Blow Up Your 12 Inch Singles

Back in 2017, when I started toying with the idea of collecting Australian pressings for the Bon Scott era AC/DC albums I never would have expected my obsession over the the band to explode the way it has. I was just going to collect those Aussie pressings because they were so different than the US versions that I grew up with, but the last couple of years have seen me also chasing singles and some pricey first pressings from their latter period. I want it all, and after picking up a Spanish promo for Rock Your Heart Out earlier this year, it had me in the mindset to pick up more singles.

I've been on the hunt for the UK 12 inch pressing of That's The Way I Wanna Rock N Roll for the past year. When I saw a copy pop up in my want list over on Discogs from a US seller, I didn't hesitate to jump on it, even if the price was a little high.

Released as a single for the Blow Up Your Video album, the major selling point for this record is the exclusive b-side song Borrowed Time. I don't think that a lot of bands were throwing exclusive tracks like this around at this time... or maybe as an American, I just missed out on cool shit like this from overseas... but either way, it is cool to discover stuff like this 30+ years down the line.

How cool is that gatefold cover for a 12 inch single? This entire package feels special, and not some cheap throw away.

Honestly, one of the things that really drew my attention to this 12 inch single was the patch that came with it. That red patch for the Blow Up Your Video world tour in 1988 looks great. I love collectible shit like this.

Shortly after picking up the That's The Way I Wanna Rock N Roll single, the other single from Blow Up Your Video fell into my lap. I picked this one up from a seller in the UK, and as I was loading up my cart with cool records from them, I definitely needed the Heatseeker single as well.

The Heatseeker single gives us another exclusive b-side song with Snake Eye.

Another good looking gatefold 12 inch cover, and it feels good to pick up both Blow Up Your Video singles in one shot. Okay, what AC/DC record should I pick up next?

Between Earth & Sky

I like to think that I was pretty tuned into what was happening with hardcore back in 2011, but somehow the record from Between Earth & Sky completely passed me by. I don't even remember hearing the name... although to be honest, a name like Between Earth & Sky is pretty forgettable to me. At least I wasn't the only one that was in the dark on this band, as Marcus only just discovered them last year, and his post about them finally put them on my radar.

Greg Bennick from Trial handles the vocals here for Between Earth & Sky, so it is easy to draw comparisons here to Trial... and I love those Trial records so it should be pretty ovbious how much I'm enjoying this record. The lyrics are a bit more "poetic" than Trial's straight forward delivery, but this record still sounds like it could have been pulled from the mid to late 90's.

There were 335 pressed on clear vinyl, and it comes with two stickers, while the blue vinyl was more limited and came with 5 stickers. Sticker collectors take note.

My Generations

Man, when Revelation dropped the Generations comp in 2005, it was the end of a long drought from that label. For years REV released stuff from bands like Curl Up And Die, Shai Hulud and Since By Man, and I wanted nothing to do that shit. The label was dead to me for new releases, but with this comp, suddenly they were showing signs of life in a big way.

Generations features a lot of hardcore heavy hitters from that time period making this a crucial comp to pick up back in the day. Plus there are a ton of exclusive songs here, so where a lot of comps fade to obscurity, this one still feels important and it is one that I still reach for today. The Robot Whales track is probably the most underrated song on here... it still gives me a charge everytime I hear it.

Of course when Generations was orginally released I only bought the CD version. When I recently saw a first press on blue vinyl available from a Discogs seller that I was already loading up my cart with records from them, I knew it was time to finally buy this on a proper format... plus it was much cheaper than the current grey vinyl that is available now from REV, so it only made sense to buy this. 550 on blue vinyl.

Cut The Bullshit

If I was to make a list of my all time favorite hardcore records, I would have to include Harmed And Dangerous from Cut The Shit in there somewhere. There are records that made more of an impact, and there are records that are "better", but I never get tired of this album from Cut The Shit... it is angry... it has attitude... and it is a fucking fun time.

Once again, I find that collecting records from bands in the early 2000's is no sweat. This album is 18 years old, and I'm still able to buy a copy for well under $10. If kids were making investments and buying records like this with hopes that they could flip them years down the line and cash in, they msut be sorely disappointed.

Discogs lists this clear vinyl pressing as having a Gloom Record stamp on one of the labels and a cowboy boot stamp on the other. The labels on this one are obviously blank.

Ten years after picking up the white vinyl pressing, it feels good to finally add the clear vinyl to the collection.

