Discharge Ignorance

I've never really paid too close attention to Discharge, so I wasn't terribly familiar with their entire discography. One thing that I did know though was that people hate the Grave New World album from 1986. Now of course I'd never heard that record, but I blindly avoided it based on it's bad reviews. The Ignorance single from Discharge was released the year before Grave New World, and the cover photo of them with sunglasses, tanktop and slicked back hair gave me the vibe that the band was trying for some kind of different style and maybe making musical changes that fans did not like. I didn't trust it.

When I was going through some records that recently became available from Tim's collection, I noticed the Ignorance 12 inch, and I figured that I'd check it out before passing on it. While this is a different sound than the early Discharge singles, holy shit, I fucking love the two songs here. Maybe there are some metal influences creeping in, and it has more of a crossover vibe, but this is the shit that I love. So glad that I gave this a chance.

This has me feeling adventurous. Hmmmm... maybe time to check out Grave New World?

Savage & Dangerous

I discovered Savage Master back in 2020, and I quickly picked up every available record from them that year. I loved everything that the band released, and even Those Who Hunt At Night from 2022 was another solid record from the band. So when I heard that the band was releasing a new record this year, I could not have been more excited.

Dark & Dangerous is pure Savage Master metal through and through. Savage Master have always had that 80's metal influence to their sound, but there is something about this new album that sounds even more 80's. There is a bit more polish to these songs, and even a couple that lean towards ballad territory (without being cringe), but the record is just a head banging good time. Honestly, it feels like if this was released in 1986, people would be talking today that is was a metal classic.

I wasn't sure which colored vinyl option to go with on this one. The black vinyl was the more limited version, but I still felt the need for some colored vinyl... even if it was a splatter pattern. The "dripping candles" red with black splatter was limited to 800.

Gatefold sleeve so that we can have a big photo of Stacey Savage in fishnets.

Disembodied Psalms Of UK

Early into 2025 I discovered Disembodied. I was only 25+ years late, but I eventually came around. I was certain that I didn't like the band after checking them out in the mid to late 90's. They were too metallic and too chaotic for my tastes at the time... and while I tried the band's first couple of releases, I quickly moved on and forgot about them. That all changed when I heard If God Only Knew The Rest Were Dead this year.

After listening to If Only God Knew... for a coupld of months, I needed more Disembodied. I remembered that I had their Existence In Suicide CD back in 1995, and I wanted to revisit it. At first I was disappointed to discover that it was never pressed on vinyl, but then after a bit of detective work, I found that it was included on the Psalms Of Sheol comp along with the song from The Confession 7 inch and few others. I queued up those songs and once again, Disembodied became my personality. I played those songs every day until every one in my house was probably familiar with them. If Disembodied don't top my list for most listened to bands this year, I'll be shocked.

Soon after hearing the Psalms of Sheol songs, I knew that I was going to need to buy the record. There are a number of special covers for this release, and I want them all. So when I saw a discogs seller from overseas with a copy of the UK tour press with the New Order cover I did not hesitate to grab it.

Number 41 of 50.

Big Cheese War

It's been five years since the Punishment Park record from Big Cheese was released. At the time, the band kept falling short to capture my attention. I thought they were okay, but it wasn't anything that had me excited. At the time I thought that there was a possibility that they would have potential for me at a later date, but at the time it just wasn't working for me.

A couple of years later, the band quietly released The People's War 7 inch. I don't remember hearing very much about it at the time, but I'm probably so disconnected from what's happening in the hardcore world, it's possible that I just missed the hype. Somehow I noticed that new 7 inch from Big Cheese and on a whim checked it out. The time was right, because I loved those three songs. I went back and listened to Punishment Park again, and that record immediately hit me. Yeah, I knew that this band had potential... I just needed to be in the right mindset for it. So good.

I put the oxblood colored vinyl of The People's War on my Discogs watch list at the time, and here we are over two years later when I noticed a US seller with a copy available. Even though it was priced a little high, I hadn't seen one listed for sale in a couple of years, so I didn't hesitate to add it to my cart. I'm glad to finally have this record in the collection.

Night On The Sun

It was recently announced that Modest Mouse were going to be touring with The Flaming Lips this summer, with a stop in Portland Maine the day before my birthday. They will be playing at an outside venue that is right on the water, so with some nice weather it will be the perfect spot for a summertime show. I don't know anything about The Flaming Lips, and even though I've heard that they put on a great show, for me it will be all about Modest Mouse that night.

