Boston Strangler - Fire

I saw this get posted on Facebook a while back as being up for sale. Apparently I've been living under a rock because I thought it was a repress of their first LP with new album artwork. I ordered a copy from my phone and went on with my day. I later realized it was in fact a brand new LP from the Stranglah. Doh! Glad I got my hands on a copy because as expected these sold at real quick. As far as I know, they followed the same recipe as their debut LP and released these all on black vinyl.

After ordering it, I scoured the internet for a free download and started listening right away. For some reason I was not as impressed by this release as their debut LP. Something about it sounded flatter than their older stuff. When I got the LP, I listened to the actual record several times and realized the digital copy I have is just not that good of quality compared to the real recordings. It gave me a sour first impression, but on further listening I have fallen in love with this record. It is without a doubt more "Oi!" than the last record, which is fine by me. I don't know if this record will live up to the same hype as their debut LP or which will stand the test of time better, but to me it's apples and oranges with both of them being fantastic.

Peacebreakers

Here is a band that has been getting a ton of attention lately. This Boston band sounds like much of the late great knuckle dragger hardcore and you know I got no complaints about that. Their members play/have played in bands like Boston Stranger, Waste Management, Social Circkle, Blank Stare, Scapegoat and more. This is a fantastic 7" and was really difficult for me to track down. I believe it was pressed out of /500 on black.

Part of the controversy surrounding this band revolves around a song called "Foreign Exchange" which does sound like an anti-immigration song. However, I would be really surprised if that is what they meant by it. When I hear it, I hear it more so about pieces of shit trying to get in their scene, and they're telling them to get the fuck out. I don't know if there have been any "official" statements made yet but it's amazing how quick people can jump to conclusions. Maybe this controversy helped this become one of the most sought after pieces of vinyl this year? Either way, this release rules and I actually prefer this band to Boston Strangler and the rest of the bands mentioned above.

Poor Man's Boston Strangler...

Here is the Boston Strangler before they were Boston Strangler... also known as Anxiety. Here is their "Pathetic" EP on Social Napalm Records. This band has the same vocalist as the Strangler and are very, very similar. The main difference is, well, this recording sounds like shit. The vocals have way too much reverb and it sounds like he's singing in a tiny shower stall. The drums sound thin and annoying, almost like they're playing on garbage cans or something. If you can see past this, this is actually an excellent EP. These songs deserve a re recording, because I feel like the songs themselves could hang with the "Primitive" LP. What a shame that the recording was executed so poorly. The layout and cover art/insert are just as raw as the recordings sound. This is not in any sort of cardboard jacket, it's just pressed on a thin ass piece of paper. 

To remedy the fact that the "jacket" is just a thin ass piece of paper, I used this Shai Halud cardboard that Rev keeps sending me like 10 of every time I order from them as packing material. I put the record itself in the Shai Hulud sleeve, and then the Anxiety paper sleeve over it and right into a polybag. There you go, that's how my Anxiety LP will be stored for eternity. If you like Boston Strangler, then this is still worth a shot since it's the same singer and similar sound, I just wish these guys would re record all these tracks. 

BOSTON STRANGLER, and how to run your label pt. 2

It's impossible to keep up with all the sick new hardcore bands these days. Unless you are just constantly trolling message boards, and have unlimited amounts of money sitting around to spend on vinyl, you are going to miss out on some shit. That's just the way it is. I was late to the Boston Strangler hype fest and by the time I caught on and gave these guys a listen, these records were going for $50 on ebay, with their shirts going for even more. I thought to myself, NO WAY am I going to pay that much for a record that just came out with hundreds of copies on black. I mean, maybe on a limited color I might be able to justify it, but as far as I know they only pressed this on black. So, I'll wait. I know it will pop up somewhere eventually right? Fast forward a few months... 

Time goes by and every time it pops up in a distro, I miss out on it. I just couldn't keep up, it was starting to become an obsession that I had to have and I was growing weaker by the day, getting ready to fork up the big bucks on ebay. But my internal cheapness told me to hold out, just a little bit longer. I even decided to make a facebook just to follow bands/labels so I wouldn't miss out on other limited vinyl. And from the amount of limited shit I've gotten since I did, I should have done that along time ago, I don't know what the hell I was thinking! So one day on facebook I see Grave Mistake posted that they put up 15 new copies of Primitive. Yes! Finally! I head over and it is gone. Fifteen copies sold out in under a half hour. Are you fucking kidding me? I figured I would email Alex in a last ditch effort to acquire this thing. Now, I have been a pretty loyal Grave Mistake customer for a while now, but still what Alex did fucking ruled. He says "Don't even trip, I got you" and sent me his pressing from the first batch that he got, and told me he'd get one some other time. How awesome is that? 

So all you other label owners take note. Not only does Grave Mistake have some of the best bands and music out of any label today, but Alex treats people right and keeps them coming back. I don't think I've ever received a Grave Mistake order without all kinds of free shit. Plus, they have the cheapest shipping of any east coast label to the west coast. On several occasions, he has even refunded me a couple dollars because the shipping was too much. Wow. Also, when you get a shipment from them you know it's going to be packed to withstand a nuclear blast. I have never received a damaged record from them. As far as this record goes? Yes, it is an excellent record. Is it deserving of all the hype it's gotten? Yes, it does. But that doesn't change my opinion that there are other records with that similar style that are just as deserving of all the hype, like the record above and some of the other bands I mentioned. Either way, Grave Mistake rules OK!