Seven Inch Demand

When I was picking up the Jade Dust record from Extinction Burst, I started looking around their webstore to see what else might interest me. I noticed that the label had also released the Demand 7 inch, and since I'd just heard the 185 Miles South podcast speaking highly of the record, I figured that I'd get my hands on a copy.

Demand are a hardcore band out of DC, however, I remember the singer, Zech, from shows in Maine going back about 10 years or so. It was a cool surprise to discover that he was in this band after I'd picked up this record. This five song 7 inch is great. Straight forward hardcore, and while the label drops names like Where The Wild Things Are and Hawker Records, Demand kind of remind me of the Paramount album that Fury did a few years back. I really hope that we hear more from this band because if they keep this up, I sense that they will get better and better.

Nice looking record on white vinyl with the OBI strip around the cover.

Jade Dust

My records show that I first checked out Jade Dust back in 2021. It obviously didn't make much of an impression on me at the time, as I gave the songs from their EP one listen and then moved on... completely forgetting about them until Marcus started talking about them over on Endless Quest. He made some comparisons to DC hardcore bands like Rites Of Spring and Embrace, which had me sit up and take notice. However, when he wrote "I think it's great that there is a band playing this sound in 2023", that one sentence really caught my attention. I know that feeling deep in my core. There are times when I'll listen to a band, and I'll think "man, bands just don't play this style anymore", and when one finally come along, and does it successfully, you fucking savor it.

Based on Marcus's post, I decided to check out Jade Dust again. I was kind of digging the songs a bit more this visit, but the real magic came to the surface with repeat listens. Initially I thought the band was kind of cool, but the more I hear these songs, the more I love them.

The blue vinyl was of course sold out over at Extinction Burst, so I just picked up the "random" color that was available and limited to 200. The yellow/orange doesn't really go with the cover art, but the vinyl still looks great.

Now I'm going to have to check out the band's latest record, Wild Geese, at some point as well.

Don't Test The Pest

Earlier this year, I figured that I'd reach out to a couple of friends to recommend the Denial Of Life record. That thing shreds so fucking hard with the throwback to the old school crossover sound, and I thought that they would appreciate it like I did. I did not get the response that I was hoping for, and was basically told that it was garbage. I don't typically bother people with recommendations, but I figured it was right up their alley. Oh well, I'll keep the cool shit to myself. Of course, the thing to do when you shit on one recommendation is to give out your own, and I was told that Pest Control was the real shit. I wasn't too excited to check them out after the reaction that I got, but I did remember seeing someone post a photo of the record on Instagram recently, so I knew that someone else I followed thought they were good, and I decided to download the album.

Oh shit. Pest Control fucking rip. Don't Test The Pest blasts through 11 songs in 21 minutes, pure fucking crossover thrash similar to what Dead Heat has been doing. I don't think that Pest Control are going to beat out Denial Of Life in my head to head match up, but that doesn't matter... give me more of this style.

Of course when I was looking for a copy, the green colored vinyl was already sold out at Quality Control. A second pressing was on the way, but for me, it was all about the green vinyl first press, so I hit up Discogs and overpaid for it. Don't care. I'm happy to have one.

Absolute Power

Earlier this year, I was very happy when I picked up the vinyl for an old thrash classic, Overkill's Under The Influence. I tend to ride that record buying high, and immediately start looking to chase down similar records to add to my collection. I had been looking to get that Overkill album into my collection for a long time, and when I started thinking about other 80's metal records that I've been wanting for a long time, the band Powermad came to mind.

Powermad were a thrash band out of Minneapolis in the late 80's. They came into the scene a little late in the game, so it feels like they are a bit underrated and forgotten, but their EP from 1988 (The Madness Begins...) and their LP from 1989 (Absolute Power) are both killer records that I never get tired of. My hunt for both of these records has been up and down for years and years, but for one reason or another I just never pulled the trigger. Getting that Overkill album into my collection set me on a mission to do the same with other long standing records on my want list. I was done fucking around waiting for the right price.

Thankfully eBay came to the rescue with auctions for both Powermad records. I was a bit surprised to lose out on the EP, but could not be happier to score the Absolute Power LP at a price that put the Discogs sellers to shame. Goddamn. I haven't paid much attention to eBay for a few years, but it might be time to start checking in there regularly again... at least for metal records.

I was very happy to find that the version of Absolute Power that I picked up, contained the promo packet and photo. Little extras like this are very cool.