I was excited about getting tickets, and was telling my friend Alex about it. She mentioned that she really liked the band, and we got talking about favorite songs. Modest Mouse is such a unique band and it feels like ten different people could each have a different favorite song. When Alex said that one of her favorites was Night on the Sun, I was surprised... not because of her song choice, but because I'd never heard of it before.

I found the song on Spotify to check it out and immediatly I was hooked on it. I can see why it would be someone's favorite Modest Mouse song... it is so good. I started digging in to find out more about the song and it looks like it was released as a single around the time of The Moon & Antartica, but never appeared on an album. I was so excited to discover a Modest Mouse song that I'd never heard that I quickly grabbed a 12 inch single from Discogs for $14. Deal was too good to pass up.

Checking Discogs, it looks like Night On The Sun was initially release on a 6 song Japanese only CD EP in 1999, and then as worldwide 4 song EP in 2000 (with different songs than the Japanese version). The record that I picked up was a 2016 vinyl release of the original Japanese CD EP. I feel like I'm still going to need that 2000 12 inch single version too... because why not?

Celtic Pandemonium

I was excited when Jeff sent me the latest list of records that he'd picked up from Tim's collection. I knew that Tim had a number of metal records in there, and I was looking forward to seeing what I would be able to pick up. I was expecting to pick up some classic thrash albums, but what surprised me was rediscovering and really enjoying a record that I was sure that I didn't like.

I really like the early Celtic Frost records, and while I owned the cassette of their 1987 album, Into The Pandemonium, as a kid, at some point over the years I decided that I really didn't like it. It was all too weird and experimental for my brain that just wanted straight forward crushing metal and I haven't listened to it in well over 20 years. When I saw that the record was available from Tim's collection, I figured that I'd give it a quick spin on Spotify... you know, just to make sure that I didn't like it and I could let Jeff know that I wan't interested in it.

Well shocking, because I fucking loved all of the Into The Pandemonium oddness. From the strange cover song choice of Mexican Radio to start the album, to the symphonic sounds and french poetry of Tristesses de la Lune, the strange electronic pounding drum of One In Their Pride, or the dirge march of Rex Irae... it is all so odd for a "metal" record, and yet listening to it now I see it as absolute genius. It feels like it shouldn't work, and I can understand why I felt like I didn't like it at one point, but right now I can't get enough of this album.

Karate Insight

Last year, Karate ended up back on my radar. I made an attempt to get into the band in the early 2000's, and downloaded four of the band's albums in an effort to check them out. Honestly, I think I tried to do too much too fast, and I never latched on to any of them. The songs were eventually deleted from my computer and I didn't give them another thought until last year when out of nowhere I fell in love with The Bed Is In The Ocean. I was then surprised with how good Unsolved was. I wasn't rushing things like I did 25 years ago... I was taking my time getting to know each record and loving the experience with each one. As we rolled into 2025, I figured that it was time to reach back and check out another Karate record.

This time I decided to check the record that Karate released prior to The Bed Is In The Ocean, In Place Of Real Insight from 1997. Damn, this is so good. Last year I was thinking that The Bed Is In The Ocean was going to be the only Karate record that I needed, but each time I check out something else from them I continue to really enjoy it. I expected that their laid back style would have limited interest with me, but these past couple of years I've discovered that I really appreciate what they were doing. Fuck, I'm currently spinning In Place Of Real Insight for the third time today, so it is safe to say the I'm really digging the band.

Like the other two Karate records that I've picked up, I wanted one of the colored vinyl reissues. 500 pressed on clear teal in 2021 from Numero Group.

Two Brain Cells

Twelve years ago I picked up a copy of the 1987 debut from Dead Brain Cells. I was a little disappointed that I ended up with the UK Rough Justice pressing, and not the Combat one, but it was cheap and at the time I figured that it did the job. At some point over the following years, I actually saw the US pressing on Combat records, and realized what a terrible mistake I'd made.

While the Rough Justice pressing comes in a regular album sleeve, the Combat one has the red lightning bolts embossed in a metallic red that looks really great. This one is far superior, and when I saw that Jeff was selling one from Tim's collection, and knew it was time for an upgrade.

I didn't appreciate this record when I first heard it in the late 80's because it was buried behind the band's second album on the compilation CD that I'd picked up at the time. The second album, Universe, doesn't have the same spark that the band show on their debut, so I probably gave up on the CD before it really started to cook. I guarantee that if I'd heard the self-titled debut from Dead Brain Cells at the time, it would have been one of my favorites. Excellent crossover thrash that I still get a charge listening to today.

The Rough Trade cover with the Combat one on top to try and show the comparison.

