Let In Life

I remember the first time that I saw Sam Black Church live. It was kind of a "what the fuck?" moment. The band was a blur of distortion, and the singer was an absolute fucking maniac on the stage. I didn't know what to make of them at the time, and for a while my friends and I wrote them off as a joke...but the more I saw them absolutely destroy live when they would open for Slapshot, and the more I heard their songs, the more I started to appreciate the band.

I feel like if you didn't see Sam Black Church at The Channel in Boston around 1990, then you will never really appreciate them. I don't think that you could be a part of the Boston scene at that time and not be mesmerized by the presence of this band.

I bought the Unincorporated 7 inch as a new kid to the scene, and was stoked to get the three song Infernal Machine cassette when it was released in 1991...but by the time the Let In Life LP was released in 1993, I was starting to immerse myself in the more emo stuff like Current and Junction, or the 90's Hardcore stuff like Snapcase and Unbroken. Sam Black Church was old news by that time, and I was feeling a bit too pretentious to really spend much time with the CD when I bought it, so it soon was just collecting dust on my shelf.

A few years ago, I found myself surprised when I took the CD for a spin. Those songs were a blast, and I got a real kick out of hearing them again. While shopping in Boston recently, I discovered this copy of Let In Life in the bins...still sealed, and goddamn cheap. Oh, hell yes.

Your Kid's An Asshole

Back in 2014, Iron Reagan released a new EP that was only available on a 7 inch flexi that was included with Decibel magazine. I'm not necessarily interested in Decibel or flexi releases, but I was a big fan of Iron Reagan, so I bought one.

It took until the following year for the Spoiled Identity EP to get a proper vinyl release.

I remember being excited when A389 Recordings announced preorders for the EP, but I'm not sure why I didn't order one. I want to say that the shipping was ridiculously high, so I passed on it at the time. Either way, it has eluded me until I was shopping in Boston last month, and I spotted a copy in the record bins. Instant buy.

Thirteen songs in 5 minutes, this thing rips through songs like an early D.R.I. record.

Metallic gold is the shittiest looking colored vinyl, but that's the one that I ended up with...silkscreened design on the b-side.

Damage Inc.

I've got a lot of classic albums that are still on my Want List...favorites from my teenage years, that are still holes in my collection. Near the top of that list for the past few years has been the early Metallica albums. I'd consider their first four to be solid gold classics, and after slowly picking them off one by one over the past few years, the only one that I was still missing the original vinyl pressing for was Master Of Puppets.

Master Of Puppets was the album that got me into Metallica. I checked them out when Ride The Lightning was released, but it was too overwhelming for me at the time...especially with the over the top thrasher Fight Fire With Fire kicking things off. I'd never heard anything like it at the time, and it was too much for me. By the time Master Of Puppets came out in '86, something clicked, and suddenly I'd found my new favorite band.

I've been after a copy of Master Of Puppets for a while now, but I couldn't seem to find a copy that was what I was looking for. Sellers were either pricing the original vinyl pressing too high, or they were too beat up for me to bother with.

Last month, I had the opportunity to meet long time record blogger friend, Mark Sandwell, in Boston for the day. We had known each other for around 7 years or so through our record collecting blogs, so it was cool to meet up with him for some record shopping while he was over from the UK on vacation for a few days.

It has been years since I'd spent any time in Boston, but it was a trip to check out the neighborhood where The Channel used to be, and reminisce about the number of trips that I'd taken to that area around 1990. Mark and I had a good day, hitting a couple of stores, and while at Armageddon Shop I finally found a copy of Master Of Puppets. Priced at $30, I glad to finally grab a copy.

Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be

When I finished up my Black Sabbath UK Vertigo collection a couple of years ago, I thought that I had probably completed the biggest quest that I'd ever take on. I threw a lot of money at those four records, and when that collection was complete, I was happy that I wouldn't have to get that crazy chasing another band whose first press records command such a high price tag. How naive of me. I didn't get much of a break before AC/DC came onto my radar.

