(again) burnout store pt. 2/2: trapped under ice - stay cold

trapped under ice – stay cold 7“

tui and me has been a difficult story in the beginning. i checked them out before because they are on reaper. i listened to some song from their first full length i believe. didn’t really convince me so i passed on. at one point i was reading a lot of good posts of fellow bloggers about one or another of their albums or 7”es. knowing myself and my unreliable first impression i tried again. and yet again some ‘secrets of the world’ song didn’t do much for me. if i just could remember which it was. but anyway i wrote an imiginary note to myself to abandon tui once and for all.

but then came burnout store and its 7” section. i flicked through it and saw this cover of stay cold. i knew what the actual cover of ‘stay cold’ looked like and so i thought this had to be some pretty limited version (oh what a fool i was). i pulled it out of the rack, threw it on the turntable and realised that this stuff is actually quite good. and even better! i listen to this baby pretty much every day right now. so damn good. the solos, the hooks, the breaks – ‘stay cold’ has it all and it just won’t let you go! one of my favourite records in the moment.

of course i wanted to check how ‘limited’ my version really is. i found out that it’s the highly sought after fifth press which came with the small amount of only 1000 copies and revised artwork, which tricked me into believing this was special. ah well, i think i don’t deserve better after falsely ignoring them for so long. white with blue splatter vinyl looks ace nevertheless. it was the right day for that colour pattern it seems.

comes with digital download card. reaper records. 2008.

(again) burnout store pt. 1/2: kingdom of sorrow

kingdom of sorrow - s/t

when this album was initially released in 2008 it completely passed me by. it was a time where money was really tight and where i had to watch every penny when it came to spend some coins on music. besides, i really didn't hear anything about it. so i didn't even consider to buy this album. fast forward five years and we have a day where i was walking through the city on my own so i had no one breathing down my neck as i entered burnout record store. i grabbed myself a lot of records i wanted to check out before for several reasons. some to re-visit them to confirm or not to confirm an opinion i forged before, some because i read a review in a zine and i thought it could be my taste and some because i liked the cover art or vinyl colour (yeah i know, pretty much on the surface but it worked before).

kingdom of sorrow fell into the last category plus i read the name jamey jasta on the back and as i like hatebreed i thought i might give it a shot. i listened most closely to this record but just after the second song 'grieve a lifetime' i was sold already. it has a gloomy feel to it but is heavy as fuck the same time. love it. i think it represents the whole record pretty good. i really like the alternating voices of kirk windstein of crowbar fame and jamey jasta. works damn good for me.

the record was released through relapse records and is limited to 2000 copies. at first i believed that there were 2000 copies of my colour which seemed odd but i didn't give it much thought. but musik-sammler.de tells me a different story. 2000 exist in total and the breakdown is as follows: 100 on clear vinyl (which were not available to the public, as always with relapse), 400 on white w/ blue splatter vinyl, 500 on blue vinyl, 500 on blue w/ black splatter vinyl and another 500 on green w/ blue splatter (i'd like to see a picture of this one, anyone?). so technically i have the most limited colour that was available to us mortals. cool thing!

relapse records. 2008. 

ebay: throwdown - s/t 7"

throwdown - s/t 7"

this is it. the final piece. the missing link to my complete throwdown vinyl collection as far as i'm concerned. of course, by no means this is really complete. i'm missing various colour variations and test pressings bla bli blub... but at this point in vinyl collecting i consider my oc straight edge heavyweight collection 'complete'. i'm talking about their first release, simply sel-titled 'throwdown'. discogs says that this is called the 'sellout' 7" but as there are no indications to corroborate this theory, i'll stick with other internet sources stating it as self titled. 

back when i was offered the 'drive me dead' 7" and the 'you don't have to be blood to be family' lp there was the opportunity to snag a white copy of this release as well but i declined politely, because i didn't want to spend too much money. after that i saw this red copy on ebay several times. starting bid was eight euro. but somehow i didn't bid on it immediately. the auction ended without a bid. the seller re-listed it and again it ended without anyone throwing money at it. you have to know that it was a ten day auction. so i was sitting in front of my comp watching it in my ebay account for twenty days not being sure if should go for it or not. actually the scrimper in me wanted it for less.

