zardoz: born from pain

born from pain - sands of time
in the recent time i was able to track down a lot of my favourite albums that made me love hardcore music and its ideals in the first place (heaven shall burn, cataract, etc.). one among them has been and still is born from pain's sophomore release sands of time. very dark and angry hardcore from this dutch power house plus great sound by tue madsen's antfarm. i kept my eyes open for it for a long time and it was available on ebay only for 35€, which was just too much for me. one day looking around at discogs (www.discogs.com) it was there for the taking for 16€. "strike!" was my first thought. but it got even better: checking the seller i recognized it was a record store from hamburg, zardoz namely. so actually i didn't have to pay for shipping. one lucky day ;)
cd version out on gangstyle records. vinyl was released on street justice records. semi-translucent white vinyl + printed dust sleeve. hand numbered: #467.

musikhaus kietz: darkane

darkane - insanity
when i listened to this album for the first time in 2004 i take it, it was three years old already and the world of vinyl was something i thought only old people would enter... yes, yes, times have changed :) i was paying my old neighbourhood in leipzig a visit and checked some record stores i missed the last time. among a few others was the "musikhaus kietz" where i found this picture disc. the vinyl is in a good used condition which the sleeve is not to be called, unfortunately.

as stated before i'm not a big fan of picture discs but this case is different. i really love the art work for this record because it captures the album title and the musical mood of it to 100%. pure fucking insanity!!! if you like a mix between thrash metal and the new modern metal stuff, this is definitely your thing. i have all their releases on cd but i'm glad to have this particular one on vinyl.
got no idea about pressing info. released on nuclear blast records.

per koro: emmure, xforce of changex, death before dishonor

emmure - slave to the game
i'm deeply impressed with emmure's constant flow of releases. no year passes by without a new album of new york's finest. this is number five. their style is very unique. i don't know any band sounding like them. the problem with emmure's sound is that their breakdown influenced style is always hard on the edge of monotony. their fourth effort "speaker of the dead" was one foot beyond that edge and so i wasn't really pleased with it (plus it wasn't released on vinyl which was somewhat strange).
"slave to the game" is similar hard digestible to me, just like "speaker of the dead" with the difference that the more spins i give it, the more i like it. they reduced the quantity of the songs and increased the quality. maybe i'll like it even more than my to date favourite album "felony" in short time :)
i ordered this copy through my internet shop of trust per koro. problem here is that i cannot choose colour variations, so i mostly get the more common ones. in that case no problem, because i like the less limited colour better :)
marbled opaque orange vinyl (400 made) + download coupon. victory records.

xforce of changex - the fire still burns
i came across this band checking the indecision records roster looking for older throwdown releases. i read the explanatory notes to their stuff and thought i could really enjoy this. spotting it on clearance at per koro, i took it as a sign and ordered it. listening to it i came to the conclusion that sometimes one has to believe his gut feelings! pretty rough hardcore in the vein of hatebreed's perseverance era. it's the same thing here with the colour - i have the more common one. but still looks awesome!
clear yellow splatter vinyl (707 made) + gatefold sleeve. indecision records.

death before dishonor - count me in
liking their latest release "better ways to die" surprisingly very much i was determined to check the rest of their discography. finding this one on clearance, too i didn't hestitate and added it to my cart. lovely stuff! i think it's even better than "better ways...". i can't help it but it all sounds very fresh and i just have to move when i hear it. even if it's just single body parts like my feet trying to imitate the double bass drum (badly) and driving my girlfriend insane :)
opaque white multi-colour splatter vinyl (1000 made). bridge9 records.

ebay again: embrace today, annotations of an autopsy

a pick my bank acount was surely happy about. all in all i paid ten bucks shipping included. but now let's get closer to the records sold at less than fair value.


embrace today - we are the enemy
i found the following record - annotations of an autopsy - on ebay. checking the other stuff the seller was offering i spotted this familiar looking record. the album i already owned (on cd) some years ago but sold it because i didn't like it. listening to it now i'm not quite sure if i understand my past decision. the record is great! maybe i wasn't ready back in the day... it's a multifaceted piece of music on which you get everything from old school over new school to metal elements. the only thing being a bit monotone is the singer's voice but always very aggressive and pure, so that's not really a weakness.
cd version is out on deathwish. vinyl was handled by german based demons run amok entertainment. clear red vinyl - 475 made.

annotations of an autopsy - the reign of darkness
an album i already own on cd, too. i'm not too stoked on this record but it came for cheap and the first half is really enjoyable. solid deathcore. a lot of bands out there that play this blend better but on the other hand, an even higher amount of bands out there that play it worse.
black vinyl + gatefold cover. nuclear blast records.

ebay: heaven shall burn

heaven shall burn - whatever it may take re-issue
whatever it may take was the second album i bought of this german five piece, which is to date one of my favourite bands. the music itself is awesome although the sound is a bit bumpy. but this is due to the time (2002) and the comparatively little money they had. and classics are recognized by the quality of music but not sound. the original vinyl pressing seems just impossible to get and if so just for a huge amount of cash :) so i thought to get the re-release which came out in 2007. as i'm five years late on this i imagined it to be a similar pricy quest. it was sold out at all e-shop's i know so i waited for it to show up at ebay. it did eventually and as figured before it got a bit pricy... but let's not talk about that... the record was polished up a bit sound wise and got a new artwork, which is quite compatible because the record was made in memory of sophie scholl. she was a resistance fighter in the times of third reich, got executed in 1943 and belonged to a resistance group called the "white rose".
they made a few changes with the original track list which are not very favourable in my eyes because it affects the original dynamic of the whole thing. but it's very nice to listen to the songs on vinyl.

