It's Always Darkest

A couple of years ago, Revelation reissued the Turning Point 7". Not including the Turning Point discography, the original 7" hadn't been in print for over 30 years. I'm not overly sure why this record was reissued, but it was hardly surprising that Rev then decided to follow up with a reissue of the LP.

I was in Fort Lauderdale, Florida when the preorder for this went live. I remember being worried that it would sell out quickly, so I ordered on my phone whilst walking along the beach in bare feet... in December. Well, that was December 2022, and I have just got around to getting the records.

'It's Always Darkest Before The Dawn' was originally released by New Age Records in 1990. Given New Age is still going, it's not entirely clear why Revelation took over the reissue, but I will admit that it looks kinda cool with the Rev logo on the back of the sleeve.

As with all records these days, this was pressed on multiple colours. Well, three colours to be precise. I think that the colours chosen seem quite suitable and actually look pretty good.

Shown above are the 500 blue vinyl (retail store exclusive/500), clear w/ white smoke vinyl (RevHQ exclusive /300) and orange vinyl (common version, 2,000 made). No doubt that now I have posted this, a new colour will appear within the next couple of weeks. That's usually what happens.

If God Only Knew...

Record collecting has always been a game of patience for me. I add something to my wants list and I wait until an opportunity arises. And sometimes it takes longer than other times. This record here has been on my wants list for at least 20 years. Probably more, although I'm not sure as to how I can check. I could probably check the wants lists in my old zines, although I can't be bothered to go upstairs and dig them out.

I always loved Disemboded. I picked up their first vinyl release (a 7" on Moo Cow Records) when it was released, and I have loosely followed them ever since. But I never picked up this 'If Only God Knew The Rest Were Dead' 10", which was released in 1998, until last week. From the moment it came out I decided that I only wanted a purple vinyl copy and so I waited it out until one showed up... which turned out to be twenty six years or so later.

This was released by Ferret Music, and they used to release 100 copies of each of their records on purple vinyl. I'm not sure how long this carried on as I never had many releases on the label, but the ones I do have all come on purple, and they are generally pretty hard to come by.

Listening to this again recently, I have to say that this has held up really well. The songs are great as is the recording. When metal hardcore sounded like this it seemed cool and not dirty and embarrassing. If you've never heard this then I'd suggest giving it a go. And if you like it then in 2050 you might own your own copy.

The Second Of Too Many

A couple of years ago I had a trip down memory lane when I sold a friend's collection and ended up keeping a bunch of stuff for myself. One of the records that I really enjoyed then was the second album by a UK band from the early 90s called Senseless Things. My friends used to listen to them back in the 90-92 era, but back then I wasn't interested. But fast forward thiry years and it sounded good. Well anyway, I realised that the second album was also pressed on purple vinyl, so when I saw one recently on eBay for cheap, I decided to grab it.

'The First Of Too Many' was released in 1991, and I remember it well, because my friends were all super excited about it. From memory, this purple pressing was a second pressing, with the initial press being on black vinyl only. This copy is pretty much mint, with the sleeve still in the shrinkwrap, although sadly it is missing the 'purple vinyl' hype sticker. But I figure I can live without it for the price I paid.

When I bought this I planned to keep this one and sell the black one, but when I got them out to compare I realised that both copies have very different labels. So I thought I'd hold off selling for now.

Red Screaming LIfe

I've been pretty obsessed by Soundgarden lately, due to both my nostaligic interest in older Sub Pop releases, as well as finally getting into their 'Superunknown' album, which I found boring when it came out and never went back to. So I have been hitting up disogs and eBay hoping to find records that I don't have at a good price... which seems increasingly unlikely these days.

Well, I got lucky a couple of weeks ago when I saw a record listed badly on eBay. The title of the auction and the picture of the record did not match. I watched the item and, with two days to go on the auction, I messaged the seller to ask which record was for sale - was it the one described by the text, or the one shown in the photo? He replied to say thatthe picture was wrong, and let me know that he had changed the picture for the correct one. However, when I checked the auction, there was only one photo, and it did not show the record itself. It showed only the cover. And there was a little less than two days to go. So I watched it and did a last second bid, and it turned out that I was the only bidder and got this for around half of what it usually sells for.