Just Can't Stand It

Earlier this year I picked up a Tear It Up 7 inch for cheap. The clear orange vinyl looked great, and it was fun to revisit the band, so I got the idea in my head that I might want to start collecting the band. When I recently grabbed a Drug Test record from a Discogs seller, I noticed that they also had a few other records available at a good price so I started adding shit to my cart.

One of the records from that haul was the Tear It Up 12 inch, Just Can't Stand It, from 2001. 12 songs in 15 minutes...from start to finish this record rages. Fast and furious thrashy hardcore that is pissed off and nihilistic, and Tear It Up were one of the best at this style.

20 years after its release and I'm finally adding the vinyl to the collection. 200 pressed on red vinyl.

Phenobarbital Mosh

Earlier this year, Marcus over at The Endless Quest posted about a couple of Drug Test records and it got me thinking about those records from the early 2000's that have been buried by time and dust. I mean, I rarely pull this stuff out for a spin... and it just seems that most people overlook this stuff. A lot of times it seems that people only care about the latest hyped band, or classics from the 80's, and a lot of stuff in between gets pushed aside and forgotten. I tend to get a charge out of collecting records that no one cares about, so when Marcus posted two great looking Drug Test records, it prompted me to hit Discogs and see what I could find for the band.

I was kind of out of touch with hardcore in the early 2000's, and I missed out on a lot of those bands at the time. Even with the great cover art for the Needle In Your Neck 7 inch, I somehow allowed the record to slip by me for years, until I picked up the green vinyl in 2010. 10 years later, I felt compelled to buy another pressing with this yellow copy.

This record was a blast to revisit. It is harsh and uncompromising from start to finish.

Move BHC

Triple B had a great run of records back in 2019, and it really revived my love of new hardcore bands. Since then I keep going back to the Triple B well looking for that same thrill, but for the past year they haven't delivered too much that interested me. Not sure if they are "going Bridge Nine" on us, but what was once a label that had me looking forward to what discovery they would serve up, now just leaves me feeling confused. Their preorders still seem to sell out within hours, so apparently they still have an audience...it just isn't me. Triple B still delivered the Ecostrike album and Mindforce EP last year, so the label isn't a total loss... and because of that, I still will check out their new releases in hopes that I'll find something cool.

When I first saw the announcement for the Move 7 inch, I was expecting something similar to Anxious, but I soon discovered that this record is not that style. Move have no soft edges and they wield thier progressive politics like a fucking sword. This is raw and angry shit, and when I'm feeling pissed off at the madness of the world, Move deliver exactly what I want.

Given how quickly Triple B sells out of their most limited pressings, I was kind of surprised that I was able to get my order in for the purple vinyl. Limited to 100.

American Virus

As Trump was downplaying Covid-19, telling people to inject bleach, and continually referring to it as the "China Virus" last year, Dead Ending did what any self-respecting punk band would have done...they wrote a middle-finger song to the shithead in charge. They banged out two quick songs, and a cover from The Clash, and preorders went up at the end of August. Because all of 2020 was a complete clusterfuck, it took over six months for the record to ship.

Calling out Trump as the American Virus is an excellent way to close out his term as president, and a great follow up to thier Ivanka Wants Her Orange Back single from when he was inagurated back in 2017. Seriously, fuck that guy forever.

While the Complete Control cover from The Clash didn't make it to the 7 inch, the two original songs here are great. Fast and short songs with those Vic Bondi snarling vocals are what Dead Ending do best, and these two deliver what you expect. I was hoping that we'd get a nice limited colored vinyl pressing with this one, but it looks like it may have only seen black vinyl.

Tygers Of Crazy Nights

I love the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. There is a youthful charm and attitude with those bands that I find exciting and even though that scene only existed for a relatively short period of time, there still seems to be a never ending supply of underground bands to still discover. Sometimes I get so busy running around and checking out small and obscure NWOBHM bands that only ever released a single 7 inch, and I forget that I still need albums from some of the bigger names from that era.

Despite being one of the bigger NWOBHM bands, I really wasn't familiar with Tygers Of Pan Tang back in the 80's. The band was just a year or two before my time, and with an ocean separating us, Tygers never made it onto my radar as a kid. I don't think that I really heard them until sometime after 2000, when I started to really check out what the NWOBHM hype was all about. I liked Tygers Of Pan Tang when I first heard them, but it wasn't until the last few years that I really started to get a deep appreciation for the band. I'm only familiar with their first three albums, as the general opinion is that things get a bit more commercial after that, and the last one that I needed was their third album, Crazy Nights, from 1981.