(the original artwork)

on the flip side of the cover sleeve the pressing info is noted.

as you can see i have clear red copy. there are different possibilities of explanation. either it's a writing mistake and one of the colours mentioned do not exist, 100 clear means 100 clear red, or i have a super-duper limited colour, which i doubt, frankly :)
marbled clear red vinyl. lifeforce records.

merchnow: a life once lost, xcall to preservex, no innocent victim

as i poked through merchnow's vinyl cheapo section i found these lovely colour vinyl:

a life once lost - iron gag
a band that was on my mind for a long time but i only knew one or two songs and admittedly not very well. so i re-listened to them finding me liking them a lot :) the add to my shopping cart followed immediately. their sound is hard to describe. i think it's modern metal with a stoner rock edge... maybe... but who the hell cares about genre name dropping anyway? it's good music, very unique. listen to it and find out what i mean :) as i gathered some information about the band i found out that this is actually their latest release. and it's from 2007. but they are still around as their twitter account seems to prove. so, i'm waiting for new material, guys!
clear red splatter vinyl + printed dust sleeve. ferret records/suburban home records.

xcall to preservex - validation 7"

this good-bye-7" of call to preserve i just bought because of one good review and the outstanding cover artwork - lovely work! the music indeed is on the same level as the graphics. catchy melodic hardcore that makes me sorry hearing it because there is no chance seeing them live anymore. a christian band with decent lyrics that don't try to proselytize anybody, which is the very one aspect that makes me decide whether listen to a christian hc-band or not.

clear gold vinyl (300 made) + download card. there's a white one limited to 200 copies, but gold looks better in my opinion :)  facedown records.

 

no innocent victim - to burn again

another band i didn't know before. but their music is quite intense. good ol' old school hardcore with a bit mosh. very dynamic and no fillers. i figured that they were a christian band, too. but i couldn't find any sign of that in their lyrics or thank-lists, just the internet told me so. but as i said before, i think it's good if people stand for their beliefs as long as they don't try to tell others what's right or wrong. so bottom line is: i don't care if no innocent victim is christian or not :)

clear gold vinyl. blood & ink records (cd version was released previously by facedown records).

burnout record store: ice age

ice age - dead kings

i always read the band's name with a chuckle 'cause it reminds of the animated movies with same name :) 

but joke apart this is a real ambitious debut of a promising american hardcore band. i'm a bit late on this because they released it in 2010 already. but anyway, i stumbled upon this record checking the hardcore vinyl at burnout record store, hamburg just liking the artwork very much. home again it was the same procedure like so many times before: i listened to some songs on the almost almighty internet. they play a blend of older sick of it all like hardcore, a bit darker maybe. very good stuff! so, last time at the store i picked it up.

lovely red/white split vinyl (350 made) + download coupon. think fast! records.

hellion record store: behemoth

behemoth - demigod
i didn't get in touch with this polish extreme metal band by the direct approach. i kind of re-discovered another extreme metal outfit, nile (listened to them as i was younger but found them too extreme at the time), as a friend gave me "annihilation of the wicked" last year. and so i checked more stuff of them. doing this i often find reference of behemoth and so, along the way i checked them out, too. next to "demigod" i have "the apostasy" and "evangelion" already on cd on my shelf.
one shiny day, as i looked through the well sorted vinyl supply of hellion store i came across this version. it's a re-press on back-on-black (originally released on regain records) and a note on the back said "limited coloured vinyl". good price, too, i picked it up. coming home and freeing it from the shrink wrap i was a little bit disappointed though. no lyrics in the inner gatefold, which meant no liner notes either plus the colour is grey... i mean, it matches the artwork quite well but grey just isn't much of a colour to me.
gatefold sleeve + opaque grey vinyl. back on black.

dead truth recordings: xbishopx

xbishopx - drugs

i ordered a copy of that album a looooong time ago from the label out of america. two and a half months or something. the first copy arrived in the following shape:

fucking broken!!!

it was the first and hopefully the last time that i received a damaged record. i hate things like that. i've waited three weeks for it, i get the parcel, i'm excited to open it and the outcome is useless! luckily dead truth recordings were cool enough to send me a replacement (huge thanks for that). but another three weeks passed by and then, finally i got an unharmed lp :)

musically you get uncompromising hardcore with straight edge attitude. opaque green splatter vinyl. 

ebay: hatebreed, first blood-blacklisted split

i bought these two 7inches from one and the same seller at ebay, so i could combine shipping. he got all the colour pressings of these releases to offer and, for me, it turned out to be the following:

first blood-blacklisted - deadmanshand split 7"
i know first blood since their "killafornia" release and always loved their lyrics. passionate, sophisticated and political - no i-hate-your-ass-and-that's-why-i-punch-you bullshit kind of stuff. the two blacklisted songs are great as well. their early stuff is pretty good and so i'm looking foreward to catch a coloured copy of "the beat goes on". it's sold out and so i have to pick it up at ebay again. but that's life :)
clear purple vinyl. deathwish rec.

hatebreed - under the knife 7"
this 1996 release is more like a classic that i wanted to add to my collection. musically it's no sensation but you get to hear where it all started out.
clear green vinyl (200 made). smorgasbord records.