Wax Vessel

01/07/2026

The reviews are in! Even though I generally think my taste is immutable and everything I do is the best in the world, it is still super validating and reassuring. That means that I am drawn to translate and connect to other people as well. Boolin always keeping it 💯

calm&secure drops fully digital and physically this Friday! See ya there!

I buried you in a song only I hear.

01/06/2026

A little update post before this Friday! Don't forget - big change son Wax Bux, EA and how orders are going that will all be in effect starting with calm&secure. The dawn of a new age! You'll also notice that for it being a new release, it also has a pretty small and fixed allocation of records. Thats the reality! Less units, less drops in 2026. We're going back to peak rarity and collectibility baby! See you at 1:00pm CST!

Anyway!

I wanted to mention that the WV website has finally been updated. Wax Bux section has a major overhaul and is now more exhaustive and encompassing. Also the shipping section has been updated for January. We'll have False Body, MENSIS, Casket Dealer and ONE MORE ship in January here. Stay tuned!

As always, as things are about to be in the mix, thats when I start makign update post son Facebook. I don;t have an email list. I don't do a lot of things. But! I make a Facebook post almost daily with updates. If you don;t want to be on Facebook for updates, then go to the shippign section of the website. "Nik you haven;t posted about XYZ when will that ship??" I haven;t posted about it because it isn;t relevant! Why would I post any updates for Drowned Under Concrete for example, when there are 8 releases in front of it that haven't been shipped? Let's use context clues! I promise, moreso than any other year, things will be shipping! Lots of preorders this year, but! Also lots of preorders from last year working out. It'll be ok!

Check the website. It will be updated when there is an update! I'll make a post! I'm talkign SEVEN YEARS of WV this year. Almost 200 titles! You'll get it!

ADDRESS CHANGES MUST BE EMAILED TO [email protected] BEFORE RECEIVING SHIPPING NOTIFICATION. IF YOU EMAIL THE DAY SOMETHING IS SHIPPING FOR AN ADDRESS CHANGE, WE CAN NOT GUARANTEE AN UPDATE ON TIME. ITEMS SHIPPED TO INCORRECT ADDRESSES DUE TO FAILURE TO NOTIFY WILL BE RE-SENT IF POSSIBLE WITH REP...

01/05/2026

Happy Monday! How has everyone been feeling about the first calm&secure single? What if I told you it only gets crazier from here!

But I would give a rare glimpse of the front and back before it’s in a hand. I got so many panels from this guy for the art on this and as I’m sure you’ve started to notice and what you will notice on old pre-orders and all new stuff. Everything is a gatefold insert now. Just more art than ever!

Eternal thanks again to Kai for smacking this out of the park. I promise there’s gonna be so much for you explore when you get these in hand, so don’t sleep and make sure you grab one this Friday at 1 PM CST.

300 copies and that’s it!

01/04/2026

Keep your eye on Bandcamp! The band and I will have the full album available to listen to in full before pre-orders go live on Friday. I know it kind of stinks to start off the year with a pre-order but in that same thing, I wanted to start the year off with a project like this and since it’s a new release, it needs to be a pre-order!

I appreciate the patience while I start shipping out this backlog. I hope this holds you over in the meantime!

It’s a new release every month for like the first half of the year here!

9 track album

01/03/2026

One of the few things that I am absolutely not humble about is logos and art. How did everything, I liked to imagine that I have pretty good taste and when I am given full creative rain on logo and Almart I think that generally results in an awesome product. PF, KSD, CD, Weeping, Nightmarer etc. it’s a general provision of mine that if you’re gonna do a new release with Wax Vessel, you don’t get to really do anything! And I love when people feel it. But! Sometimes it does take a few tries!

calm&secure was tough because they had this very initial art concept that I want to tie into a new logo, but it just didn’t materialize. As always, Lab 13 has so much patience while I send him sketches and info and it really only ever takes a handful of giraffes to really land on what works for everybody.

Happy to present the logo for calm&secure. I think this logo and album art package is just absolutely incredible and I think once you see it in person you will agree!

