Smelly Nelly Single

While I try to keep serious and focused on chasing the important records for my collection, sometimes I just want to buy something stupid and have a good time. Adding new singles to the collection is never a priority, but it is always fucking fun. They are pointless in the long run, but for some reason, I still get a charge out of buying them.

Earlier this year, I picked up a couple of Krokus singles, and that ended up being so much fun that I grabbed a couple more. The good times keep rolling as I couldn't resist also picking up Smelly Nelly single from '81 recently. I'm not sure what it is about collecting Krokus records that has me excited...I think that I just get thrill out of buying records for bands that most people don't really care about. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think that by the end of the 80's many people gave a shit about this band and their AC/DC inspired sound, and that is probably more so in 2022. It just makes me love them that much more.

German pressing of Smelly Nelly b/w Burning Bones.

Dischord Box

I was a later bloomer when it came to record collecting, and by the time I got serious with it, those early Dischord 7 inches were already way out of my league. I'd never even entertained the thought, but then at some point near the beginning of 2021, I started to think that maybe chasing something like a later pressing of the S.O.A. record might be fun. Yes, it was going to carry a high price tag, but fuck it, I felt like maybe I should make an attempt at a serious serious record like that.

Then a couple months later, Dischord announced that they were releasing a box set with the first six 7 inches, and all those thoughts about chasing a big ticket Dischord record went out the window. A $50 box set is much easier to swallow.

Everyone should know the deal with these six 7 inches, so I'm not going to go into any detail over them. Dischord did an amazing job creating these to mirror the original first pressings. If I'd spent the money or time collecting those original pressings, I might have a problem with this reproduction, but I don't, so I think this set is fantastic.

As a bonus, Dischord included a 7 inch with the unreleased songs from pre-The Teen Idles band, The Slinkees. This is cool from the historical beginnings of Dischord and those early bands, but it certainly is a shaky start. Fun for what it is.

Nice package all around. Of course you know that Dischord was going to do this right. Top quality.

Let The Vio-lence Burn

When forced to pick my favorite thrash album of all time, more often than not, you'll find me awarding the title to Vio-lence's Eternal Nightmare. It is only seven songs long, but it is a non-stop assault from start to finish. Absolute perfection. When I first heard that the band were back together and recording some new songs, I didn't know what to think. Could the band still play on the level of their peers like Testament, Overkill and Death Angel...or were they going to fall on their faces?

The first single they released was a cover of California Uber Alles, and that song was underwhelming as fuck. The band sounded good...Killian's vocals are great...but, man, listening to them cover that Dead Kennedys classic is just awkward. Plus the video with the slight bullshit slant of the "government is trying to control you with mask mandates" during a pandemic, isn't a good look. You'd think that a combo of Vio-lence and DK would be entertaining, but it isn't. Strange way to come out of retirement, and that they did a video for it, but I'm at least grateful that it didn't make it onto the new Let The World Burn EP. After the initial disappointment I approached the next single, Flesh From Bone, with a bit more apprehension but thankfully the band redeem themselves here.

I really enjoy the five songs on this EP. I know that the band was hesitant to release new material 29 years after their last album, but Let The World Burn is a nice addition to the Vio-lence catalog.

2000 Resurrection

I've mentioned it before, but I completely checked out of metal durning the 90's. While it was my life blood throughout the 80's, by the time we hit 1990 and 1991, I was discovering hardcore and those bands just seemed more real and vital to me. While metal was struggling to stay relevent through that decade, I was oblivious to it all. I suppose on some level, I was aware of the big changes like Dickinson leaving Iron Maiden and Halford taking an exit from Judas Priest. Funny enough, as I was starting to get interested in metal again around 2000, Maiden saw Dickinson return to the band, and Rob Halford was releasing the best thing that he'd done in ten years with the Resurrection LP from the Halford band. Metal still wasn't fashionable, but it was starting to make a comeback.

Goddamn. When Rob kicks off this album with the scream of "Resurrection" it gives me chills. The entire album is a monster, ripping with plenty of those Priest vibes that I loved in the 80's. Halford truly captures that metal spirit on this album, and it is no surprise that a few years later we would see him reunite with the rest of the Priest guys as 80's metal nostalgia was heating up.