Tygers Of Pan Tang were on a tear at the start of their career, and their third album is just as important and vital as their first two. The song Never Satisfied has got a hook that grabs me everytime I hear it... one of my favorite Tygers songs. When I started looking to finally pick up a copy, I had to go with the pressing that included a bonus two song 12 inch. So good!

Pink Beyond Recognition

Twelve years ago Marcus posted about the Life Time album from Rollins Band. He was attracted to the special pink vinyl, and his enthusiasm was contagious so that I found myself wanting to grab a copy as well. It took some time, but I was finally able to track one down.

I was a big fan of the early Rollins Band albums... including Hot Animal Machine... back when I started getting into hardcore. I mean, they were no Black Flag, but Henry Rollins could still rage at the microphone and got the job done for me. Life Time is probably my favorite of the bunch, although I've really come to appreciate The End Of Silence quite a bit over recent years. The songs on this LP absolutely rip and are catchy as hell... plus this pink vinyl looks bright and sharp... such a good look.

In case you missed it, Ian MacKaye produced this album.

The Repentless Killogy

Slayer released their last album, Repentless, back in 2015. They then toured for the album, and followed that up with their final tour ever. Over that four year stretch, Slayer played Massacusetts six times, New Hampshire once, and the state of Maine one time...eight times they played where I could have taken the opportunity to see them live, and every time I turned it down. What an idiot. Now the band is done, and have left us one final testament with this live album.

I'm not too big on live albums, but I knew that I was going to have to pick up The Repentless Killogy at some point. When I was in the Nuclear Blast store picking up the Exodus picture disk single, I saw a new colored vinyl pressing for The Repentless Killogy, and figured that I might was well grab that at the same time...plus, I liked the look of the colored vinyl with the cover art and thought it was a good match.

As far as Slayer live albums, Live Undead captures the early years, Decade Of Aggression documents the band at their peak, and The Repentless Killogy puts to wax their very last show. What I love about this live album is that it represents all the eras of Slayer with a full seven songs from the band's post-2000 albums (although I'm kind of disappointed that there isn't a single song from Christ Illusion here). Some people may want more of the classics, but I'm damned excited to have stuff like Hate Worldwide and You Against You documented here. Still, there are other songs from the two Inglewood setlists that would have been cool to see here like Temptation or Gemini. Any way you look at it, this is still a killer live record, and the band sounds absolutely vicious here and firing on all cylinders.

Salt The Wound

As I was preparing to write this post, I was thinking about when Exodus released their last album, and in my mind it was only a few years ago. When I checked for the actual release date, I was floored to discover that Blood In Blood Out came out in 2014...almost seven fucking years ago! Damn. Where does the time go? And an even better question, why are they releasing a single from that album after so much time has passed?

This was totally an impulse buy. I was doing the #febmetalpunk challenge over on Instagram, and as I was posting nothing but 80's metal records, it had me in a metal state of mind...I saw this shaped picture disk single in the Nuclear Blast shop as I was struggling to come up with something for the "unique packaging" category and without thinking, I simply added it to my cart and checked out. There is nothing new offered here, other than it is just a cool collectible.

I really liked Blood In Blood Out from Exodus when it was released, but honestly, it has been a good five years since I've listened to it. Hearing the two songs on this single serve as a nice reminder for how good that album was, and I'm already reaching for my copy to give it a spin and revisit it.

It is basically a law that special edition metal records have to be limited to 666.

Too Mean To Accept

The first few months of 2021 have felt like they have been lacking in new releases. I've been keeping myself busy discovering a bunch of records that I've missed from the past few years, but when it comes to new albums, things seem to have been rather quiet. Maybe it is fallout from lockdowns due to COVID-19, or maybe I just need some patience. Either way, it feels strange to be posting my first new album in April...even though it was actually released in January (shut up about that and just accept that this blog basically runs on a two month backlog).

While I was initially excited about Accept's last album from 2017, The Rise Of Chaos, it never really hooked me like the other three albums in the Mark Tornillo era of the band. It is still some solid metal, but I don't really reach for it very often. Too Mean To Die on the other hand, hits like a ton of bricks right out of the gate. This album feels like it is contantly on the attack as the guitars rip and Tornillo snarls his way through the songs. Absolutely vicious. I had high hopes for Too Mean To Die, but I'm still blown away by how great this record is.

