Ceremony - He-god-Has Favored Our Undertakings : S&F 2011

Two weeks ago, I never knew this existed.

I used to pride myself on my knowledge of pressings, colors, variants and all things nerd when it came to hardcore record collecting. This goes double for bands and records I actually love. Well as it turns out I suck.
It's not often when I am surprised about seeing something on ebay. Sure, I can raise an eyebrow when there is a super rare and expensive record that pops up once every few years, but at least I knew it existed. When I saw this Sound and Fury 2011 version of  the Ceremony - He-god-Has Favored Our Undertakings 7", I did a double take. Then I proceeded to to try to win it at all costs. Damn, a Ceremony record I didn't know about. I feel shame.
The funny thing is I still don't know much about it at all.

The band used the common grey color that was out of 700. I guess there were leftovers.

The sleeves are hand numbered on the back bottom corner. I got #5, so either there weren't many done up or I got a low number. Either way, cool.

There was no regular sleeve that came with this like a lot of other alternate cover pressings. Maybe it was like that for all of them, who knows? At least for this copy, the foldover white cover is all that you get. No download code, no insert. No frills.

My only defence when it comes to my ignorance with the existence of this record is that Ceremony used a 2008 two song 7" for a festival three years later. I didn't get the memo.

Step Forward / Waste Management Edge Day 08 Two Pack

There aren't too many records left out there that really make me excited. You know, the ones that jump to the top of your want list for no rational reason other than you WANT it. Well, this just happens to be one of them.
I have had this Edge Day Two Pack on my want list for years and FINALLY I was able to pick it up on ebay. When I saw it listed, I took measures I usually never take when it comes to ebay. I used a sniper program for the first time and I also entered a price that rivaled the amount people pay for a Chung King. Look, I know it wasn't going to sell for that much or that it is even worth 1/500 of the cost of a Chung King, but there was no way in hell I was going to get outbid by five cents or some shit that I would regret forever. Well, at least until the next one would pop up. In the end, I got this for a pretty decent price.

It's no real surprise to anyone who reads this blog or my posts for Vinyl Noize that I love Step Forward.  Their 10 Song ep is one of my favorite hardcore records ever and according to itunes, my most listened to record as well. So the fact there was a version out there that I didn't have plus it just happened to be in the coolest packaging ever, well it was a problem.

The set itself contains both the Step Forward and the Waste Management - Get Your Mind Right 7"s in a pseudo-gatefold sleeve. When you take the records out there is a picture of the SSD The Kids Will Have Their Say album cover. Iconic to say the least.

The front and back cover is a collage of gig posters of the biggest and best Boston straight edge bands. The Japanese style OBI strip is a cool touch too.

Each set was numbered out of 100. I got my favorite number, lucky 13.

Each record was also pressed on black vinyl with blank white labels and stamped with the Edge Day date and band name. The b side labels are Painkiller ones. I lost whatever natural light I had left so I couldn't take those pictures. I swear, it's like 30 Days Of Night up here in Canada right now.

It feels good to finally have this in my collection. Now the only thing left is a cherry on top. Anyone have a Step Forward "Loud and Clear: This Is Boston" record release they want to get rid of? No?

Striving Higher - This Is Hardcore

Oh, hello. Long time no see.

I have to be honest, I forgot for a few weeks there that this blog even exists. I have been pushing out 20-30 posts a month on Vinyl Noize and that seems to be eating up most of my computer time. I guess it's just easier to talk about other people's records.

On the positive side, I actually have a few records that should be coming in that may be worth posting about. Fingers crossed, there may be some actual content in the future.

So a few weeks back, (or was it a few months? Who knows?) an update was sent out from Six Feet Under Records that leftover copies of the This Is Hardcore 2012 press of the Striving Higher comp were put up in the webstore. I was looking at buying the Wolf Whistle MA Glory 7" so I figured it would be cool to grab this as well.

For being quite sparse, I quite like this layout. A glued on photo taken from the back page of the insert booklet on untreated cardboard. It's different enough from the original to stand out.

Plus I never had the black vinyl of this comp either, so win/win!

Here is a close up of the back cover design. If it is a stamp, damn, it sure turned out great. No smearing at all.

I like that the threw in the Blacklisted flexi like they did with the regular versions that came out earlier. It would have been very easy to just leave it out as this was a fest press. On the other hand, I will never play this. Flexi's can fuck up your stylus needle pretty bad.

The same full size booklet as the original press was thrown in as well. These are such a great touch. I have loved huge inserts ever since the Peace/War comp.

