Test Press Is The Reason

Revelation test pressings have always been pretty hard to come by. Even in the current record collecting climate, where test pressings are frequently made in larger than necessary quantities and sold by bands or labels online, Revelation tests continue to remain elusive and out of reach for most people. I think this is largely because the quantities have always been low, especially compared to modern pressings by most other labels. Rev continue to order 4 or 5 tests for most records they release, so it stands to reason that most people are unlikely to get hold of one. However, one of the exceptions is this test press of the Texas Is The Reason 7".

This is not an original test press from the first pressing from 1995. I think this test is for the clear vinyl pressing of the 7" that was made for the Rev25 shows back in 2012. It would have been pressed at Rainbo, but has plain white labels rather than the standard Rainbo labels.

I remember seeing this test press advertised a few years ago when Merchnow held a raffle to win one when you preordered a t-shirt. I think this was during a period when there were a few raffles to help the Black Lives Matter movement. At the time I didn't enter this raffle (although I did enter and win a Down To Nothing test press which I was stoked about at the time). Anyway, I found the ad for this raffle still online:

Given that five of these were given away by Merchnow, I always assumed that this wasn't actually a Rev pressing, but instead made by Equal Vision or the band themselves, so it was never really high on my want list. But when I saw this for sale, I reached out to Rev for info, and in response received confirmation that these were definitely made by Rev, and sent to the band. The band got Merchnow to make the covers that matched the black on black t-shirt design, and each member kept five copies, with the remaining five being given to the raffle. This nicely accounts for the 25 copies that this is numbered out of (mine being number 6):

I once technically owned a first press test press of this 7" for a couple of weeks, but sent it on to someone who wanted it more than I. Given the difficulty in finding a first press test, this will do nicely for me as a consolation prize. But with there being 25 of these out there, the chances of finding one are significantly higher than most other Rev test pressings.

Deprogram

One of the most difficult questions you could ask me these days is 'how many Planet On A Chain LPs do you own?'. About three years ago nobody had a clue who they were, and now they have more albums that some bands that have been around for twenty years. The rate of output of this band is quite unbelievable. The first LP 'Boxed In' came out in 2023, then 'Culture Of Death' appeared fourteen months later in 2024, and then a third LP 'Ritual Routine' came out last year (2025).

Oh yeah, and then there was another one that I completely forgot about. 'Deprogram' was originally a digital only release back in 2022, and then after 'Boxed In' came out and did quite well, Rev decided to press 'Deprogram' onto vinyl. Somehow this one kinda passed me by. So here I am finally catching up with it a couple of years later.

This is the 'Translucent Light Blue With Black And Dark Blue Splatter' (which could probably have just been called 'blue splatter'). This is the RevHQ exclusive colour out of 200 copies, and is long sold out.

The other colours are 'Translucent Green' (/600), and 'Translucent Blue' (/200) which was for shops. As a set of three, they look pretty good together, and go quite nicely with the cover art (well, more the back cover).

Each time I get a new POAC record I think its the best one yet. I really like 'Ritual Routine' and thought it was their best, but I have already moved onto this one as my POAC record of choice. I guess my favourite is really whichever one I am listening to right now. At least, that's how it seems.

Oh, and to end this post how I started it, I just checked my spreadsheet and it turns out that I now have 21 POAC records, of which 19 are 12"s. But in the time it has taken me to write this post and for you to have read it, probably another couple of albums have been released.

Nerve Agents Deluxe

I finally getting around to picking up on the Nerve Agents reissues that Rev put out last year (2025). I had these in my hands at Rev when I was there last Summer, but I didn't really have room for them in my case, so I paid and left them to be sent later... which has ended up being ten months.

All three Nerve Agents 12" records have been reissued as 'Deluxe Editions'. To differentiate them from earlier pressings, these versions come with obi strips and large booklets The booklets look like this:

that contain photos and 'testimonies' by various scenesters who were around at the time. The booklets are of varying length. The one that accompanies the first record is the thinest, and feels like the poor relation of the three. The 'Days Of The White Owl' booklet one is thicker than the other two, and it definitely feels like this seems to be recognised as their best record, which I find interesting as for me it is the worst of the three.

