So Far From Home

It’s funny how your perception of a band can change. I remember someone playing Reach The Sky to me a long, long time ago and me not liking the songs at all. I don’t know what it was, but the songs didn’t click with me at all. So I never really bothered to check them out again. 

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago when I last went to the local record store. I’d seen the record sitting in one of the bins during my previous visits and I’d pondered getting the record to give the band another shot, but the other records I’d put on my pile always seemed more desireable. So I put off buying it, until my last visit. I wanted to buy something at the store and after flipping through the usual bins, I still didn’t have that many records, so I decided that day was the day. It definitely helped that the record was priced very reasonably. 

When I got home, I still had some work to do at my desk, so I put on the new records one after another. When So Far From Home was over, I just flipped the record and listened to it again. And again. And again. I couldn’t believe that was the same band I’d always considered lame. The album has been on constant rotation since then and I just listened to it again today. Might be my favorite discovery of an old band in 2025!

1st Press on Black on Victory

Satisfaction

Whenever someone played Hatebreed for me on trips to shows or at home, I tended to shift my attention to something else and play some other tunes in my head. I didn’t like a single thing about the band: stupid band name, stupid band logo, horrible artwork, they already only played big shows at the time and I didn’t care for the music at all. Fast forward a couple of decades. Some of the people of the band I play in performed a Hatebreed cover at one of our band practices with the help of a friend. I can’t put my finger on it, but for some reason I thought the song didn’t sound half bad and I decided to check out some of the Hatebreed material. I went further down that rabbit hole when I compiled a 90s hardcore playlist for a longer trip to a show and there I was, buying my first Hatebreed record 26 years after it came out. I’m not saying there’ll be more and it hasn’t be come a go-to record, but from time to time I can enjoy Satisfaction Is The Death Of Desire. 

2023 (?) Repress on Black on Victory Records 

Earth Crisis

Earth Crisis is a very controversial band. They were one of the true game changers in hardcore, no matter if you like their music or lyrical content, but they had an impact on hardcore few other bands had. If you are a vegan straight edge kid or just vegan, this can be probably traced back to Earth Crisis. Yes, there were bands that promoted veganism before, but Earth Crisis took it to a new level. I always liked Firestorm as a song, because it is a hit. So simple, but so effective. Again, the lyrical message is very polarising, but not everything said in a two or three minute song should be taken at face value all the time. I mean, it is to be expected that you will receive pushback if you put out extreme lyrical content. This is something I do love about hardcore, because people actually read lyrics and debate them strongly if necessary. The same can be said about some of the content on All Out War, what with the whole pro life debate. Which, much to Earth Crisis' credit, they addressed in a leaflet that comes with the later presses. Musically, I dig the first two 7”s, but after that they lose me because they started leaning way too much into metal for me. But this is still good hardcore. 

Lookinglasself

When we drove to a show a couple of months ago, two friends and I went on a 90s deep dive. This was a lot of fun because we‘re all different ages decades-wise and each of us has a very different perception and relationship with the 90s. The hours flew by with interesting conversations just the way a good long drive to a show should be. 

One of the bands I rediscovered for myself was Snapcase. I already had a couple of their records and would listen to them from time to time, but I kind of forgot how much I liked the band. Incarnation is still such a hit. Obviously that realization was a good enough reason (read: excuse) to get more records to close some gaps in my collection. The label shows this was released by Victory Europe, which I thought was very interesting. I knew that labels back then had European offices, but I didn‘t realize that Victory had one so early on in their history. Then I did some more research, well, I looked at the Discogs entry for Victory Europe and it said that  this sublabel existed from 1990 till 1995 and was operated by We Bite Records. Talk about learning something new every day. 

Where You Want To Be

More music for the quiet moments in life: Taking Back Sunday's second LP. Not quite as good as their debut, but still a good record all in all. 2013 repress on black vinyl.

Taking Back Sunday

Another band I got turned onto by my wife. Tell All Your Friends is the debut LP by Taking Back Sunday and it's one hell of a good debut. Really good emo-core/indie rock, whatever you want to call it. Makes for pretty good road trip music, too, I guess. This is the latest repress, the 8th press in total. 1705 copies on this brown putty vinyl.

After The Eulogy

After The Eulogy is a very important album to me. Rookie was one of the first songs I got introduced to  when I got into hardcore and subsequently After The Eulogy became an album I listened to frequently. I had a copy which I foolishly traded away a few years ago. Once again I thought it'd be easy to get another copy, which turned out to be completely wrong since the price kind of skyrocketed these last few years and even though I love this LP I wasn't going to pay an arm and a leg. A few months ago I found a relatively cheap copy on discogs, bought it and never received it because it was lost in the mail. The seller refunded me the money, so it wasn't a total loss, but I still didn't have a copy. Fast forward to two weeks ago. Another copy for a fair price popped up on discogs and I snagged it right away. Patience pays. This red copy is part of the first press and is out of 1013.

Catching Up 05/2014

Got a couple of current records and another repress. This Routine Is Hell already released their Howl LP last year, but I only got around to picking up the album recently. This is a 2nd press copy on blue vinyl out of 100.  I saw This Routine Is Hell when they opened for Bane in March. Didn't hear the complete set since I was chatting with a couple of people I hadn't seen in a long time, but what I heard with half an ear didn't sound bad at all, so I thought I'd check them out. And I didn't get disappointed. Howl is a really good album. Sounds very ceremony-esque, which is something good in my book. 

As mentioned before I don't like ordering only one record when I order records, so I picked up another record from the same label I ordered the This Routines Is Hell LP from. I chose A Journey In 11 Dives by Storm And Stress. Why, I couldn't tell you. I guess I liked the packaging from what I could see in the web shop. Sadly, the packaging is the best part about this record. The booklet that comes with it is awesome. 24 pages filled with the lyrics and accompanying pictures, which reflect the lyrics. I'm really digging the pictures. The music can be best described as modern hardcore and is good enough, but the singer's voice ruins this for me. Bummer.

Lastly I picked up a golden oldie. Well, at least a repress of it. Cause For Alarm were a band in the early 1980s from NYC and that's just the way they sound. Can't go wrong with that. I have no idea about the pressing info for this one. Recent repress on Victory is the best I can manage. I vaguely recall reading about or seeing a picture of another version on blue vinyl for RSD 2014.