The Beast

When Outbreak first came out and was a big deal I, along with many other coremen, loved them.  Their fast, straight-forward, angsty brand of hardcore was very relatable.  Fast forward a few years and the band has kind of vanished.  Fast forward another few years and now we have East Beast out of MA.  To be honest I generally wouldn't be into this style of hardcore any more, being that it's borderline amateurish (just read some of the lyrics), but something about these songs just clicks with me.  The songs are short and fast, thrashy, and very amateur as far as lyrics go, but I LOVE IT.  Every once in a while you need to listen to something a bit more simple and this band nails that.

The Collector

Bone Sickness rules.  Up until this point, this demo was a tape release only.  Inimical Records righted that wrong recently with a reissue of it on vinyl.  I got in early enough to score one of the Diehard copies, which come on black vinyl with a hand-numbered black dust sleeve and a patch.  The band plays a very thrashy style of death metal with a heavy punk influence.  I believe there is a new release slated for later in the year on Iron Lung Records, so I'll be sure to grab that as well.  I also heard there is another release on a different label scheduled for this year, but I can't remember.

That Life of Yours

If you've been following this blog for any amount of time, there's a good chance you are aware of how I feel about Weekend Nachos.  Here is the latest single released on A389 Records as a precursor to their new LP, due out soon on Deep Six.  The A side track is taken from the new LP, and the B side is an exclusive to this 7".  These two songs follow the same style of fast/heavy/blast-beat laden mosh jams, but there are a few hints of progression in here.  These two songs are mostly the same style as previous releases, however there are some dissonant type guitar/drum parts that change up the pace nicely, while not killing the sheer power of the tracks.  Another solid release from the band that gets me excited for the new LP.

The track, "That Life of Yours" has to be the best straight-edge-song-by-a-non-straight-edge-band I've ever heard.

Raw Style

The Raw Meat demo that was released last year was one of my favorites of the year, which I had forgotten about when writing up my best of list.  It would have definitely made the list had I remembered it, but since I hadn't listened to it for a bit it slipped my mind.  Anyway, the demo was so good that Vinyl Rites decided to press it to vinyl.  A very good call on their part since I missed out on a tape copy, as I'm sure many others who wanted one did as well.  Featuring members of The Rival Mob and Nomos, the band plays hardcore similar to the latter more so than the former.  This is just some straight up hardcore done really well.  All copies of the 7" version were done on black I believe.  Head to the Vinly Rites STORE and grab a copy while you still can.  This demo didn't come with an insert.  All of the credits are printed on the center label.

Chewed Up, Spit Out

Another record I can cross off my want list, Mind Eraser's Cave LP.  This is the band's debut LP and has the most clear-cut powerviolence influence of any of their releases (aside from the demo maybe).  Mind Eraser is one of my favorite bands of the past decade, so I'm always happy to add another of their records to my collection.  While this is indeed a first press of this, it is the most common version of this record.  Do I care?  Not really, I always prefer a first press of anything anyway.

Planet Yo

Mental is a band that I miss dearly.  Their first few releases are some of the best of their particular style of hardcore.  Alongside contemporaries like Righteous Jams and Rampage, they helped pioneer that Lockin' Out sound - the bouncy, fun spirited hardcore from the early 2000's.  I recently acquired two of their releases that cover both ends of the bands' spectrum.  The Yo! EP is probably my favorite release of theirs, and their sole LP, Planet Mental, is probably my least favorite of their releases.  Yo! is a great representation of this style of hardcore, but the LP saw the band go in a bit of a more serious direction, which ended up being a bit forgettable.  I do still like the LP though.  You can even tell by the different art styles that the LP is more serious than the EP here.

Pink vinyl is from the first press.  Not sure on the pressing for the LP.

Thin Ice

This is the sole release of NYHC band Outburst, Miles To Go.  Don't let the small output fool you, this band has had a huge impact on those that followed.  Most of the current crop of bands playing heavier New York style hardcore (Soul Search, Backtrack, etc) owe this band a tremendous amount of gratitude.  I believe there was a more limited version of this pressed as well, but I scored the standard black version.

Standing Hard

Here is the debut vinyl release, Face Reality, by Hard Stance.  This band features Zach de la Rocha on guitar of Rage Against The Machine and Inside Out Fame, predating both bands.  Great straight edge hardcore similar to the harder bands of the time period.  Maybe I haven't listened to Inside Out enough, but I prefer this band to that band.  This is the first pressing on blue vinyl, and I was able to pick this up for relatively cheap.

Wolfpack

DYS is a band that should need no introduction, but if you don't know they were one of the original Boston Crew bands from the 80's that influenced a lot of hardcore that came after them.  I've never really been clear on this, but I believe Wolfpack is a collection of demo's/EP's/singles/etc that was released in the late 80's by Taang! - but don't quote me on that.  Aside from a few of the covers on here, the songs on this record are essential for any self-respecting hardcore fan.  Later reissued by Reflex Records out of Belgium, this copy is from the original Taang! release.

The lighting on pictures of white objects (the inserts here) always comes out dark, but holy hell these pictures suck.  Sorry for the terrible photography.  Since it's hard to tell, the insert on the left is a Taang! mailorder catalog, and the one on the right is the lyric sheet.

Hang Myself to Dry

It only makes sense for my first post of the new year to be for a record that was in my top of 2012, that I just hadn't had the chance to post about yet.  The debut EP from Boston's MFP released on Painkiller Records a few weeks back - on Thanksgiving to be exact.  Stripped down Boston hardcore.  This band goes for minimalism and it works.  Pretty basic stuff here but it's done really well.  I think a European press of this exists as well, I just can't remember the label at the moment.