Talk about sleeping on a band. It's not uncommon for me to be late on a band, but it's usually not by almost 20 years! Recently I downloaded "No Passing Phase" by Mainstrike and I pretty much knew nothing about them, but I was hooked instantly. I wasn't sure if they were a new youth crew band, from East Coast, West Coast, etc. Then I came to find out they were one of the most influential European hardcore bands of the mid to late 1990s. Wow, okay. Heavily inspired by bands like Judge and Chain of Strength, these guys are fucking incredible. It amazes me that I had never heard of them and that more people aren't all about them. I mean, you can still find first pressings of their albums for sale on the labels website. So when I put my recent order together for the Shipwrecked LP together from Crucial Response, I saw all these limited Mainstrike records and I decided to build myself an instant collection.
Here is the handprinted silk screened edition of "No Passing Phase", limited to 40 copies. On plain old black vinyl. Excellent record. Pictured with the insert that folds out into a little poster with lyrics. All of these limited copies are on plain old black vinyl.
The silk screened version of "A Quest For The Answers", limited to 97 copies. The back of it is just blank with a Crucial Response logo. Comes with another nice little poster.
And the limited version of the "Times Still Here" 7", limited to 102 copies. The above three are all the "Raw Data" Versions by Crucial Response. The Raw Data series is limited versions of Crucial Response release that are on hand printed silk screened jackets with different designs. Very cool.
Here is the only "regular" pressing I ordered. The idea of their s/t 7" on "Mint Green" vinyl with the green cover was just too irresistible. Out of 405. So there you have it. Sorry Mainstrike for sleeping on you so long, but better late then never right?
For a quick post, check out these Get the Most 7"s that I got from my recent Crucial Response order. Here are the limited 2nd press copies of /296 on red and /206 on blue. These guys broke up not too long ago and that sucks, they were a solid youth crew hardcore band. I have a few of their LPs from React! Records that I'll try to post soon. That's it for now guys, I'm off to work!
This is one I've been waiting to write for a while. It's because I first got Shipwrecked's "The Last Pagans" from Grave Mistake Records on black vinyl months ago, but I had to wait a while to finally pull the trigger on the expensive shipping from Germany to get it on the limited clear and white vinyl from Crucial Response Records. This has been hands down the album I have been listening to the most in 2012, and it is hands down my favorite release to come out this year. Scandinavia's Shipwrecked is a glorious mix of Oi! and 80s style Boston hardcore. Anyone that knows me at all knows that bands like The Templars and 86 Mentality are some of my favorite bands ever, so its no surprise that Shipwrecked sounds like the Templars and 86 Mentality had a love child, and maybe Slapshot was that boyfriend on the side and they're not sure who the baby's daddy is so it's all about to go down on Maury. Ok stay with me...
Here it is in all its glory on /632 black vinyl, /218 clear vinyl, and /201 white vinyl. It cost me a pretty penny to get these two color copies from Europe, but since I think this album is just so incredible I wouldn't be able to live with myself a few years from now knowing that there were limited color copies that I let slip away. These were the most expensive imports on the Crucial Response website, something about additional taxes for items from Scandinavia to Germany and then of course to America, so all in all they were about $20 each for the color copies. That's heat right there for a new release, but I just had to have it! Atleast I got the black copy for $12 or so from Grave Mistake.
The clear vinyl is the best looking of all three. As I've said before usually I don't like clear vinyl, but this is more of a milky clear, and it looks great with the silver and red labels.
And the B side label. Woof.
This is some incredible artwork. I love the knights strolling through the town and the "Arctic Nights" graffiti on the wall. It is just a dark and menacing cover, they just look like they are coming to bring their nordic hardcore and smack you across your face with it (no pun intended). The silver really pops on the jacket itself, the pictures don't do it justice. Everything on this release looks amazing.
Look how brutal those lyrics are to the first track. Fast violence baby, forever wrecked. Fuck Yes. Seriously if you don't have this album yet, then you are really, really missing out. It is going to take a miracle for this release not to end up on my number one spot for 2012, and it is quickly becoming one of my favorite records of all time. Since they are not an American band and don't really tour, I wouldn't be surprised if this album is forever slept on. If they were a young Boston band, everyone would be going nuts, but anyone who sleeps on Shipwrecked is losing out. Listen to Fast Violent Noise below and then go buy this record!!!
Here is Commitment Crew's - What are you? LP on Germany's Crucial Response Records. Pressing info is /500 Black vinyl, /261 Red and /261 Blue. I think this title appropriately fits this band, because at times this release flirts with epic Oi! and at times it flirts with being generic and incredibly annoying. You know me, I have to keep it real. It's not like every record I buy is the good. The music on this thing is great, but the vocals really kill it for me. I've said it time and time again, the vocals will make or break any band for me. The singer pretty much sounds just like the vocalist from 86 Mentality at times, which is awesome, but then he goes into this throaty super Oi! yell that instead of sounding cool, sounds more like someone gargling listerine or a cat getting choked. So much potential. That being said it's not all bad. I still feel this release was well worth my $12 and an occasional listen. But am I going to fork over the big bucks to get the red and blue copies from Germany, like I did with the Shipwrecked LP? Hell to the no no.
As seen in the cover art, the artwork is definitely incredible. At first I thought it looked stupid because I couldn't really see what it was. The pictures on Grave Mistake weren't all that clear when I bought it. I could clearly see the CC, but I thought it was some celtic crap or flowers or something. But after getting the actual record in my hands I could see what was going on. all these demented little demons and monsters. Hell yeah. Really cool artwork in the layout too, but the best is on the record itself. Yes, they used the label hole as a butthole for some demon. I don't think I've ever seen the hole on a record used as a butthole. Either way this record is atleast worth a listen. If you can deal with the annoying vocals, then you may end up loving this.