The obi strips are nice additions, and I like that all three have one. It helps identify them as a separate little collection.

The first, self-titled 12" EP was originally put out by Rev in 1998. The younger version of me immediately loved the artwork. The older version of me still does. For some reason, this is the only one of the three reissues that came with a limited sleeve, numbered out of 131 copies.

This same clear vinyl version also comes in a regular cover, and given that they sold out relatively quickly there was then a second pressing on purple (both pictured below in the collection shot).

'Days Of The White Owl' was the second release and first proper full length, released in the year 2000. This reissue adds an extra song on to the end of Side A that was originally on some compilation that I'd never heard of before. It came on two different colours of vinyl, and has also been upgraded to a gatefold sleeve.

'The Butterfly Collection' was the third 12" and the second full length, and was originally released by Hellcat Records in 2001. I remember at the time being slightly surprised that they had jumped ship from Rev, but I guess this was because unbeknown to me at the time they had crossed some boundaries a bit and become popular with a lot of people outside of Rev's usual sphere. The original vinyl copies came out in an era when vinyl was at a pretty low point, so there was only one pressing (well, technically two - a US pressing, and a EUro pressing) with all copies being on black vinyl. So it's kinda cool to finally get see this one pressed on colour.

There were three colours of this one, which means that all in all I ended up with seven records. Here's a picture of the lot all together:

Shown in the photo are (top row to bottom):

'S/T' - Clear w/ ltd. cover /131, Clear w/ regular cover /419, Opaque Purple /550
'Days Of The White Owl' - Pink & Purple Marble /300, Green Marble /700
'The Butterfly Collection' - Grey Marble /300, Red Marble /512, Blue Marble /900

2026 Goals

The Rev posts continue this week following on from me receiving a delivery from RevHQ last week...

Today's post is a couple of recent pressings of the CIV 'Set Your Goals' LP. The last pressing of this one was in 2018, so it was no real surprise when a blue marble vinyl pressing appeared towards the end of last year (2025). When this went up for sale I thought to myself 'I'll pick up one of those at some point', and then a couple of weeks later I checked RevHQ and it was sold out. So I pushed this up the priority list and looked around to see if I snap one up from one somewhere else. Everywhere I looked it was sold out, and the less rational part of my brain started to mildly panic. I kicked myself for being so casual about buying a copy. I mean, in years gone by, the thought of ignoring a Rev colour vinyl pressing and thinking I could get one later would have been ridiculous, so given the state of record collecting in 2026 I'm not ure why I thought I could sit back. Lesson learned. Anyway, after a bit of searching I found a UK store with it for sale, and thinking that this seemed to be in high demand, I decided to buy two copies.

My plan was to keep one and then hold one for trade, but when the two copies arrived they turned out to be completely different colours, with one being light blue and the other being very dark blue. It reminded me of the Quicksand 7". So I then bought another, thinking that there could be a lot of interesting variation in the pressing, which is something I always love to see.

So that's how I ended up with three copies, which are all quite different. Technically these are all part of the 2025 blue marble vinyl press (of 544 copies).

After I had the blue ones, Rev then announced a burgundy pressing (presumably a colour decided on in order to match the artwork). And whilst I think that this colour is definitely a good match to the artwork, it's also kinda boring.

The burgundy is a 2026 press (out of 1100 copies). I think these are going to be around a lot longer than the blue.

Texas Is Still The Reason

I remember that when the debut release by Texas Is The Reason came out in 1995, there was some kind of press article or promo sheet that said something like 'but only three of them are Misfits fans'. It's funny how these little things stick in your mind. Well, last year marked thirty(!) years since their debut 7" came out, so (unsurprisingly) Rev took the opportunity to mark the event with a new pressing of it. That said, with the way things are in 2026, the 7" got updated to a 12", and an extra song got added. This four song 12" version is apparently the first in a series of three 'TX30' special edition TITR 12"s.

Slightly annoying to me is that the extra song got added after the first song, not after the third. So it got added into the middle of the record, rather than being tagged on the end.

