take it back rec: kids insane, state of mind, el camino car crash

kids insane - all over

yet another find that is linked to this great fanzine i began to love lately. project print already introduced me to some other really cool hardcore bands such as wolfxdown or xeisbergx (of which i will post in near future). so i read a commercial panel of take it back records. a small d.i.y. label from germany - seems that there are tons of them out there, if they put all out stuff like this, let them come! at their big cartel shop i searched through the vinyl section. kids insane was on top. mmhhh, never heard of them. i listened to a song on bandcamp and was sold! crisp and catchy hardcore from tel aviv, israel.

the fact that they are from israel makes me like them even more. love that international hardcore feel :) so everybody who can enjoy stuff like verse, champion or refused should check them out. they're worth it. hope i can catch them some time in germany. the record however is just lovely. nice solid cardboard sleeve with a pretty cool cover, lyric sheet, download card and sweet beige splatter vinyl. looks awesome.

'all over' is a co-release of take it back rec, crapoulet rec from france, derrick hunter rec (couldn't find any info on them) and you're next rec from israel. there is a pre-order version on black vinyl of 100 copies and my coloured version of 400 copies. both were available but as i prefer coloured vinyl over black i took the less limited. 2013.

state of mind - knowledge of self

this record was on clearance, it was coloured, the cover looked kind of cool and i only listened with half an ear to the song on bandcamp. that were the main reasons i bought it. i was a bit overly excited with state of mind from the netherlands.

to be perfectly honest i don't know what to think about it. they were compared to helmet, maybe that's true. don't know much about helmet and i won't give 'knowledge of self' much spins either. just not my thing. so i'm the wrong person to judge it. maybe it's great stuff but as said before not my cup of tea.

nevertheless the presentation is very good. same sort of solid cardboard sleeve as 'kids insane' and thick, semi-translucent red vinyl. comes with a download card, too. 100 of it pressed.

take it back records. 2011.

el camino car crash - demo

last and most unusual of this order is the el camino car crash tape of their demo '12. i don't buy tapes. don't know much what to do with these. i love the asthetics of a 12" release for the lovely size of the cover and nice vinyl colourings. everything a tape is not. but in this case i was curious.

take it back had some other tapes to offer but checking the music i wasn't really convinced to buy my first tape. things changed with the song 'typography's dead'. really good nineties hardcore. think of morning again, unbroken, early cataract. mix in some modern elements and here you have a great demo release.

the tape comes with a download card and looks nice in red. i can't play cassettes at home but i can hear it in my car as it still has a cassette deck. 100 made. take it back rec. 2012.

blackheart inc: empty handed, the cold harbour

empty handed – a memory that no one clings onto

i recently wrote about empty handed’s first 7” ‘perspectives’. i was positively surprised at how much i came to like this record. it was co-released by four labels. among them was blackheart inc. records. another small d.i.y. label from germany. they seem to specialize in modern melodic hardcore. so as i was checking their big cartel shop i came across the new full length record of empty handed called ‘a memory that no one clings onto’.

i listened to some songs online and found that they only got better since ‘perspectives’. foremost their sound improved. the record sounds ace! i then found out that i must have been a bit late to the party as the most limited colour orange with black marble was already sold out. damn it! i went for was called the white/black version. as you can see this is more a grey with black and some blue marble. looks lovely anyway.

the record is housed in a nice gatefold sleeve with a massive spine. it’s made a bit different to the usual gatefold sleeves. i thought a lot about how to describe it but in the end i came to the conclusion that nobody would understand this shit. so just buy it yourself and you’ll know what i mean :) my colour is limited to 100 copies. the orange/black is limited to 50 (plus 50 of the same colour as record release edition) and a dark blue/black version is limited to another 100 copies.

blackheart inc. 2013.

the cold harbour - homebound

as always I needed at least one more item to avoid wasting money on shipping. the record that immediately caught my eye was the latest album of the cold harbour from the uk. in the past i was interested in their debut release ‘long road blues’ on headsdown records of 2011. as the coloured version was sold out at the time i put it on my wantlist and moved on. i lost track of them and so it was a nice surprise to find ‘homebound’ for only 8 bucks.