AC/DC was one of my first loves, when 12 year old me discovered For Those About To Rock. For a while, AC/DC were my favorite band, and before I discovered Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, their cassettes dominated my Walkman.

When I started getting all nostalgic for those early AC/DC records, I got it into my head to collect the Australian first pressings for their albums. I didn't know what I was getting into, but I dived in and picked up a copy of TNT last year, and when my annual bonus from work came through last month, I knew it was time to chase down another one.

With the different cover art, and additional songs that didn't make it to the US pressings that I grew up with, it is easy to see how I got obsessed with those AC/DC Australian pressings.

For Let There Be Rock, Crabsody In Blue appears on the original Aussie pressing while everyone else got Problem Child.

Cool gatefold sleeve with lots of black and white photos.

First press with the blue roo labels.

This pressing of Let There Be Rock did not come cheap, but hopefully it will be most expensive of the bunch.

Firepower

I probably first heard Judas Priest sometime around 1983. I was 13 years old, and my steady diet of AC/DC, Quiet Riot, Motley Crue and Def Leppard got a serious shake up with the introduction of Screaming For Vengeance (thank you MTV). Side by side with Iron Maiden's Piece of Mind, suddenly shit got serious.

Even now, 35 years later, and a new Priest album is a big event for me. Thankfully, I'm not alone in my excitement, and Banger TV did a series of Priest appreciation videos leading up to release day, and capped it off with a video to discuss those essential albums from Judas Priest. By the time, I was driving to the record store to pick up the vinyl, I was primed and ready.

It's been a tough few years for Priest. First K.K. Downing steps away from the band, and now Glenn Tipton is forced to retire due to Parkinson's disease. Tipton contributed one final time to the Firepower record, and it is still a scorcher. There has been a lot of talk about Priest hanging it up, but fuck that, if Richie Faulkner can keep contributing like he has the last couple of records, I say let Halford keep the band going, because this shit is still great.

They Played Rock And Roll

Back in 2011, I was still going nuts over hardcore records, but metal was really starting to worm it's way into my brain. Prior to that, I had been content to buy metal releases on CD because it was cheap and convenient...but in 2011, I began to really shift my focus, and started buying the majority of new metal albums on vinyl. That was the year that I bought my first Saxon new release, Call To Arms, on vinyl, and since then, I haven't missed a single one.

Thunderbolt is Saxon's 22nd studio album. Twenty two! How many bands can compete with that level of output? Frontman, Biff Byford, is 67 years old, and the band is still raging. By now, Saxon fall into that same mold as Motorhead and AC/DC...the band has a sound, and they do not stray far from that...and speaking of Motorhead, Saxon's new song, They Played Rock N Roll, is a great tribute to Lemmy and the band.

So yeah, you know what to expect with a new Saxon album, and while it isn't going to blow me away, I'm still happy to see them still writing solid Heavy Metal songs.

Green Times At The Jersey Shore

Lately, I've been in a hardcore headspace, and my record buying habits reflect that. I've been getting a charge out of revisiting that classic shit from the 90's and 00's, and I've fallen into the bad habit of saying "I'll buy just one more record, and then focus saving some money.", and then I turn around and do the same damn thing a couple of days later.

Sometimes, I find it fun to go through "anniversary playlists". You know, revisiting stuff that was released 10, 20, 30 years ago. Well, since it is 2018, I was time travelling back 20 years to 1998, and spinning a bunch of albums from that time. 20 fucking years. How is that possible? Doesn't seem that long ago that I was travelling down to Boston a couple times a month to see bands like Ten Yard Fight, In My Eyes and Fastbreak play shows. Christ, I'm old.

My Floorpunch collection is pathetic. Because I was stuck in a mindset of preferring CDs to records at the time, my Floorpunch record collection consisted of only the Division One Champs 7 inch...on black vinyl...plus a few copies of that New Jersey discography that Six Feet Under did years ago. The thought of trying to build a collection for this band was overwhelming, so I've just avoided it.