Pressing information is:
Gold Nugget (RevHQ Exclusive /300)
Opaque Green (/800)
Bone And Gold Galaxy (Retail Store Exclusive /400)
Turquoise Marble (Banquet UK / Polyvinyl US / 500)

If anyone wants a copy of the turquoise (aka blue) one, I have a spare. Hit me up if you are interested.

Well, also there has been another repress of their LP. Ever since 2013 or so, the only vinyl copies pressed of any TITR records have been a 2x12" discography (although interestingly this was never really marketed as a 'discography'). Well, Rev have now gone back to pressing this as a single LP, the same as when it was originally released in 1996. This pressing is on orange marble vinyl (/550), and is already sold out at Rev.

Apparently this LP is also going to be repressed as a 'TX30' version this year, with the same style obi-strip, and then there is also going to be another 12" of some sorts in the same series. And whilst I probably don't need any more TITR 12"s on my shelf, I like the idea of a collection within a collection.

Youth Crew 2026

Not too much to say about these. But here are some recent-ish Youth Of Today pressings from Rev. It's funny, but I still don't think of myself as actively collecting Youth Of Today records, but I now have more YOT records than I do Cave In records... and Cave In was always a band that I was very much actively collecting. I guess this is just an indication of how many times Rev have repressed these records. I don't doubt that there's still many more to come, as these records are classics and always in demand.

'Can't Close My Eyes' on 'saefom green' vinyl (2025 press /541).

'Break Down The Walls' on orange (2025 press /330):

'Break Down The Walls' on lime green (2025 press /333):

'Disengage' on blue (2025 press /1038):

And finally, not exactly Youth Of Today, but close enough that this seems to be the most appropriate post for it. Ray & Porcell on blue (2025 press /550):

I'm not sure that anybody really saw a repress of the Ray & Porcell 7" coming, as it hasn't been pressed since the 1990s. Does anyone really want this in 2026? I'm sceptical. But kinda cool to see Rev still pressing 7"s, as not many others are anymore.

More Rev 7"s

Following my last post with some of the more recent Rev represses, here are some recent 7" pressings. This first photo shows three of the 'classics', each repressed in a similar way to an earlier pressing.

Shown are Sick Of It All on green marble (2026 press /550), Bold on pink (2024 press /330), Inside Out on turquoise with sleeve without border (2024 press /???).

The next photo shows these photos with the previous similar pressings of each:

Sick Of It All was pressed on clear green back in 2021. Bold was originally pressed on orange in 1989, but a few copies came out pink. No danger that these could be confused, as the photo shows. And Inside Out was pressed on turquoise in 2023, but the sleeve had the usual sleeve with the border. I own the original CD of the Inside Out, and there's no border on the sleeve, and I always thought it looked better. So it's cool to see the 7" with an altered sleeve with no border.

I also picked up the latest two pressings of the Title Fight 'Spring Songs' 7":

Pictured are yellow (2025 press /1100) and green marble (2026 press /???).

I also picked up a couple of other 7"s too, but I thought I'd save those for the next post...

More Rev LPs

I got a few records from Rev this week. A big portion of it was some of the recentish represses. You know how it is - they continue to make 'em, and I continue to buy 'em. I've long given up thinking about this now. I just do it. But there are definitely some of these that still excite me. The Judge LP especialy looks fantastic.

Shown in the pic are (from the top left, moving right and then down):

Chain of Strength 'The One Thing That Still Holds True' - Purple (2026 press /???)
Elliott 'False Cathedrals' - Brown (2025 press, /544)
Elliott 'Song In The Air' - Green (2025 press /546)
Into Another 'Ignaurus' - Orange (2025 press /500)
Gorilla Biscuits 'Start Today' - Pink (2025 press /1621)
Judge 'Bringin' It Down - Clear w/ Purple & Yellow Smoke (2025 press /555)
Sense Field 'Building' - Grey (2025 press /535)
Shai Hulud 'That Within Blood Ill Tempered' - Pink (2025 press /550)
Warzone 'DFTSDFTS' - Gold (2025 press /455)
Warzone 'DFTSDFTS' - White w/ blue & red splatter (2026 press /505)