Resurrection did see a vinyl pressing from the UK when it was released in 2000. That original pressing sells for around $200, so I was happy to see it was getting reissued this year. This reissue sounds good to me, but the packaging is kind of shitty. It is like they lost the original artwork, and resorted to using a smaller image that they blew up to fit the album cover. It isn't very clear and comes across as cheap.

300 pressed on silver vinyl.

Planet Based Diet

I was a huge fan of Voivod back in the 80's. I really liked the raw early albums, but with Killing Technology and Dimension Hatross, the band was on another level. Those two records are fucking perfect. Hell, even Nothingface from '89 was pretty cool. After that though, nothing has really interested me very much. I had some high hopes in the early 2000's when the band reunited with the original singer, Snake, and I've picked up a number of albums from the band since then, but each one failed to make much of an impression on me and was soon forgotten.

I didn't really have much interest in the latest Voivod record, Synchro Anarchy, but I still took the time to check out the video for Planet Eaters. Okay okay...this is a pretty cool song, but would Voivod be able to hold my attention across the entire album? Surprisingly, the answer is very much a yes. Even at almost 50 minutes, this record never feels too long, and I'm engaged throughout the entire thing. I haven't been this happy with a Voivod album since Nothingface. Very cool.

Transparent green vinyl for the US pressing is looking good.

Dead Last

At the start of 2022, I saw something about a new band named Dead Last. I've been super excited over new hardcore bands lately, so I probably would have checked them out regardless, however, seeing that Dead Last had some connection to one of my favorites from the past couple of years, Rule Them All, I didn't hesitate to order their 7 inch.

Dead Last are from Long Island, but they mention that they are inspired by those Boston bands from the 00's. I can definitely hear the influence from bands like Stop And Think and Free Spirit, and this 7 inch makes me want to dive back into that era. It has been a while since I've spent much time with those bands, and Dead Last are a great reminder of some cool shit that I've forgotten about over the years.

Light blue colored vinyl is limited to 100.

To Whatever Alternate Cover (Part III)

I was afraid that this was going to happen. When Triple B did the third pressing of Magnitude's To Whatever Fateful End album, and they changed the cover art from blue to green, I was worried that this theme might continue. Sure enough, with the recent fourth pressing, they change the cover art to purple, and of course I felt compelled to buy one.

I don't know why I felt the need to buy another copy of this record. I have no plans to build any kind of respectable collection for Magnitude, but now I have three copies of this album, so I obviously have no idea what I'm fucking doing. And you know what? If Triple B does a fifth pressing and changes the cover to some kind of red hue, I'll probably buy that too.

Cool looking purple in clear colored vinyl. 200 pressed.

Man, this is such a great record. Magnitude really nail that mid-90's chunky straight edge sound. Hard to believe that this album is already coming up on three years old.

Monument To Nothing

I've been struggling lately to find the time to keep this blog up to date. I've been training to run a 100 mile race in May, and the training lately has been sucking up all of my free time. This is easily the biggest (and dumbest) thing that I'm attempting to run, and I'm fucking overwhelmed by the thought of it, so I've been spending most of my free time on the weekends putting up miles on the road so that I can go into this race feeling like I've done all that I could to prepare. Earlier this year, I was starting to get a little worried that I was going to completely catch up on this blog and have zero records to write about, but then my production here has dropped way off and now I have about 25 records backlogged and waiting for me to write about. Let's try and get this blog back on track.

One of my favorite old school metal records that I picked up last year was the debut from Hallows Eve, Tales Of Terror. I love that record so fucking much, but I also enjoy all of the Hallows Eve records from the 80's, so when I was picking up some other records from a Discogs seller, and saw that they had the Monument album available, I was happy to grab that as well.

The Monument album from 1988 doesn't seem to get the same amount of attention that Tales Of Terror and Death And Insanity recieve, but man, this record is still fun to thrash along to...even the Queen cover song hits pretty hard.

The only problem that I have with this record is that the post office dropped the box off on my steps... in the rain... and I didn't notice it for hours. Water definitely seeped into the package, and while the other records were safe in their plastic sleeves, this Hallows Eve album got hit with some damage along the bottom of the sleeve. Fuck.

