Fucked Up-Looking for gold 12”

Fucked up are a band who are a headache for record collectors. With well over thirty 7”s and around 10 LPs and 12”s it’s safe to say they have just a bit of stuff out. Not surprising really when Singer Damien is a huge collector but what is surprising though is that apparently he doesn’t own any fucked up records himself. You think he’d have a sneaky test press somewhere in his house. With yet a new record out it reminded me that I picked this up a bit ago and forgot to post it. It’s one of their more sought after releases and was limited to just 300 copies. It’s one record I patiently sat on avoiding to pay through the nose on ebay knowing a copy would wind up in my collection someday and it did-at a reasonable price too. Fucked up have morphed from a straight up hardcore punk band into something totally different and avant garde over the years. This self released 12” was recorded around the time it started getting weird but who really could have predicted how big they would become? Big festivals, playing arenas with bands like The arcade fire etc. Pretty mad. So while I don’t envision me getting hold of every fucked up record on the planet I think this is a good one to own.

Virgin witch-s/t 7"

This amazing record is really a thing of beauty-both musically and visually. It comes packaged in an awesome fold out silk screened cover on a one sided etched colour vinyl (with sticker and download card) via free cake records. Musically it's what you'd expect from members of pulling teeth and shin to shin (and the guy who runs A389 records). Two tracks here-the first number is slow and reminds me of Burning witch, Grief etc. The second is pretty fast and kicks ass. This is one superb record. Not sure of the pressing info. Free cake's site seem to be down at the moment but I think this is a second pressing. Grab one before they vanish.

Gentleman's pistols-At her majesty's pleasure LP Clear

At long last, the eagerly awaited (at least by me) second long player from the Gent's pistols. Is it really over three and half years since the last one came out? I remember getting that one, playing it a few times and then leaving it until about a year later and then really, really getting into it. Don't think it will take that long with this as I've already played it about 3 times this week and although it's instantly likeable it's still got to grow on me properly. So far I still prefer the first album but who knows, time will tell. Rise above were quick with this order. There's just 100 of these on clear and they went pretty quick. There's 3 other colours (including the black vinyl). I pre-ordered one cheap off HMV so I'll probably end up with the black one. It's a shame RA didn't do a die hard version although in hindsight it's probably better for my bank account anyway. If you haven't heard this band and love straight up 70's style Rock then do so now. You are missing out.

Time has come-s/t 7" Red

The youth crew revival in the late 90's got tedious really quickly. Cliched band names, generic music and lyrics with really corny record sleeve artwork/covers- you know the thing that killed it in the late 80's. For every one In my eyes or Floorpunch there would be at least a dozen lame ass bands that nobody either remembers or cares about these days. It also meant some of the better bands got lost in the shuffle somewhere like Ohio's Time has come. Sure, with a cover like that it would be easy to write it off as another worthless generic dud but seeing on the back cover it was produced by Bill Korecky at Mars studio (Clevo HC fans will know what that means) I thought it was worth a look (well listen) and I was surprised, shocked even to find out how decent it is. First of all, the production is really good and strong (something a lot of the 90's 88 wannabes lacked) and the lyrics are good-a cut above the usual 'you stabbed me in the back and now I'm going to point my finger at you' variety which plagued a lot of these records. The music is harder too yet still retains the classic hardcore style. This was released in 1999 by CI records (which stands for corrupted image). As far as I'm aware they have another 7" out which I'll have to try and hunt down. Shame the cover is so crap but as the old saying goes you always can't judge a record by it's sleeve.

Black friday '29-Blackout 7" 2002 Tour

Managed to bag this 7" rather cheap by German greats Black friday 29 which was sold on their European tour back in 2002. Despite 3 albums , this record and a split 7" with Death before dishonor (which bridge nine released) I still think these guys are overlooked. I've never seen them either but as far as I'm aware they're still around so there's time yet. I love exclusive tour/show items. It's a great reminder and souvenir of a gig even though I didn't actually go to any on this tour.

Gentleman's pistols-I wouldn't let you 7"

Apart from Rot in hell, another of my favourite bands in the UK right now is Gentleman's pistols who also share a member in the form of guitarist and Jesus lookalike James Atkinson. Firebird are another of the best groups over here and guitarist/Singer Bill Steer has also joined the gents and this is his debut recording for the band(yep it's a small country). Anyway fucking Rise above records-their website is so slack that releases usually hit the shops beofore they actually go in the webstore so you don't know the pressing info before it actually comes up on their site. I bought this 7" on black from my local shop only about a month later to find out that a more limited clear was available. Damn!!! Anyway I ordered two to save on their ridiculously overpriced postage fees (even in the the UK, two 7"s came to over £4-what a fucking rip off). A lot of hassle to get a single with one track that is featured on their new album anyway. (That means I have a spare if anyone's interested). Regardless, the clear vinyl (of just 100) sold out in about two or three days as RA limited stuff usually does. So after all that headache, I'm pleased to report that this is a great rocking record, can't wait to get the album.