Scowl Dance Routine

It has been a bit of a struggle for me to pay much attention to new releases this year. I think that because I was so rabid for new shit last year, that I'm a bit burned out on it in 2023, and for the most part I just want to listen to stuff that I already now. I've still been buying new records, but as I look at the 18 or so of them sitting in my blog backlog, I haven't really obsessed over any of them. There is still plenty of cool new stuff that I've grabbed so far in 2023, but I'm just slow to getting around to it.

I've had the new Scowl record for a while now, but I didn't really bother giving it a spin until last week. This 12 inch is a bit of a surprise. Some songs here are not what I expected from Scowl, and when I first heard tracks like Opening Night, I thought that maybe the tour they did with Limp Bizkit might have been a bad influence, and that I was being set up for what might be the biggest disappointment of the year. However, now that I've listened to the record a few times, I think that those songs that take a different direction are quite possibly my favorite Scowl songs. I can tell that this EP is going to grow on me big time before the end of the year.

Nothing too special with this pressing, as I just went with the transparent red vinyl that is limited to 2,000 copies for REV and Deathwish. I don't care. I just prefer transparent colors and think that this one looks good with the b-side screenprint.

Unified UKHC

It is probably going back 15 years now, but there was a time when record collecting blogs were strong. There were a group of us logging in and writing some words next to pictures for the latest records that we had picked up. There were a small group of people that I met through that nerdy blogger world... and while a number of them fell out of my world once they stopped posting, there were a few of them that I still call friends to this day. I wish that they were all still doing this pointless exercise, as it was a way to feel a kind of constant connection to friends by checking in and commenting on their posts. I really miss those days. Either way, I will always give those old friends my attention when they do some new project, and when Lins from the old Never Ending Game blog, got a new band up and running, I was on board to check them out.

Lins does not fuck around with his hardcore, so you know that whatever he is involved with is going to be straight forward and pissed off. In his world of musical influence, bands like Turnstile do not exist, and each song from Unified Action is a short burst of anger... a statement that early 80's hardcore will not be forgotten.

Like a total plum, when the vinyl version for the Unified Action demo became available, I ordered two copies by mistake. I bought one as soon as they were made available, and then forgot about it in the whirlwind of other records that I was buying. A few weeks later, I saw some post from the label about the record and in a panic to not miss out on the clear vinyl version, I jumped online and bought one... again. Honestly, these past few years has seen my brain turn to mush. So, now I have two copies of this thing.

Unified Action played a record release show earlier this year, and made a very limited amount of special covers for it. I decided I wanted one, so did what any record nerd would do - I hoped on a plane and flew to the UK, and then I jumped in a car with Marcus to drive 308 miles to Newcastle to attend the show.*

* Sadly, the last bit of the above is not true. I mean, the bit about me flying the UK to see Marcus definitely is, but the bit about us driving to the show is definitely not. I was fortunate enough to buy one of the leftover copies of this one, but I was a few months late on my trip to the UK for the show. All that I had to do was walk through the front door at Marcus's place to get my record. Number 15 of 15 is a good one to get. Thanks Lins!

Three Lock Box

Every once in a while, I'll hop over to Discogs to see what is available for the Locked Inside 7 inch. I've been very interested to collecting multiple copies of this record due to a couple of reasons. A: the band plays some killer straight forward hardcore, and B: the vinyl colors all look great. If these looked like shit with dopey looking patterns, I could easily be one and done, but these things look fantastic and it makes me want them all. Unfortunately for me, there are a shit load of colored vinyl options. I already owned four of them, and after adding three more to the collection, I'm still missing more than a handful.

Initially, I picked up the gold vinyl version back in April. This one was exclusive to the REV store, and is one of the more common versions with a heafty 145 pressed for this color.

I thought that I was content with just picking up the gold version, but as I was getting ready to post about it here, I got the itch to chase more of them. I had put the purple colored vinyl version in my cart, but I was hesitant to commit to the price, so I figured that I'd let it sit there for a while before I pulled the trigger. So of course someone else swooped in and bought it before me. Ugh. That's what I get for dicking around.

So then with the need to fill that void, I quickly grabbed the clear vinyl version that was still available. There are a couple wisps of black in the clear, but apparently not enough to qualify as the "smoke" version. 63 pressed on clear.

Finally, I grabbed a blue vinyl pressing as well, which is limited to 100.

Seven versions of the Locked Inside 7 inch. Still need the purple vinyl, and the "smoke" variant... plus the record release cover... and a test press wouldn't hurt either. All of those are fairly limited, so I'm not sure when they will come around, but when they do, I'll make my move.

Restless Youth

The mid-2000's are a weird time for hardcore records with me. I'll scroll through the list of releases from those years, and while there are some modern classics from that period, I still find that there are some records that I never paid too close attention to back in the day. I'm really not too familiar with them and so they still feel somewhat new when I listen to them now. One of those records is the first Restless Youth 7 inch from 2005.