Listening to the Fast Times At The Jersey Shore album recently, kind of reignited just how much I love this record. I was playing it repeatedly, along with with other hardcore classics from 1998, and I figured that I'd just take a look at Discogs to see what going rates were for the vinyl. There weren't any sellers with the white vinyl available, but there was a green vinyl pressing available at a very reasonable price. I didn't want to leave it, and then pay more for a different copy later, so I said "One more record, and then I'll focus on saving some money", and I hit the button to add it to my cart.

300 pressed on green vinyl, and I couldn't be more happier to have this in the collection.

All Chrome

I was recently reading an interview with Pat Flynn over at No Echo. I don't normally care about interviews with hardcore bands, but Pat Flynn is such an interesting and eloquent dude, that I figured that I'd check it out. No surprise...the interview was great. What did kind of surprise me was the mention of a hardcore band from the late 90's that I'd never checked out before.

One of my all time favorite hardcore bands is All Chrome from New Bedford, Massachusetts. A pretty much unknown band that fused the sound of Verbal Assault with the likes of Quicksand and Supertouch. What is important to me about that band is the community it fostered. Had they not formed, I know I would not have fell in love with the hardcore scene and perceived as a real community of creativity. I would have drifted off in search of something else. They never toured extensively or put out an LP. But if Have Heart or anything I’ve offered to the hardcore scene had any positive impact, then All Chrome sure as hell played a major role in the hardcore scene.

Suddenly, I was very interested in tracking down some songs from All Chrome and giving them a listen.

While I don't have the same level of appreciation that Pat Flynn has for this band, this is still a pretty good record. I mean, 1999 was an odd time for hardcore as it was, and All Chrome definitely fit the time when some hardcore bands didn't fit into a defined style.

According to Discogs, this was only pressed on black vinyl, so for $4, I grabbed a copy.

Voice Of Ecostrike

About a year ago, a was introduced to Ecostrike. It had been a long time since a Hardcore band had me as excited as I was when I first checked out their Time Is Now 7 inch. That record, with its 90's Straight Edge Hardcore sound, grabbed my attention and would not let go. Easily my favorite record of last year.

When I heard that Triple B was going to be releasing an album from Ecostrike in 2018, it immediately jumped to the top of the list of most anticipated releases for the year.

The album certainly delivers on its promises and lives up to the hype. While the 7 inch had me drawing comparisons to the first couple of Earth Crisis 7 inches, the sound on this album reminds me more of One Truth-era Strife. Earth Crisis...Strife...you can't lose with either one. It will be interesting to see if Ecostrike can make the top of my list two years running. Right now, I think they have a pretty good shot.

When preorders went up, I went with the simple black vinyl option. Both the black and colored splatter vinyl were limited to 200 each, but I was counting on the splatter looking like shit, so I went black instead. Now I kind of want that splatter vinyl as well...and maybe the pink colored vinyl as well...oh fuck, might as well add the record release to the want list as well.

The More They Stay The Same

Back when I was obsessing over records from 2005, and I was picking up vinyl from Mental and Lion Of Judah, I uncovered a number of forgotten treasures. Man, I had forgotten just how much fun some of this stuff is, and it was a charge getting back into it.

While I already had a copy of the last One Up single, my copy was on green vinyl...and since the blue vinyl was available on Discogs for only a fiver, it was a cheap way to burn some of the energy that had been building up with this obsession. "Hey, I really like listening to this record right now, so I might as well buy another copy of it". Solid logic.

I absolutely love this record. The a-side is great, but man, that Texas Is The Reason cover on the b-side really gets me moving. I really like Texas Is The Reason, but man, if there was ever an instance where the cover beats the original...this is it. This has a total latter-day Turning Point vibe. Damn...if only the band stuck it out for one more record. I would have loved to have seen what they could have put together.