I was pleasantly surprised and happy to get this SFU poster thrown in. I can't recall if it was included in the regular Striving Higher comp, but I dig it. Obviously it is a "tribute" or homage to the Revelation Records posters of their current discography at the time. I threw up a picture of the Rev one I have for comparison.

The last I checked, there were still copies of this available. Check it out. Well worth the $15 in my opinion.

Wolf Whistle - MA Glory

In my feeble attempt to keep up with the kids and new (new-ish?) bands I decided to jump at the Wolf Whistle - MA Glory 7" when it was released. Except I didn't. For whatever reason, I thought it would be a good idea to go for the more "exotic" versions of the record instead of the ones Six Feet Under Records had up for preorder. Now I am playing catch up again. Great.

I guess most people are down with Wolf Whistle by this point. They may not be breaking new ground, but what they do is tight. Fast, raging hardcore venturing on power violence. There are worse things in the world than sounding like Infest. I love Infest. 

People were initially attracted to the band because of who was singing. I guess that's kind of unavoidable not to name drop the biggest band of the 2000's. So anyways, Pat Flynn sounds like Pat Flynn, but this definitely doesn't sound like Have Heart.

The band released a couple raw demos a few years back. The first one is near impossible to find on vinyl, but the second one on Triple B Records was pretty easy to track down. I only have the second press of that one, so hand me a late pass. Again. At least I'm doing a little better with MA Glory.

First up is the Sound & Fury 2012 sleeve version. I guess these didn't sell out at the festival, so Six Feet Under made the leftovers available through their webstore. At first glance they don't look too different from the regular cover except for the black border and the color contrast with the regular cover. Not too sure how many of these were made up.

It looks like they used the common solid blue vinyl from the regular first press.

Of course once I got this version, I wanted the others so I made a SFU order and picked up the common solid blue. Somehow I missed the clear blue version out of 250 that is still available. Doh! The most rare version, black vinyl is long gone. The way ebay is these days, maybe I can find one for about $160. 

A big difference with the regular sleeve compared to the S&F version is that it is printed on the inside with lyrics and credits. Download code comes with it as well. Good stuff.

One day I was checking out the Vinyl Collective board and saw a post that MA Glory would be released on cassette from Working Man Records. If I'm not mistaken, Working Man is a label run by the bass player in the band. Regardless, I jumped at the chance of scoring one. There were very limited numbers made and this green one was limited to 50 copies.

 There were different color cassette tapes made as well. A red one limited to 20, which was a label exclusive; a clear with blue stripe out of 30 which was a band exclusive, and these green ones. All 100 of the tapes sold out quickly, but there is a "second press" up now on white out of 50. Act fast and all that.
Damn, I love cassettes.

Sinking Ships - Disconnecting: Record Release

Things have been pretty quiet for me on the ebay front this summer . For whatever reason, I have decided that I am not going to try so hard to outbid people anymore. For six solid years I rarely lost an auction as I would be the idiot sitting in front of the computer at 3:30 AM waiting to make a last second bid at an inflated price I knew couldn't lose. 

I guess my "passion" for overpaying has waned quite a bit these days as now I simply put a bid in that I am willing to pay and walk the fuck away. If I win, great, but if I don't - whatever. Plus, I'm kind of at the point where my want list consists of records that are either insanely rare, popular and expensive to buy or are ones that I couldn't be bothered to bid on because shipping would cost as much as the damn vinyl.

I guess that is why I was pretty happy to finally track down the record release version of the Sinking Ships - Disconnecting album. When this album first popped up on my radar it was an easy $80 - $100 seller on ebay. I tried hitting up some of my west coast contacts to see if I could score one and they were more than willing to sell theirs to me, for $100.

Yeah, that pretty much put me off the record and I let it drop to the bottom of my want list for a few years. When I stumbled on it last month, I put in a low ball under $50 bid three days before it was over and forgot about it. Surprise, surprise I won the thing.

Nothing to really write home about with this once you get it in your hands. Half clear, half green vinyl with grey splatter. No labels. I know this is one of Marcus's favorite color records ever. He just raves about the combination of colours and overall aesthetic of how it matches the artwork. Isn't that right my man? ;)

The outer sleeve is a silk screen cover that obviously can be smudged pretty easily.

Each sleeve is hand numbered out of 75. I have either 54 or 64. If you have either one of the numbers, let me know so I can get it straight.

I'm not sure when the next post will be as the only things I have coming in the mail are 80's era thrash metal cassettes and the same pre-orders that you all have coming. Hey don't scoff, I picked up Slayer - Haunting The Chapel for $2. That's awesome.

 

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.