I know that I downloaded the State Of Confusion songs back in the day, but I was probably paying more attention to bands from REV's Generations comp, or were playing Posi Numbers that year, so didn't pay much attention to that 7 inch. When I was buying some records from a Discogs seller recently, and I saw that they had the red colored vinyl version of the 7 inch available for less than $2, I figured that I'd drag those songs back out for a listen to see if should grab the record. Based on the fact that you are reading this post, I obviously liked it enough to buy it. It is tough to see the red vinyl in these pictures, so you'll just have to trust me.

These songs are really good with some frantic energy that reminds me of Bad Brains. This record is a lot of fun, and it has me thinking about checking out more from Restless Youth.

Every Knife Has A Home

I've never really actively hunted out the A18 7 inches. For some reason, the albums had always been enough for me. However, I picked up a copy of Defining The Color Conviction last year on a whim, and it felt good to get one into my collection. Back in April this year, I was buying a couple records from a Discogs seller, and I noticed that they had a copy of Every Knife Has A Home for cheap, so I added it to my cart. About a week after it arrived, I heard the news that that singer, Isaac Golub, was dead... killed after being struck by a car while riding his bike. Fuck. I was shook. The guy sang on Truth Gives Wings To Strength, which is one of my favorite hardcore albums, and it was very sad to hear of his passing.

Every Knife Has A Home and Defining The Color Conviction are taken from the same recording session, and share four of the five songs on the tracklist. On this 7 inch, we get Miscalculated Sonnet Number One as the exclusive song. It isn't all that exciting, as it is basically just Isaac reciting lyrics over some guitar feedback. Definitely not a necessary song, but with his passing, it was cool to finally check it out. Who knows... maybe I'll buy more variants of these things as I stumble upon them.

Stamped labels and numbered out of 250.

What Could Possibly Go Green

I initially missed out on the first Ruiner 7 inch as I didn't catch on to the band until their Prepare To Be Let Down album on Bridge Nine. I was just starting to find my footing again in hardcore around 2005, after being a bit disconnected for a few years, but that first Ruiner 7 inch still got by me. I did catch the LP in 2007 thanks to B9's high profile, and I really liked it, but over the years Ruiner tends to always be a band that I seem to overlook... and then when I do listen to them, I'm blown away and I wonder why I don't listen to them more often.

When I was stuck in a 2005 playlist last year, I queued up the What Could Possibly Go Right songs, and once again, I was floored. This thing boils over with emotion and anger. It just hits so fucking hard, and I listened to it repeatedly for a couple of months. I could not get enough. While I did have the I Heard These Dudes Are Assholes comp LP, it was time for me to get the real deal and track down that first 7 inch. At the time, all that I could find was second and third pressings, and I decided to hold out for a first pressing... even though I'm still tempted to chase all seven colored vinyl variations for this.

When I stumbled upon a copy in the Armageddon Shop store on Discogs recently, I jumped on it. For only $5, I'd have been a fool not to.

150 pressed on transparent green for the first press.

Castrato

About five years ago, I discovered Man Will Surrender with their Five On A Dime EP. I may have been over 20 year late in checking out this band, but that's cool because sometimes the best finds are old bands that you missed out on back in the day for one reason or another. I really loved that 12 inch, and I was tipped off that some of their other stuff was really good as well. Five years later, and I finally decided to follow up on that advice.

I was buying some other records from a seller on Discogs and I saw the Man Will Surrender 7 inch, Castrato, was available as well. With a $4 price tag, I figured that it was time to finally check it out.

This 7 inch from '95 is a bit more raw compared to Five On A Dime, but damn, I love these three songs (two on the 7 inch, three on the CD version that I downloaded from Soulseek). Call me crazy, but there are times where a song will remind me of something from Mudvayne. Not that Man Will Surrender were years ahead of the Nu Metal sound, but there is a groove there that makes me think of that band... plus that soft vocal delivery that ramps up to a kind of growl. I don't know... but it does make me unsure if I want to dig out my L.D.50 CD or listen to more mid 90's hardcore.

Soul Control Record Release

I bought a couple copies of the Soul Control album Involution back in 2007 when it was released. I had those two copies of colored vinyl, and was certain that I didn't need any more... and then I saw Marcus post about the black vinyl version on his blog a few months ago, and I suddenly had a change of heart.