Steel And Silver

The 2018 new releases are starting to roll in! Three months into the new year, and I've only posted one new release, but checking my backlog of records that need to posted up here on the blog, and things are starting to pick up steam.

A couple of years ago, Visigoth came out of nowhere with their debut LP, and that thing kicked my ass. Their traditional metal sound really hit all of my buttons back in 2015, and that album rocketed up my Top 10 list. When I heard that Visigoth had a new album coming out this year, I preordered a copy without hesitation. Rather quickly, it made my short list of most anticipated releases for the year.

Man, this album is a solid follow up to The Revenant King. It starts off hella strong, and initially makes a case for being as good as the debut, but then things get a little shaky with Salt City, and even though they are trying for another Iron Brotherhood type anthem, it misses the mark for me, and therefore puts the album just a notch below their debut.

Limited to 300 on the clear with smokey blue colored vinyl. Damn, that vinyl color looks great!

Master Of Box Sets

I started collecting the Metallica deluxe box sets when they released them for Kill 'Em All and Ride The Lightning back in 2016. Thankfully they gave us some time to catch our breath before rolling out the third one in the set...Master Of Puppets.

These deluxe box sets do not come cheap, and it takes a serious commitment to plan on chasing them. When it was announced that Master Of Puppets was getting the deluxe treatment, I couldn't help but inwardly groan. Fuck. I'm having a good time spending money on old records through Discogs and eBay. I don't know if I really want to shift my focus over to this beast.

When release day rolled around, I was surprised that it didn't show up at my local record store. It seemed as though it was sold out before it hit the shelf, and the store didn't seem to have any available. Suddenly, my interest in getting my hands on one of these increased. I mean, I obviously needed one to keep the collection going, but now I was starting to panic on how difficult it might be to find one, and I went from "I'll pick one up at some point" to "I need this right fucking now".

I hate shopping at my local Newbury Comics, but when I saw one on the shelf there...and it happened to be a 20% sale on all vinyl...I didn't hesitate to buy it.

This box set is massive. High quality and stuffed with all kinds of cool shit for the Metalli-nerd.

We obviously start things off with a vinyl pressing of the album...the Damage Inc print is a nice touch.

I love the early Metallica live stuff...back when the band was still hungry and raw...so the exclusive double live vinyl that is included in the box set is one of the high points of this packaging.

So many cool extras...live shows, interviews, demos, and Jason Newstead's auditions. Pretty wild to hear the original version of Welcome Home (Sanitarium), which included a portion that was later pulled out and used for Orion. Even the folder with copies of handwritten lyrics just adds to the level of detail that went into this box set.

Finally, there is the hardcover book that is full off old photos, magazine articles, and reflections from those that were there at the time of Master Of Puppets. Hella cool all around.

Preorder Powertrip

When I was picking up the Mental and Lion Of Judah records from an overseas Discogs seller, I couldn't resist the temptation to add just one more record to my cart before checking out.

Nothing Done have been one of my favorites from the mid to late 00's. High energy Hardcore that never fails to get me moving. Since discovering them back in 2007, I've slowly been adding their different pressings to the collection, and adding a record here and there. I've been off my Nothing Done game for a number of years, but while I was on Discogs wasting money, I found this pressing of their Powertrip LP that I was missing, and I scooped it up.

Limited cover for preorders that wraps around the original packaging. Numbered and limited to 60.

This is now my fourth copy of the album, alongside the second pressing on blue vinyl, the UK tour pressing, and the record release cover. I love how each of the limited covers is limited to 60...because I like uniformity like that.

In Like A Lion...

A few years ago, I got burnt the fuck out on collecting multiple pressings. It felt like things were getting out of control, and the thrill of the chase turned into a pain in the ass when labels were pressing new releases on 5 different colors, and dropping reissues left and right. I stepped away from that madness, and instead focused my attention on picking up those classic records that I never owned on vinyl in the first place.

