I Quit

My wife was sorting through our buddy's for free records at said show as well and she pulled out this LP. I'd never heard of the band and probably wouldn't have paid it any attention based on the cover art. Turns out this was an early Rivalry Records released, back when the label was still called Rival. Well, officially, it was released by Punchline Productions, a label from Europe, but it also has the Rival Records logo on the back. Turns out the band isn't that bad at all, but it won't become a favourite of mine either. Still, the record was free, so why not check it out? I don't even mind the heavy water damage on the jacket. It doesn't show in the picture, but it's actually quite bad.

For The Snake Of Dedication

Late 2000s 7" hardcore compilation featuring only German bands. You could say the title and the layout were slightly influenced by another compilation from the late 90s. It's hard to make out, but there are one or two small similarities here. Empty Vision were so good, as were Sirens and Red Tape Parade.

Bad Trip

Free records, Bad Trip, part II. Second 7" by Bad Trip, which I also scored for free at said show. I really need to pick up their LPs.

Positively Bad

While visiting my buddy in Stuttgart some time ago, we were digging through his collection and I got to know and like a few bands that I hadn't known before. One of them was Bad Trip. When my friend put on one of their LPs it was nothing like I'd expected judging by the name. Really good music. While I still haven't gotten around to picking up the LPs, the two 7"s sort of fell into my hands. A few weeks ago I was at a show and someone was giving away records for free. That's right, for free. I took a look at the box and found a bunch of things, one of which was the first Bad Trip 7". The songs are good, but not as good the ones on the LPs. Still, I'm not one to sneeze at free records. Second press on Wreck-Age Records.

Dark Towers / Bright Lights

From time to time there comes along a band that doesn't really fit my usual taste in music, but still gets to me. I'm not really into doom, sludge, post-metal and so on, but despite that I really like Cranial. Maybe it's because I'm friends with two band members, but usually that doesn't affect me. Usually I can tell my good friends if I don't like their music and it has never affected any friendships. I saw them live at their first record release show and despite the fact that they played four songs in about 40 minutes, I never lost interest. More often than not my attention span lasts for about three and  a half minutes tops and anything longer must be really good to keep my attention. Well, Cranial manage to do just that. I also really like the artwork for this record. The record you can see here was technically only available with the boxset they made. There are 50 of these that came with an engraved wooden box, patches, posters, CD, stickers and the record of course. They really went all out with this box and in hindsight I regret not picking up one because the set in itself is a beautiful piece of art, but 50€ was still a little steep. Anyway, when I asked one of my friends if they had any records lying around because I wanted to get one, he asked me if I wanted a coloured one. Of course I did and I was all the more surprised when he told me that they had one record leftover from the boxsets, so I ended up with this 1/1 copy. It looks awesome, especially in combination with the record sleeve.

If you're into doom, sludge and post-metal, check out Cranial.

Patience Is A Virtue

If record collecting has taught me anything, it's that being patient often pays off. Sure, it's kind of unnerving when you keep looking for a certain record, and once you've found it, you're too late or someone else snatches it away from you in the last second. But eventually you'll get a shot at the record you've had your eye on for so long. It's only a matter of time.
Having said that, these two records took a lot longer than they should have. Supposedly there are 1,000 copies in total of the second press of Bane's LA 7", but they almost never pop up. Which has led some other Bane nerds and myself to the conclusion that the pressing info is either not correct or the label is still sitting on a ton of these 7"s. Something's definitely off here. Anyway, I'm really glad I was finally able to complete the set. Two more tests and I'm done with this whole city series.


Blue /300 (?).


Clear /700 (?).

There Are Rules

My buddy I was visiting in Stuttgart had told me a few weeks before the visit that a buddy and he were working on re-launching his old distro, and possibly his old label, in the nearby future. By now it is back online, so check out Drastic Actions for records and probably new releases at some point. He still had some old records from back then and also some new stuff, so I flipped through the records and promptly found one that triggered my interest. I love the first two The Get Up Kids LPs. Something To Write Home About is one of those records I'd take with me to a lonely island. I never bothered to check out their latest, post-reunion LP though. It's a nice record, meaning you can listen to it while doing something else and the music is nice enough for some background noise, but after listening to it a few times, not one song has really got stuck in my mind. Bit of a disappointment here.

Last Act Of Defiance

The other record I traded for in the record store was the latest Sick Of It All LP. I love Sick Of It All. They were one of the gateway bands for me when I got into punk and hardcore and I still love their early material. Every time I see them live, they just seem to get better with age and it's always so much fun. Having said that, I feel like they're losing their touch when it comes to writing new songs. Other people might disagree, but for me the decline started with Death To Tyrants. It still had a bunch of good songs, but it didn't grab me at all. Based On A True Story is kind of the same for me. Considering I don't really like these LPs I still have a lot of variants of said two LPs. As much as I love Sick Of It All, based on the two previous LPs I wasn't in a rush to check out their latest record, which came out three years ago. And sadly I must say I don't feel like I missed out on anything the last three years. One copy will suit me just fine. Standard black copy on Century Media.

(I'm) Stranded

Some time ago I sifted through my collection and decided that I didn't need a bunch of records I had doubles of or never listened to anyway. I sold a bunch of them to friends and via Facebook, and took the rest to a record store when I was visiting a friend in Stuttgart. The last time we'd gone record hunting at said store, I'd been quite successful, so I definitely wanted to go back there. I got a good price (aka store credit) for the records I was going to sell, or at least more than I would have gotten had I sold them individually - if I'd have gotten rid off them at all. So I went through the records in the store and although the selection wasn't as good as the last time I'd been there, I still found a couple of items that caught my interest. One of them is a true classic that I'd wanted to add to the collection for some time.
The Saints are often referred to as the The Ramones of Australia, and when you listen to them you can definitely hear similarities. The Saints aren't just a cheap imitation though. They manage to have their own sound. I remember hearing the song (I'm) Stranded in a Black Label skatevideo in the early 2000s and immediately falling in love with it. The rest of the record is also pretty good. This is an original US press from 1977. The cover is still in pretty good shape for that age, despite one corner being clipped, and the record still sounds great.

Cleansing

The XRepentanceX LP had really convinced me, so I definitely wanted to get the 7"s as well. Cleansing is slightly different musically, but it's still really good. Just a bummer that there are only two songs on this 7". 250 copies on clear vinyl that come in an awesome gatefold sleeve.

From The Ashes

One of the more anticipated records for me recently was the new Burn 7". There was some hype, because, well, Burn were awesome when they were around. Plus, they were on tour in the US and twice in Europe over last one and a half years, so people were talking about them again.
I thought about pre-ordering the new 7" from Bridge 9 because, well, Burn, and they also had some cool variants, but I couldn't bring myself to shelling out that kind of money (shipping across the Atlantic sucks more than ever). Now that I've listened to the new songs a bunch of times, I have to say that I'm really glad I didn't spend that much money on this 7" because I don't feel the songs at all. I know that Burn have always been a very innovative band and never cared about trends, which I think is pretty cool. It made them write some of the best hardcore songs and arguably the best 7" on Rev ever. The fact that they continued to do their own thing in 2016 and still don't care about trends apparently is still aweome, but in this case the result is rather disappointing.

Demo Days

To mark 20 years since the Strife demo dropped and to celebrate its 20th year anniversary, Indecision Records decided to press the demo songs on vinyl for the first time. It only took me five more years to pick up a copy. The songs don't sound particularly well - who would have guessed when the songs are taken from a demo recorded in the early 90's - but I don't really care. You can still feel the energy in those songs, maybe even because they sound so raw. 660 copies on clear red vinyl.

Onward

Filled a small gap as far as older European hardcore is concerned recently. A repress will do just fine for me though. This was repressed for RSD last year. Three versions, but I don't know detailed numbers. I really dig the songs on this 7", except for the one with all the scratching going on. Sounds really off to me. But all in all, it's a pretty good record.