Happy New Clear!

Here we are, New Years Eve. As the sun sets on 2012 and we look forward to 2013, I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Years tonight! Will 2012 be remembered as the year of the Rev Repress? How many times is Rev going to repress this thing before I lose interest? Does it matter? Should I just shut my mouth and be a happy consumer? Why am I asking so many questions? Is this an interrogation? Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you? Would you like to talk about what happened?

Okay, moving on. I got side tracked a bit there. The whole point of my stupid story is as long as they pump these out I will keep putting up the coin. However; every time they repress one of these, it feels a little less special. Since I have pretty much zero original Revelation colored vinyl of any actual importance, it's cool that I can add these to my collection. I already did a much more detailed post on their latest white pressing, comparing it to the older pressing so go check that out for more detail on subtle difference.

With that I am out. Thank you everyone that read my blog this year or gave a shit, I appreciate it. Coming soon will be the top ten of 2011 (Yes, a year behind), and then the top ten of 2012 will probably come out after I get my Mindset pre order. Thanks everyone and Happy New Year!

Surprise Top Pick

I'm really quite surprised at how much I have loved this Expire release. I previously had their "Suffer the Cycle" ep which didn't seem to grab me or impress me that much. I've never been a big fan of alot of the Bridge Nine bands either so I wasn't expecting to much from this. I figured I'd give it a shot at a free download and I was instantly impressed. This band has really grown into their own and released one of the best albums of the year. This thing fucking rips and I love how it has that sort of gangster feel to it, like Madball and Cold World. I have the release on gold which I think was the most generic color, but I don't know the pressing info on this so I can't confirm that. I think the limited color was coke bottle clear.

With a nice fold out poster of the band looking kinda dorky. Not very fond of the layout or cover art of this album, but like the saying goes "Never judge a book by its cover." This thing shreds.

Not quite clear on what happened...

I don't know how I didn't hear about this Prisoner Abuse LP coming out or how I missed out on the limited clear vinyl, but I am kicking myself now for it. This is no doubt one of the top releases of 2012. Super grimey old school hardcore. Apparently the music was recorded a few years back and the vocals were added this year. You wouldn't be able to tell by listening to it, the recording is fluid and natural. You could have tricked me and told me this was a live recording. If you're still sleeping on this then I would track this down quick!

Under the Influence, Against the Grain

Shit dude, what a month. This is one of my lowest production months yet, but I've been preoccupied with other things. In wake of the CT Shooting and our Government's plan to ban all kinds of guns, I've been decimating what's little savings I had on guns and ammunition. So I haven't had much time to concentrate on records or this blog unfortunately. I did get all 3 colors of the Rival Mob LP before the green was sold out though :)

Now down to bizz... I really love this 7", but I can't stand the title track "Suffering". The song "Above the Influence, Against the Grain" is really incredible straight edge anthem. I mean, React! Records kind of uses it as their slogan on all their stickers, so that says alot.

I hope everyone has a good Christmas and stays safe out there. My birthday is in a couple days also so I'm definitely going to be Under the Influence and Against the Grain.

Social Fail

Digging back into the archives, here is one I got back in early April from a record shop that was definitely a fail. I was thinking I found some new release from Social Circkle, and didn't really look close enough at the art work to release this was a different band with a different spelling. Circle without the "k". Oops. I haven't even listened to this yet. Who knows, maybe this thing is really good. I'll have to throw it on sometime. 

Violent Minds & Violent Times

Here is my black copy of "Eyes of Death" by Violent Minds. This band is so under rated its silly. This thing is an absolute shredder. Angry and pissed as all hell and has a bit of an Oi! influence to it if you ask me. As far as I know this band has been inactive for the past few years which is a shame. Their facebook page says they are from San Francisco which shocked me. I cannot remember really seeing their name on any fliers or anything. Does anyone know the real deal about this band?

Where I think they messed up is by not having this Spoiler art from the insert as their cover art? To me, this is far superior. Listen to "Eyes of Death" below and try and tell me this doesn't shred.

ON - Double Vision

Possibly the most boring band name ever ("On"?), here is a 2009 split release from Reaper and React on white vinyl out of /250. This thing has pretty interesting pressing info, and I have the first press that was available only through React! This is about what you would expect from two top tier labels, very good straight ahead hardcore. Excellent artwork and layout, excluding the Justin Bieber haircut on the front... C'MON MAN!!!

Peep out the track "Generations" below:

What an odd mix...

I don't have much time so I'll keep this short and sweet. Here is my plain jane copy of Billingsgate's "Reach Out" on black vinyl. I don't know the pressing info on this or care all that much for that matter. I got this on the cheap in a multi auction pull months ago, so why not? I guess what is most striking about this release is the band members on the cover. As other bloggers have mentioned before, it seems that all four members could be in different bands. Very odd. This is some decent hardcore, but nothing all that special. What do you guys think??? I already know how Mike feels about it.

This post is a Scream!

Not on the same level as some of the other Dischord bands, still SCREAM was influential in their own right. I was happy to pick this up recently in a multi auction win for the whopping price of 99 cents. This is a 2009 repress of the bands debut album which originally came out in 1982. This thing was definitely ahead of its time, it just so happens that they were label mates with some of the most influential acts in the history of punk music. This band may be most well known for having Dave Grohl  of Nirvana and Foo Fights fame as one of the later members... Whatever.

I've always thought this album had great cover art and great photography.

Goes well with the white vinyl, too. Definitely a good buy for 99 cents!

Iron Cross Test Press and Rare Shit

I did not hesitate to jump on the reissue of "Skinhead Glory" by Iron Cross that TKO recently re released. An all time American Oi! Classic, how could I not jump at it? I've never owned a copy on Skin Flint as they are a bit hard to come by and well beyond my means, so I was happy enough to get these limited copies.

TKO originally put up their red and white limited version out of /200 and I'm glad I didn't buy it the first week. I waited a week and noticed on Facebook that they had put up a handful of test presses for $25, so I quickly headed over and grabbed a test press out of /20. About a month later, Pirates Press records revealed that they had a limited version on green /50 that they were selling. I did not hesitate to get the Pirates Press version because the last Templars reissue on TKO also had /50 come out on Pirates Press and by the time I found out they were long gone.

Here's the insert for the regular versions. Not a whole lot going on.

And my test pressing, #20/25. I was pretty stoked to get a test pressing of this, even if it is a reissue! I prefer the test pressing cover over the regular cover. On another note, I apologize that I've been lacking on the blog posts but I've been incredibly busy. I'm also running out of photos and need to take more. Listen to one of my favorite Oi! songs ever below, "Crucified for your Sins":