New York Crew

I went to California last Summer and stopped in at RevHQ, and in the big room with the big table there was a pile of 7" boxes containing a new delivery of Judge 'New York Crew' 7"s. All of the boxes were sealed. Now, I was there on the 23rd of June, and there was a packing slip from the pressing plant (Erika) which was dated the 3rd of June. So even if you assume that the boxes were not received at RevHQ for a couple of days, it means that they had been sat there for two to three weeks without being opened, which seems crazy to me. I asked Igby if he had seen them and he told me that no, he had not, but he then proceded to open one box of each colour so I could have a look. So there I was, technically one of the first two people in the world to clap eyes on the colours of this new pressing... and yet somehow, it totally escaped me to ask if I could buy any of them. I think I just assumed that they wouldn't let me buy any until they officially went on sale, so I didn't ask, and left with nothing but photographs on my phone.

What is cool with this pressing is that they reverted back to the original Schism layout. As per my photos, there were three colours of vinyl, which some people think look awful and do not go with the artwork at all. The colours are opaque pink (/1100), opaque purple (Retail Store Exclusive /330), and clear with purple splatter (RevHQ Exclusive /330).

Kinda ironic that I was one of the first people to see and hold these and yet, having only just received these recently, I have ended up being one of the last to actually own them. These finally went up for sale in October 2025, so most other people who are remotely bothered received theirs months ago. Still, at least I didn't miss out completely. The clear with purple splatter is sold out and has traded hands on discogs twice for around $50, so I'm glad I got one from Rev eventually.

Ritual Routine

Now that we're into the third month of 2026, I have 2025 releases coming in thick and fast. It was only in mid 2024 that Planet On A Chain released their last full length and then, towards the back end of 2025, another one dropped. 'RItual Routine' is their third LP on Revelation, containing 12 songs that clock in at 24 minutes.

'Opaque Yellow' is the RevHQ exclusive colour, and is out of 330 copies.

Even though they're not really doing anything different here, for some reason this one has clicked with me quicker than their previous records. When I finally got around to checking this out, I was really in the mood for some fast hardcore, so this really hit the spot. And, as stupid as it may sound, I love the artwork, which just makes me want to reach for this one. I also like how they have abandoned writing out their full name on the front cover, instead going with 'POAC'. Maybe next time they won't feature the full band name anywhere, a la SSD, DYS, MDC, SNFU etc. Just POAC. I'm sure we'll find out in the next few weeks when I imagine there will be another album scheduled to come out.

The other colours are made for this one are 'Translucent Blue' (/330) which is the retail store version, and 'Milky Clear' (/769), which in the olden days would probably have been known as 'clear'.

As I type this, all three colours are still available at RevHQ.

A Life's Refrain

Another 2025 new release that I've only just acquired physically (although I did spend some time listening to the digitally last year) is the debut LP by Sweden's Speedway, 'A Life's Refrain'. This came out on Revelation last year at some point, following on from their 7" that came out in 2022, and with a three year gap since then I was surprised to see this album come out. I mean, a lot of bands don't even manage a three year lifespan in the world of hardcore, so I had kinda assumed that this band had broken up a couple of years ago.

There were 200 copies on this 'Blue with white splatter' colour which is only available from the label and, surprisingly as I type this, this colour is still for sale at RevHQ.

I also picked up what I thought were the other colours of this one:

Shown above are the 'Translucent Ruby' (the retail store version /300), and the 'opaque custard' (out of 500). Annoyingly, after I got these I then found out that there is another colour ('copper nugget') which was sold by the band. Given that there are apparently 500 copies, I imagine that some of these will appear for sale in the not too distant future.

Anyway, this is a slightly weird record for me, in that when I am listening to it I absolutely love it. But no matter how much I listen, none of the songs get stuck in my head. In fact, when I am not listening to it, I can't remember a single thing about it. Very weird indeed. But at least I don't wake up in the middle of the night with the songs going round in my head, so I'm kinda looking at this as a positive.