It seems that over the years, I had forgotten that the black vinyl for Involution was the more limited version that the band sold at their record release show. Marcus came through with a nice reminder of the details for that pressing and I immediately set out to see if Discogs had a copy available. I was a bit obsessed over this album a couple years back after rediscovering it, and I listened to it A LOT throughout 2021. I certainly wouldn't have been interested in the black vinyl if it had been the common pressing, but at only 100 pressed... well, it kind of made me want one.

Judging from my original post about this album in 2007, I was aware that the black vinyl was the record release pressing, and had a chance to buy one from the band on their myspace page, but apparently I was too busy trying to find the perfect song that would play on my homepage for my 12 followers, and I didn't want to mess around with this record at the time. I'd forgottan all about that detail... thanks for the memory, Blogger. That's okay, because buying it for $8 in 2023 is like time travelling, which is pretty cool too.

The Living Memories

I can't remember exactly where I heard about The Living Memories. I want to say that either Youngblood Records or Aram posted something about the band on Instagram. I'm not really sure, but I noticed that this new band had Aaron and Stephen from The First Step... so without giving it any thought, I rushed to quickly order their latest record. The First Step is one of my favorite bands from the past 20 years, so I didn't bother to check out a song or anything. I just dove in blind and bought a copy of Home Truths with unflinching confidence that this was going to be the best hardcore record that we would see this year. Fuck me.

I'm dumb. Had I done any kind of homework, I would have quickly discovered that The Living Memories is NOT a hardcore band. Now, I don't listen to The Smiths, but I imagine that this is what two older hardcore dudes that are super into The Smiths and wanted to do something similar would sound like. Again, I'm not really familiar with The Smiths, so I could be way off base here, but I'm not too interested in them and would have avoided The Living Memories by association.

There are only six songs here, and I tried to approach this with an open mind. The first song isn't terrible, but by the end of the first side, I'm ready to move on. It is probably good for what it is, but I'm just not the target audience here.

The record came with an appreciative note from Stephen, and a nice newsletter. Ohhhh. there it is in the title of the reprinted interview from No Echo. I don't think that I'm a "jangle pop" guy.

Beating Around The Bush

Back in 2017, I started a quest to collect original Australian pressings for all of the AC/DC albums from the Bon Scott era. They don't come cheap, so I've had to pace myself... basically picking up one a year. Last year, I stumbled and didn't pick one up. Record prices were getting out of control, and it made me very tentative about pulling the trigger on something big like an Aussie AC/DC pressing. This year, I needed to make it happen.

With it's unique flames cover, I knew that Highway To Hell was going to carry a big price tag... but as the final Bon Scott studio album that I needed for the collection, I was determined to just get my hands on one regardless of the cost. Fucking hell. This thing looks and sounds amazing! As soon as I dropped it on the turntable and the title track kicked off, I knew that I'd made the right decision in buying this thing.

I tend to lean towards Powerage as my favorite AC/DC record, but Highway To Hell makes a case for taking the top spot. This record is so fucking good. Front to back, every song on here is a blast.

I decided to pull out my original US pressing for Highway To Hell to get the side-by-side photo. While I do like how the flames cover catches your attention, I may prefer the other one with plain shot of the guys just standing there. Angus with the schoolboy uniform and devil's tail is too iconic to hide under a blanket of fire.

While Highway To Hell is the last studio album I needed from the Bon Scott era, I do still need an Australian press of the live album, If You Want Blood (and don't get me going on the few different pieces of colored vinyl as well). Maybe next year.

One Up Final Show

Five years ago, I posted here feeling pretty confident that I'd finished my One Up collection. As usual, I was proven wrong when someone pointed out what I was missing. Even with Discogs at my fingertips, I still fuck this up and get my info wrong.

Well, it has taken some time, but I'm finally back with a missing piece... the last show pressing of the final One Up 7 inch. Numbered out of 100 with a special cover, it feels good to add this one to my collection. I love this band so much, and while I have nothing against Texas Is The Reason, I like the One Up cover of their song on this 7 inch more than the original.

Of course, the One Up discography LP has been released over recent years, but I'm not going to bother collecting all five versions of that one. Still, I've discovered that there is still a special cover of The More Things Change that I don't have, so I'm still incomplete. Who knows, maybe I'll pick it up in the next five years.

XLathekeeperX

Near the end of last year, WAR Records announced they had added a new band to their roster with XGatekeeperX. The band seems to be a project from dudes that have been in other bands (Life Force, Decline, Bystander, Noose... and others). I'm assuming this is just something they threw together for fun, and it isn't going to be around in any serious capacity. Just some guys showing their love for the straight edge.

XGatekeeperX definitely caught my attention with the X's in their name and the straight edge executioner on the record cover. You know that I had to check this out. Five songs clocking in just under five minutes, so the band don't fuck around and waste time. Get in... hit hard... get out. Musically, it isn't really blowing me away, but I do dig the raw angry hardcore style they have going on. I'd definitely be interested if they give us more.