they are kind of similar to empty handed, playing the same kind of melodic hardcore. stuff that put on on rainy days. in direct comparison the cold harbour comes second. sometimes they tend to get lost in their massive sugar sweet melodies. but don’t get me wrong it’s still a good record that i recommend with a clean conscience.

the blackheart inc. side lacks pressing information on this one. all i know is that there are two versions. my yellow/black version which is more of a green with black marble and a white vinyl version. i presume they are both limited to 100 copies? But that’s just a guess.

blackheart inc. 2012.

p.s.: if anyone out here is willing to part with his/her copy of ‘long road blues’ on blue vinyl, get in touch.

ebay: until the end

until the end – blood in the ink

another ebay score. actually i wanted the 'let the world burn' 7“ that appeared in 2002 on red and white vinyl. i saw it on the bay and got reminded of the fact that until the end are one of the bands i know by name for ages but never came around to check them out. so i listened to a few songs on youtube from that 'let the world burn'. great moshcore with mean pete on vocals whom i know from his last band xbishopx. problem was that i got outbid on that double 7“ release. there i was with that ugly feeling of wanting something badly, not getting it and having no chance of immediate compensation.

but then my sometimes well sorted memory stepped in. not long ago i bought some stuff off a guy from austria (unearth, cataract, ddd) and somewhere in the back of my mind there was this tiny glimpse of an reminiscence that he had an until the end record to offer. and boy was i right! it was their first full length out on eulogy records.

at the time alveran records from germany did kind of the european distribution for eulogy records. additionally they did some vinyl releases for eulogy cd releases. 'blood in the ink' was among them. alveran pressed two colour ways. one clear red, which is a bit more limited i believe, and on clear vinyl. i don't know about the pressing informations on this one. i paid something in the range of €15 all in all. good price to me.

the music however is simply great. you like older throwdown stuff or sworn enemy? you'll love until the end! sad they aren't around any more... comes with cd sized booklet.

alveran records. 2001.

ebay: h2o

h2o - faster than the world

as i'm determined to get the whole h2o back catalogue, i always have an open eye for their records set on ebay. this time around it was f.t.t.w. that crossed my way. it was one of that last-second-bids that made this baby go into my caring possession. i got it for under twenty bucks which is good i think. even though i saw it on discogs for 9€. but it comes from japan and shipping included would make about the same price. so it's all good :)

musically it's just another great record of new york's h2o. i've got their self-titled record from 1996 now too and i couldn't chose a favourite of the albums i know so far. positive music that is perfect for the coming summer. now i need only the 'don't forget your roots' tribute record and the 'go!' lp, which seems the hardest to get, to complete the full length's. we'll see...

f.t.t.w. got released through epitaph records. nowhere i was looking for pressing information i was able to find some numbers. no dead format, no discogs, no epitaph. has anyone here a clue?

white vinyl. epitaph records. 1997.

s.c.r. ebay: 2x vital remains

vital remains - dechristianize

unlike mike of 'the one thing that still holds true' i haven't seen many metal releases this year. checking my posts not one actually. just a re-release and older records that i finally added to my collection. so i felt the need get me some serious metal.

back in february i was checking lenny's 'the emerging addiction' blog and came across a vital remains post. when i searched on ebay for bands like nile or behemoth i pretty often stumbled upon the name vital remains. i knew that glen benton was on some of their records and although i don't really like his deicide band, i knew that they were playing some heavy death metal. so probably vital remains was more of my taste.

i checked the title song of their dechristianize record from 2003. i liked it pretty much and got a little bit sucked in the excitement. after a quick ebay search i found this and the follow-up record as re-releases on century media. i bought them from the supreme chaos records shop on the bay for reasonable prices.

lovely marbled beige double vinyl. couldn't find pressing info but there is also a black and a red vinyl version of this re-press. century media. 2003/2011.