when the seller re-listed it for the third time, the auction was close to the end and i watched this thing for nearly a month now, a voice in my head was telling me this: 'oh come on tino, we're talking about eight lousy bucks right here. i mean for all the other throwdown records you've got you paid more without a moments hestitation. so what in the name of christ is wrong with you?' - well, i couldn't respond anything else to that than 'completely right!' so eventually i threw in a 8€ bid and won that goddamn thing. musically it was a pretty good start in my opinion. sure, sound quality lacks a bit but that's normal. later on all songs were also featured on 'beyond repair', except of the song 'decay'. 

the internet provides little and above all confusing information about this 7". discogs says that there are three versions. a white one, a red one and a clear red version. although i'm pretty sure that the red vinyl and the clear red vinyl is one and the same thing because there is a photo to the just red version which definitely shows a clear red copy. so misleading three versions and no numbers at discogs. a german music collection page called musik-sammler.de (this time it's called 'demo') has the red and the white version but also no numbers. and finally dead format comes up with the information that the white vinyl is the second pressing but, you guessed it, no numbers. prime directive records on which the 7" was released doesn't even has an internet address anymore. so i have probably a first press record of an unknown quantity. help me if you can!

prime directive records. 1999.

discogs: congress - resurrection

congress -  resurrection

and the winner is: congress’ last full length before the split. ‘resurrection’ was released in 2004. eye spy records handled the vinyl release for this. as i looked through their e-shop some time ago i found this record for five bucks. i threw it in my cart only to find while checking out that it wasn’t available anymore. funny chaps over at eye spy indeed. they could have made it clear in the description or banned it completely from the shop. would have spared me the let down after excitement. the eye spy page doesn't really exist anymore displaying only some commercial for upcoming hardcore shows. but whatever, it was xyosefx that came to my rescue and i have to say that, just like the ‘stake through the heart’ record, my ‘resurrection’ copy arrived in prime condition!

as i love all congress stuff their fourth album is no exception. again that great mix of this typical belgian fusion of hardcore and metal with a pinch of black metal that makes congress so unique to me. all killers no fillers. the change on vocals from pierre to tim is quite seamless. they sound pretty much alike. furthermore dwid himself made some guest vocals on the song ‘dogma’. the presentation is top notch again. i love the idea of making a special cover for the vinyl release compared to the cd release. of course it’s a question of personal taste and sometimes it’s not for the better but in this case i really like the lp cover. much more than the cd cover art.

i didn’t know before that the coloured run for ‘resurrection’ was numbered and it took some days to find it out. the hand written numbering is placed on the centre label of the a-side of the record. cool thing! the colour of this record is ace too. really nice clear vinyl with black smoke. looks lovely while spinning on the turntable.

as said before ‘resurrection’ was released by eye spy records on vinyl. the cd version appeared on congress’ regular label – goodlife recordings. 137 pressed on clear (some with black smoke, as i learned) vinyl and a to me unknown number of black vinyl. one stillavailable at the goodlife store. eye spy records. 2004. 

discogs: congress - stake through the heart

congress - stake through the heart

out of all these belgian edge metal bands congress is my favourite. no liar, no length of time, no arkangel, no morda - it's congress! to find some coloured vinyl seems to be a hard task for any of these bands. so you can probably understand my excitement as i got an e-mail by discogs telling me that a nice dude from the usa, xyosefx has some gems up for sale. all in all three congress records. 'the other cheek' on orange vinyl, 'stake through the heart' on white vinyl and 'resurrection' on clear vinyl. at that moment money was tight. i just bought two of them. i couldn't even afford one if it wasn't for a little bonus i got from my employer for swabbing up piss and shit. 

yepp, you didn't misread. i'm working as a therapist in a practice and one nice friday we had a pipe burst and guess who was there to do some first aid. the whole waiting area was flooded with water mixed with people's excretions and other stuff that people flush down. the practice is located in a hospital and so we thought that the maintenance people working there could do some quick help. forget it. because strictly speaking we are not the hospital and that's why we had to call our own plumber. it was friday plus the plumber had to bring some special pump device and so they needed over a fucking hour to arrive in which my colleagues and me were tilting at windmills because everytime someone in the building was using the toilet... you figure that out.