01/02/2026

Can’t think of a better way to ring in the new year than this new project from the gentlemen behind From a Second Story Window and The Heartland. The honor first drop of 2026 is for calm&secure! They’re brand new, and if I had to guess, they’re about to be in contention for the title of your new favorite band!

I love this album so much because its so unlike anything thats been release din the past few years. We got close with HIARGL, but generally I’ve noticed that when old guys (I can say it, I’m old now) get together after “the glory days” and write new material it generally is just Botch. Old guys making new music syndrome is what I call the phenomenon when you rewrite the album that you made when you were 18 and it sound like 2007 again (derogatory) in current year, but worse, because you’re slower! And maybe you never had a crazy command on it to begin with? Whatever. Why am I digging in to bands that aren’t this band or bands I work with (you’ll notice every WV band has bucked the trend). Anyway.

This is golden era maestros making current year true emoviolence. They made so many deliberate WEIRD decisions that will certainly alienate some amount of listeners. This is a scream record in the same way Littered With Arrows is a scream record - and that is the comparison I’m goign with because even though the guitar tone and drum tone and vocal tone are all so BLOWN THE F**K OUT it very much is DD worship. Its Orchid but with more math. It’s DD but with weirdo production.

This is barely revivalism. This is more akin to just a stellar tape that some 150-likes-on-insta-bedroom-label outs out and you’re like “what the f**k this rules” and then they that was it! Like honestly this is a spiritual Yehonala Tapes release. Its that level of WEIRD and FRIED that it would have just clicked on that label tbh. I mean that as the highest compliment I can give. This is NOT hereisaropegoodluck. This is not Sawtooth. This isn’t really anything to be honest. It’s so out of place in my discography that its hard to compare. Like, of course it has the insane musicianship that you’d expect from Jonathan Thompson from The Heartland. The riffs are insane. Everything is *crafted* and very deliberate. Like you listen through it one and immediately realize that this is *smart* and you need to listen to it again because you ween; t expecting something this avant garde.

Smart dudes marking smart music - as fun as it is for smart dudes to make dumb caveman s**t, I think we are in an irony desert and everyone is afraid to be earnest for fear of people accusing them of caring. They made some choices that will no doubt be polarizing! But its unapologetic. It’s truly elevated music for enlightened geniuses lmao.

You can tell its wholly rooted in the sensibilities of the early aughts, and that even carries though in the very deliberate production choices. You’d swear this is a wecamewithbrokenteeth B-side (if such a thing could even exist. Maybe a C-side). This is a cyber grind album in the sene that like, WTEOCV is a cyber album. It has that feel and that unmistakable tone. The drums are just brickwalled jackhammers. Its less about the “music” in a traditional sense - its kind of textural and and just hits you with this wall of noise to the point where it almost just becomes “mood”. Then you have these tortured vocals over top (yeah, Vandegrift still has that kind of tonality and range). It’s so visceral and strained and just really gives it the emphatic quality that a screamo record needs.

And make no mistake! This is a screamo record! YOu’ll tense up as these shrieks rock you an then out of nowhere you get the beautiful interludes and passages that just have so much bittersweet emotion. Its a very emotive record I‘Ll say it again! This is some real skramcave s**t that you can recommend to peopel to prove what a genius you are. Like, this is one step away from being lauded by some Pitchfork guy and (if it were any other label) some Evil Greed variants or something. I don’t know, its just hits different when somethign is made with such intention and it *hits* like they did everyitng correct. calm&secure said it best: its emoviolence for people who can fight. Its such a compelling listen and since they are in fact a full band, I can’t wait for them to hit the road and show you what they’ve got! IT just feels so 2006. You can practically see the tight shirts and Sean arch-backed on stage just ripping peoples faces off. True spazz bulls**t. True OG WV nonsense. Love this record, love Jonathan and Sean. I hope you love calm&secure too!

IN addition to all the music, it was also so much fun to work with SLONK on the art. In typical WV fashion, yes, it is a portrait! Hard to believe! But I think it has the nostalgic and ethereal quality that is 100% correct for a screamo title! And lesser men would have not included a logo on there, but! When its as good as the one Kai made for this, I kind of have to! Super happy with the whole art and packaging on tis one! Its expansive and we got like a half dozen panels made for this!

