No Tolerance - Boston Straight Edge 7"

Wow, two posts in a month. That has to be close to a new low for me. I apologize profusely for being lame. In my defence, I haven't received a "post worthy" record in eons. At some point there is just isn't anything to say about yet another color repress or a random record I picked up from RevHq.
I was also making an effort not to spend big bucks on ebay. It seemed to be easier to just write about them on Vinyl Noize than drain my bank account making a play for them. I do have to admit, doing 20-25 posts a month for Vinyl Noize has cut in on my blog time and I will try to do a better job balancing the two.

Of course all of this is precluded by assuming anyone gives a fuck.

Moving on, I was FINALLY able to score one of my major wants from this era of hardcore, the No Tolerance - Boston Straight Edge 7" on gold vinyl.

I have had a hell of a time trying to get this record. When I finally saw it up on ebay I decided to go all out and use a sniper program for the first time to win it. I entered a RIDICULOUS final sum for it and hoped for the best. Guess what? I was still out bid. It sold for a number I just couldn't fathom. I pretty much decided at that point that this game was getting too rich for my blood and I should just look forward to $5 preorders.
A few hours later I got a surprise email about a second chance offer on the record and I found myself checking out at paypal in roughly 15 seconds. I'm not sure what happened, but the selling price on the auction I lost was a good $20-30 more than my max bid. In the end I got it for what I was grudgingly willing to pay for it and all is right in the world.

By this time everyone knows the score on No Tolerance. Fast, super aggressive, yet catchy hardcore in the same vein as Step Forward and all the other Boston bands Chris Corry and DFJ are/were in; well except Mind Eraser. This sounds nothing like Mind Eraser.
This recording was originally released as a cassette tape for an Edge Day show. It got the vinyl treatment later on 540 Records out of Texas.

The gold version is obviously the hard one to get and is limited to 88 copies.

The dust sleeve is hand numbered and other than positioning looks just like the Floorpunch Div 1 Champs layout. That's cool.

Of course there is also the black vinyl version out of 500. This isn't exactly easy to get either. I remember it was available through Deathwish's distro store for about 15 minutes. I think you can get one now through Discogs for $40 if you were keen.

Both versions come with a fold over glossy, two sided, black and white lyric sheet.

Now I just have to track down a No Remorse, No Tolerance on blue vinyl. Good times ahead.

Verse - Bitter Clarity, Uncommon Grace

When word came down that there would be a new album coming from the recently reformed Verse, I was one happy camper. I felt that there was unfinished business when they first broke up. The sound that they had developed with the Aggression album was still being fleshed out when they called it quits. With this new album I feel they have become the new Modern Life Is War. I like that.

There is so much raw emotion in these songs, both in the singing and the music. Dare I say there is some 90's emo elements woven in there. The music barely gets above a gallop which may alienate some of their older fans. Still, it's not like this progression hasn't been coming. Every album since From Anger and Rage has been heading in this direction. Bitter Clarity... is still a hardcore album but such a far cry from Rebuild, they are barely the same band.

There were three color options available at preorder and I of course jumped for all three. Bridge Nine hasn't updated the discography page yet, so I don't know what the pressing numbers are. All three colors are quite unique from each other but work well with the album layout.

First up is clear with red swirl. This one is my favorite and kind of has to be seen to get a good appreciation of it.

Next up is clear & black split.

Finally we have straight up solid white. The sun was going down when I took this picture so sorry it is so dark. The white is not this creamy color here.

Of course there is also a glossy two sided black and white lyric and credits sheet.

Word is there is already a second press available for pre-order at Bridge Nine as this first press sold out unbelievably fast. There was also a record release version that used the clear with red swirl vinyl. I think there were 150 of them which is a hell of a lot. It had a special release show printed cover made up for the show. That one piece of yellow paper put one hell of a premium on the record as the one I posted on at Vinyl Noize ended up selling for over $100.  I guess people like Verse.