After picking up the Undertaker single at the end of last year, that song had me fired up to check out the new Accept album that was on the way and I immediately placed my preorder. Because it is on Nuclear Blast there are a stupid number of colored vinyl options...I grabbed the gold with swamp green pressing, which doesn't look too bad.

(I'm) Stranded In Australia

Last year I did a terrible job of focusing on my Top Wants list. I put this top 10 list together each year, not with the expectation that I'll buy everything on it, but to highlight some records that I've wanted over recent years, and to keep them in my sights so they don't continue to get pushed aside. Last year I only managed to pick off two of them from list, and I swore that in 2021 I'd do better. Before too much time got away from me, I wanted to make a move on my Top Wants list early, so back in January I started scheming on which one I was going to chase first.

The first album from The Saints, (I'm) Stranded, first showed up on my Top Wants list back in 2018. It has been stuck (errr...stranded) on the list for a few years, because I got it into my head that I would only be satisfied with an Australian pressing of the record...because of course The Saints were from Australia, so it only made sense to buy the pressing from their counrty...which of course makes it more expensive and difficult to track down...especially one in good condition. Hell, the US pressing of this record isn't exactly cheap, so if I'm going to do it, I might as well do it right.

I first discovered this album back in 2016 when I was obsessing over late 70's punk bands. I'd never heard of The Saints, but I was so hungry for that sound that I was trying a bunch of bands from that time period hoping to find something that hooked me. Along with bands like The Adverts, UK Subs, The Buzzcocks and The Dickies, I also struck gold with that first album from The Saints. From start to finish, it just has that cool punk attitude, and it feels good to finally have this classic in the collection.

I'm used to seeing the kangaroo logo on the early AC/DC records, but it is kind of cool to see it here on this album from The Saints.

Clearly Tragic

Despite their records being 25 years old, last year was the first time that I ever listened to Orange 9mm. As I started spinning the REV EP and Driver Not Included I was shocked at how much I loved what I was hearing. I was so excited to finally discover this band, that when my buddy Sandwell let me know that their 1996 album, Tragic, was being released for the first time ever on vinyl, I threw caution to the wind and without hearing the songs, I preordered a copy. Since I was ordering the record from Germany, and paying overseas shipping, it was a bit of a reckless move, but goddamn, sometimes you've just got to go with the impulse.

First things first, the packaging on this 25th anniversary pressing is top notch. I love the look of the new cover art, and with the red dust sleeve and clear vinyl...it is an impressive release.

While I do like what I hear on Tragic, it certainly doesn't have the same impact on me like the earlier records. To be honest, I think it all boils down to the last song, Kiss It Goodbye. The K-I-S-S-I-N-G chorus irritates me, and as this song closes out the album, it is the last impression I have of an otherwise solid record. Get that song outta there and this album fills the need when I want some unique 90's hardcore.

Metal City

Raven released an album, ExtermiNation, back in 2015, but it never clicked with me. I downloaded the songs, but that thing clocked in over an hour... and by the end of it I all I could think about was how much I just wanted to listen to something else. It wasn't terrible, but I just couldn't invest the time into it. When Raven released Metal City last year, it barely made a blip on my record radar. I knew the record was out there, but I wasn't in any rush to check it out.

There were a number of old metal bands that released top notch records last year, so I was curious as to how the new Raven album stacked up and I decided to give it a shot on Spotify. Surprisingly, Metal City is a ton of fun. The album is only 40 minutes long, and the songs are quick and catchy. I couldn't believe how much fun I was having listening to the album, and I grabbed the vinyl for it.

The cover is goofy as hell with it's comic book theme, and doesn't do a damn thing to help sell this album on me. Thankfully the songs are strong enough to help me get past it. Given how much I'm enjoying Metal City, I may have to go back and give ExtermiNation another chance.

Three-Chord Pegboy

I spent a lot of time at the end of last year listening to Naked Raygun. They just seemed to be the perfect soundtrack to the hope that was on the horizon after Trump lost the presidential election. I was so obsessed with Naked Raygun, and I wanted more. I'd heard the name Pegboy tossed around over the years, but I'd never actually heard anything from them. I knew there was some connection to Naked Raygun, so it seemed like it was finally time to see what I'd been missing.

