Crossing Kill Creek

Another day, another test press of a long forgotten 90s band...

Automatic was a band from Louisville mainly active from 1997-1999. The band was formed by a guy named Matt Weider, who used to play in Mouthpiece, and who apparently moved to Louisville to play in Guilt and Enkindel, and then decided he wanted to do straight edge band. Initially the band was more of a studio project, with Matt on guitar, bass and vocals and someone else on drums, but it then grew into a 'proper' band. They put out three 7"s, each on different labels, and then last year Indecision Records reissued them all on a limited 12".

This test press is for their second 7", 'Crossing Kill Creek', originally released by Indecision Records in 1999. I got this from Dave who does Indecision Records. He had it listed on discogs for a few months, I had it in my cart for a few months, and then one day I decided there was no point not buying it anymore.

I bought the colour vinyl version of this record back when it came out. Here are the two copies next to each other. As you can see, the test press cover is just a black and white print of the 7" artwork.

After getting this test press, and with the release of the 12", I've been listening to this band again recently. They definitely fall into the category of 'I had forgotten how good they were'. Whilst they may have formed with the aim of being a straight edge band, they don't sound like it. If anything, they sound quite a bit like Dag Nasty. I don't usually like when people say that any band sounds like Dag Nasty, because to me only Dag Nasty sounds like Dag Nasty, but in this case I will absolutely make an exception. That's who they sound like, especially on this 7". Without doubt a forgotten 90s band that you should check out if you haven't heard them before.

Objective Complete

When you think about all of the records that have turned 25 or 30 in recent years, and all of the different sounds and styles that all cohabited under the banner of 'hardcore', it's pretty clear that the 90s was the peak of music. And one of the things that I love about the 90s is that there were so many bands that flew under the radar that I am still hearing stuff to this day that I never heard back then for various reasons. And no doubt it's the same for a lot of other people that lived through the 90s too. So here's an example of a record that most of you will have either never listened to, or listened to once and decided was not worth a second go.

This is a test press of a long forgotten 90s record that I picked up a while and ago (before xmas) and promptly forgot about as I left it in a stupid place. But I found it this week after tidying my records and realised I didn't get it up on here yet. So here we are.

This is a test press a record titled 'Objective Complete', released by a band called State of the Nation by Jade Tree Records back in 1994. Here's a pic of it next to the regular cover:

I bought this album back when this came out for two main reasons. Firstly, because I had worked out at that point that Jade Tree was a cool label doing cool things, and secondly because of who was in the band. The band was a three piece outfit, two of whom were the Haworth brothers - Rob and Mark. They played together in a band called Hard Stance, and then Mark went on to play in a band called Inside Out, whilst Rob went on to a band called Farside.

The Jade Tree site tells me that State Of The Nation apparently tourned with Rage Against the Machine back in the day. This makes sense, as both bands were pretty damn political, and the Haworth brothers would have known Zack from their days together in Hard Stance. But State Of The Nation sound a world away from Rage Against The Machine, and I don't imagine many of the Rage crowd went home keen to check out the support band they'd just seen. I'm not exactly sure how to describe this band's sound, but as much as I liked their records back when they were an active band, I can't imagine that their live shows would have been particularly energetic.

They went on to have a second LP released by Rev, which I think is a much better record that this one, but still, this has a special place in my heart as it takes me back to a great period in life.

Purple Eyes

Back in 2011 Revelation reissued the Youth Of Today 'Can't Close My Eyes' 12" with the original 7" artwork. It came on red vinyl or a more limited 'purple' vinyl... but it then turned out that it wasn't purple at all, but instead 'scrap' vinyl, with copies ranging from grey to blue to purple to brown. I picked up a greyish one from Rev when it came out, then a brown one from a record store near to my house, but always thought that I would like to find a genuine purple copy at some point.

Well, recently my friend Paulo in Rome decided to sell ten different copies of this record. I definitely didn't want to buy that many copies, but I agreed to take half of them if he could find another buyer for the other five. And this is what I received:

I then added the two copies I already had, which makes this into a nice game of 'spot the difference':

Bear in mind, all of these are part of the same pressing. Purple vinyl.

I did buy these thinking that I would probably then sell two or three copies. But right now I'm in a dilemma about which I would let go. So for now I'll sit on all seven and then decide later which if any to let go.

Maybe.

Finally In The Spirit World Now

This is the last in my series of clear vinyl Relapse Records releases that I picked up recently. So when I was scanning the label's recent(ish) catalogue to decide what I wanted to try to buy, and I have saved my favourite until last.

Last year Mike put Ceremony back on my radar when he finally got around to listening to their fifth LP from 2015, 'The L-Shaped Man'. Just like Mike, I had no real interest in it when it came out as it felt that Ceremony had progressed to a point that was further from 'hardcore' than I was comfortable with, but reading Mike's post about that record made me realise that ten years had flown by and now I felt that I very did want to listen to it.

Well, I still haven't gotten around to listening to that record, but I decided to get ahead of myself and pick up the next Ceremony record, 'In The Spirit World Now'.

This record was first released in 2019 by Relapse Records (which seemed like a slightly odd label for the band based on how their previous three records sounded). I had zero interest in it back then, but approaching it in 2025 with an open mind, and I absolutely love this record. I have had this for a few weeks now, and pretty much from the first listen this record became a bit of an addiction. For a few days, I would wake up and my first thought was that I wanted to listen to this record. I would then have to restrain myself from listening to it two or three times per day, which I couldn't always do successfully.

After loving this record, I then also bought a 'remix' version of this record. 'In The Spirit World Now (Synthetic Remixes)' was also put out by Relapse, but in 2020. It is the same songs but with sythesizers, and as such comes in a similarly themed sleeve. I made sure to seek out one of the clear vinyl copies.

As much as I liked 'In The Spirit World Now', this one just felt a little unnecessary. And, annoyingly, even though it has the same songs, they are in a completely different order, which just doesn't feel quite right to me.

Anyway, given how much I have loved this record, I should probably get back on track and check out 'The L-Shaped Man' at some point.

A Deleted Symphony

ANother in my series of posts on clear vinyl Relapse Records releases that I picked up recently, and this one I was very excited about.

'A Deleted Symphony For The Beaten Down' was the second full length from Soilent Green, a band who (until 5 minutes ago) I knew pretty much nothing about. I picked up on them back in the late 90s when Hydrahead Records put out their second album on vinyl, and back then I was really into what Hydrahead were doing and I was really into Soilent Green as they were really heavy but had a sound that was somehow different to most other bands of the day.

This record was their third LP from 2001, and I actually never heard it until recently. But when I saw it on the list of records available to buy, I was excited to finally get around to it.

If you have never heard this band before, then be prepared for something heavy. I found a reference online to them being 'a contradictory mixture of hardcore, sludge, grindcore and southern rock', which I could never have come up with myself, but which is a pretty good description.

Reading about them online today I discovered that they were from New Orleans, one of the members was murdered in 2004, and another was killed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. That's more than a fair share of tragedy for any band. Their last release was in 2008, and I have never heard that one either. Maybe one day...

The Way Of All Flesh Is Decay

The next installment in my recent purchase of a job lot of Relapse Records clear vinyl records (all of which are limited to 100 copies and are 'not available to the public' according to the label's website.

'The Way Of All Flesh Is Decay' is the debut LP by a band called End Reign. It's a new(ish) band from a collection of 'veterans', including the vocalist from All Out War, the bass player from Bloodlet, the drummer from Pig Destroyer, and Dom Romeo who runs A389 Records (and who was in Integrity and Pullling Teeth).

I really like the cover art for this LP. Four ghosts walking through a swamp. At least, that's what it looks like to me. Whereas the back cover looks like 4 people in a hot tub, with three others watching.

This also comes with a couple of large fold out inserts. The white one is pretty damn huge. If you look closely you can see that I laid the record on top of it for scale, not that it is easily visible.

I'm gonna say that this sounds probably as you'd expect from looking at the cover and knowing who is in the band. I've been playing this one a fair bit through the dreary month of February, and it's really good. It takes bits from all of the bands that the members have been in and has seemed like the perfect soundtrack to the end of winter.

Integrity Clears

The next post in my series of Relapse Records clear vinyl pressings that I picked up is an interesting one. I made the decision to stpo collecting Integrity recods a couple of years ago. It reached a point where I just couldn't afford to keep up anymore. That said, I did not make a deciosn to never buy another Integrity record. More, it was just a decision to not buy absolutely every single pressing of every record. So when it came to figuring out which clear vinyl Relapse pressings to buy, I was kinda drawn to the Integrity reissues from a couple of years ago. In the end I was able to scoop the full set for pretty cheap, so I figured I might as well pick them up. The appeal of a full set seemed too tempting to pass up.

Relapse reissued most of the band's previous full length records, but each comes with completely revised artwork. I'm not sure that I'm into all of the artwork changes, but certainly a couple of them look really good. Overall it feels like the artwork and revised band logo is designed to market them at a new 'metal' audience. I'm not even sure that this is a bad thing at this point. If nothing else, t's a form of evolution as the band is now 35+ years old.

So first up we get 'Those Who Fear Tomorrow'. The artwork on this one is practically the same as the original, but the text has been removed and the colour scheme it now mainly black.

Next up is 'Systems Overload'. The artwork on this one is completely different, and this one stands out from the others as the colour is red. This one is aesthetically my least favourite.

Next up, 'Humanity Is The Devil'. The original cover art is pretty iconic, featuring the Pushead design. But that has now been replaced with this:

Next is 'Seasons In The Size Of Days'. The cover art feels like an interpretation of the original, and I really like it. It also kinda reminds me of 'The Ring' (the horror film).

Next up, 'Closure'. The previous pressings of this all had the skull logo as the front cover. This version brings in some completely new artwork which I really like.

ANd finally, I also picked up a pretty pointless record just for the sake of owning a 'set'. 'All Death Is Mine: Total Domination' is a compilation 12" which brings together songs from several limited releases (all of which I already own) onto one 12". The name of the record is a nod to the last few years of the band during which Dom Romeo played guitar.

After deciding to scale back on collecting Integrity records, and then deciding to buy 5 reissues and a compilation, I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing anymore. But I think generally my decision was to pull back on buying lots of versions of records on splatter vinyl, which is what they all seem to be these days. But clear vinyl, on the other hand, looks great. If I'd had been in my old mindset and buying every version of every record, then this post would have featured an additional 20 records. So I bought 6 rather than 26, and when you say it like that, it seems to be much more sensible way of operating.

Coalesce Clears

So as I mentioned in my last post, I absolutely loved Coalesce in the late 90s. I have a pretty good collection of their records, but haven't picked up any for years as the band went into hibernation after the release of their 2009 comeback LP, 'Ox'.

Well, last year Relapse Records reissued all of their LPs, so when I was compiling a list of clear vinyl Relapse releases to pick up, I debated whether or not I wanted to buy represses of the records that I already had. In thinking about it, I decided that I did want two of them... but then I figured that if I was going to buy two then I might as well buy the other two for the full set.

The band's first LP, 'Give Them Rope', was originally released in 1997 by Edison Records. There were two different colours pressed originally, one of which was clear... although all of those copies have since turned brown, mine included. So I figured that this was a kind of a cool tribute to the original clear pressing.

'Functioning On Impatience' was originally released by Second Nature Records in 1998. I already own five original colours of this one, but clear isn't one of them.

I was impressed to see that this latest repressing is a faithful reproduction of the first pressing, with a vellum overlay. Even the label artwork is the same. This was not one of the two records that I really wanted, but I'm glad that I picked it up as it looks really nice.

The next record is one of the two that I really wanted. Back in 1999, Hydrahead Records released 'There Is Nothing New Under The Sun', which was a 12" of Led Zeppelin cover songs. This reissue is adds a '+' to the title, and the record contains the original release plus a bunch of extra cover songs that were oroginally released across different records, like the split 7" with Boysetsfire and the 'In These Black Days' Black Sabbath covers 7". This updated version has completely different artwork which I think looks really cool, and in my mind this is a 'new' record, so I definitely wanted to get one.

I do love the trippy artwork here, which I think is probably a perfect nod to Led Zeppelin.

And finally, I picked up a clear pressing of the band's proper album from 1999, ' 0:12 Revolution In Just Listening'. Interestingly, this was originally released by Relapse on CD with the vinyl being released by Hydrahead. Relapse pressed it onto vinyl in 2008 with different artwork, but now it's back on Relapse with the original artwork.

All of these records are limited to 100 copies on clear vinyl, and I think this is a pretty cool sub colection within my collection. And I am also now hoping that these records being repressed perhaps means that the band could be gearing up for a new release in the near future. Stranger things have happened.

Live At The BBC

My last post was about the 25th anniversary deluxe box set pressing of Cave In's 'Jupiter', for which I went out of my way to acquire a clear vinyl copy. As I mentioned, Relapse always (and have for years) make 100 copies of every release on clear vinyl which are not for sale to the public. They are only for friends of the band and label. And especially these days, when Relapse use my least favourite pressing plant for everything they put out, the clear is the only colour that I find acceptable to own. Well anyway, I ended up picking up a few Relapse releases on clear vinyl from the same person, and I will put these up in my next few posts.

About a year ago, Relapse put out a Cave In 12" of songs recorded live at the BBC's Maida Vale studio over here in London back in 2022. I used to try to collect every version of every Cave In record, but given the way record pressing works these days, I have given that up, and now only want one copy of any new Cave In record. So I knew that the only colour I would entertain buying for this record would be the clear vinyl version.

On reflection, I would say that this record is for diehard Cave In fans only. In all honesty it is largely pointless, as it features four songs from the last album ('Heavy Pendulum') and the band is so tight that the songs all sound pretty much identical to the album versions. OK, so the songs may have been played live, but I can't really tell the difference, which means I have basically just bought 4 songs that I already have again on a different plastic disc. Still, at least I have the raret version.

