Skip to content
Hello and welcome to another edition of the Sorry State Records weekly newsletter! Our format is slightly abbreviated this week since I spent the weekend in LA at the Lie Detector weekend. Check out my staff pick section if you want to read my thoughts about the event! Dominic, Rachel, and Usman held things down at the store while Jeff and I were gone, and the new arrivals continue to come fast and furious. Read on to find out what the world of hardcore punk has in store for you!
December 16 2021
Vivisected Numbskulls: Swine in Chains 7” (Chaotic Uprising Productions) With their debut vinyl release, Vivisected Numbskulls have achieved the rare Sorry State hat trick, with three consecutive releases getting the Record of the Week nod. Aside from getting five songs instead of four this time around, not much has changed with Swine in Chains compared to the Numbskulls’ previous cassettes, and that’s a good thing! A big reason we’re so smitten with Vivisected Numbskulls is that they have a sound we’ve never heard before. The songwriting backbone comes from anthemic UK82 punk a la the Exploited, with simple 1-2 rhythms and choruses that beg you to raise your fist and chant along. The songwriting is straightforward yet impeccable, but the real magic happens in the production. Vivisected Numbskulls’ recordings are thick with atmosphere, exuding a creepy and gritty aesthetic that lies somewhere between the most vibe-drenched early 80s Japanese hardcore and Blazing Eye’s evocation of creepy, mid-20th century monster movies. Imagine Bela Lugosi fronting GBH with Randy Uchida producing the session and you’re somewhere in the ballpark. While the seamlessness of the aesthetic grabs you right away, it’s the songs that keep me coming back, and if Vivisected Numbskulls ever play live, I don’t think there will be any shortage of people singing along to “Bloody Face” and “Die in New York.”
This week’s edition of Hardcore Knockouts sees Usman showing off a couple of Japanese pressings of UK82 classics. Blitz smoked the Exploited, which is understandable I guess, but the Exploited fuckin’ rocks.
Cast your vote in the next edition of Hardcore Knockouts on our Instagram stories next Tuesday!
My pick from Sorry State’s Discogs listings this week is the Suburbanized 10” from Birth Deformities. This is an underrated record from the tail end of what we call “the No Way era” around here. Birth Deformities was a shuffled-around version of Cülo with Nick Sick (R.I.P.) on vocals. As you might expect, it’s full-bore, fast as fuck hardcore with a catchy edge. Definitely worth a measly four bones in my book.
Remember, you can always combine your order from Sorry State’s Discogs site with your order from our webstore and save on shipping!
GIGS!
DECEMBER 27
SCALPLE AND SCARECROW IN CHAPEL HILL
DECEMBER 27 - JANUARY 1
SCALPLE AND SCARECROW TOUR
JANUARY 8
HÜSTLER IN RICHMOND
JANUARY 29
LASSO IN SAO PAULO
CHARTS
- Poison Idea: The Beast Goes East 12” (TKO)
- Scalple: Skillful Butchers 12” (Sorry State)
- Yleiset Syyt: Umpikujamekanismi 7” (Open Up and Bleed Recordings)
- Vivisected Numbskulls: Swine in Chains 7” (Chaotic Uprisings Productions)
- Pyhakoulu: In Retrospect 12” (Svart)
- Dorothy: I Confess b/w Softness 7” (Sealed Records)
- The Chisel: Enough Said 7” (Wardance)
- Nightfeeder: S/T 7” (Black Water)
- Socio la Difekta: Kreski 7” (Beach Impediment)
- Lasso: S/T 7” (Sorry State)
As usual, here are the top 10 sellers for the past month at Sorry State.
The latest Static Shock releases just landed today! We have the new release from Ataque Zero (yet another great group from the hardcore hotbed of Bogota, Colombia) and a fresh pressing of the modern classic Cellar Dweller LP by Impalers. We even have a few copies of Ataque Zero on limited white vinyl, so grab one of those quick if you want one.
Game’s Legerdemain came out digitally a few weeks ago, and now the vinyl is in stock and ready to ship! We’re stocking the USA exclusive version on white vinyl.
Open Palm tapes just sent us the new Blinding Glow tape, which I really like, as well as two tapes by Myutanto. Myutanto plays house music, which is something I’m not super knowledgeable about, but I enjoyed both tapes.
Everyone has been raving about the new Rik & the Pigs album on Lumpy Records, and we have copies in stock now!
Merry S.H.I.T.mas everyone! The fine folks in S.H.I.T. never fail to bring something special to the holiday season, and this year we have this ripping new two-song 7” on the mighty Iron Lung Records.
Symphony of Destruction Records brings us the debut from Portland synth-punk group Ritual Veil. This is the same label who brought us the vinyl version of the first Riki EP way back when, and Ritual Veil sticks out from the synthesizer-wielding hordes in a similar way.
Speaking of Riki, we have the new album Gold in stock now!
For those of you who missed out on the Sorry State exclusive white vinyl, we now have regular black copies of the new Poison Idea live album The Beast Goes East in stock now. These have the same beautiful artwork and incredible booklet as the SSR version, they’re just on black vinyl rather than white.
Anti-Police Terror is a new double LP compilation on Mental Crash Records. It features tons of hardcore punk heavyweights from across the globe, including Irreal, Life, Varukers, Tom and Boot Boys, Deseos Primitivos, Sex Dwarf, and many more. It also features a 42-page booklet and all the proceeds from the comp go to support the Anti-Police Terror project in Oakland, California.