Turning Point II

The last record I received from Marcus is the repress of the Turning Point 7” on green. Alright, there was also as Taylor Swift record in there, which had sold out too quickly on mainland Europe so I ordered a copy in the UK, but that was for my wife, so it doesn’t really count in regards to my blog. I was actually very surprised when I opened the parcel and saw this record. Marcus and I had talked about this record at one point, but I’d all forgotten about it, so this was a very nice surprise for me. When I picked up a copy of this repress originally, I said that I’d much rather have a copy on green than on orange, so this gives me some closure. I still prefer this color over orange as it has a more classic 80s record look in my opinion.

Thanks again, Marcus, for letting me ship those records to your place and you dragging them to that show so my friend could pick them up. 

Repress on Clear Green on Revelation /517

DIY Spirits Or Die Faster

There was a time about 10 years ago when Spirits was a very important band to me. They played a style of hardcore that I love but which wasn't all that popular in the after 2010 or so. So hearing them was a breath of fresh air for me. Collecting them turned out to be a collector's dream/nightmare, because the band put out a ton of releases in a very short period of time and all of them came out on what felt like a million versions. I managed to build a solid collection, but there are still certain records that I missed out on and haven't been able to track down so far. One of them is the record release version of the Spirit/Die Faster split, to be precise the Die Faster version of the record release, because each band had a different one of course. This was actually the record that kicked off me ordering a bunch of records in the UK and having them shippped to Marcus. 

After getting the record, I was disappointed though because the seller had listed the record incorrectly and this one turned out to be the regular version on red vinyl with the red cover. The record was not that expensive, so I’m not too mad, but it’s still annoying that people list records incorrectly. I’m even more annoyed with myself though for not asking the seller for more info or a picture of the numbering beforehand to make sure. 

1st Press on Red w/ Red Cover on Coin Toss /300

There are four versions of the stamped cover: purple, dark blue, orange and red. Each cover was stamped by hand with a wooden stamp on 7” format. I’m not 100% sure if the stamp was actually carved by hand, but knowing the band member, I’m pretty sure it was. I was lucky enough to be given one of the stamps by the band member who’d made them. Come to think of it, maybe it is the only stamp and this one was used for all of the colors, because there is also some dark color on the edges. Be that as it may, it’s a pretty cool artefact of the band to have and I felt like sharing this along with the record. 

Secret World

The last record I got from the UK distro I purchased the previous three records from is Guilt Is Good by Secret World, a band from Sydney, Australia. I’d never heard of them before but when I was browsing the distro’s webstore, the cover somehow caught my attention. I can’t say why, but it did for some reason. And I didn’t get disappointed. The songs on this 7” are really catchy and I’ve been listening to the record over and over. I’d say, if you like Militarie Gun or Fiddlehead or even Title Fight, this might be for you. As it happens the band just released a full length yesterday, lucky me. 

1st Press on Clear on Sunday Drive / Last Ride /150

Splitting Vinyl

7” records are a dying breed in 2025 and split 7”s are a marginalised group within 7”s. So when a band I like decides to put out a split 7” this day and age, I’m in. I played the Anklebiter demo a lot when it came out. I missed out on the LP they released in 2023 and by the time I learned about it, it had been sold out everywhere. When I was browsing the inventory of the UK distro I’d found the records I wrote about in the two previous post, I came across a split between Anklebiter and Prevention. As mentioned before, I was really into the band’s demo, so ordering the split was a no brainer. I’d never heard of Prevention before, but the fact that there were new Anklebiter songs was enough for me to add a copy to the shopping basket. The Anklebiter side is very good and it left me wanting for more (so I will have to pick up a copy of the LP soon I guess). The Prevention side is fine, but doesn’t grab me the way the Anklebiter side does. All in all, a fun listen 

1st Press on Clear Blue on Sunday Drive /150

Ascending

Another record I’d been really looking forward to was the latest Stand Still release, Steps Ascending. Actually, this came out already in 2024 but I didn’t get around to ordering a copy until I ordered the Anxious LP from a mailorder in the UK and as I detailed in the last post, it took a while until I got those records. 

Stand Still managed to write a really good and diverse record. It’s melodic, it’s heavy, it’s very entertaining. I also like the vinyl color in itself, even though a different color scheme would have made more sense with the cover. But I’m not mad at this combination. 

1st Press on Pink w/ White Splatter on Daze /150

Anxious

2025 seems to be a slow year as far as new releases are concerned, or a least new releases by bands I like. One of the few records I was actually looking forward to was the new Anxious LP. The previous one, Little Green House, was so good. Definitely one of my favorite records of the 2020s. So when I read that Anxious was going to release a new LP, I was very happy. Ordering a copy from the US was a no-go thought and the versions available through the European store weren’t that nice to look at. However, the version exclusively available through Devil Dog mailorder out of the UK looked very good. I shot a message to Marcus to ask him if I could have delivered this record (and a couple of others) to his place and then have one big parcel sent to me eventually. Gentleman that he is, he’d offered that service before, but I just wanted to make sure. Once that was sorted out, I could go on and order the record(s). 

I was in no hurry to get the record(s), even though it meant I wouldn’t be able to listen to the record for a while because certain records I want to listen to on vinyl for the first time. I’m old-fashioned that way. Anyway, an opportunity of saving on shipping arose when a very good friend of mine told me he was going to do merch for Bane again and one of the shows was going to be close to where Marcus lives. I checked with Marcus to see if he was going to be at that show and sure enough he was planning on going. So my friend took some records I had for Marcus and Marcus gave him the records he had for me, which my friend in turn gave me a couple of days later when I caught Bane on the same tour. Good old punk mail still works in 2025. 

So about three weeks ago I could finally listen to Bambi. As much as I liked the predecessor, this album hasn’t grabbed me at all as of now. It sounds too polished. Maybe it’ll grow on me, who knows. I actually hope it’ll grow on me because I really liked all the Anxious material so far. But for now this is a let down for me. I don’t know what to make of the art work either to be honest. The best thing about the record is the vinyl color. That looks amazing. 

1st Press on Clear w/ Glitter on Run For Cover /300 (Devil Dog Exclusive)

Close up of the record. Just beautiful.