Stiff Richards

I will check out new music based on which record label they are on. I will sometimes follow internet hype of a new band. I will accept music recommendations from friends. What I typically do not do, is pay attention to Spotify recommendations based on their algorithm... but they got me the other day when they dropped in a Stiff Richards song into the playlist that I was listening to.

I'd never heard of Stiff Richards before, but since they are a punk band out of Australia and I'd been listening to some songs from the latest Amyl And The Sniffers album (which I'm still not 100% sold on, although there are some fun songs on there), I guess Spotify decided that this band fit the theme and dropped the song GFC into the mix for me to hear... and this time, they got it right. Fuck. That was a fun song full of frantic energy and a good snotty early 80's vibe. Man, I can picture this being a fun Summer soundtrack as we move into warmer weather.

When I started looking for a record to buy, I didn't have any options. Like I said, the band was from Australia, so most of their stuff wasn't availble from a US seller. The 7 inch for GFC / Empty Barrels, however, saw a US pressing, so I didn't hesitate to grab it. 250 pressed on green vinyl.

Argument For More Fugazi

At the start of this year, Marcus posted about The Argument from Fugazi. His story sounded similar to mine, as I'd started to lose interest in Fugazi records with Red Medicine and then never really cared for End Hits... so by the time The Argument was released in 2001, I barely gave it any attention. At some point I did download it, and put it on a CDR in an attempt to try and hang with the album, but I quickly wrote it off and it ended up in the trash. My mind is more open these days and I spend most of my time lately obsessing over bands that I thought that I hated... so when I saw the post from Marcus talking about how surprised he was that he was enjoying The Argument, I thought that maybe it was time for me to give it a fair chance as well.

Look, I can completely understand why I didn't like this record in 2001. This was not nearly aggressive enough for me at the time. There are times when it was far too laid back and slow for my frantic hardcore kid energy. Listening to this in 2025, I can hear that it is still very much a Fugazi record, but there are layers and moods here that I just didn't understand or appreciate at the time. The Argument is kind of perfect for me at this time and place, and I'm tempted to check out other Fugazi recods that I haven't listened to in the past 25 years to see how I feel about them now.

This "thor" blue marbled colored vinyl looks great.

(Not So) Vital Times

Records for the band ON might not have the same draw as they did when their 7 inches were initially released back in 2008. Maybe people aren't collecting ON records because this era of hardcore seems to be largely forgotten, or maybe it is because of... reasons. Either way, I still love the songs from those two records, so when I saw a version on Discogs that I didn't have, I added it to my cart that was sitting there with a couple of other records that I was buying from that seller.

The green vinyl for Vital Times was only used for the record release show and for the west coast tour, and back in the day, they seemed like they were very difficult to get a hold of. Things have obviously calmed down for these limited editions, and while the tour pressing once was pulling a $50 to $60 auction price on eBay back in 2009... I was able to pick this one up off Discogs earlier this year for only $10.

Number 44 out of 75 with the west coast tour stamp.

Green Crusade

There was so much great hardcore released in the late 2000's, and I imagine that a lot of it tends to be forgotten about and overlooked these days. That includes me too. Rarely do I spend much time in my playlist for those years, but looking back at the records in my collection... damn, there is some good stuff from that period that I need to revisit more often.

One of the recent triggers in digging through my late 2000's hardcore records was finding the record release version of It's Our War by Thought Crusade. This 7 inch was released in 2009 by Triple B, and man, I loved this record. I've lost track of it under the weight of all the music that has been released in the 15 years since then, but getting my hands on this record release version has been a great reminder. Fuck, it makes me excited to listen to hardcore.

Special handnumbered record release cover. Number 45 of 50. And the $3 pricetag on this record proves to me how overlooked this band is. I'm grateful for such a great price, but it is a shame how easily records like this get lost over time.

Initial Ricochet

You know that I'm a fan of most 90's hardcore, so when you put a record on my radar that I've never listened to before, I'm gonna pay attention. That was the case when Marcus posted about the Ricochet record he'd picked up when he was in the States for a visit.

Initial Records was a label that I never paid much attention to. Outside of Falling Forward and the first Guilt 7 inch, the label never made much of an impact on me at the time, so it's no surprise that something like this Ricochet record was missed by me. However, reading the post from Marcus, and his description of it as a "a very early 90s sounding record" I knew that I needed to hear it. Surprisingly I found the songs available to download on Soulseek and so within minutes of reading his post, I was listening to the songs, and quickly knew that I was going to need the 7 inch in my hands.