Horror Epics

At the start of each year, I like to try and come up with a loose idea of the direction that I want to take my record collection over the next 12 months. It is never a really solid plan, as the slightest thing can blow it off course, but it is fun to fool myself into temporarily thinking that I have it all together and know what I'm doing.

This year, in addition to a slight New Wave Of British Heavy Metal obsession, I'm really trying to keep my focus on those classic records that I grew up with in the 80's. Those albums that I'd either picked up on CD or cassette back in the day, but now I need them in my record collection.

While the Horror Epics album from The Exploited may not qualify as a classic to some people, but man, everything that The Exploited did through the 80's was in constant rotation for me. As an angry teen, I had even taken the song title for I Hate You and I carved it into the dust and road dirt along the side of my car. Plus, there was just something about being an American and singing "Maggie, you cunt" so that you can pretend that you have a grasp of world politics. There is no emotion as pure as teen angst.

Five years ago, something triggered me to put the Combat pressing for Horror Epics on my Discogs Wantlist. I was chasing a bunch of singles for The Exploited at the time, and this Horror Epics pressing must have caught my eye and excited me enough to add it to the wantlist. Funny enough, I haven't listend to a single song from the album since then...which is a pretty good indication as to how deep things can get buried once I lose focus and start chasing other things. I grabbed a copy for a decent price recently, and when it arrived I was surprised to find myself pretty fucking excited to listen to it. The album isn't on Spotify, so it hadn't been easily available for me to give the songs a spin. I'd forgotten completely what some of these songs sounded like and I got a charge out of revisiting this one. Very happy to finally own a copy.

Mantic Execution

Look, I've been listening a lot of thrash this year. The majority of my daily playlists are spent in the late 80's, and I've had stuff like Forbidden, Atrophy, and Flotsam & Jetsam on repeat. Picking up the new Mantic Ritual 7 inch recently reminded me that I needed to throw some of those thrash revival bands into the mix as well. That 7 inch also proved to be the push that I needed to finally pick up one of my favorite records from that late 2000 era.

Of course when Mantic Ritual originally released their Executioner album in 2009, I was still buying a lot of CDs, so it feels good to finally right those past wrongs. Man, some of those records from the thrash revival era didn't hold up enough to have me returning to them on the regular, but this Mantic Ritual album still has me thrashing like a maniac. Revisiting this era and grabbing this album has me wanting to grab some vinyl from other thrashers from that time like Bonded By Blood, Evile and Gama Bomb.

When the options are splatter or metallic silver for colored vinyl, I'll skip playing that game and just hit the black vinyl. Overseas shipping cost almost as the price tag on this record, but it doesn't matter when you want it bad enough.

Working Up A Sweat

At the start of the year, I was checking out the list of available preorders over at REVHQ. I saw the cover for the new Sweat record, Gotta Give It Up, and immediately I knew that it was something that I was going to have to check out.

The cover may look like it was lifted from Oliva Newton-John's single for her 80's hit, Physical, but this record rips with some solid hardcore punk. As soon as I checked out the video for Joke's On Me, I was sold. At times, Sweat sound like a female fronted Annihilation Time, especially when the band throw that guitar break in during Hit & Run. Sweat name drop Thin Lizzy as one of their influences, so the Annihilation Time sound kind of makes sense.

500 pressed on clear with the black swirl.

While I was picking up the new album, I saw that REVHQ also had the first 7 inch from Sweat available as well. Oh hell, I might as well buy one of those while I'm at it.

The 7 inch is a bit more straight forward compared to the album. Four songs in nine minutes, and they never let their foot off the gas.

Less Talk, 25 Years Of More Rock

Fat Wreck Chords has been rolling out some 25 year anniversary pressings for their catalog. I picked up a couple of the Good Riddance anniversary pressings last year, and I was surprised with how great they looked. I knew that I was going to have to keep my eye open to see if the label released anything else in this series that interested me. When I saw that Propagandhi's Less Talk, More Rock was getting the 25th anniversary treatment, I figured that I might as well grab that one too.

I've never been very big on the Fat Wreck bands, but in the late 90's both Good Riddance and Propagandhi were a couple of my favorite bands at that time. Less Talk, More Rock was especially a huge record for me. It wore it's politics on it's sleeve, and just seemed to shove a middle finger into the face of uptight conservatives everywhere... laughing the whole time. I absolutely loved the spirit of that record. I've wanted an original colored vinyl pressing of this record for a while now, but prices were just a little too high for me to seriously consider chasing it, so this one will have to do.

