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Hello and thanks for reading,
I’m sitting down to write my Staff Pick pretty close to the submission deadline, so please excuse my lack of information and attention to detail. I decided to put together this image of some LPs I was jamming earlier this week. See what they all have in common? Yes, that’s right, DISCHARGE. Surprise? Anyway, The MERCENARY 12” has been on heavy rotation for me. So, it will be the star of my Staff Pick. To be honest, I’m not sure I ever heard their tracks from the Atlanta’s Burning cassette they did until this record pressing. Which is whack cos my old band with Jeff played that fest. I remember when the first demo tape came out, I was pretty excited cos the style was right up my alley. When I finally heard the second demo that appears on this 12" compilation, I was impressed by how much the sound and song-writing improved. I played the B-side over and over again. It’s a shame that stuff was only a cassette until this 12" reissue. They explain the details inside the LP of why this was the case. They also write a bit about Ruby (R.I.P.), the vocalist of MERCENARY. I only had a handful of conversations with Ruby ever. Although the writings about him in the LP are not written in a grieving fashion, it was still saddening to listen to the LP. I’m glad Mark from Beach Impediment did this reissue. Like I said I barely knew Ruby, but to me this is an important homage to him and his life. His memory has been materialized, and his legend will live forever. I hope you may rest easy wherever you are now, Ruby.
As for the other hot slabs in my photo, they don’t need an introduction right? Every single one is hot as fuck. Haha, now that I am looking at the photo again, I realize that each record is one of my favorites from the band. Aside from DISCLOSE, there is stuff I listen to instead if I am craving DISCLOSE. Even though this split was released in 2001, I still think it is legendary. ENGLISH DOGS and DISFEAR have been reissued somewhat recently, but I honestly fear that the TOTALITÄR / DISCLOSE split will never be reissued. It was on Your Own Jailer records, and nothing has ever been reissued from that label. I think self-titled DISFEAR 7" is so damn good and traditional sounding. It’s hard to pick if I prefer this full-length ‘Soul Scars’ or that EP. ‘Soul Scars’ is just so fucking good, damn. I was about to do a bit of nerding on DISFEAR, but instead you can click here and read my previous nerding about DISFEAR from last year. Unfortunately we sold out of the ENGLISH DOGS reissue and haven’t been able to restock, but we have copies of the DISFEAR reissue in stock. I would grab a copy of that alongside this MERCENARY 12" if you been sleeping. Alright, that about does it for this week. Thanks for reading, and thanks to everyone for the support! Peace.