Samstag, 28. Dezember 2013

casey jones - xtraitorx split 7"

i really like casey jones. i loved their 'i hope we're not the last' record and i'm still in agony that their first records, 'the few, the proud, the crucial' and 'the messenger', never made it onto our beloved format, the vinyl. and if they don't re-unite for some unknown reason, probably that will never happen because i don't know too many people that give a shit about their stuff. at least that's my impression. a real shame, that is.
anyway, checking ebay as i'm doing it quite frequently, i stumbled across this split release. it's a split between the aforementioned casey jones and a band named traitor. i never heard of them and going by discogs, they only had this one and only release. so, the traitor side is quite good. youth crew-ish hardcore with breakdowns. unique mixture, at least for me. indeed, the casey jones part is way better in my book. x up or shut up!
the record comes on a nice marbled grey vinyl. the labels were plain black labels and then got the silver pen treatment. each side marked with the initial letters of the bands and the casey jones label has the numbering. mine is #159 of 202. i can't say if the discogs pressing information is correct, because it says that there are 200 copies of the grey vinyl. but i know that there are two more. anyway, discogs tells me that there are 101 clear blue copies and 500 black copies. the label is music city six records. 2004.

Dienstag, 24. Dezember 2013

cataract - killing the eternal

i'm a big cataract fan since their 2003 album 'great days of vengeance' on lifeforce records. after that they released two killer albums, 'with triumph comes loss' and 'kingdom', and i saw them play live numerous times. always good live shows, they were. then, in 2008 and after some line-up changes, they released their self-titled and fifth album 'cataract'. that record sucked. i don't know if it was the missing of simon füllemann, the former main songwriter, or if it was just me. this album felt bloodless and weak. two years later and 'killing the eternal' came out. i had a hard time with it in the first place.
it took at least one year, i think it was even in 2012 when i first recognized the greatness of this record. i don't why, because when i compare 'killing...' to the two aforementioned 'with triumph...' and 'kingdom', they are not that far apart from each other. somehow 'killing...' needed to grow on me but it finally clicked. unfortunately cataract are on hiatus right now. hopefully they'll be back soon. want some new stuff!
metal blade released the cd version and this time they let some other label handle the vinyl version. the 'cataract' album from 2008 just got the shitty picture disc treatment by metal blade. the, to me unknown, label leech records took care of it. they pressed black vinyl and 500 copies of this clear red with black splatter vinyl. regarding the choice of colour, i can't say that i'm much of a fan of this. the colour-way seems random and doesn't match the cover art. comes with a printed dust sleeve. leech records. 2010.

Montag, 23. Dezember 2013

martyr a.d. - the human condition in twelve fractions

when i started getting knee deep into hardcore with straight edge/vegetarian/vegan ethics, lifeforce records from germany was the label of my trust. all the good bands out of the german language area were releasing, to me, groundbreaking records. heaven shall burn, caliban, destiny, cataract to name a few. lifeforce had some american bands in their roaster as well. martyr a.d. was one of them and i always wanted a coloured copy of their lifeforce record 'the human conditions...'
actually this was released by ferret records on cd and lifeforce handled the vinyl version. they did the same with cataract's debut full length 'golem', which also appeared on ferret as cd only. anyway, i had the chance to score this on ebay for some lousy bucks, but i slept on the auction's end. ohh man, that happens way too often in the past. need to get some brain training. but one time you're losing and the next time you're winning instead. discogs came to my rescue.
the always appreciated some-records-from-your-wantlist-are-available e-mail told me that i could easily buy a perfect-condition-copy of just this album. it got a bit pricier than on ebay, but that's just the deserved punishment. musically this is hardcore metal crossover at the heavier end of the spectrum with some hints of chaotic elements. i like it a lot. check some here. the coloured version comes on a lovely shade of clear red. looks almost pink in the right light. 100 copies made. black vinyl of a larger pressing. lifeforce records. 2001. 

