song isn't that exciting, and takes about three and a half minutes to get going...so I'm really not sure if this was the best song to release as a teaser. Still looking forward to the album though.

I believe that this is the third time that OFF! has had a new piece of vinyl available for Record Store Day, and like 2011, we get another live record. OFF! has already released a live 7 inch and a live LP, so this time around we get the dreaded 10 inch. Damn, how many live records does this band need to release? Who do they think they are, Iron Maiden? It is cool to hear some of the newer songs live, but this still probably won't see too much action on my turntable.

For the REV part of Record Store Day, I only went with the Better Than A Thousand record. I probably would have grabbed the Dag Nasty record if my store had some available, but I was okay that I missed out on it...and while I kinda dig the Gameface record they released, I guess I didn't care enough to add it to the list, so I just left it in the bin. I didn't own a copy of the Better Than A Thousand album on vinyl, so this was a good time to grab one.

Same goes with the first Death By Stereo album...I've never owned the vinyl, and this is a great record, so why not grab one now. My copy was on white vinyl, but apparently there was some clear vinyl pressed for RSD as well.

Another Indecision release for Record Store Day was a reissue of the Unity 7 inch, You Are One. Like Death By Stereo, there were two colored vinyl pressings for this. 550 on clear, and 550 on green vinyl. My store only had the clear vinyl.

Fucking cassettes. I curse their existence, and as much as I hated to buy the commercial release of the No Life Til Leather demo on cassette, I love early Metallica too much to pass it by. Nothing beats this early shit...even if I may never feel the need to remove the cellophane wrapper and play this stupid thing. It is RECORD Store Day, and I wish this was a vinyl release.

The final purchase from the first stop on the RSD train was for the Goatwhore album, Carving Out The Eyes Of God. Because Record Store Day is not only about those exclusive releases, I hit the store's regular vinyl bins. Holy shit. Apocalyptic Havoc is an absolute beast of a song.

Don't worry, we aren't done yet. We still have some other stores to hit, and chances to find buried treasures in the used bins. To be continued...

Violent Revelation

It has been nice to see Revelation Records releasing stuff from current bands again...Soul Search, Forced Order, Title Fight...even though I don't find any of those bands very interesting. When it was announced that Violent Reaction had signed to Rev, my first thought was "finally, they signed a current hardcore band that I give a shit about".

Violent Reaction have to be one of the hardest working bands in hardcore right now...or at least the most productive. Since their demo in 2011, the band has released two 7 inches and two full length LPs. Pretty impressive for a band that started out as a one man project.

315 pressed on clear vinyl.

With Marching On, Violent Reaction stick with the sound they do best, and they keep the punches coming fast and furious. Great stuff.

1,243 pressed on gold vinyl.

Cruel Bat

Last month, Hells Headbangers released the Bat demo on 12 inch vinyl. While I was initially disappointed to not receive the colored vinyl for that release, in the end I found that the black vinyl actually looked better, so I was okay missing out on the more limited pressing. With the release of the new Bat 7 inch, I was not going to be satisfied unless I had my hands on that limited red vinyl pressing.

Just like with the demo, I was visiting the Hells Headbangers webstore once or twice a day, refreshing the page for the Cruel Discipline 7 inch, just waiting for the record to be available to order. My persistence paid off this time, and I got what I wanted.

Red vinyl limited to 111.

As a teaser for their new LP that is due out later this year, Bat released a two song 7 inch. Well, since the b-side song, Rule Of The Beast, was originally from the demo, we really only get one new song here...but damn, it is worth it. Cruel Discipline picks up where the 2013 demo left off. Fast and raw...this song rules, and increases my anticipation for the new album.