Upper Hand - Chains of Shame

Recently Mind Rot put out Richmond VA's very own Upper Hand's new EP, "Chains of Shame".  Featuring members of Break Away and Friend or Foe, two other really sold bands, I pretty much knew what to expect. This is super solid NYHC style in a similar vein of Cro Mags and Madball. I love the cover art on this too, it appears whoever did the Losin' It LP cover art also did this. This probably won't be in heavy rotation for me, but it is still a very good release and solid as hell. I feel like maybe seeing this band live could change my opinion on that last statement. For a debut EP this band shows a ton of promise, so I will be all over their next release. 

Even though I had never heard this band, I figured with that kind of description there was very little chance of me not liking it. I went ahead and ordered the 4 pack which is still available. Red out of /100,  White out of /102, Blue out of /90 and Black out of /200. The blue copy definitely goes best with the cover art and is the most limited copy, so I would scoop that shit up first!

Violent Reaction

Violent Reaction is one of my favorite bands as of late, but I seem to have been caught dead asleep every time some important vinyl comes out. When I heard 6131 and Mind Rot were repressing the bands modern classic 7" for a US release, I was all over it in hopes of scoring some limited edition vinyl. This was the rarest of the pressing, white out of /100.

I think it looks great on red out of /300 though. This pressing is still available over at Mind Rot.

Last week the homey Jake from Screaming for Records sent me an awesome care package that I will be posting more about soon. This was included, an earlier pressing of the 7" on black vinyl released by Quality Control and Static Shock Records. As you can see, the layout for this is far superior to the American release. This comes on a huge fold out, that at first I thought was a cross. I'm so fuckin stupid, I had to flip it over to realize it was a giant X. Straight edge... X... Ok, I get it. Awesome lay out. I'll be posting more soon from Jake's package that he sent over. It is great having met awesome people all over the globe through this blog. That alone has made all this hard work worth it. 

BREAK AWAY - For Life

Here is another super solid young youth crew band. Here's my copies of Break Away - For Life. I ordered this one based solely off the cover art (have you noticed I do that alot?) Sometimes listening to bands first just ruins the surprise. This one is on Mind Rot records and the pressing info is Blue /89, Clear /171, Black /225. Totaling out to a kind of cooky 485? What happened to those other 15 copies... it leads me to believe there is a mysterious other version, or most likely 15 were used for a band only release, or a record release? If someone could clarify that would be sweet. And if there is a version out there that's /15, I'm all over that if it makes it to ebay. I was impressed by this thing though, and just from looking at the cover art you can pretty much figure out it's going to be no nonsense straight edge hardcore. Another band great young band to keep my eye on, and with them about to play at Sound and Fury festival I would suggest picking up your copies of this release now, don't fall prey to merch flippers.