While it took me some time to warm up to Naked Raygun, Pegboy hit me immediately. Soon I was listening to the two bands back to back, day after day...and the Strong Reaction album became one of my favorite discoveries of 2020...almost thirty years after it's release. Pegboy are so good, and just seem to capture that early 90's punk sound that I loved at the time. Honestly, if someone had introduced me to the band back in the day, they would have fit perfectly in with the early Jawbox and Fugazi records that I loved at the time.

In addition to Strong Reaction, I was also spinning the first Pegboy EP, Three-Chord Monte, quite a bit as well. I thought it would be relatively easy to pick up the vinyl for both of these, but it turned out to be a bit more difficult than I'd initially thought. Sure, there were European sellers on Discogs that had the records available, but for some strange reason there were no US sellers. I threw them on my Wantlist, and as soon as someone in the States had a copy of Three-Chord Monte available I jumped on it.

Sign Of The Hammer

It is a rare thing for me to do repeat listens for an album. When I listen to a record, I'll give it one spin for the day and then move on. If I want to hear it again, it will have to wait until the following day. I was mentioning this the other day to a couple of people and they said that they will quite often listen to a song, and if they really enjoy it, they will immediately go back and play that one song again, and maybe even a third time. My head exploded. I don't understand this concept at all. So it was an unusual situation that I found myself in a few months ago, when I could not get enough of the Sign Of The Hammer album from Manowar.

It had been a long time since I'd listend to Sign Of The Hammer. I couldn't even remember when the last time I'd heard those songs but I was in the mood for some mid-80's American metal, so I queued it up on Spotify. This album hit me like a ton of bricks. The songs sunk their claws in me and did not let go...so much that as soon as the song Guyana was finished at the end of the album, I immediately started it again from the top with All Men Play On Ten. Every song on this album had me amped up and excited...and then surprise, suprise...I gave the album my third spin of the day. I could not get enough and continued to revisit the album daily over the next couple of weeks. In fact I may even rank The Oath as one of my favorite metal songs of all time. It is such an anthem!

After losing my mind over this album, I obviously needed to get my hands on the record. I hit up Discogs and quickly grabbed one from a seller in Germany. This was at the beginning of December. With the postal service being a complete clusterfuck during the holidays, it took nearly three months for the record to arrive in my mailbox. I'd pretty much written it off as a loss by the time we got to February, and as we heading into March I was starting to think that I was going to have to buy another copy. It was such a relief to have it finally arrive.

Trainwreck EP

Last year I had exchanged a few messages with my old friend David, who ran Salad Days Records for a few years out of Portugal. I was always a huge fan of his band Clean Break from a few years ago, and when he sent me a link for his new band Trainwreck, I immediately checked them out and ordered the record.

The 7 inch contains five quick blasts of straight forward hardcore, with most of the songs not even breaking the one minute mark. It kind of reminds me of the early 7 Seconds EPs...fast, catchy and even with an occassional "whoa" thrown in there for good measure during the chorus. This record is a ton of fun and would have probably cracked my Top 10 for 2020 if the record had arrived before the year ended.

New Wave Of Portuguese Hard Core.

There were 100 pressed with the red cover, and another 100 pressed with a blue cover, each lightly numbered on the back cover.

Bound By Ties Of Colored Vinyl

There was a five year stretch in the late 90's into the early 2000's where Good Riddance were one of my favorite bands. I saw them play live in Boston and Providence a few times, and would I would dance like a fucking nut for their entire set. Man, I couldn't help but move for that band. Anyway, at one time I toyed with the idea of collecting original colored vinyl pressings, but I was going to have to drop some serious money if I wanted to go that route, and while I ain't afraid of expensive records, I wasn't sure that I wanted to go that deep for Good Riddance.

A few years ago, when there was more than just three people doing record collecting blogs, someone happened to post about a recent colored vinyl reissue for one of the Good Riddance records. I thought the vinyl looked great, so on a whim I bought a copy... then I found another reissue that looked great and I bought that one too... then at the end of last year I picked up the 25th anniversary reissue of the band's first album. Guess I'm collecting Good Riddance reissues now.

After I recently posted about the For God And Country reissue, I started wondering if there were other recent Good Riddance pressings that I may have missed out on. I found that the band's sixth album, Bound By Ties Of Blood And Affection, was reissued in 2018 on a yellow and gold piece of wax, so I grabbed one from a Discogs seller.

Once again, I really like the look of the vinyl for this pressing. Good looking vinyl for the reissues helps me not feel bad for focusing on these and ignoring the original pressings.