This one time pressing is presented across 300 copies:

50 They Built Me With Nails (Wax Vessel Signature) �
50 Co**se With My Face (Wax Vessel Signature) �
50 It Fell From The Sky (Wax Vessel Signature)�
50 Photograph Rot (Wax Vessel Signature)�
100 Without Light (180g Natural PVC)

All of this housed in:
1.5x thickness Matte jackets�
Double sided matte gatefold full color insert�
Black polylined innersleeves
�Gold foil numbering
�Stuffed into polybags
�Hype Sticker’d�
Custom WV Mailers�
Matching WV Album art sticker�
Download Code�
Bonus 2026 New Item

The new single will be available on January 2nd (today), with the full album release along with the preorders going up on 9th. See ya on the 9th at 1:00pm CST for the preorders! PVC will be strictly limited. Orders will be randomly assigned a sig, with variants revealed once they ship! All a mystery! Shipping in the middle of 2026!

Thanks again for kicking off 2026 with me! It’s a deep cut, but its from he nicest people on the planet. It feels like a full circle WV moment. Nothing I love more than giving a home to the new projects from WV alumni, and honestly, this is the type of release this was made for. I can’t wait for you all to hear it next week!

01/01/2026

Hello! Happy new year!

I know I have reminisced about 2025 enough so I’m going to choose to be positive and manifest a great 2026!

This year will be seven years of WV. Insane to me. I think I will also hit 200 releases this year? I haven’t really stopped to count but it’s gotta be getting up there. Actually finished the last release for 2026 a few weeks ago and believe it or not. I am currently working on 2027.

I am beyond thankful that I get to keep doing exactly what I want to do in the way that I want to do it for another year (hopefully). I don’t have to do represses or tongue in the art midget or use a cheaper plant or make any kind of compromise. I can add more fun things per release. I can work with more of my friends on more new albums. I can revisit a lot of past bands with new merch drops. I really think this is going to be a year for the books.

I always said that if this stopped being fun or if I ever had to start doing things that weren’t fun I just wouldn’t do it. Thankfully 2026 is shaping up to be a lot of fun. New drop mechanics are gonna make my life so much easier. A new website is in the process of rolling out. New announcement templates, and new gimmicks! Every holiday this year is going to have something cool attached to it now that the drops are a little bit less. My goal is to be so much more than just a label slopping out as many drops as possible. My goal is really to give you as much entertainment and joy and utility in a context that surrounds records as possible.

Group mystery will be shipping and there will be a new one this year. Another BAM raffle. Someone is going to break Sawtooth Grin and PF’s and KSD tie for 3rd new release on WV. There will be more new releases than ever before this year. The reissue space is becoming a pastiche unfortunately and the emphasis on “ who can do the biggest band for the sake of doing it” is really sucking the life out of this community I think.

I’m trying to make sure that this limited run reissue record community/scene is not commodities. The last thing I want is for a band who puts out a record to be hit with “oh is it with one of those hype labels” and kind of hand wave it. As much as I am guilty of gamifying record collecting, this community is getting pulled in weird directions. Not to be Batman about it, but I’m gonna try and really put the emphasis on music this year.

Let’s not forget that it’s about the music and the bands and the records being beautiful is just a bonus. Again, I am very guilty of having collector brain. I created this label with a focus on collectors. But in 2019, a “record collector” was a different person than “a person who collects records” today. so don’t be surprised if things get more niche and more extreme this year.

Anyway. Not trying to make this negative because this is a celebratory post of seven years of doing records with the best online community of all time. I really appreciate everyone who has bought a record and every band who has worked with me. I can’t wait to share everything with you guys that’s coming this year. See you tomorrow for what’s going to kick the year off and contextualize everything!

12/31/2025

I am making some changes to early access and the way drops are rolled out. Please read as it will outline the future of drops!

