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Hello and thanks for reading. I missed last week cos I was away from work celebrating my partner’s birthday. I don’t like to talk about personal stuff often, but I can’t use words to express how much I love my partner. I feel unbelievably lucky to have spent so many years with such a loving, patient, supportive, and beautiful person. OK anyway... there are a lot of cool new releases and great reissues in stock, but today I have chosen to write about YELLOWCAKE. This is one of those records where I have been awaiting its final release date. I even mail ordered a limited copy direct from the label. I can’t remember how this band initially got on my radar, but I was hooked after only a few seconds of the first song I heard. While we don’t really sound similar, some elements of this band actually remind me of SCARECROW. The drummer of this band is also in this band SYCOPHANT, who I also think is outstanding. I am pretty sure Sorry State will eventually release a follow up to that record. The song writing on that one is just like, insane. These bands are based in Arizona, but a little while back the drummer was on the East Coast doing URCHIN and EXTENDED HELL. Knowing that, it’s kind of a no-brainer that I would like this record, haha. I thought the name YELLOWCAKE was a bit cheesy at first, but naturally I wanted to see if had a meaning deeper than a dessert. And ah yes, the word is associated with nuclear power. It is a yellow, powdery substance that comes from processing uranium after it’s been mined. It is then used to prepare the fuel for the nuclear reactors. After learning this, the name went from cheesy to clever in my mind. I think there is a fine line between cheesy and clever at times. It’s also not easy to sound original when playing a pretty straight forward style of music that is now 43 years old, so I try my best to never judge a book by the cover when it comes to hardcore records. I don’t want to say they are a DISCHARGE clone, but YELLOWCAKE is obviously under the influence of DISCHARGE. They sound like maybe there is some Swedish stuff happening, but I can’t quite place what I hear at the moment. I think the Swedish edge is why it reminds me a bit of SCARECROW. The guitarist played with a full stack live. That was pretty sick. If you don’t have the riffs to back up a rig that size, I think it’s a bit whack, but trust me the man has got riffs. Their drummer is phenomenal, so the combination is killer. Unfortunately, I was working the door at the gig, so I did not get the full effect of their live performance, but I was still happy to witness them. Alright, that seems like about it for today, check this record out! Thanks for reading, and thanks to everyone for the support.