Sonntag, 22. Dezember 2013

hardside - 2009-2011 comp

about the same time as 6131 records was releasing hardside's debut record 'time is punishment', demons run amok put out this compilation of their first two 7"es 'welcome to hell' and 'crucified'. as i really liked 'time is punishment' (and you should check it out, too. yes, you!), naturally i wanted their other outputs. the coloured version of 'welcome to hell' was gone at all my usual distros, i buy from in germany. and my one and only attempt to get 'crucified' was a dead end over at per koro. so i thought that i should go for the dra comp. the record wasn't going fast, so it wasn't high on the priority list.
i even forgot to order it along with other stuff from dra a few times. stupid me. burnout store hamburg had a copy in stock as well, as i stumbled upon it a few times before. i also never bought because i thought i'd order it from dra. i tricked myself with this kind of thinking and then, with having it again in front of me again, i said to myself that i won't get suckered by my own mind again. i finally took it. musically 'crucified' is pretty good. but somehow one song is missing, as i learned by downloading it from hardside's bandcamp. why this? now i have to get it anyway in its intended way, as a 7". 'welcome to hell' sucks. at least that's what i feel towards it. you can also download it from hardside's bandcamp and decide for yourself.
the packaging is quite minimal. to reduce costs i assume. no actual sleeve but two two-sided inserts, that serve to house the record. one with cover art and lyrics and the other with backside and lyrics. the vinyl itself is one-sided. maybe that explains why they dropped one song? i don't know. the colour is pretty nice. a marbled opaque green and limited to 300 copies. another purple-grey-green mixed colour-way limited to 200 copies also in existence. both still available. demons run amok entertainment. 2012.

Freitag, 20. Dezember 2013

reality check - the world on my shoulders 7"

after throwing the unveil and the avalanche 7" into my cart i was able to add another piece of vinyl. the hardcore scene in poland seems to be up and coming. next to this reality check release, others will appear on this blog in due time.
reality check play some heavy nyhc influenced hardcore. they sound a lot like madball. and this is their only weakness. a little bit too similar to the well-known american hardcore legends. but if you like madball, be sure to check them out.
the record appeared on ratel records, a label from poland. they added a small note to the release. i like their attitude. it's printed on english and polish. i just took a photo of the english part. check it out on the picture below.
you can listen to some songs on optional the band's or the label's bandcamp. the limited coloured vinyl comes on red. the quantity pressed is 200 copies. ratel records. 2012.

Donnerstag, 19. Dezember 2013

avalanche - thanatos 7"

i am not that much aware of what worship records from germany are doing. i have one release of them and that is the first coldburn 7" i purchased last year. but my attention was drawn to this release because of coldburn (they released an album and i wanted to have their earlier stuff) and not because of the label. with that in mind, or better not in mind, i searched through the disributed titles at take it back records, because i wanted to add some to the unveil 7".
the first name that striked my eyes was avalanche with their first 7" called 'thanatos'. the description said coloured vinyl and the cover art looked interesting, so i checked their bandcamp. these guys are hailing from vienna, austria and playing a mixture of crusty hardcore and doom metal. usually i'm not really into doom stuff. i find it too slow most of the time. but avalanche got a stronger hardcore edge and man, they're just sharp! check them!
the record comes in a nice glue-pocket-sleeve with an insert. the vinyl colour is really great. reminds me a bit of the congress 'euridium' 7". the clear purple vinyl has some green streaks through it and is really an eye-catcher. 'thanatos' was co-released by worship records and green menace records from sweden. 150 were pressed on purple vinyl by worship and, i suppose, 150 on green vinyl by green menace. 2012.

Mittwoch, 18. Dezember 2013

unveil - hypnopaedia 7"

start a fire records is a small d.i.y. label with a small string of releases yet. in the past i wanted to buy a bunch of them over at disamare distro (when i bought the two wolfxdown 7"es) but they were already gone. luckily the second unveil 7" was co-released by start a fire and take it back records. and take it back had some in store left. even the coloured version.
unveil was a band from switzerland. they called it a day in early 2013. they played some great mid-nineties hardcore with a metallic edge. not only because they were a vegan straight edge band, they remind me alot of earth crisis. they released a 7" before 'hypnopaedia' and a full length afterwards. i have both of them by now so expect more unveiling in the future (word play!).
the whole 7" and the predecessor are for free download over at the start a fire website. this lovely coloured version comes on a nice clear green w/ black smoke vinyl. looks real good. additionally there is an insert and a download code, which you don't need indeed... you know, because of the free download. 152 made on green (as pre-order and record release version) and 367 on black vinyl plus 22 test pressings. 2010.

Donnerstag, 12. Dezember 2013

ryker's - brother against brother

not long ago demons run amok entertainment announced pre-orders for this re-release of ryker's classic record 'brother against brother'. by the time it appeared in 1994, lost and found records did release a vinyl version but the everywhere despised format of the picture disc. so i wasn't ever bothered to get a copy. finally cupcake records corrected this mistake this year. yes, cupcake records. not demons run amok.
cupcake doesn't seem to have a distro on their own, so d.r.a. sells a couple of red vinyl copies. core tex got some on blue vinyl. these were the two coloured versions i knew about but as they didn't seem to go fast, other stuff got in the way and i was distracted. being in my favourite physical store, burnout records hamburg, i found a version i hadn't on my list. as i'm much more a fan of opaque coloured vinyl than of clear colours, it was a nice surprise to find this white vinyl lp. this copy in front of me, i had no excuse anymore not to grab this great record.
ryker's were the first german band in hardcore that gained a lot of attention internationally. after 'brother against brother' they even made it to a split release with sick of it all. and the nyhc influence is undeniable on this record. heavy madball and biohazard impact is to be felt. great 90s crossover hardcore. check 'the edge', in my eyes one of their best songs ever, even though it's a cover song.
cupcake slightly changed the cover artwork. looks cool nevertheless. the vinyl has a lot of black traces going on, so it looks almost marbled. don't know if every white copy is like this. if i'm going by the first three sentences in the insert (picture above), ryker's would have to be my favourite band of all times simply by being big star wars worshippers. i can only fall into line with them, may the force never lose it's magic! through different sources, i came to the following pressing information: 100 clear red, 100 blue, 100 white and 200 black vinyl copies. cupcake records. 2013.

Dienstag, 10. Dezember 2013

downpresser - don't need a reason

the first two releases of downpresser, 'perverted justice' and 'age of ignorance', were on my wantlist for quite some time. but i never came across any or never came across a copy for the price i wanted to pay. i had an option for a coloured test of 'perverted justice' but money seemed to high. but hey christmas is coming and maybe i'll enlarge my balls and catch up. so now to the record at hand. downpresser's latest output 'don't need a reason'.
i didn't order it in the first place because of the following problem. the most common colour of the first press is black. as 'don't need a reason' is out on an american label, over here in germany usually one gets the most common press from the general ditros. i didn't want the black vinyl and that's why i passed on it. but then, because i wanted to check the vinyl section at kings road merch, i stumbled upon the coloured copies of 'dnar'.
in the beginning i even overlooked the blue vinyl and ordered the clear vinyl. fortunately i noticed my mistake soon enough, so i was able to e-mail kings road before they shipped the record and change from clear into blue. the music itself is really good. pumping metallic hardcore. downpresser just knows how to play this stuff real tight. check 'twist of fate' or the title song - scorchers. shame that two or three songs are just average stuff. otherwise the record-of-the-year title had a most promising hopeful with 'don't need a reason'.
despite that. this album hits my imiginary top ten list of 2013 because of a movie qoute at the end of the record. it's a qoute by detective lt. somerset (played by morgan freeman) from the movie 'seven'. check it here. it's one of my favourite movies. that makes a special connection and that makes an special album. the vinyl colour sucks and is cool at the same time. sucks because it looks black and, here is the cool part, looks great hold up to the light. gatefold sleeve with nice and simple layout rounds it out. 600 on black, 300 on clear and 100 on blue/black vinyl. 6131 record. 2013.

Samstag, 7. Dezember 2013

wolfxdown - stray from the path

after i really enjoyed their last two 7"es, of which i posted before, i was really looking forward to their upcoming release. as i'm not taking part in any social network, i sometimes may not be the first one to recieve the latest update. but to be honest, this didn't work to my disadvantage in the past, except one time where i missed the pre-order for the latest heaven shall burn record. in this case however, i was close to miss out if it wasn't for a little flyer that i got from somewhere.
looking more closely, the text above the wolfxdown lettering says record release show. damn me, it hit me like a sledge hammer. hectically i was browsing the world wide web to gather information. thankfully i didn't miss out. power trip records from leipzig handled the pre-order and it wasn't even upped at that point. of course i had my order in as soon as it was available. what i really liked about the pre-order, similar to the 'deathrite - into extinction' pre-order at per koro, was the little tease of not giving information about the colour of the vinyl. it was just colour #1 to #3 with the limitations given. so i opted for the most limited - the pre-order colour.
as it came around i was really excited to find out. and look, it didn't disappoint. great colour scheme. musically wolfxdown went one step further. the whole thing sounds more elaborate. great straight up hardcore. reminds me a bit of expire or the latest no turning back record. finally a good new and proud vegan straight edge band from germany. next to the tight tunes, the lyrics are pretty good. straight to the point, just the way political hardcore should be. topics like animal liberation, the role of girls in the scene, anti-fascism, sub-culture and, of course, straight edge get addressed. thumbs up!
this lovely white w/ cream swirl vinyl record is housed in a gatefold sleeve with great art work. furthermore you get a lp-sized booklet with all the lyrics and explanations along some nice pictures of the band. love those booklets! there are 500 copies on grey vinyl as regular press, 300 splatter vinyl copies as band press (never saw one of these) and 200 copies on my swirl vinyl as pre-order version. plus some black copies that went on record release shows. get your copy today! co-release between start a fire records and power trip records. 2013.

Freitag, 6. Dezember 2013

the setup - minister of death

this is their second full length, following 'the pretense of normality'. i made an attempt in the past to get hold of these two records. i asked at reality records for the coloured versions, the label which released them, but with the reply that they had sold out on the two. a little time after that, i got outbid on ebay for a white copy of the debut full length 'the pretense of normality'. it went for more than i anticipated and i was quite surprised about that. sometimes ebay is beyond my limited grasp. anyway, two months ago i got one of these discogs mails.
a seller from italy wanted reasonable 15 euros for this coloured version of 'minister of death'. i did him the favour of opening my wallet and a week or so later i was able to remove another item from my wantlist. the sound of the setup on this recording isn't that far away from 'this thing of ours'. a little slower maybe. it's a damn solid hardcore record that isn't that much of a cracker as 'ttoo' but i really enjoy it.
don't really think that clear blue was a good choice for the vinyl. looks a bit misplaced looking at the colour pattern of the cover art. something inbetween the range of yellow and red would have been more appropriate, but who am i to tell. the cd version was released by gsr music. reality records handled the vinyl version. 100 on clear blue and 400 on black vinyl. 2006.

Donnerstag, 5. Dezember 2013

length of time - how good the world could be... again

another belgian band from that furtile time-period of the late 90's and early 00's. another goodlife record. another ebay bargain. these records always seem to go for pretty low on ebay germany. i got it for 12 bucks. good for me, i'd say. it was the first time that it showed up on ebay as long as i'm looking for it. considering that there are pretty pricey options on discogs, for black vinyl only, i don't really get why i snag these things for such slim money.
does really nobody gives a fuck about them jolly good records, except me? ok whatever, this baby looks fantastic. from the musical point of view, 'how good the world could be... again' is a sharp bastard mixing metallic 90's hardcore ala merauder with life of agony -like melody parts. it's really good stuff. the sound is of high quality, tight all the way through. can't get enough of it! check 'losing my heaven' from these holy terror church worshippers.
the presentation is special too. the cover artwork depicts a painting by german artist franz von stuck (1863-1928). it's called 'the wild chase' and shows the northern god odin on horseback. von stuck painted it in 1880. it is said that adolf hitler was a big admirer of franz von stuck's work, of this painting in particular. rumour has it that hitler even copied odin's hair style and mustache from the picture. i don't know about that. it makes a strange pick for the cover. what did the band intend with it? i'm interested why they chose it for the cover. anyone knows? apart from that, this picture really looks kind of menacing.
like other goodlife records i wrote about in the past, this lovely red vinyl reveals a nice marble effect hold up to the light. the yellow gleam is just the sun. it looks different in reality but i couldn't make it visible properly with my cam. but it gives you an idea. 200 made on red vinyl. the black vinyl version is still available. goodlife recprdings. 2000.