In the past, the emphasis has been on speed. If you weren’t there at the starting gate, you might not have gotten a record at all. Unfortunately, in an effort to make bands obscene amounts of money, the prices have gone up! Which in turn has slowed times. Add to the fact that my goal is not just to press the biggest names I can find but rather a personal catalogue of things that I think Rock (even if sometimes it means trying to sell more records than they have monthly listeners on Spotify).  All of these things have put less of an emphasis on speed and more of an emphasis on the quality and interaction and fun (imo).

With all of this in mind, I’m announcing the new way things were working in 2026! As always, if we go into it and it sucks, then I will just roll it back! Hasn’t been the first time! But anyway, here’s what I’m thinking:

- EA will be capped much tighter
- EA will get you guaranteed best sig
- EA gets you in to a wheel that I will spin? With the winner getting a MM (we all will only be for people who did EA. So like a 1-in-25 shot of a member mage)
- EA will get a special version of a new mechanic that is rolling out for all releases in 2026.
- If you EA every release successfully for a specific interval, another wheel with that group for a BAM.

I’m trying to keep early access loaded with features that are doled out in a random way. 

To clarify on that last point. Nick and I are in the midst of introducing a new mechanic that will be on par with something like wax bux. Huge mechanic that maybe you can kind of guess based on some of the Christmas stuff 👀. Early access will get a special version of that mechanic limited only too early access which is the only way to get it. All other orders were still come with this new mechanic, but just to a lesser extent. So that means all Wax Vessel orders now will now come with an additional bonus thing at the same current price. Prices are not going up in 2026! Actually, I am including more stuff than ever to make it worth your time. Anyway! 

My goal is to increase the power of wax box so that way you don’t have to spend as much money on records. In fact, you could probably trade wax bux for records, knowing their new power. I’m trying to make EA more powerful as well. The end goal of all of this is to now put the speed emphasis on EA, while also making wax bux more important.

And also to clarify, I will never sell wax bux. That’s not what this is leading up to. My goal is not to squeeze people for money, but rather give you more for the money You are already spending!

- EA gets best sig, all other orders are random.
- last order could get best sig, etc.
- PVC will be its own button when applicable, at its own price.
- for both preorders and instas

All of this starts with Calm&secure on Friday! The other new mechanic also starts with calm&secure. The new mechanic will not retroactively go into effect for last year’s orders that are shipping this year. It is for all new orders going forward.

As always, my goal is to make being a Wax Vessel fan incomprehensively complicated with a high barrier to entry that turns people off and makes people frustrated! Thank you as always for humoring me and let’s see how it goes on Friday!

12/30/2025

I hope you have been watching all of the reels! I am kicking off the new year with what might be the most interesting project of 2026.

It’s From A Second Story Window x The Heartland doing Destroyer Destroyer worship. It’s raw. It’s an emoviolence record. It’s poignant and weird and back to some WV roots.

I hope you enjoyed all of the death core last year because all everyone else is chasing giant licensing jobs and phoning it in just to move units, my goal is to retreat back into niche obscurity. More new releases. More old, weird grindy stuff.

As it stands, I have 18 releases for 2026. There will be another big M-pack, it’s done. I have 6 instas ordered. I’ve got two more 2xLP sets. Eight new releases. Nine bands returning. I think this is about to be the most well curated and intimate year of Wax Vessel records.

I know everything is still in a slog, and there are more people pushing more records than ever before. I’m committed to doing less releases at fewer units. And yes, even in spite of everything I just said I will have one giant deathcore drop haha.

Anyway. I’m really excited to kick off 2026 this Friday with the announcement for calm&secure. It’s really a lot of fun and I know everyone’s gonna enjoy it. We will also have a giant merch drop for an OG band in January too!

Stay tuned for pictures of some completed jobs. My goal is to have four releases shipped out in January to everyone. I promise I’m gonna get caught up and we are going to start having fun!

12/29/2025

Almost time to get back in to the swing of things! Full announcement and debut single from calm&secure this Friday. Full album release and records on the 9th.

Welcome to 2026! See ya there!

12/25/2025

Merry Christmas! Wishing everyone a fantastic day on behalf of my family to yours!

I’m signing out for the rest of the year, but I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their week and I’ll see you in 2026!