so i really felt that i deserve these records. xyosefx had them listed for good prices already but he also included a 'make an offer' option and so i was able to lower them a bit. i did go for 'stake through the heart' as you can see and on the second record i will lift the curtain in the next post to keep tension up ;-) i prefer this record over 'angry with the sun' although just by a hair. you feel that this band grew together improving their song writing skills. as a cool extra xyosefx kept a little promo sheet.

with this i could finally solve the pressing info mystery of my pink/red 'angry with the sun' copy. 500 made. goodlife used the same white colouring for this release as on the angel crew 'another day living in hatred' record. it looks like the casual white vinyl but hold up against the light a marble effect shows its glory.

i checked the goodlife website for pressing information. 200 copies on white vinyl were pressed. the site says that there are still some available. of course black vinyl only. concerning the black vinyl i don't know how many were made. goodlife recordings. 2000.

ebay: liar - liar's hell

liar - liar's hell

this post marks the beginning of some h8000 hardcore stuff i could obtain. first one is liar's fourth album liar's hell which appeared on germany's alveran records which isn't around anymore. i read some talk on the net about alveran records. it was an independent label out of bochum, ruhrpott. it existed from 1995 to 2009. i know it from several releases of german bands like maroon or narziss. as i mentioned in other posts they were distributing stuff for eulogy and abacus recordings over here in europe (icepick, until the end, bury your dead, on broken wings, evergreen terrace etc.). in 2009 the label became insolvent because of a lot of unpaid bills and disappeared from the scene. rumor has it that the not very succesful pressure festival '08 (which was organized by alveran since 2003) had its impact on the downfall.
anyway let's not get lost in that topic. this post is actually about this record:

as a constant reader you may know that i usually don't buy records on black vinyl if there is also a coloured version. but this case is slightly different. i found this one on ebay. it was listed as black vinyl with white marble. but no picture which is always suspicious. furthermore i never heard of a black marble vinyl version. the description text in the auction relativised this statement now stating it being on black with some white traces. so i gave it some thought.

i suspected it to be a transitional copy of that album. should i spend money on something i don't really want? because actually i wanted a red copy (the coloured run for liar's hell). i came to the conclusion that a transitional copy isn't really a black copy plus i knew that it would go for cheap, a vague description and no pictures wouldn't interest many bidders. and so it actually turned out. i got it for under a tenner. here are some pictures of the 'white' traces:

the colour traces are more red than white and so i feel confirmed in my claim this record being a transitional copy between the black and red pressing alveran did for this release. the seller is a swiss countryman and only ships his stuff once a month. he crosses the border to ship from germany for lower costs. so i had to wait two weeks before it got shipped and another two weeks because he sent it to the wrong address - the address of my parents. don't know how he got it. probably because the ebay account i use was originally opened by my mom twelve years ago and therefore the address is saved somewhere on ebay. but anyway it arrived there safe and sound and by the next family meeting i picked it up. i consider this record to be special enough to settle with it. but if there's anyone out there who wants to trade his standard red copy for my transitional copy, get in touch :)

alveran records. 2002.

burnout store pt. 4/4: turnstile

turnstile - step 2 rhythm 7"

i loved the 'pressure to succeed' 7" and therefore there was no way for me not to get their follow-up release. as it was announced by reaper records it was the same game to me as with the new terror record. i said to myself to get it from a german distro or burnout. i read some reviews respectively some posts of fellow bloggers. the consent was that it was good but the newly introduced clean vocals were strange. but i wanted to pass my own verdict on it. next to the terror 'l.b.t.c.' record i was specially out for this one. i had a good feeling that burnout would have it and they didn't disappoint.

when i gave it the first spin i found myself immediately hooked. i don't know about others but i felt reminded on some 80's sitcom tv series as the opening riff kicked in. probably alf. but it's more of a feeling. the tunes are by no means identical. i love the whole thing from first to last tune. the clean singing is good too and fits into the sound seamlessly. the singer managed to let them sound not cheesy at all. they really put their unique sound onto the next level. as far as i'm concerned they could crank out 7" after 7" like this.

