You Destroy Yourself Again

After what felt like waiting for an eternity for the full length debut by Sweet Jesus and finally receiving the records, Atomic Action posted that there were going to be a few other variants soon. The black vinyl variant seems to be from the same run as the European tour pressing, but it comes with the original cover art. 600 copies.

Orange vinyl was supposedly used for the record release variant, although I only got this information from internet sources. Nothing on the record, dust sleeve or cover suggests that this was actually used for a special occasion. Bit of a let down.

Last but not least, Revelation exclusively distributed the LP on yellow vinyl. 100 copies exist, but I've been told that some of them were damaged, so probably fewer copies will be in circulation. So this is probably the rarest pressing.

Sweet Jesus

 Sweet Jesus totally came out of the blue (for me at least) and surprised me with one of the best 7"s I've heard in years. It almost became my release of the year 2014. So when I read that they were going to release a full length LP I was more than stoked. As soon as the pre-orders went online, I put in my order and then the most dreadful period of time for any record nerd began: the waiting. I'm not 100% sure on the timeline anymore, but I think the band wasn't happy with the first recording/mastering, so they recorded/mastered everything again. Fine by me, I'd rather have a good sounding copy the band is happy with than a crappy record that has just been put out for the sake of having a release. Drawback: wait longer. Then the pressing plant fucked up and/or Record Store Day prolonged everything. Long story short: it took what felt like forever until the records were finally shipped in late August. Funny side note: the first version actually out there was the tour version for the European tour Sweet Jesus did in early August. Anyway, I finally have the album in my hands. Actually, I have three copies in my hands. You'll see. I really like the LP. It doesn't have as much of a 'wow factor' as the 7", but it is still a really good LP. I'm pretty sure it will rank highly on my 2015 list.

First up is the pre-order variant on white vinyl. This was the rarer of the two pre-order colours. 100 copies exist.

Next is the variant on purple vinyl out of 300.


    For people who pre-ordered the record, the label threw in a flexi. Sweet Jesus show their excellent
    taste in music and cover one Faith and one Void song. Can't go wrong with the classics. You also
    get a note/flyer explaining a little bit about the delay.

    As I said, Sweet Jesus toured the UK/Belgium briefly earlier this summer. I think it was their first
    real tour, too. For this tour they put out a tour variant. Black vinyl with blank labels. You get a tour
    stamp on the DJ sleeve, but no real cover. Bummer. I always fell that this is a lazy way of making a
    tour variant. Stamps are cool, but they should be a bonus, not the main feature. The lyric sheet is also
    different from the one that comes with the regular LP. Different layout and different paper colour. I
    ordered this after seeing a post on Facebook, saying that the band still had some tour pressings left
    over. So I grabbed one. Funnily enough this was the first variant I received in the mail.

    In the meantime I learned that there is also a Revelation Records exclusive pressing on yellow vinyl.
    Or to be precise, there was a Rev exclusive pressing, because it has already sold out. And of course I    
    missed out. Atomic Action also (re)pressed the LP on orange and black vinyl. Need to pick up these
    soon.

Sweet Jesus

Sweet Jesus released one of my personal highlights 2014 as far as new records are concerned. A few days ago Sam of Triple B Records posted a list of records he was looking to sell on Revcollectors. One of them was a test pressing for the Box 7". I jumped right at it, and while I was at it I also asked him if he had any copies of Box on white left. He did, so I have a nice little Sweet Jesus collection for the moment.


Sweet Jesus - Box - Triple B - test pressing - /15

Sweet Jesus - Box - Triple B - white - /330

It Was A Very Good Year

2014 was a really good year as far as records go. There were some really great records released this year and I also managed to pick up a lot of really cool records that had been on my want list for quite some time. I tried to come up with a Top 5 for 2014 releases and 2014 collectibles. It worked fine for the releases, but I couldn't slim down the collectibles to just five. Anyway, here goes.