Once again, Fat Wreck does a great job with this anniversary pressing. I'm digging that metallic foil stamped name and title they use on the cover for this series.

The copy that I picked up came with a slipmat. Classic Propagandhi.

While I was picking up the Less Talk, More Rock record, I noticed that Fat Wreck also had a new colored vinyl pressing of Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes. This was another Propagandhi record that I'd wanted to add to the collection at some point. Seeing this one in the store made it an easy choice to just grab this one now. I've tried to get into the Propagandhi records after this one, and while they are okay, I just have never felt a burning need to revisit them very often. Basically, all that I need are the first three Propagandhi albums.

While this one isn't a part of the 25th anniversary series, I'm still happy to finally have a copy of this album. I also think that the colored vinyl for this one looks great.

Pack Rat

A couple years ago, I checked out the band Chain Whip and was pleasantly surprised with their old school frantic punk sound. The band is a lot of fun, so when I heard that one of the members was doing a side project, I was interested to check it out.

Pack Rat is a one man project from the Chain Whip drummer, Patrick. As was probably the case with most musicians, the guy found himself with a lot of time on his hands during the pandemic. He went out and bought himself a guitar and proceeded to bash out ten songs that absolutely deserve to be released on vinyl. These songs aren't as rough and hardcore as the Chain Whip stuff, but instead lean towards a more early punk sound. As soon as the first song kicks off, I can't help but think of bands like The Buzzcocks. This record is catchy as hell.

The last Chain Whip EP, Two Set To Hell, proved to be very difficult to find on colored vinyl, so I did not hesitate with the Pack Rat record. 100 pressed on red vinyl and it quickly sold out

Mantic Ritual Returns

I was big into the thrash revival that started kicking up some dust in the late 2000's. I'd been heavily getting back into metal after stepping away from it through the 90's, and when I discovered that old school bands like Overkill, Testament and Death Angel could still release some absolutely blistering thrash this late in the game I was impressed as hell. When I also found that a bunch of newer bands were paying respect to that 80's thrash sound, I embraced it. Sure it could get a bit goofy at times with some comic book lyrics, I didn't care. Bands like Bonded By Blood, Gama Bomb and Evile were a blast and I dug the hell out of them. Those bands don't see a lot of action in my playlists these days but when I saw that Mantic Ritual were back at it and releasing their first material in 12 years, I couldn't resist checking it out.

Mantic Ritual released one album back in the thrash revival era, Executioner from 2009. If you want to see where I rated that album for that year, and also take a peak at how far my year end wrap ups have come over time, you can check that shit HERE. That album was obviously one of my favorites from those days, so I was excited to pick up their two song 7 inch, Crusader. One new song, and a cover of Black Funeral. Mercyful Fate isn't an easy band to cover, but Mantic Ritual do the song justice here, and that new song is really good as well.

Just like their Executioner album, the cover for this thing makes it look like it is a death metal record, but make no mistake, this is straight up thrash. I hope that we hear more from the band because this is great teaser.

Metal Daze

One of the records that I was most excited to receive last year was the Manowar album Sign Of The Hammer. It has to be due to some kind of nostalgia trip, but picking up 80's metal records gives me the biggest kick. I keep telling myself that those are the only records that I want to chase this year. My collection is patchy at best for those records and I want to make some serious fucking moves on its progress. I've gotten distracted a few times over these first couple of months, but that's okay because it just makes a purchase like this one so much fucking sweeter.

I was a big Manowar fan as a teen. Hail To England. Fighting The World. Kings Of Metal. That shit was all gold. Yet somehow, I managed to make it through those years without ever hearing the first Manowar album, Battle Hymns. I realized the error of my ways a number of years ago and I downloaded the album, but I didn't really gain a full appreciation of it until just this past year. I can't believe that I've been missing out on such a fucking beast of a record. These songs hit me hard and I can't get enough of them. I mean, I assume that you have to be an 80's metal kid that grew up on Sylvester Stallone and Chuck Norris action movies to fully appreciate the chest thumping, songs about riding motorcycles and going to fight the war in Vietnam, and just all around metal flex that is all over this record, but goddamn, I love it.