Rot in hell-Hallways of the always LP Test press

Some people confuse this as the debut LP from Rot in Hell but those in the know are aware that this is just a collection of tracks from their 7", split 7"s and comps. Still this was many an American's introduction to the powerhouse that is Rot in hell (and probably the best band in the UK right now). I rememember going to the record release gig for this LP and guess what-the records hadn't turned up so I never did get one of those special show only editions (that were sold afterwards, obviously and I missed out). Anyway this does mark my 4th copy of this record and I got it during A389's 24 hour test press sale and it does look pretty nice I must say. I've really got the bug for getting hold of test pressings at the moment but as Marcus will tell you, it's not exactly a cheap hobby.

Ringworm-The promise LP Test Press

A389 records recently had a 24 hour test pressing sale on their site a bit ago and of course being me I had to get involved especially as I missed out last time. The problem was choosing my items as there was plenty of good (and expensive)shit on there and I would have broken the bank tootally if I had gotten everything that I really wanted so in the end I had to limit myself to two items-those being 'Hallways of the always' by Rot in Hell and of course this-the debut album by Ringworm. Hell, I've loved this record since it first came out in the early 90's (originally on Indecision records). A couple of years ago it was reissued by A389 to a new generation of Clevo hardcore fanatics. As far as test pressing go this is an awesome package-cool sleeve and it's on colour vinyl too, numbered out of 20. This is the accepted version (I couldn't afford a rejected version as well). This record never gets tiresome-a true classic.

NO PEACE/WAR 7” comp box set

Here we are-a compilation of Holy terror bands doing covers of classic Japanese hardcore groups released by the ever reliable Organised crime records-it seems surprising that this has taken up until now to happen but Dwid did try to get such a project off the ground in the 90's to no avail-which is where this old Gehenna track came from. Other bands included are Integrity (of course), Rot in hell, cape bats and Vegas. I've never been a huge fan of Jap hardcore really (as I have already mentioned in previous posts) and profess to know very little about it. I did however see SOB back in 1989 playing alongside with Napalm death (the classic line up before that muppet Barney took over the mic) and it was a killer show apart from some dumb metalhead landing on top of me while stage diving and nearly breaking my neck in the process. Rot in hell do a SOB cover on here so that tale is kind of relevant. I was one of the lucky ones and managed to grab a limited box set with all four colours of vinyl-just limited to 35. As you can see I got number 15. The yellow and red vinyls were limited to 185 each and the blue and green ones to 135 each and each version comes with a individually coloured sleeve-cool, uh? This is a nice little item and one more fine addition to the holy terror cannon.

Deal with it-World coming down 7" Test press

My Dead & gone records collection of test pressings is starting to look healthy although it's an expensive hoby. Since I'm off to see these guys tonight (with Fire & Ice) it seems fitting to post this-a test pressing of their debut 7" from 2007. Really good kicking hardcore-they've definately gotten more metal sounding since but fans of tough sXe hardcore should lap this up. It's not too amazing to look at but there's only 10 of these in existence. Now to bag a test pressing of their debut LP (end time prophecies), any sellers?

Crumbsuckers-Life of dreams LP test pressing

Anyone who got into hardcore via thrash metal in the late 80's should be familar with this album. How the fuck could you not be? Needless to say it's a true classic. I first heard this around the time I first heard Agnostic front's 'Cause for alarm' and DRI's 'Crossover' and was blown away. I hadn't heard Negative approach at that point but it's fair to compare Chris Notaro's hoarse vocal style to John Brannon. If NA had started playing metal, this is what they may have sounded like. Anyway this fucking album is a quarter of a century old and still grabs you by the throat full throttle style. The lyrics are still amazing too ("Bullshit society" etc)Fucking awesome. They did a second album too ('Beast on my back) which I love as well even though a lot of people don't like it now. I managed to acquire the European test pressing and it's pretty cool. As you can see the sleeve actually folds out so you drool over Sean Taggart's amazing artwork even more. Who knows how many there are of these but it's cool to own one of the rarest versions of this fucking amazing album. The only downside of listening to this album again after a while is that it reminds me how old I am. Damn!!!

Judge-The storm 7" Yellow

For some reason I never owned a copy of this on vinyl as I only previously had the CD single. Feel like a right amateur especially since they're such horrible things. The only advantage the CD single had over the vinyl is that it included a stonking cover version of Led Zep's 'when the levee breaks'. This was Judge's last record and although it wasn't up there with their album in terms of sheer classic hardcore it did deliver and showed a more mature side of the band (even though one of the tracks 'The storm' was a re-working of a track off 'Bringin' it down'). As was with the standard back in those days, Rev pressed up 1000 of these on colour and although that seems like a lot now back then it wasn't really as many people still mainly bought vinyl as opposed to CDs (especially 7"s). I managed to score this a while back but had forgotten about it. Still better late than never.