I shed that feeling where I felt an obligation to buy everything that a label was releasing, and instead of spending $50 to buy every pressing of a new album, I was content with one copy. It was liberating.

Out of the blue, recently, I started listening to some records from 2005 that I hadn't thought about in years. Suddenly, that old feeling was back, and I started thinking about how great it would be to own more pressings for those albums that I already owned. Fuck that level headed thinking of locking it down and focusing on finally adding that Articles Of Faith album to the collection...let's get loose.

After grabbing a copy of Planet Mental on white vinyl, I had to check to see what else that seller had to offer. Part of my 2005 obsession included multiple spins of the first Lion Of Judah 7 inch...so when I saw that the seller also had a copy of the Soul Power (Plus Four) 12 inch, I quickly added it to the cart as well.

I remember when this 12 inch was originally released. I was spending lots of time on the Bridge Nine messageboard at the time, and when I saw the announcement that some Euro label was releasing Soul Power, along with the songs from the demo, on a 12 inch for Lion Of Judah's Euro tour, I really wanted one. But what was some kid from The States supposed to do? I didn't want to deal with overseas shipping, and prices just seemed to high for my tastes at the time, so I never got my hands on one.

Over 12 years later, the dream finally comes true...and for under $10.

Fear Of A White Planet

When Planet Mental was released back in 2005, I had just started to get into record collecting. I remember being pretty stoked to get an "Earth Sucks" record release pressing at their show, but being new to the game, I hadn't really gotten hooked on the concept of collecting multiple pressings...so the one copy was all I needed. As the years went by, I'd entertain the idea of going back to pick up some other copies of the Mental LP, but it just never happened.

It had been a long time since I'd spent any time with those mid-00's Hardcore records, but when I recently started dusting off some of those old records, I was hooked pretty quick, and that shit was getting multiple spins. It was exciting to go back and revisit that era that I'd been neglecting for the last few years...and soon I was checking Discogs to see if there was any vinyl that was available for a quick and easy purchase.

Since I already owned an original US pressing with the blue cover for Planet Mental, I was itching to pick up the red cover that was pressed for the Mental's Euro tour. I found a white vinyl pressing available, and I was good to go!

Good Reddance

A few weeks back, I picked up a reissue of Ballads From The Revolution on colored vinyl. I absolutely loved the look of that vinyl, and it got me wondering if Fat Wreck had recently reissued any of the other Good Riddance records.

I started looking around and was pleasantly surprised to find that Symptoms Of A Leveling Spirit got the colored vinyl reissue treatment in 2017 as well. While I was originally hesitant to start chasing reissues...because of some strange allegiance to only purchasing original pressings...once I'd started down that road with Ballads From The Revolution, there was no holding back after that, and there was no internal struggle over grabbing another Good Riddance reissue. Again, that vinyl looks great!

Good Riddance were five albums in when they released Symptoms Of A Leveling Spirit and they were still putting out some great Hardcore Punk records. They might have been one of the few Fat Wreck bands that I cared about, but Good Riddance were one of my absolute favorites during the late 90's/early 00's, and it feels great to start putting their vinyl into my collection.

Boys Just Want To Have Fun

When I'm listening to music, I tend to narrow in on specific years or eras. Mostly my attention falls into the category of Metal and Hardcore for the 70's, 80's and 90's...and occasionally I'll get caught up listening to newer shit...and I can be perfectly content to spend weeks just listening to records from that chosen era over and over and over again. There is one period in Hardcore that I tend to overlook these days...those bands from the 00's.

I was recently doing one of those Record A Day challenges on Instagram, and the topic of "All Time Favorite Record" came up. Typically, for this category, I will fall back on something from Ronnie James Dio, but I wanted to mix it up this time around. I was tossing some different ideas around in my head, and then I remembered the Lights Out LP taking the top spot on my Last.fm account (which provides stats on all the music you listen to and capture with their site). Thinking about this album got me thinking about some mid-00's Hardcore records. Before I knew it, I was down the rabbit hole, and I woke up from a record shopping stupor with a stack of Recent Purchases on my account, and a wife that was upset about the number of boxes that were being delivered to the house.