vital remains - icons of evil

another tech metal massacre. good record all around. better than dechristianize as far as i'm concerned. the tunes and the solos are simply killer! the cover artwork is a bit different to the original pressing on restrain records. the band logo and the album name are printed in white instead of red.

sadly century media didn't go for the etching which the original pressing has. the inner picture of the gatefold sleeve is pretty cool, too. the band members as the four riders of the apocalypse drawing and quartering j.c. - boy, this band seriously has a problem with that guy. and don't get me started on that benton dude. an up-side-down cross branded into his forehead. when it's about glen benton a good friend and me only refer to him as 'lord forehead' ;)

the gatefold sleeve is made of matte cardboard. the double discs come on heavy 180gr vinyl. top notch presentation! what century media had missed with the etching they make up with coloured vinyl. there were two options available. one on marbled yellow and the other one on light blue. the yellow vinyl is limited to 200 copies and the blue vinyl to 300. 

i did go for the blue anyway. it just looks better and is definitely a better match with the cover colours. plus it looks bad ass hold up to the light!

ok ok, these two records aren't new releases at all but were at least new to me. i put all my hopes into the up-coming the black dahlia murder release. anyway, 'icons of evil' got re-released by century media at the same time as 'dechristianize'. a black version also part of this re-press. century media 2007/2011.

bdhw records: nasty

nasty – love

a heavily and critically discussed subject in germany's hardcore cosmos is the sub-genre beatdown hardcore. i'm not quite sure about it. there are bands that call themselves 'beatdown' and are just a bunch of idiots wearing sweatpants, ear-plugs so big to fit a dick in, empty lyrics and slow music that bores me to death. not to speak of the so-called fans who's only goal at a show seems to be to be the toughest and most violent one in the pit. no unity, no respect, nothing of which is hardcore to me. but then again there are bands that really surprise me. one of them is nasty. they released their first album in 2006 called 'declaring war' which was one of the definers of that sub-genre and pretty much everything i don't like about it. the follow-up 'aggression' was better, no flat hip hop attitude anymore. number three was 'give a shit' and here they grabbed me. great lyrics about media indoctrination, talking shit on the net, social disparity. of course brought to you in their very own style but always real.

so as i heard news that they would release their fourth album on vinyl too, i pre-ordered it from their new label beatdown hardwear (the other three albums on goodlife recordings). put against 'give a shit' they made another step forward. added some slight melodies and again some german lyrics. all fits well into the heavy nasty sound.

my record has a little flaw. it was cut out not perfectly round. it's best noticeable in picture one in the bottom left corner of the record (i know that a round record has no corners but you'll get the idea). has anyone a copy with the same flaw? it was pressed on white vinyl according to the beatdown hardwear description. 100 in quantity. as you can see, mine is more of a cream colour with black marble. willem of 'records with history and future' has a 'white' one too which looks the same way as mine. we are not sure if these are transitional copies or if the whole pressing looks this way. maybe someone knows? if so, leave a comment please.

beatdown hardwear. 2013.

burnout store: earth crisis, h2o

earth crisis – neutralize the threat

after i was really impressed with their return to strength from 2009, 'to the death' namely, i did not hestitate to get the follow up release 'neutralize the threat' in 2011. that was shortly before i got into vinyl. i remember that i had a hard time getting into this album and it never really clicked and so i filed the cd away. at my previous visits at burnout store i came across a copy of that album on vinyl several times but either i wasn't bothered or wanted something else more. in the meantime i bought a copy of 'gomorrah's season end' and with this came the urge to listen to 'neutralize' again. i don't know if the fact that i wanted to like it has something to do with my change of mind, but here i found myself really liking it. i decided to buy this damn thing at my next trip to burnout.

the last time i bought 'hardside+h20' i was looking for earth crisis too. flicking through the e-section i was terrified not to find it. someone was smarter than me and i just wanted to kick something. nothing is more annoying than missing out on a chance you had more than once. so there was nothing more to do than making my peace with the situation and trying to get the record via some other way.

new month means next trip to burnout. and here we are. burnout re-listed the record and it was mine. i sighed a relief and was happy to find, it was the brown vinyl which is the 2^nd rarest of the first pressing. 300 made of this colour, 200 on grey and 500 on opaque gold vinyl. comes with a printed dust sleeve. cd version is out on century media. vinyl on think fast! records. 2011.

h2o – thicker than water

your probably remember my last h2o post where i raved about how great they are live and how much i came to like the 'nothing to prove' record. at this point i knew that i had to check out the rest of their discography. the first album that came my way was 'thicker than water'.

i listened to one or two songs in the store and that left not the shadow of a doubt. i put the cash on the table and left with a 'thank you, sir, mr. shop keep, sir!' ok, maybe not quite like this. what i have here is a bridge9 re-press. they re-pressed pretty much h2o stuff recently. their first, self-titled record got re-visited too and 'nothing to prove' is in its fourth pressing by now.

what's nice about this re-press is the embossed cover. love embossed covers, give me more of this! additionally you get the always appreciated download dropcard. at first, in the store, i thought this lovely marbled opaque blue colour was one of the more limited. when i got home and was checking the bridge9 site for pressing info i found out that it's the most common one. ahh well, love the colour pattern anyway! 1000 made. appeared originally on epitaphrecords in 1997. bridge9 re-press of 2012.

2x throwdown

throwdown – drive me dead 7“

blogging about one's vinyl collecting can bring opportunities of getting some rare stuff. this insight view struck my mind as i read an e-mail i got by a nice chap from england. he said that he read my wantlist and wanted to get rid of some records that were on it. he linked his trade list on dead format in the mail and after exchanging some mails we made a deal on two records i wanted badly.

first one was throwdown's 2^nd 7“ 'drive me dead'. by now it's 13 years old, the coloured run was pretty limited and the music is simply good. these three components made it quite hard to get. never saw one on ebay and none on discogs too. so i was really happy that this worked out.

the vinyl, the sleeve and the insert are in great condition. this kind of marbled pink vinyl looks really awesome. can't explain why someone would chose this colour though but it is an eye catcher definitely. 300 made. indecision records. 2000.

throwdown – you don't have to be blood to be family

the 2^nd record i could make part of the deal was throwdown's sophomore full length, also on indecision records. pretty much the same problems i faced with the 'drive me dead' 7“ made this album equally hard to come by. but the seller made it a reasonable price. 

the condition of the record in fact wasn't that good. there is a pretty ugly ding in the bottom right corner and the vinyl itself has some strange volume fluctuations in the first song. i'm not too much of an expert to know what the problem is. probably just a bit worn out? whatever, i'm pleased to have it anyway.

the music is not as strong as on the forerunning 'drive me dead' release but it's throwdown and therefore it's a killer nevertheless. the clear red with some black streaks vinyl looks real nice and matches the colour scheme of the cover perfectly. feels good to cross this two records off my wantlist ;)

341 made. indecision records. 2001.

discogs: down to nothing-50 lions split

down to nothing – 50 lions split 7“

as i probably mentioned before 50 lions are one of my favourite hardcore bands recently. i love their snotty sound and their feeling for the right melody in the right place. of course they don't re-invent hardcore but hand on heart, who the heck wants that? they play it just better than the rest ;) as i have the two lp's they released and the self-titled 7“ there were not much to get anymore. i had my eyes on some copies of this split release for quite some time. all american ebay offerings which naturally increased the shipping costs. and so i didn't really get around to it as there is so many other stuff i buy.

one day a new blog entry of willem's 'records with history and future' appeared on my dashboard. in this post he pointed out that he would sell some of his stuff through discogs. scrolling through his list the down to nothing–50 lions split immediately caught my interest. he had different versions to offer. the green one i bought is not the most limited but in my eyes the best looking. willem packed it superbly and so i can only recommend buying from him.

both bands have three songs on this split. the down to nothing side is pretty good. never heard something disappointing by this band, though. but the winner to me of course, is the 50 lions part. they have a special sense for the best possible ending song. and again 'love and war' is top notch!

a really good split release out on 6131 records and resist records. 400 made. second press. 2008.