Day: October 29, 2025

Ink & Dagger’s Complete Works Rise Again

Pivotal 90s hardcore/punks Ink & Dagger announces catalog reissue. Photo: Chris P., used with permission.

Ink & Dagger: The Complete Works — The Vampiric Legends of Philadelphia Rise Again

Philadelphia, PA — From 1996 to 1999, Philadelphia’s Ink & Dagger burned like a Roman candle, blurring the lines between punk, hardcore, and psychedelia. They were an enigma wrapped in rumors, vampire lore, and blood-spattered theatrics. Equal parts chaos and prank, their ever-shifting lineup fed on energy and spat it back as something entirely their own. (another side, 2025)

Controversial, influential, and long out of print, the band’s complete legacy has finally risen from the grave. Trust Records has announced a full reissue of Ink & Dagger’s discography across three standalone LPs:

  • Drive This Seven Inch Wooden Stake Through My Philadelphia Heart
  • The Fine Art of Original Sin
  • Ink & Dagger

All audio has been remastered by David Cooley (M83, Tame Impala, Jimmy Eat World). Each album will be available in stores and on digital platforms for the first time ever on October 31.

The Deluxe Box Set: Ink & Dagger — The Complete Works

A deluxe edition box set, Ink & Dagger: The Complete Works, has also been announced. This limited release (only 500 copies) includes:

  • All three remastered LPs
  • A fourth LP titled Experiments in Nocturnal Sound and Energy: Singles 96–99
  • A book/insert titled “The Almighty” by writer Erik Bader
  • Box design by visual artist Jeremy Dean

Ink & Dagger: The Complete Works ships March 2026.

The Albums

LP 1 — Drive This Seven Inch Wooden Stake Through My Philadelphia Heart

Includes the band’s first two EPs and a bonus track. This marks the first time the collection is available on vinyl, it was originally CD-only in the ’90s.
Featuring blistering early cuts like:

  • “The Changeling”
  • “Frigid Shortcomings”
  • “The Road to Hell”
  • “Full Circle”

LP 2 — The Fine Art of Original Sin

Originally released in 1998, this was Ink & Dagger’s first full-length album, an unholy collision of punk, hardcore, electronica, and rock & roll. Fine Art captured the band at their creative and chaotic peak.

LP 3 — Ink & Dagger

Released posthumously in 2000 by Buddyhead, this album was the band’s final statement, a swirling, psychedelic soundscape that defied category. It offered a haunting glimpse of a future that never came.

LP 4 — Experiments in Nocturnal Sound and Energy: Singles 96–99

Exclusive to the box set, this LP compiles B-sides, singles, and split releases, a sinister showcase of the band’s boundary-pushing sound experiments.

The Legacy

In 1996, Philadelphia hardcore veterans Sean McCabe (Crud Is a Cult, Mandela Strike Force) and Don Devore (Frail, The Icarus Line, The Lilys) set out to create a new kind of band, a century-ending statement that would explode underground music’s boundaries.

Their vision fused punk aggression with occult mystique and a heavy dose of theatrical mischief. They presented rock & roll as a psychic vampire, feeding on energy to achieve immortality.

Tragically, during what was meant to be a short hiatus, frontman Sean McCabe died in 2000 at the age of 27. His death, like much of Ink & Dagger’s story, remains wrapped in mystery, leaving behind a blazing but brief legacy that refused to die.

For decades, their long out-of-print recordings circulated only among collectors and diehards. Stories of blood-soaked performances and chaotic tours became modern myth.

The Resurrection

Now, decades later, Ink & Dagger’s shock and awe return in full force.
A caustic keystone of hardcore history, these reissues don’t just preserve the past, they resurrect it, fangs bared, to inspire a new generation of the wild and the fearless.

Ink & Dagger: The Complete Works
Available October 31 (LPs)
Deluxe Box Set Ships March 2026

Pre-order/Pre-save here.