Oh hell yeah, this is definitely an early 90's hardcore record. It has a very straight forward hardcore sound and plenty of groove. This is really good, and I can't believe that I'd never heard this band before... okay, that's a bit of a lie, because as I was writing this post, I discovered that Ricochet were actually on the Only The Strong 1993 comp, but alongside Resurrection, Snapcase, Strife and Black Train Jack, the Ricochet song was kind of forgettable at the time. Happy to discover them 30 years later though!

Pressed on a dark purple colored vinyl and number out of 300. Funny how a few months ago, I'd never heard of this record, and now I'm thinking that I wouldn't mind owning a few different pressings for it.

Original Brains

When I was looking through the list of Tim's old records that were available, I noticed an original PVC pressing of Rock For Light from Bad Brains. I had intially wanted a copy of this, but in the end I ended up going with the gold vinyl pressing from Caroline because it looked so good. Once I had the colored vinyl, I gave up on the dream of an original pressing... but having it served up to me from Tim's collection, I knew that it was finally time to buy one.

When I had originally settled on the gold vinyl Rock For Light, someone along the way told me that I should still get the PVC pressing because it sounds so much better. I'm not a big audiophile, and hardly pay attention to the sound of a record... people complain about how Bold's Speak Out sounds and honestly I've never noticed... but I was curious to hear the difference here with Rock For Light. Yeah, the PVC version definitely sounds better. Not that I'll notice when I'm listening to the record, unless I'm really paying attention, but the PVC songs do sound more clear here.

This edition didn't come with an insert, so maybe it isn't a true first press, but it is close enough for me. Very happy to have this in my collection.

Both editions side by side with the different track listing for the two versions.

Colored Vinyl Like God's Shoeshine

Last year I rediscovered and became heavily obsessed with Modest Mouse. I had checked them out back in the early 2000's but they never made much of an impact on me and I quickly forgot about them. Fast forward 20+ years, and at the very tail end of 2023 I heard the song Dramamine and it sent me spiraling through all of 2024 checking out more and more from them. By the end of last year, I'd listened to Modest Mouse more than any other band, and I'd gone to see them live, but still I'd only picked up one record for them. I needed to correct that and add more MM records to the collection this year.

Last year I picked up the 20th anniversary edition of Good News For People Who Love Bad News, and that thing was so well done. So when I was thinking about adding another Modest Mouse record to the collection, I started to look around to see if other records had done similar anniversary reissues. I spent a lot of time last year with The Lonesome Crowded West, so when I saw that there was a colored vinyl 25th anniversary edition that was released in 2022... and there was one available for a decent price on discogs... I figured that I'd pick it up.

This is such a great record. Sure there are a couple of songs that may be too long or drag a bit, but it still very fills that need when I crave something out of line with what I've listened to for the past 30 years.

The packaging on this record is amazing. Great heavy weight cover, a booklet with plenty of writing, and an art print. This thing looks so good.

Lightning In A Pentagram

I had high hopes for getting back on track with blog posts in March, and then my computer died... so yeah... three posts for last month. Maybe I'll get my shit together in April. Let's get back to it with my first new release for 2025.

I was excited to learn that Pentagram were releasing a new album this year. It has been nine years since their last album, Curious Volume, and while I haven't bothered to listen to that record since it came out, I still found myself excited for something new from the band. The main reason for my excitement was that the band now included Tony Reed on guitar. A few years back I was obsessed with what he was doing with Mos Generator and Stone Axe, so I was very interested to see what he would do with Pentagram. I was looking forward to it so much, that I excitedly preordered the "ultra limited" version of the album from overseas.

This version of Lightning In A Bottle, looks amazing and I think it was worth the price that I paid to get one. Limited to 100 for this color.

After receiving this record and spinning it occasionally over the past few weeks, I'm not sure exactly where it is going to land for me. I've just spent so much time with the first couple of Pentagram records, and they are so perfect... so it makes me wonder how often I'll actually reach for a new record from the band. No doubt this is good stuff... Tony Reed brings a spark to the band that may have been missing with the last record, and Bobby Liebling sounds like Bobby Liebling... but time will tell how often I'll revisit it in a few years.

...The Rest Were Dead

Nothing compares to discovering old bands that I'd previously ignored or wasn't into at the time. While I loved a lot of different styles of hardcore and punk in the 90's, once bands started to become more metallic and chaotic, I usually stopped paying attention. I kind of liked the first Disembodied CD EP, Existance In Suicide when it was released, but by the time I'd picked up their Confession 7 inch the following year, I decided that they weren't for me and then spent the next 25+ years ignoring the band.