This is a red vinyl pressing of the 'Screaming Life EP'. The record was originally released October 1987 as Sub Pop SP12. This clear red copy is a slightly later pressing, probably pressed around 1991/2 ish.

There were 5 different colours from this pressing, and I now have three of them. Realistically I can't expect to get all 5 as one of them seems uber rare.

There is still an orange vinyl first pressing that I can hope to find one day, but only if I can get it for a fair price, which is unlikely. But not impossible, based on this score. Fingers crossed.

Making Things With Light

A couple of years ago I went through a three month pop punk phase, and during that time I listened to a bunch of bands that I hadn't really thought too much about in a long, long time. And whilst I moved on from my pop punk phase and started listening to hardcore again, I have still listened to a lot of those bands over these past two years. So when a colour vinyl Mr. T Experience record popped up for sale in the UK a couple of weeks ago, I figured I would grab it before someone else did.

Aside from the early 7"s, I haven't seen many colour vinyl LPs on Lookout! Records over the years. So this feels like a pretty cool one to have picked up. Titled 'Making Things With Light', this record is the band's third LP and came out as Lookout! number 37 in 1990. I get very nostalgic for early Lookout! releases, and I especially love the size of the label's logo on the back cover. It looks both cool and also ridiculous.

I really enjoyed the two Mr T Experience LPs that I got into a couple of years back, and this one is every bit as catchy. I'm already thinking that I need more, although there are a lot to go at. They made 12 LPs, which is a lot for any band. I imagine it could take a while to pick them off, one by one. But that's how I roll. And eventually I am sure I will get there.

Eyeteeth / Burial Rot

Last year I picked up a 7" by a UK band called Eyeteeth. It had Godzilla on the cover and was titled 'Straight Edge Violence', so I was practically forced to buy it based on these factors alone. And here we are in 2024 and they've just dropped a split 12" with a band called Burial Rot.

This went up for sale pretty recently. I saw a post announcing that it was available and clicked the link within about half an hour or it being posted, and the site told me that there were only 12 of the coloured copies left, so I had to grab one immediately. I checked back later in the day and they were gone. So I'm glad I didn't waste time for once. There were only 100 copies on this colour, plus there were 200 on black.

This version is referred to as the 'Diehard splatter' and it comes with a whole host of other stuff... canvas patches, stickers, badges/pins, art prints. It's quite an impressive package.

This comes with a sticker on the plastic sleeve which I think sums it up pretty well:

This record is indeed both punishing and violent, but thankfully it's relatively short so I can take it. It's about 23 minutes long, with the 4 Burial Rot songs take about 12 minutes, and the 10 Eyeteeth songs are over in a little over 10 minutes.

I'm not a metal guy, and both of these bands are clearly influenced in some way by death & black metal, but all I hear here is some heavy, hardcore punk with a dark side to it, and I'm all in. My only real complaint is that there isn't enough. I need more.

Loud And Proud

Back in 2020 I picked up the debut LP by Heavy Discipline, a Pittsburgh band who sound a lot like a Boston band from the 1980s. I enjoyed that record back then in the Covid era, but I can't say I have gone back to it much since. But recently Painkiller Records put out a follow up record, and when it showed up for sale in a UK distro I figured I'd grab a copy.

As with the first record, the black vinyl is the rarest version, but I'm happy to have a colour copy even if it is more common.

This 12" contains 7 songs and is done and dusted in around 13 minutes. It sounds somehow harder than the last record, and realy strongly reminds me of Violent Reaction. I even went back over the blog to read my entries on the first Violent Reaction LP, which came out back in 2013. Nearly elevent years ago. But yeah, if you miss that kinda sound then this record will be way up your street.