72 Seasons

My last post was the story my hunt for the Walmart exclusive pressings of the first 5 Metallica albums, which I managed to pick up across 3 different stores.

Well, the story didn't quite end there. As I was in the mood for buying Metallica records, I also decided I should pick up the latest one, '72 Seasons', which was released earlier this year. Prior to my USA trip, I had no plan to buy this record, as I wasn't fussed about owning Metallica records on vinyl. the second that changed, I figured that I should probably grab the latest one when it was right in front of me.

Checking discogs, this record has been pressed on a lot of different colours, but I think the one I picked up is potentially the most appropriate as it seems like a pretty good match to the cover. This 'Yellow and black swirl vinyl' is the Walmart exclusive.

As far as the record goes, this just might be my favourite record of the year. I've only been listending to it the past couple of weeks, but it's pretty much the only record I can think of in the last few months that I actually get excited to listen to. No doubt I will tire of it pretty soon, but right now this isbeing played at least once a day.

Straight Edge Violence

I picked up the debut release by a UK straight edge band called Eyeteeth. I don't know much about the band other than they have Nate from Rot In Hell & On Thin Ice on vocals. WHen I saw the name of the band and the logo, I figured that this was something that was not going to be for me. But then hearing that the title of the record is 'Straight Edge Violence' I figured that maybe it wasn't a death metal band after all, gave it a listen and decided I was in. A small UK label put out the 7" in a very limited run. There were 102 copies, all hand numbered, with the first 30 copies in a limited Godzilla sleeve.

I'm not sure why they decided to press such a small number of copies. Possibly because there aren't 100 straight edge people left these days. Still, they probably could have sold 2 or 3 times as many without too much more effort.

To me this sounds a little like a raw version of early Blacklisted maybe. It's pretty vicious and the band is (obviously) straight edge, so if you're into that kind of thing then you'll probably dig this. Ten songs in around ten minutes so there's no time for any bullshit. Sadly the 7" is already sold out, but I'm sure you can check it on digital formats if you're curious.

Human Outline

As I mentioned in my last post, when I picked up the Koro 7" repress from Static Shock Records I looked around the store to see if there was anything else interesting to buy and ended up buying a couple of really great new releases. The second is the new full length from a band called Wound Man called 'Human Outline'. I hadn't actually heard of this band before, but it seems that they have been going for ten years, with their last album coming out back in 2016. Part of the reason I am surprised that I hadn't heard of this band before is that it features DFJ on drums from every band of the past twenty years or so, and I have a lot of records by bands he has been in. So how this band passed me by for a decade I have no idea.

This record (like the Brain Tourniquet LP in my last post) is on Iron gLung Records. The white vinyl is out of 150 copies, which seems like the perfect colour given the artwork.

This record is also quite similar to the Brain Tourniquet LP in that it's very much in the Infest / Crossed Out kinda ballpark, and I'm absolutely loving this right now. I genuinely can't decide which of the two records is my favourite, but I'm having fun listening to each one every day to try to figure it out. 2023 has started pretty strong for hardcore it seems, and there are more new releases on the way that I'm stoked for. Bring it.

An Expression In Pain

So when I bought the Koro 7" repress (as per my last post) I did that usual thing that we all do, where I looked around the store to see if there was anything else that I might want. Well, I had recently been paid so was feeling like I had a bit of money to play with, so I was looking for an excuse to buy something I guess. One thing that caught my eye was the debut full length from Brain Tourniquet. I bought their first 7" in 2021 and, whilst I thought it was good for what it was, I haven't listened to it much since. But I was in the mood to buy someting, so I figured I would grab the new LP and give it a chance.

The LP is titled '... An Expression In Pain' and was released by a label that I haven't really dealt with previously called Iron Lung Records. With hindsight I did well with my timing on this one, because I managed to get one of the red vinyl copies, which seem to have sold out pretty soon after I got mine. There were 200 pressed on red, and also 100 on smoky clear, all of which are now long sold out. So I feel I was lucky to land one of these, especially as I bought it on a whim.

The band features Connor from Protestor / Red Death / Joing Custody, and they clearly model themselves on the early Slap A Ham bands (Neanderthal, Crossed Out, Infest). And whilst I struggled with the 7" as I found it almost too intense, this has absolutely blown me away. There are 10 songs on here. The first 9 are done in 10 minutes, and then there is a tenth song (which is the highlight) which itself goes on for 10 minutes. Short and fast or long and slow, it seems they can do both.

I'm playing this twice a day at the moment as I love it so much, so it already seems pretty clear that this could be a strong contender for the best release of 2023. and definitely worth checking out if you like the heavier end of the hardcore spectrum.

Unified Action

Today's post is a 12" EP by a newish UK hardcore band. Unified Action features my old mate Lins on vocals who has been around for longer than the moon and who has been in a couple of great bands in the past (Tied Down amd Break It Up). I'm not exactly sure when and why Tied Doen ended, but Unified Action carries on in a similar vein, playing stuff that sounds like it came out of the States in the mid 80s.

The debut release comes on a 12" and there were only 250 copies made (100 on clear and 150 on black). Even if clear were the more common colour I'd probably have ordered that one because that's how I roll.

I really like it when records come in black and white covers. I just identify this with old school hardcore punk records. I mean, how many other types of music come in black and white covers? Anyway, these records are all stamped out of 250 copies. Presumably the clear ones are numbers 1-100 and the black numbers 101-250. I'm guessing but it makes sense. The number I got sent was one away from being my number.

In total this thing has 9 songs that clock in at around 11 minutes, and that gives a big clue as to what this sounds like. Fast, angry hardcore from the frozen northern wastelands of a decaying shithole of a country, trying to warn us all about the impending doom we are all facing. If that sounds like your cup of tea then there are still a few copies available from the label, HERE.