Where They Talk 2025

So my last post was the Spaced 'No Escape' 12" which, despite being a great record, felt like it should have been a 7". So while we're on the subject, here's a new 12" by Ignite.

Well, I say 'new', but this is actually a 30th anniversary pressing of their debut release, a 7" released in 1994 titled 'Where They Talk'. This came out before Zoli joined the band, but still sounds great. The purple vinyl version of the original 7" is really tough to find, and it took me many years to track one down, but I finally bagged one in 2013. But here we are all these years later and the 7" has grown into a 12" with two extra songs (both of which previously released on the 'Scarred For Life' LP that I don't acknowledge even exists as it was put out by Lost & Found Records).

Despite having two extra songs, I'm still convinced that this could have been a 7" rather than a 12". In total it clocks in at just under 13 minutes. And as if to emphasise how short this is, both sides of the record contain the same songs. Yup, that's right... there is no Side A or Side B. Both are exactly the same.

Of course, with this being a Rev release I felt compelled to pick up one of each colour. In addition to the turquoise version pictured above (the RevHQ Exclusive /300), there was also 'cloudy white' (/600), and the 'Blue And White Mix' (/300). I like Ignite, I like these songs, but I feel that I would have been happier if this was actually a 7". Oh well.

Judged & Jugded

I came across this Burn 7" in a record store in Texas. It looked different to the other copies I have, being on a slightly dark clear red vinyl with a bit of white streaking in it. The same shop also had a copy of the opaque red vinyl in stock, so I was able to compare the two side by side. Given that this one looked different, I decided to buy it.

I initially assumed it was a variant of the opaque red vinyl pressing from 2021. But given that the store sold both new and used records, and the 7" section was a mix of the two, it could also possibly be a variant of the clear red vinyl pressing from 2015. I figured that I would never know. But then I noticed a detail that gave the game away. The clear red copy has the spelling mistake on the label ('Jugded'), whereas the opaque copy has corrected this error. Given that the label on this copy has the correct spelling ('Judged'), this is therefore a variant of the 2021 opaque red vinyl pressing.

The photo shows the 2015 clear red on the left, the 2021 opaque red on the right, and this quirky variant in the middle.

I appreciate that a lot of people will think this stupid, but I love stuff like this.

More Rev Gaps Filled

In May this year I picked up two copies of the first Sick Of It All 7", and in celebration of my 2000th post on here, I pulled out all of my copies to take a group photo. I took the time to lay out 24 copies of the record, take some pics, and then put them all away again. And then, after I posted the pic on here, I looked at it and realised that I had missed out on one version at some point. After the initial sense of confusion and panic passed, I got on the internet and found a copy quite qucikly. So here we are, the 'bone' version (from 2021) with regular labels.

This one caused a bit of confusion when it came out. Back in 2021 there were 100 copies issued with the SOIA book and only available from Coretex Records. These copies had the Koller brothers picture labels and they were referred to as 'ivory'. There were then 500 copies announced right after on 'bone' vinyl. Basically, the two colours are the same, but the labels are what differentiate them.

Anyway, after getting this copy I simply cannot be bothered to lay out all of the other copies again. Maybe I'll do that again when I pick up another few copies. Probably for post number 2500.

Another Rev 7" that I was missing was the most recent pressing of the Quicksand 7". This version is 'transluscent orange vinyl' from 2024 (926 copies made). It was pressed at the UK plant, which is noticeable as it has small labels.

Back in 2002, Rev pressed 300 copies on 'yellow' vinyl which was supposed to be the 'final pressing' of this record. This new pressing looks slightly similar, although if you place the two copies side by side the difference is obvious - the labels. The latest version has the zeotrope label on the flipside.

And finally, I grabbed the latest pressing of the Crippled Youth 7". This is the 2024 pressing on 'neon pink' vinyl (550 copies). The last pressing of this one (on silver vinyl) was pressed at the UK plant, whereas this one was pressed in California at Erika. I have to say, this colour is really great in real life.

There was also a neon green version of this pressed back in 2018, and the two look pretty cool side by side: