dead format 3/3: bitter end - climate of fear

bitter end - climate of fear

since i have all their other records in my caring home, i wanted completion. i was looking for their debut full length 'climate of fear'. of course there were more than one opportunity to get it, discogs and friends. but you know how it is, time and place just weren't right. as i saw this little gem on ewald's list, the stars were in the right position and time and place had come. 

just like all bitter end releases, their stuff seems to be like good wine to me. it gets better with time. i needed several spins for it to grow on me. by now i think it's even better than their 2010 output 'guilty as charged'. what i really like about them, they managed to sound unique. a trait of character only the real good bands call their own. listen to the song 'vigilance', one of my favourites. clear bitter end signature.

what i was able to obtain is a copy of the second press. the first press copies all came with gatefold covers. 1218 vinyl discs in total with numerous colours. look for yourself. the second press however has 787 copies in total. strange and uneven quantities in both pressings. i have one of 150 clear blue copies that were sold on the euro tour '08. as you can see with non-gatefold covers. for the other colours, check pressing info here.

six feet under records. 2007.

dead format 2/3: dead reprise - the unveiling

dead reprise - the unveiling 12"

i really loved their latest output 'dystopia' on demons run amok. it even grew on me over the time. so as i saw this record on ewald's list i surely wanted it. he priced it very reasonable so couldn't say no to it. i saw it before at the reality records shop and always said to me, that i would take it when the time was right. as this way of thinking always bears some risk, i was happy that i could aquire it in the same go as the born from pain record. you know, making postage costs worthwhile ;-)

musically it's pretty good work here. i only listened to it for a handful of times but it really grabbed me. probably it'll even beat 'dytopia'. the production is a little heavier than on the follow-up and therefore really grinds into your cortex. very solid executed metallic hardcore, that is. if you like metallic hardcore, you won't be disappointed. check some 'signs of reality' here. furthermore the slick gatefold sleeve was ennobled with great artwork by dave quiggle fine hands.

i wasn't able to find any pressing information for this record. i found a page that said that there are 200 copies of this orange vinyl. don't know if that's true. in the online store of monument records, on which the record appeared as a co-release with get this right records, the orange one has sold out. two other colour-ways, silver and white-tan swirl, still available. so orange was the most limited? please enlighten me, if possible! 2010.

dead format 1/3: born from pain - war

born from pain - war

as i made a good expirience the last time i aquired a record through the deadformat.net board, i wanted to push my luck some more instead of waiting for ebay opportunities coming my way. another record i was out for some time was born from pain's last record with che on vocals, entitled 'war'. i have this album on cd since its initial release in 2006. boy, that's seven years. quite a long time. doesn't feel like that.

in the past i could have easily purchased that record through the internet shop of the label. it appeared on hollow man records which is a division of hypertension records from belgium. the 'war' lp sat their, along with the 'in love with the end' album, for a stupid low price. i didn't go for it because postage was pretty high, but all in all the price was ok, considering the bargain prices for the records. furthermore i thought if those lp's were waiting there since 2005 or so, they would wait a month or two longer. how misdirected i was... after failing miserably, because the records sold out, i was waiting for it on ebay. time went on and it wouldn't appear. i thought 'fuck waiting!' and stretched out for it on dead format. 

same approach as last time, sending mails to people who had it in their trade lists. i was able to arrange an agreement with ewald, a solid dude from belgium. i made him an offer and he was honest enough to tell me, that he was selling his whole collection for fixed prices. my offer was higher than his fixed price but he wasn't bullshitting me and didn't take advantage on me. much appreciation for this, ewald! i think in the end it was good for him too, because i bought more off him :) so, now i have a nice shining clear red copy of born from pain's 'war' album, finally. don't know how many of these red copies were made. a black pressing is also in existence. hollow man records. 2006.

rwhaf willem: the freebies

i'm going to keep this one short because these two records are no actual purchase and the picture beneath actually says it all.

agnostic front - united blood e.p. 7"

as willem already wrote down, this one is essential. i'm not that much into the tunes, which the grooves release dropping the needle on it, but one has got to know where the roots are. hardcore history. plain and simple.

well done re-press in my eyes. bridge9 went for a new artwork but stood true to the original by printing the dust sleeve with the original artwork. the insert also included.

the sleeve comes with embossed lettering and the vinyl colour matches the colour-scheme of the sleeve quite well. solid all around. 800 copies made. bridge9. 2009.

down to nothing - 50 lions split 7"

as you can already read in picture #1, and as a constant reader you probably know, a copy of the superb split 7" is already in my posession. i got it from willem as well some months ago.

this time he sent me the white vinyl version. i think it was the most limited colour of the first press out of 100 copies. and with 50 lions being one of my favourite bands, this one is really nice to have. willem for president!

usually i don't collect several copies of one release but, of course, this is an exception. again, much appreciation and respect to willem. thank you mate. i'll give some back! buy his stuff from discogs!

6131 records. 2008.

rwhaf willem: forfeit - visions

forfeit - visions 7"

it was not long ago that i read a post on willem's 'records with history and future' blog about a special cover version of forfeit's debut 7", called 'visions'. i posted a comment saying something like: 'man, i need to get a copy myself'. being the cool guy he his, my fellow blogger mate willem felt the need to help me out of my miserable situation. he sent me an electronic mail, telling me that he had a spare copy to offer. of course i would gladly take it from his hands.

even with postage, which was a little higher than the price for the record willem and me arranged, i payed less than i would have, if i took one of the opportunities i had here (discogs and ebay). so i'm really happy to finally add it to my vinyl pile. musically it's grim, n.y.c. influenced hardcore. good stuff! the band called it quits some years ago, i think it was 2010? a shame that is... go check them out!

all in all, according to the reaper discography, there are 1022 copies of this baby. five tests and then 1017 copies on orange w/ blue splatter vinyl. out of those 77 copies were given a special pre-order cover and 50 came with a special record-release cover. so 890 with the regular sleeve, that i have. reading willem's post, this info can't be correct, because willem has a special summer tour cover out of 100. so probably there are 790 copies with the regular cover floating around. can't be sure. anyway, big thanks to willem! next up will be the freebies he threw into the package.

reaper records. 2008.

discogs pt 3/3: foundation - when the smoke clears

foundation - when the smoke clears

i came across the name foundation occasionally. was it in some fanzines, ebay auction titles, cross references in blog posts or billing of some shows that took place at some venue far far away. there are a lot of those bands out there i heard something about, but was never bothered to check them out more closely. sometimes this procedure is self-preservation, because one just can't listen to them all without going insane in order to collect, or wasting a hell lot of precious time listening to crap. but there are other times, where one is definitely missing something. however, foundation was among those aforementioned bands.

what really pushed me forward to check them out was mike's blog 'the one thing that still holds true', where he raved on and on about this band. i didn't give it much thought in the first place, because usually his taste is into youth crew styled hardcore and that's not really thing. but in one post he was drawing comparisons to bands like earth crisis and snapcase. that made me curious. and yepp, in this case i had been missing a good hardcore record. actually i bought their 2013 'hang your head' lp compilation on six feet under records before the full length but i lost my photos. this will be corrected in due time.

i had the chance to buy the latest re-press of this record on bridge9 at my favourite record store, burnout records hamburg. but i refused buying it because it comes on clear olive vinyl (1000 copies), which looks like clear dark purple or clear dark blue vinyl and that is... black, unless you hold it to the light. boring. fortunately green hell still had a copy of the first press on grey w/ blue and red splatter vinyl in stock. bought. love the layout. the inside gatefold is a collage of self-made pictures of the band, always a cool thing. furthermore you get a folded insert wit all the lyrics. 700 pressed on this colour plus  300 on splattered orange vinyl and 1000 on nice tri-coloured vinyl. good job, bridge9. 2011. 

discogs pt 2/3: congress - euridium

congress - euridium 7"

after i added the superb life of agony record to my cart, i was eager to watch through green hell's other stuff to offer, because i knew about their good supply. the first thing i stumbled upon was this little gem here. the first congress 7". i'm not quite sure if it was released before or afterwards the first full length record 'blackened persistence', which came out the same year.

i suppose it to be unleashed before 'blackened persistence' because that is usually the way things go. 7" record before 12" record. but this is a crazy world so i can't be sure. what i know is that the songs on this piece of vinyl don't really blow me away. they're good, sure. i mean, it's congress we're talking here. but compared to all their later stuff, it pales a bit.

going after the discogs book, there are three pressings. the first pressing consists of 980 black vinyl copies and the ridiculous low amount of 20 red vinyl copies. the third pressing has 1000 brown vinyl copies and my baby is also out of 1000 copies, second press and on marbled purple vinyl. man, that colour looks awesome! and that b-side label is priceless. anyone knows who this is? good job, i'm happy with it.

warehouse records. 1995.

ebay: madball - rebellion e.p.

madball - rebellion 7"

i really like madball. straight forward hardcore plus i've had always a good time seeing them playing live. with that said, my madball vinyl collection borders on embarrassment. two records i call my own, 'legacy' and 'empire'. recentish releases. non of the classics, like 'set it off' or 'demonstrating my style'. i struggle a bit with getting them because they catch quite a penny nowadays. i just hope that they get repressed like so many other things these days.

but now onto this latest release of them. it goes by the name of 'rebellion' and was originally released as a digital download. i remember reading about it at partyausfall.de, a german internet fanzine, and was hoping for it being pressed to vinyl. news said that this would happen later on the year. as i avoid facebook and other social networks like the plague, i must have missed the announcement. anyway, i kind of forgot about it.

then on one of my ritual ebay searches for new stuff i came across a shining copy of 'rebellion' on clear blue vinyl. so, when was it actually released? has anyone of the blogger crew a copy? strange that a new release by such a band like madball passed me by... anyway, i won the auction for a good price, i think, and was happy to put my first madball 7" into my m-section. by the way, the new songs are awesome! 500 made. released on freddy's own label, b'n'b records. 2012.

ebay: cradle of filth - nymphetamine

cradle of filth - nymphetamine 2xlp

i came across a lot of possibilities to grab a copy of cradle of filth's sixth full length album on ebay. but either the delusional price or the fact, that it was black vinyl held me back. then, finally, all the stars were in the right position and the time had come for me to pull the trigger. all in all i won it for a pretty decent amount of money. 

of course, this copy is far from mint condition. at least when it comes to the sleeve condition. worn edges and corners, outer sleeve and dust sleeves alike. but hey, i can live with that easily. the vinyl itself is flawless and looks lovely. 180gr semi-translucent yellow lps with some black smears. love the sleeve being a glue pocket one and not a gatefold. a non-gatefold cover for a metal release is a welcomed change for a time.

when it comes to the musical side, i'm not to one hundred percent sold on it. the first half is great. the second half however can't hold up to the first. it gets a bit dull, especially 'english fire' is a bore. probably one has to be an islander to comprehend. lyrically a story is missing. they loosely connect but don't build up on another. another minor let down for me. the record is good, really, but is simply not my favourite of them. i came up short with pressing information. anyone here a clue? roadrunner records. 2004.

per koro pt 3/3: deathrite - into extinction

deathrite - into extinction

having added the two previous posts topics to my cart already, i was looking around a bit at per koro. on its front page current releases get advertised. and so a per koro released album looked my way. deathrite's into extinction, namely. never heard of this band before but the cover art raised my attention. looked pretty apocalyptic and therefore pretty cool. description said something like, if the latest nail outfit isn't hard enough for you, this is your chance... or something.

deathrite is a band from dresden, germany. i checked their bandcamp for the song 'failure of existence'. what should i say, it is hard as nails, in both senses, ha! i was hooked and wanted a copy. luckily i was soon enough in the game to snag a limited coloured version. so i payed in advance, because it was a pre-order, and waited for the day of release to come.

as the package arrived at my door i was really eager to find out what the colour would be. markus/per koro kept things interesting and didn't tell what the colour would look like. i really like that idea. it keeps excitement high until you finally get your parcel. it's like christmas, you know. tearing the wrapping apart and sit in awe looking at the vinyl. the record is housed in an ultra thick card sleeve with brilliant artwork. the record itself comes on lovely 180gr grey marbled vinyl. ace! black vinyl still in stock for a real fair price! 100 made. per koro. 2013.

per koro pt 2/3: cruel hand - vigilant citizen

cruel hand - vigilant citizen 7"

finally, after a long time (at least that is what it felt like to me) i'm back on track. due to some personal problems, i lost all my vinyl pictures and will have to make them all anew. which in turn means that i lost my whole order. the order in which i bought the records and put them up on the blog. for you, the reader, this don't mean shit, because you don't know the order anyway. but for my little obsessive mind this is hard to bear. hopefully i won't forget any record...

but now to the piece of vinyl at hand. it's the recently released 7" teaser for cruel hand's forthcoming output. usually i don't give a damn about these teaser releases where you can listen to some songs from the album, which i will get with the album anyway, and some exclusive song, which mostly is just a useless cover song. in this case the exclusive one isn't a cover song, but to pay €5,50 for one song is still tosh. this time my curiousity outweighed all the aforementioned talk.

the two songs are quite a new direction for cruel hand. a little bit more catchy all in all. i really like it and look forward to the upcoming stuff. listen to the title song and dance like an idiot to it in your room! just the way i did. what can't be left unmentioned is the more than stupid cover art. what the hell is this about? on the other hand, that biohazard 'tales from the hard side' vest on the back is brilliant! 1000 copies made in total. 300 on black/white swirl and 700 on my white vinyl. triple-b record. 2013.