Initially WAR Records released this as a cassette and a limited lathe cut 7 inch on clear, which were formats that I wasn't too excited about. That clear 7 inch sold out fucking fast, so when they did another 50 on white, I grabbed one right quick. WAR Records has done a few more lathe cut releases since this XGatekeeperX release, so it seems that the label might be sticking with this format. Again, I'm not very excited about it, but I guess it is a better option than doing another flexi.

Yellow Flame

Somehow I totally missed the first 7 inch from The Killing Flame when it was released back in 1999. I'm not sure how that happened. I think that Livewire just escaped my radar at the time. I did hear the Another Breath album in 2000, but honestly, it didn't really do much for me back then, so I never bothered to check out anything else that the band did.

In recent years, I've come to appreciate that Another Breath album a bit more. Good solid melodic hardcore. I dig it. When I was recently picking up a record from a Discogs seller, the only other thing of interest was that first 7 inch from The Killing Flame. I quickly downloaded a copy to see if it was worth chasing, and five minutes later it was in my cart and I was checking out. This record is great and it is quickly becoming one of my favorite older finds this year.

Hardcore was weird back when The Dream Dies was released. The 7 inch contains four songs, but the CD has six. I don't understand why hardcore bands were doing this. How did this make sense to anyone? I guess that even hardcore was putting nails in the coffin of vinyl at the time. I mean, I know that I was out of touch and didn't think anything about this at the time, but were hardcore purists and record collectors up in arms over this kind of negative attitude towards vinyl?

The Bluest West

A couple years ago, I discovered that Third Age had a second 7 inch, released in 1994, and I quickly got my hands on the clear vinyl pressing. There is no greater feeling than discovering a long lost gem like that, I was definitely stoked to find that record so long after its initial release.

As I was discovering that Third Age had released a second 7 inch, Discogs also informed me that the band's first 7 inch had seen a blue vinyl pressing that I was unaware of. Back in the day, I had picked up the black vinyl somewhere along the way, and I didn't give it a second thought. As soon as I found out that a colored vinyl version existed, I needed to get my hands on a copy right quick. When I found one for only $3, I rushed to add it to my cart.

Third Age totally fit that Northeast hardcore sound from the early 90's, sitting alongside bands like Kingpin, Temperance and Flagman. Maybe it is the nostalgia talking, but this shit it so good.

Demon Outsider

Night Demon's last album, Darkness Remains, was one of my favorite metal records of 2017. That series of singles they released throughout 2020 was was a lot of fun as well... so obviously I was looking forward to a new full length from the band this year.

Night Demon have a great old school 80's metal vibe, and everything that I'd heard from the band has been great, so I didn't even bother checking the preview singles that were released to promote their latest album, Outsider... I just ordered a copy blind. I was a little slow to check out the record after it arrived, but after giving it my first spin last week, this record has seen a lot of playing time. Outsider may be a bit more relaxed than previous albums, and not front to back high-speed rippers. It feels like a more mature metal album, and while that is typically a turn off for me, this record still has some bite, and can hit hard when it wants to. There are layers here, and I'm fully on board with what Night Demon are delivering.

The "coke bottle clear" colored vinyl was listed on the Night Demon bandcamp as "only 100 available in Bandcamp store", which lead me to believe that there were only 100 pressed. Discogs is showing this as limited to 500, so maybe I just fell prey to a clever sales pitch. Oh well, I would have bought this anyway.

Hot Girls Fantasy Singles

A few years ago, I was having a lot of fun chasing some Japanese 7 inch singles for old 80's MTV hits. We were in the middle of some dark times in the world and it really felt like everything was on the verge of falling apart. Chasing those singles was a much needed distraction for me.

At the time, I really wanted a Japanese single for Aldo Nova's Fantasy. It had probably been 35 years since I'd given that song a thought, but as soon as I stumbled upon it during my MTV obsession, it all came back to me. Man, 12 year old Mike loved this song. It was definitely one of those defining moments that helped point me down the path to heavier and heavier music. Scoring the Japanese single never happened at the time, but I recently found a US pressing, and the price was right so I grabbed it.

I'm not even sure where I picked up this Loverboy 7 inch. I've had it for probably a year or maybe even two, but it seemed stupid to dedicate a full post just for this record. Hot Girls In Love was another big song for me at the time that I was rollin' with Aldo Nova's Fantasy, so it is a good enough fit here. I already owned the Japanese single for this song, but I guess at some point I wanted the US single as well.