2014 Releases

Dangers has been a favourite band of mine ever since I heard them for the first time. I haven't been floored by a band both lyrically and musically like that for a long time. They're also a great live band and all of the shows I've been to were great fun. 5 O'Clock Shadows At The Edge Of The Western World is not as good as their previous releases imho, which doesn't mean that much cause compared to most other bands it's still very, very good. The song of the same name however is so awesome. My #5.
Our Inner Wastelands is the first full length release by local band Zerre. Their singer is a good friend of mine, plus I know most of the other members as well, and I'm so stoked about what they accomplished with this LP. Plus it looks so good. The red variant is probably the best looking record I got this year. My #4.
I've been a fanboy of Barren ever since I heard their demo. It had been rather quiet around this band for quite some time, but this year they finally managed to release their first full length LP Anachronism. Great politically minded 90s hardcore. Awesome live band, too. Plus we share a craving for the same vegan baked good, which is definitely a big plus. XStreuseltalerYouthX. My #3.
Sweet Jesus are the surprise band of the year for me. I'd never heard of them before, despite the fact that Pat Flynn of Have Heart fame is the singer for this band. When I got their their first 7" Box, I put it on the record player and I was blown away. I had to flip this record over and over and over and over. So, so good. Their upcoming LP just might show up in my Top 5 2015. We'll see. My #2.
It's been a hard debate between me, myself and I, but in the end there could be only one release at the top of this list. Bane is my favourite band ever, just in case somebody wasn't aware of this fact (despite the 15 posts about this band in little more than a year). They decided to call it quits next year, which sucks, but they released a new LP this year, which rules. Don't Wait Up is such a good LP. I was a little afraid they might release a record that could leave a bad aftertaste, urging people to say "They should have quit a few years ago…", but this LP is so much better than I'd ever hoped for. Perfect record to end this amazing journey of this band. My #1 2014.

2014 Collectibles

I managed to pick up a lot of cool records this year, some of which had been on my want list for quite some time. Narrowing it down to just five records was impossible, so I stretched the list just a tad. There are still a few records that could have easily been in this picture, but you have to draw the line somewhere. Some of these records I got for cheap, some I had to pay a pretty penny for, some I got for free or as presents. For various reasons these records are my collectibles of the year. There's no ranking here since all these records give me joy for very different reasons. 

Greatest hardcore record of all time. Prove me otherwise.

Favourite release by my favourite band. Collection complete.

Out of the blue. Rarest release by my favourite band besides test pressings.

Birthday present by the greatest girlfriend on this planet.

There are always more variants out there than you think. Keep looking.

Record I probably listened to the most 2014. One of the wildest and hottest shows this year.

Out of the blue part II. There are still some great people involved in hardcore.

Sometimes you gotta give more. Sometimes you gotta give everything.

Not in this picture but in the one above, you can see a test pressing of Bane's final LP on End Hits Records. This one is definitely one of my pick-ups 2014 as well, but I didn't feel the need to picture it twice.

Thanks everyone for reading my blog and commenting. Keeps record collecting a lot of fun.

XXX

Sweet Jesus

The Christmas season is upon us, so I thought I'd post a record by an aptly named band. Sweet Jesus released their first 7" on Triple B records a few weeks ago. I'd missed out on the demo completely, which apparently was released something like three years ago. I ordered this 7" because of its description as a Swiz and Dag Nasty influenced band. Can't go wrong with either band. Throw in Pat Flynn on vocals, and picking up this record was a no brainer.
Buying records without listening to them beforehand on the internet is kind of a gamble and chances are high you might get disappointed. Not in this case though. I haven't been floored like that by a record of a current band in a long time. I can't stop listening to this. Seriously. This is without a doubt my favourite 7" of the year. Maybe it's even my favourite release of the year.
There are two colours for this record: 330 on white vinyl and 770 on red vinyl. As you can see I got the red one, which means I need the white vinyl version as soon as possible.

Sweet Jesus have also recorded an LP recently, which is supposed to drop in February 2015. Really looking forward to this one. In the meantime, do yourself a favour and pick up this record.