One of the bands that I'd forgotten about over the past few years was One Up. While I was digging through old music and memories from the mid-00's, I came across songs from the It's Time To Believe album from One Up. I only owned it on CD, so I headed to Discogs to find out the deal on the vinyl pressing. Wait. What?!? That was only released on CD? How the fuck is that possible? I mean this was released by Dead By 23, who were kind of known for releasing multiple vinyl pressings, so how did this only see a CD release. Shit is whack.

So while I was trying to figure out what the deal was with It's Time To Believe, I happened to see a vinyl pressing of their demo for cheap. Man, that special cover for Posi Numbers pressing. Pretty much just boys fun. Hilarious.

If you happen to think that the front cover is gay, you might want to stay away from the b-side label. Again...just dudes having a laugh.

Hand numbered and limited to 75.

Propagandhi Victory

Propagandhi is one of those bands that I really loved in the mid to late 90's, but then I lost all interest in as we moved into the 00's. I only gave Failed States (2012) and Supporting Caste (2009) a handful of spins before shelving them, and I never even bothered with Potemkin City Limits (2005).

Despite not having very much interest in Propagandhi, I still stepped up to check out the video for Failed Imagineer from their new album last year. Damn, that song was great, and suddenly I was very interested to check out more.

I stole a download of Victory Lap, listened to it once or twice, and like the last couple of Propagandhi, I kind of shrugged my shoulders and moved on.

I was recently going through my 2017 playlist, and came across that new Propagandhi album. I gave it a spin, and before I knew it, my stats showed that it was my most listened to Propagandhi album from the past twelve years. I just kept going back to it...over and over...and eventually it became obvious that I was going to need to finally pick up the vinyl.

I Believe In Getting The Bastard

Last Summer I was on a huge New Model Army kick, and then band pretty much dominated my playlist when I would go out for a run. There was just something about those songs that kept me fired up while I was ticking off miles on the roads. My NMA record collection was pretty weak, yet I had trouble pulling the trigger on any vinyl that I was checking out on Discogs. I ended up throwing the band's first full length album, Vengeance, into my Discogs Want List, and then I pretty much just ignored it as I moved on to other obsessions.

Discogs has a great system of notifying you when a record on your Want List is available, and after seeing notifications continually pop up for Vengeance, I was getting sick of seeing the reminders. A $10 copy of the UK first pressing popped up recently from a US seller, and I knew it was time to finally cross this one off the list.

This record is so damn good. Let's queue up Running In The Rain, lace up the shoes, and hit the road for a few miles.

Give Me Some Space

There are basically two camps when it comes to Turnstile. Those that love what the band is doing, and those that hate them with every fiber of their being. To be honest, I was expecting that with their new album, Time & Space, that they were going to lose a step. I loved the band since I heard first heard their Pressure To Succeed record back in 2011, but I didn't expect much from the band with a new record seven years later.

I listened to their video single for the song Moon, and my first impression was not a favorable one. The song was different than what I expected, and seemed to lack that intense groove that I associated with Turnstile. It seemed to cement my preconceived notion that this new Turnstile album was going to be a dud. But even with those expectations as low as they could get, on a moment of impulse, I still preordered a copy of the vinyl when they were available. I figured that if I hated it as much as I thought that I was going to, I could just flip it on Discogs to recoup my loss.

Well, I couldn't have been more wrong, because this new record is fucking great. Turnstile push the boundaries of their sound...they continue to grow and yet still sound completely vital. Even my initial impression of the song Moon has done a 180 degree turn in the context of the album. I know that it is cool for us older guys to be all jaded and shit on this album, but I'm absolutely loving it.

For once, Turnstile don't release a record with some shitty cover art. This thing looks great, and the packaging is top notch. 400 pressed on orange vinyl.