diff --git a/internal/database/external_releases.go b/internal/database/external_releases.go
index 62d4388..6b9b567 100644
--- a/internal/database/external_releases.go
+++ b/internal/database/external_releases.go
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ func GetExternalRelease(db *DB, rgid string) (*ExternalRelease, error) {
 func SaveExternalRelease(db *DB, release *ExternalRelease) error {
 	var cachedAt interface{}
 	if !release.CachedAt.IsZero() {
-		cachedAt = release.CachedAt.Format("2006-01-02 15:04:05")
+		cachedAt = release.CachedAt.UTC().Format("2006-01-02 15:04:05")
 	}
 	_, err := db.Conn().Exec(
 		"INSERT OR REPLACE INTO external_releases (rgid, artist_id, title, type, release_date, is_ignored, cached_at) VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)",
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ func CountExternalReleases(db *DB) (int, error) {
 // GetExternalReleasesByArtistWithCache returns cached external_release rows for a given artist_id
 // that are within the specified TTL.
 func GetExternalReleasesByArtistWithCache(db *DB, artistID string, ttl time.Duration) ([]ExternalRelease, error) {
-	cutoff := time.Now().Add(-ttl)
+	cutoff := time.Now().UTC().Add(-ttl)
 	rows, err := db.Conn().Query(
 		"SELECT rgid, artist_id, title, type, release_date, is_ignored, cached_at FROM external_releases WHERE artist_id = ? AND cached_at >= ?",
 		artistID, cutoff.Format("2006-01-02 15:04:05"),
diff --git a/internal/musicbrainz/api.go b/internal/musicbrainz/api.go
index 7aa0327..36a8ade 100644
--- a/internal/musicbrainz/api.go
+++ b/internal/musicbrainz/api.go
@@ -26,6 +26,14 @@ var includedTypes = map[string]bool{
 	"Compilation": true,
 }
 
+// Precompiled regexes for NormalizeString — compiled once at package init.
+var (
+	bracketRe = regexp.MustCompile(`\[[^\]]*\]`)
+	parenRe   = regexp.MustCompile(`\([^)]*\)`)
+	yearRe    = regexp.MustCompile(`\b(1[0-9]{3}|2[0-9]{3})\b`)
+	spaceRe   = regexp.MustCompile(`\s+`)
+)
+
 // GetArtistReleaseGroups fetches all release groups for a given artist from MusicBrainz.
 // It queries the artist's release groups via the MusicBrainz Web Service API,
 // parses the XML response, and applies status and type filtering.
@@ -57,7 +65,9 @@ func (c *MusicBrainzClient) GetArtistReleaseGroups(ctx context.Context, artistMB
 		allGroups = append(allGroups, parsed.ReleaseGroups...)
 
 		// If we've fetched all results, we've reached the end.
-		if offset+len(parsed.ReleaseGroups) >= parsed.Count {
+		// Also break on empty page to prevent infinite loop if API
+		// returns fewer items than advertised by count.
+		if len(parsed.ReleaseGroups) == 0 || offset+len(parsed.ReleaseGroups) >= parsed.Count {
 			break
 		}
 
@@ -111,15 +121,12 @@ func NormalizeString(s string) string {
 	s = strings.ToLower(s)
 
 	// Remove bracketed content first (e.g., [Deluxe Edition], [Remastered 2020])
-	bracketRe := regexp.MustCompile(`\[[^\]]*\]`)
 	s = bracketRe.ReplaceAllString(s, "")
 
 	// Remove parenthesized content (e.g., (Deluxe), (Remastered))
-	parenRe := regexp.MustCompile(`\([^)]*\)`)
 	s = parenRe.ReplaceAllString(s, "")
 
 	// Remove years (4-digit numbers between 1000-2999)
-	yearRe := regexp.MustCompile(`\b(1[0-9]{3}|2[0-9]{3})\b`)
 	s = yearRe.ReplaceAllString(s, "")
 
 	// Replace common separators with spaces before stripping other special chars
@@ -136,7 +143,6 @@ func NormalizeString(s string) string {
 	s = b.String()
 
 	// Collapse multiple spaces
-	spaceRe := regexp.MustCompile(`\s+`)
 	s = spaceRe.ReplaceAllString(s, " ")
 
 	// Trim
diff --git a/internal/musicbrainz/sync.go b/internal/musicbrainz/sync.go
index d9f3b85..282537b 100644
--- a/internal/musicbrainz/sync.go
+++ b/internal/musicbrainz/sync.go
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ func SyncArtistDiscography(
 	filtered := FilterReleaseGroups(groups)
 
 	// Step 5: Upsert within a transaction — delete old entries first, then insert new ones.
-	now := time.Now()
+	now := time.Now().UTC()
 	tx, err := db.Begin()
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("sync artist discography: begin transaction: %w", err)