At the start of this year, someone that I follow on Instagram posted a live clip of Disembodied. It had been so long since I'd given the band any thought, but seeing them absolutely lose their shit while playing live suddenly had me interested to check them out again. I selected If God Only Knew The Rest Were Dead on Spotify because it looked like the earliest Disembodied record that was available for streaming, and I queued it up to listen.

With my first listen, I thought it was just okay... nothing really special... but by the third time through it, the song Gone got my attention, and once it was done I immediately went back and listened to that song 3 or 4 times in a row. By that point, I was hooked on how raw and real it sounded and I started to obsess over this record.

Around the time that I was really starting to dig this record, I ended up on a call to catch up with Marcus. Conversation obviously centered around record collecting... our unexplainable strange attraction to it and what we had been buying recently... and of course we started talking about this Dismbodied 10 inch. Here was a record that I'd only just discovered from a band that I had zero interest in two weeks prior, there was one colored vinyl copy available on Discogs, and I was prepared swallow the high price tag that it was listed for. I was desperate for this record, and I wondered if Marcus would be the voice of reason and could talk me down off the ledge before I did something stupid. Oh, he just bought a copy last year? Well fuck, there was no way that I was going to be able to resist now.

Corrective Measure

A few weeks back, Municipal Waste came through town, and shockingly I actually got out of the house to see the band play. The plan was to meet my friend Rob in the city where we would grab dinner before the two of went to the show... so I kind of forced myself to commit by making plans with someone. I mean, I like Municipal Waste but I was having a hard time feeling too excited for the show, however as soon as the first band started playing, my mood suddenly changed and it felt really nice to be out seeing bands play live.

The first band to play that night was Corrective Measure. This is a Maine hardcore band that I'd never heard of, and had low expectations for, but as soon as they started playing I was immediately hooked. I don't what it was... maybe it was because I've spent so much time this year listening to stuff like The Cure... but seeing a straight forward hardcore band made me kind of nostalgic for that sound. I loved what I heard, and planned on visiting their merch table at the end of the night to pick up a couple of records. Another Maine punk band, Covered In Bees, played next and were a lot of fun, and then Municipal Waste stole the show and played an amazing set that was so fun and full of energy. It was just a good night for live music and made me realize that I need to do this more often (will I? probably not.)

But at the end of the night I went over to the merch table and was disappointed to see that the Corrective Measure dudes had already packed up and left. The next morning, I checked Discogs and found a seller that had the Refuse Records pressing on red availabe for a good price, so I quickly bought it. As it turned out, the seller was from the next town over from me so I had it in hand the following day.

110 pressed on red.

Flood Of Subs

Another record that was available from Tim's old collection, but one that I wasn't sure that I really wanted to bother with was the Flood Of Lies record from UK Subs. I was late getting into the UK Subs, and even then I've only bothered with their first two records from '79 and '80. Did I really want to bother with their 5th record... because realistically, can a punk band maintain a level of quality for that long? I put the record on the list of possible options, but I really wanted to listen to it before buying.

I pulled up the Flood Of Lies album on Spotify and after one listen, I thought that I might be telling Jeff that I was going to pass on this one. Nothing here really stuck with me. However, I did really like the cover art on this record, so before I made too hasty a judgement, I figured that I'd better listen to it a few more times to see if it would grow on me. I'm glad that I did, because with repeat listens this got better and better.

Obviously this record is no Another Kind Of Blues, or even Brand New Age, but Flood Of Lies is still a fun album. Guess I'm going to have to go back and check out other early UK Subs records.

When I was checking out Flood Of Lies on Spotify, I noticed that there were a few bonus songs included there. While it took a few listens to start to appreciate the album, the song Another Typical City Living In Another Typical Daydream immediately hooked me. I checked on Discogs to see where the song was from and discovered it was on a single the band released in 1983. Since I had the Flood Of Lies record, I had an urge to add the single to the collection as well.

Thankfully there was a US seller with the 12 inch available at a fair price and I immediately snatched it up.

Locals Only

While looking through Tim's collection, there were a few records available that, while not something that I would have sought out to purchase, had me thinking that I might as well buy them just because they were there.

I didn't hear Agression until around 2017, and I wish that I could remember what it was that put them on my radar at that time. I must have seen some online post or something at the time, and thought that it was time to finally check it out, so I downloaded the songs for Don't Be Mistaken. It is a cool record of good straight forward hardcore skater vibes, but I haven't spent much time with it since that initial download.

Seeing it in Tim's collection had me revisit it to see if should pick it up, and after a couple of spins, the answer was yes.