the point i agree with most fellow bloggers is the cover pic. looks stupid. if it only was a picture of a wild pit or at least a picture where more dudes were to be seen. the cover shot makes one believe that only a handful of people attending a turnstile show. but you can't have it all. burnout had the most common colour in stock. the clear green vinyl out of 1000 copies. there are 300 on black and 500 on white vinyl too. digital download included. reaper records. 2013.

burnout store pt. 3/4: terror

terror - live by the code

as terror announced a new full length last year i wasn't overly excited. don't get me wrong i really like terror but there is something about them that doesn't get me too enthusiastic about los angeles' finest anymore. i mean since 'always the hard way' i know what i get when they put out something new. it will always be a very good record but it won't be really thrilling. furthermore because of their good reputation their records get pressed on multiple colour-ways on high amounts of copies. so it's not very tricky to get a hold on a coloured vinyl copy, even if you're late to the party. i also skipped the hard lessons 7" but more because i hate to lose money for those teaser stuff which only exclusive song is usually some useless cover.

so i passed on the pre-orders from reaper records. i wanted to pick it up from a german distro to save on shipping. as time passed i still didn't order it and so this trip to burnout was my chance to snag a copy. i knew that they would have it and so i hoped for a nice colour. i saw some pictures at the reaper shop and i liked the oxblood/white swirl vinyl plus it was a more common colour. odds seemed to be in my favour. burnout had several copies (five or six) and i checked just one because they were all sealed and i didn't want to stand in the corner opening five to six sealed records looking like some kind of idiot without a life. what i pulled was this clear version. visually it's not that exciting but i liked it because it's this kind of ultra clear vinyl. bought.

at home i checked sources for pressing information to see what kind of version i just had added to my collection. i was pleasantly surprised that it's together with a white pressing the most limited one. it's a green hell exclusive pressing limited to 200 copies. as green hell is the vinyl supplier of burnout records store it all makes perfectly sense. the music by the way is as expected - v.e.r.y. good. it comes with a bandzine in the form of an lp-sized booklet. love that! makes a good read listening to the record. reaper records. 2013.

for detailed pressing info and more pictures check willem's l.b.t.c. post.

burnout store pt. 2/4: strife

strife - witness a rebirth

i actually ordered this one way back in december 2012 or january this year from xsentientx distro which was late anyway. they had two options available. the black vinyl and the limited white vinyl out of 100 pressed by holy roar records from the uk. of course i wanted the white vinyl. sometimes i have an odd feeling with orders and then i e-mail the seller to confirm some informations stated in the description. i don't know why but i was suspicious that they still had some white ones. gut instincts they call that. i seem to have reliable guts.

after that e-mail i never got any reply which makes me pretty sure that they didn't had the limited white version anymore. why they never sent an answer though is beyond me. however i didn't send a second message. so i'd consider it a draw. anyway i didn't want a black version and so i looked out for it on the bay. well, all auctions were wether buy it now options which i thought to be too pricy or the auctions to bid on ended not in the range i was willed to pay. so actually the price was the one and only reason.

understandably i was pretty happy to hear that 6131 records announced a second press on blue vinyl. now i could easily order a coloured copy without the ebay struggle. i didn't pull the trigger immediately with a distro of my trust because to be honest i wasn't too keen on getting the record. other stuff got higher priorities. but as this new shining copy smiled at me at burnout the chance was right in front of me and i took it.

all in all the record is half damn good and half ok. not as good as 'one truth', which reminds me that i need a vinyl copy of that album too, but for a reunion pretty decent. hope to catch them live at some point. the presentation is lovely. great layout which favours the choice for a gatefold sleeve and nice clear blue vinyl out of an yet unknown number of copies (correct me if i'm wrong). 6131 records. 2012.

