Frost Return

While I was very excited to raid Tim's collection and get my hands on Into The Pandemonium, the real Celtic Frost highlight was a couple of early EPs.

I think that the Tragic Serenades EP was my introduction to Celtic Frost. I bought it on cassette back in the day because the cover art was so rad... I don't know, there is something about the stark black with the skull in the center that just looked so cool to me... plus there were only three songs here, so it was cheap enough for me to take the chance on it. I don't think that Celtic Frost made much of an impression on me at the time. I mean, all I owned was this EP and Into The Pandemonium, and that album was too much for my teenage brain, so I think it just some some extra time for me to fully appreciate this band.

Sure these songs appear on other Frost records, but these new versions are cool enough to check out... plus that skull cover still looks fucking cool.

I've had the Emperor's Return EP from Celtic Frost on my wantlist for a long time, mainly because I'm basically still a 16 year old kid, and I thought the cover art was so great. I've been holding out for an original German Noise pressing, but with the Metal Blade version in my hands, it was impossible to say no. Plus, I still have a soft spot for those original Metal Blade axe labels.

I'm very excited to add to my Celtic Frost collection. Maybe I'll get one more before I finish with Tim's collection.

History Of A Time To Come

It is always such a charge for me when I add an old 80's thrash record to the collection. There is just something about that classic thrash period that I connect with deeply. From those formative years of about 16 to 20, thrash metal was my entire personality. Band t-shirts, my CD collection, and endless scribbles of lyrics and band logos on my school notebooks. It was everything to me. Because of this, it always feels special when I pick up an old thrash record.

1988 was a huge year for thrash. Every band in the Big 4 dropped an album that year, but it felt like a ton of other bands were popping off that made the Big 4 sound tame in comparison. On of my favorite records that year was History Of A Time To Come from British thrashers, Sabbat. I specifically remember listening to this album on the drive back and forth from college in the Fall that year. The vocals were unique and the lyrics sounded evil... plus the songs were nice and fast for me to headbang behind the wheel on my drive. It was such a perfect album and it still rips today. So good.

I kind of wanted an original German pressing from Noise for this album, but I guess the US pressing straight out of Tim's collection will do the job... even if the corners are crushed to hell. Plus, I kind of really dig those US center labels.

No Good At Goodbyes

There are some bands and styles of hardcore that just don't work for me. When I was going to a lot of shows, there were some bands that I did not like based on the crowd they drew. A lot of really hard and tough shit I just didn't hang with. I preferred high fives and stagedives over demonstrating my style. So when Triple B starting putting out records that seemed to fall more in line with that tough guy style, I stopped paying attention.

Gridiron was one of the bands that turned me off when I first saw their No Good At Goodbyes record in the Triple B store. Meh, the album cover was giving bad Agnostic Front vibes and I wasn't interested in checking them out. At the end of 2022(?) the guys on the 185 Miles South podcast were talking high praise for the band in their yearly recap, and so I finally broke down and checked them out, and to my surprise they weren't bad. They play hardcore mixed with a kind of hip hop swagger that reminds me of Biohazard... and I've never really liked that band... but here and now, I could appreciate the fun and ignorant (not derogatory) vibe that Gridiron brings.

After sitting with the songs on this record for a while, I finally decided that I did need to own this. No Good At Goodbyes is just such a fun time. Fuck the hard stance and tough attitude and lets just have a good time with this record. I've got friends in Pennsylvania, and they like sports things, so when I saw that Triple B was doing a pressing on "Eagles swirl" colored vinyl, I thought it would be a fun tribute to my PA pals and I grabbed copy. 250 pressed.

Belly Of The Beast

I really liked the first couple of Combust records. They have a great NYHC vibe in the vein of early Cro-Mags and Killing Time, and while I really liked those records when I bought them, I haven't really spent a lot of time with them over the past couple of years because I've been pulled to listen to other things. So I wasn't sure how a third Combust record was going to land with me, and I kind of expected to feel indifferent towards it.

I've slowly been getting back into a hardcore mindset this year, and the new Combust has been a big part of that. I didn't really expect much with Belly Of The Beast, but surprisingly it has been a bit of a catalyst that is reigniting my love of hardcore. I don't know what it was... but this record has a swagger that just hooked me and made me want more. It's hard. I has some groove. I just makes me want to move. I didn't even know that I needed this, but here we are.

The colored vinyl is your typical Triple B pattern with a few different colors all filtered through a 5th graders imagination of what looks good. Red and bone white on one side and a black splatter on the other. Limited to 300.

Siamese Pumpkins

Over the past couple of years, I've come to really like The Smashing Pumpkins... well, I've come to really like Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by The Smashing Pumpkins and a bunch of random songs from the band. However, it seems that most fans tend to view Siamese Dream as their favorite Pumpkins record... and while there are some songs here that I really like, I've never spent enough time with the full album to appreciate it as a whole.

Earlier this year, my local record store posted that they were taking preorders for a special RSD edition of Siamese Dream on "red smoke" vinyl, and I figured that it was time I took the plunge and committed fully to the album. As a bonus, if I didn't have to go out on Record Store Day to fight crowds for it, even better. Supporting record stores from the comfort of my home.

Okay look, I can see why people love this record, because it is a great album... for me it still isn't as good as Mellon Collie, but that's cool that people still ride hard for this one because it is deserved. I can't believe that I'm actually writing about a Smashing Pumpkins record on this blog... never saw that coming.

Lastly, the vinyl for this looks amazing. Man, remember when all colored vinyl looked this good and not some shitty splatter pattern on cheap plastic. I guess big bands like this can affort to use the best pressing plants.

Candy Relapse

If you ever wonder just how much my friends mean to me, and how much I value and listen to what they say, just take a look at my record collection. I picked up this Candy record because of the influence of two different friends.

I was talking to my friend Alex a couple of months ago, and she mentioned that she needed to listen to something aggressive. When I was curious about what she was reaching for, she told me it was the Candy album It's Inside You.

Now I was familiar with the Candy name from when they did a couple of records with Triple B, but I never really gave them much of a chance. With Alex's recommendation, I figured that I'd give them a spin and yeah, this is raw and delivers on the aggression. This record is hard to pin down and define. Yeah, there is a definite angry hardcore vibe going on, but I also feel a bit of a nu metal influence. It feels unique and not like any other band that I'm currently listening to. I'm sure that I would have hated this 5 years ago, but today this definitely hits me square in the fucking chest.

I wasn't sure if I was going to buy this record so quickly after first hearing about it, but then I noticed it was released through Relapse and there was a clear vinyl version available on Discogs. I know that for Relapse releases, Marcus will only buy the clear vinyl because A) it isn't a shitty looking splatter pattern from the label, and B) the label only presses 100 copies and they aren't available to the general public. Seeing a clear vinyl copy available for a good price on Discogs had me very interested and I quickly scooped it up so that I could be a bit like Marcus.

Not For You

Earlier this year, I made it out to a show to see Municipal Waste play. There was a local hardcore band, Corrective Measure, that was opening the show, and I was surprised at just how good they were. Seeing them play kind of reinvigorated my love of hardcore. I've been so wrapped up in discovering other kinds of music the last couple of years that I think a part of me forgot how great hardcore is and how excited it can make me feel to hear that straight forward no frills style of music.

After seeing Corrective Measure live, I quickly picked up their 7 inch... and then when I noticed that Refuse Records out of Europe was releasing their latest record, Not For You, Not For Anyone, I quickly ordered a copy of that as well.

9 songs in 10 minutes is exactly what I want here. Angry hard and fast is how I like my hardcore.

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.