Relapse also released a similar Coalesce 12" last year, although the songs are much older, having been recorded when the band were over here on tour in 2009. Recorded at the same BBC Maida Vale studio, this 12" also features four songs that were all on either their 'Ox' LP or the accompanying 'Ox EP' (both released in 2009)... and just like Cave In, the band is so tight that these 'live' songs sound exactly the same as the album versions.

This record is somehow patterned, although I have no idea how it is done, but it looks really cool. It barely shows in the photo above, so I decided to try to take a photo to show it. It wasn't easy to capture, but here we go:

I can't even work out which side of the record this pattern is on. I think it is on the back, although when I flip the record over it isn't visible at all, which makes me wonder whether it is somehow on the front.

Anyway, there we have it - two nice looking but largely pointless records from two of the three mid/late 90s 'C' bands (the other being Converge of course). If nothing else, this reminded me of just how good Coalease were / are. I always thought that they were by far the best 'C' band, and this brought me right back to spinning them regularly as it had been a while. More to follow on that note in the next post...

Jupiter 25

Back in 2023 I bought a copy of the deluxe 25th anniversary pressing of Cave In's classic LP 'Until Your Heart Stops' which was put out as a 4 x LP box set. I went out of my way to get hold of the clear vinyl version, as it was the rarest and best looking version.

So here we are two years later, and pretty much the exact same thing has happened, but this time with their second LP 'Jupiter'. The only difference this time around is that the deluxe version of the record is a 3 x LP, rather than a 4 x LP. I was keen to get my hands on this thing as 'Jupiter' is probably in my top ten records of all time.

Relapse describes the record as a 'super limited, one-time press Deluxe 3xLP Boxset housed in a custom designed hardcover 3xLP book sheathed in a rigid board slipcase'. Does that make sense? Not sure. But the outer box / slip case is absolutely beautiful.

From the outer box, the inner booklet sleeve thing slides out sideways:

The booklet style sleeve then opens up, and the records slide out from the top of the 'pages'.

And turning the next page reveals another couple of pages and another record. As previously mentioned, there are three records inside this package.

And as well as a booklet in a box, there is also a two sided photo collage insert. I took a photo of one side.

So the next question is... how did they manage to take a single LP and spread it across three records? Well, by cramming a bunch of extra shit on there is the answer. It includes some demo versions of the songs and also a live set recorded a local Boston radio station back in October of the year 2000. Is this stuff necessary? Well, probably not. But it helps spread it out across three records which kinda justifies the existence of the box.

I was keen to get this on clear vinyl. Relapse Records always makes 100 copies of every release on clear vinyl, and these are in theory not available to the public, but available to friends of band and label only. Technically I'm not in either of those groups, but I found a way to get one as I usually do with Relapse releases that I have an interest in. And given that all other versions are on various splatter colours, this is literally the only version that looks vaguely acceptable.

What's also mindblowing to me is the numbers of this thing that were pressed. In total there are 1,211 copies of the deluxe 3xLP spread across 4 different colours of vinyl. But there are also a further 7,633 copies of the less exciting 2xLP version, spread across 5 different colours of vinyl. That's close to 9,000 copies on vinyl in total, and 18,899 individual discs pressed... which seems crazy to me, but is I guess a measure of how popular records are in 2025.

Mob Handed

It's been almost a month since I last updated this blog. I've had a few things going on, but finally life is settling back down again so I'm keen to crack on with writihng about some new records that I have been listening to.

Just before xmas I ordered a 7" by a new UK band called Mob Handed. I was keen to pick this one up as it features Tony Maddocks on vocals, who used to sing for a band called Above All in the 90s. They came from Southend on Sea, which was a town that I lived in for a bit during the 90s and where my Dad & brother still live. The guys from Above All were kinda influential to my future music journey, so I was interested to hear this new band.

This self titled 7" was pressed in a really small run, with only 102 copies made in total. The first 30 copies come in this limited cover. It's a parody of the first Bad Brains album, but instead of the US Capitol building, the lightning is striking The Kursaal, a local Southend landmark. I got number 7/102.

When this went on sale the label also put up one test press for sale, which I grabbed. It was sent to me in a plain white paper sleeve, but then a couple of weeks ago I was in Southend and invited myself around to the guy's house who released it, at which point I asked for a spare sleeve to put it in. 'Good idea' he said, and gave me one of the regular sleeves for test press number 2 of 5.

The front cover features an artistic photo of Southend Pier, which in case you didn't know, is the longest 'pleasure pier' in the world.

Overall this is a really solid 7". There are six songs, four of which are around 2 minutes long and the other two are about one minute. Short hard blasts like hardcore should be.

If this sounds in any way interesting to you, then you can still buy a copy of this on the Then And Now bandcamp page, HERE.