(edit: as the commentary by jake indicates i didn't tell you guys what happened to the order with xsentientx distro. of course he's right, so here is the story. after i completed the order at the xsentientx page i got an automatic confirmation e-mail. it sayed that they recieved my order and will get back to me with further information. stuff like if all the records are available and numbers of their bank account for the money transfer. after that automatic mail i sent the afore mentioned e-mail questioning about the white strife record. and after that only silence. so i never got to actually transfer any money and the whole thing came to nothing.) 

burnout store pt. 1/4: expire

at this stop at my favourite local store i was able to obtain some stuff i wanted all along. so i was real happy to get them without the hassle of having them shipped. i’ll deal with them in alphabetical order.

expire – pendulum swings

i’ve heard a lot good things about expire. that said of course i did check them out. in previous posts i also made clear that the first impression a band has on me isn’t always significant. when a band or particular record strikes my eyes with persistency i’m always open to change my mind. such was the case here. ‘pendulum swings’ flirted with me as i flicked through the racks and i thought i could as well give it a spin in the store.

i liked what i heard and so it was already mine. in the save environment of my home i spend some more time with this record. i think it’s a pretty good record. not overwhelming but solid definitely. i feel a strong backtrack vibe going on. not every song is a killer but some real crackers are among them. ‘anxiety’, ‘bark’ or the title track are awesome! gotta look out for their ‘suffer the cycle’ 7”.

love the artwork. the record comes with a nice fold out poster which has the lyrics and credits on the flip side. i could snag the second to rarest or second common colour of the first press. there were 1000 pressed on coke bottle clear vinyl, 700 on gold vinyl and 300 on coke bottle clear with black splatter vinyl. even a second pressing is available now – 1000 copies on clear purple with black smoke. digital download included. bridge9. 2012.

xeisbergx bigcartel

eisberg - s/t 7"

as i promised here, this is my eisberg post. again i discovered this band through my newly beloved fanzine project print. they just happen to have their new issue #6 out. good stuff, so if you're interested in interviews and good researched articles about bands/labels/stores/etc. and you can master the german language - go get it. but now to the record at hand. eisberg is a young european straight edge band coming from multiple countries. four guys: a dude from austria, a dude from germany and two dudes from england (huddersfield and london). and guess where they have formed. right, at the last have heart show in boston. just too obvious!

anyway, the music is just so great! seven crisp songs that are so damn catchy that i spin this on a regular basis. check the songs at their bandcamp page. the bandcamp page is showing a 'tape 2013' which is not available from their e-shop at the moment. probably they have it with them on their present uk tour. the record itself i have ordered from their bigcartel shop. they are running it from the uk which is as known is not very far from germany but it took some time to arrive though. as it showed up in my mail box i actually forgot about it. somehow that's cool to be surprised by stuff you didn't expect.

by now the record is sold out. but i hope for a re-press on colour vinyl as this black version seems to be the only one that was available. but i'm not completely sure about that. also i don't know about pressing information on this. if there is someone out there who can hook me up with some mp3's, let me know. the 7" was released by holy roar records. 2012.

bdhw rec: warhound

warhound - colder than ever

when i was ordering the latest nasty record i checked other stuff at beatdown hardwear records. warhound was among a few others and i remembered seeing a tape of warhound on ebay with a biohazard 'urban discipline' rip off cover. didn't check them out at that point but the time had come, i thought. so, as pretty much always i jumped over to youtube and searched for some tunes. first song i listened to was 'colder than ever', the title track. the biohazard comparison was quite accurate and as i have a soft spot for biohazard in my heart i wanted it.

some days after i pre-ordered the record i came across a warhound video called 'the demonstration 2013'. boy, that's horrible! i mean i can enjoy a well dose of hip hop influence from time to time but this is just shallow. i regretted that i ordered. as the record came around i thought to myself, ok i paid for it so i can give it a shot at least. i was happy to find that this demonstration song wasn't on the record. the music is actually quite good. the lyrics are far from embarrassing. 'the realness' features some real positive lines:

nothing more, it's what i need

the beauty, what i've seen

it surrounds me

hardcore is forever 

that's cool. i even read an interview in a german fanzine called 'fuze'. the answers sounded pretty reasonable plus i really enjoy this record. hopefully that video was some kind of joke. otherwise i don't know how to justify myself, haha.

beatdown hardwear records pressed four colours of the debut of this chicago based band. 50 on a blue-red-purple mix colour, 100 on marbled white vinyl, 250 on black and 100 on my marbled blue version. they are all hand numbered, mine is 59/100. it comes with a download card. beatdown hardwear rec. 2013.