I was happy to pick this copy up from my latest favorite eBay seller. I know that his records are going to be in top condition and it feels good to not get suckered into inflated Discogs prices.

Red Vinyl, Rag Dolls

I didn't set out to start collecting Krokus singles. I bought a couple of them last month simply because I was already buying some records from a seller, and I noticed that they had a couple of them available for cheap. It seemed like a fun thing to grab at the time, so I went with it. Shortly after that, I was picking up a few other records from a different overseas seller, and there were two more Krokus singles sitting there and looking cute, so I ended up taking them home for a good time as well.

I've said it before, but there is something about colored vinyl singles from the 80's that I just can't resist. I imagine stuff like this blowing minds back in those days when black vinyl was king. This stuff just seems special to me... and that red vinyl is looking fine.

The songs Rock City and the ever classy Mr. Sixty Nine were taken from the 1981 album, Hardware, but the live version of Mad Racket is pretty cool to have here. This was the UK single, and the Ariola label name always makes me giggle like an 11 year old.

Another UK single that I picked up was the one for Bad Boys Rag Dolls b/w Save Me. No cool colored vinyl for this one, as Arista decide to stick with the regular black vinyl here. Still the picture sleeve is always cool to add to the collection.

Both songs here were taken from the 1982 album, One Vice At A Time, so there isn't anything new here. Still, I'm glad to have this, and now I kind of want to search out more of these Krokus singles.

Early 90's In Color: Ressurection

This is the final entry for this series of recent records from the 90's that I've picked up on colored vinyl. There are times when I really want to stop chasing multiple copies of records that I own, but I still get a pretty good charge when I occasionally dive into that game... and this quick spending spree was definitely a fun time.

While I did enjoy Ressurection in the early 90's, as the years went by I paid less and less attention to their records. None of bands that Rob Fish did after Ressurection appealed to me, and so as time ticked by I kind of pushed those Ressurection records aside for stuff like Mouthpiece and Unbroken. As I was listening to bunch of early 90's stuff at the end of last year, I decided to dust off that first Ressurection 7 inch, and I was amazed at how great it sounded. Wow. I'd forgotten how great this was.

I only had the regular black vinyl pressing that I'd picked up somewhere in the early 90's, and seeing how much I was digging it lately, I was excited to grab the purple vinyl pressing. Not only does it look great, but I was surprised at how inexpensive this was. $8 is a steal for this thing. What are the chances that I get get the red vinyl version for a good price?

Early 90's In Color: Action Patrol

Through the last half of 2021, I found myself listening to a lot of Action Patrol. Their album, The Weak Force, plus their two 7 inches saw lots of time in my daily playlists. I'd kind of forgotten about the band over the last few years, and it was a blast to revisit them again.

Since I'd been spinning a lot of Action Patrol, the past six months had me itching to pick up a colored vinyl pressing of their first 7 inch, Up And Running. I'd put the green vinyl on my Discogs wantlist six years ago, and I'd let a few copies get by me over the years, but now I was ready to pounce. As soon as one became available, I grabbed it without hesitation...even if the price tag was a bit higher than it should be.

The silk screened paper bag sleeve is just so 90's, and that green vinyl looks fantastic. Now I want the red vinyl pressing too.

I pulled out the regular black vinyl pressing that I bought when I saw the band open for Avail at the Middle East in Boston. A nice touch that there is a different photo affixed to the front cover for each record. If I have extra cash to throw around, and I find them available for the right price, you can bet that I'll be buying more of these just because of the unique photos...because there is nothing I enjoy more than a useless quest.

Early 90's In Color: Phleg Camp

At the end of last year, I finally picked up the Beaker 7 inch from Phleg Camp. I was hearing those songs for the first time, 30 years after the record was released, and I loved it. The band drew obvious influences from Dischord and those early Soul Side and Fugazi records, and they deliver exactly what I want when I need a fix of early 90's melodic punk.

The copy of the Phelg Camp 7 inch that I picked up last year was on blue viny, but when I discovered that there was also a red vinyl pressing, I wanted that as well. When I was thinking about doing a series of posts for early 90's colored vinyl, the time was obviously right for me to make that move.

90's colored vinyl always looks so good.

Interesting to see the center label variations between the red and blue vinyl pressings.