can't relate - demo '08

by the time i was buying the lose the life record from ugly and proud i was looking around what else i could add to the order. if it wasn't for that, i probably would not have ordered this 7". i mean i listened to the whole thing on the ugly and proud bandcamp site and, yeah i liked it but not that much that i felt the urge to order it at an earlier point.

with this purchase i was able to kill two birds with one stone, though. on the one hand i made the order more worthwhile and on the other, i supported ugly and proud. obviously more than the band itself, can't relate. they had broke up sometime after 2008. their debut 7" was about to released by positive and focused records but it never actually made it to a release. a demo was the only thing left of that attempt.

after five years ugly and proud records and positive and focused records finally corrected this wrong by releasing the previous tape only release on a proper format. the artwork is plain and simple. a white glue-pocket sleeve with the cover as a sticker attached to the front and an insert. pressing info as follows: 42 on black, 98 on white (sean has a copy, check it!) and 122 on yellow vinyl. i opted for the yellow because it looks best, i think. ugly and proud records. 2013.

lose the life - the end of conformity

since i bought some stuff from my favourite bulgarian label in the past (allocation 10" and 7"), i always watch what's up new with ugly and proud records. it's always interesting what kind of different bands niki digs up for his vinyl releases. a record i always wanted to buy at some point but never got around to, is 'the end of conformoity' lp from sweden's lose the life.

lose the life playing an aggressive and raw blend of oldschool hardcore-punk with some mosh and a strong straight edge and left winged politics attitude. crisp and heavy stuff. just like the music, their lyrics are pretty relentless and i'm not in line with all their messages but i think that's a good thing, to be controversial and provoke thought. reminds me of earth crisis which is always a good sign. check it!

what actually pushed me forward to finally picking up a copy was a blog announcement by niki concerning a special cover. the pressing plant manufactured 25 copies more than the printing works made covers, so u&p made some special 'free palestine' covers for fluff fest 2013. not all copies were sold and the left overs made it into the webstore. i scored #17 on clear green vinyl. looks nice! ugly and proud records. 2013.

iron heel - book of grief

you, as a constant reader, may have recognised, i buy a lot of records from the german distro per koro. as it happens per koro isn't only a distro but a label on its own too. markus/per koro released some good stuff in the past (fear my thoughts, deathrite, avalanche and more) and it's always quality vinyl, presentation-wise. so i use to always check out what's coming. this time it's about the first full length of the austrian band iron heel, that appeared in december 2013.

they play some kind of doom metal. i'm not sure how to categorise them, because this is usually not the type of music i'm listening to. so here is what i found in the description. huge epic riffs meet sludge-infested rhythms and the vocals are full of blues-orientated harmonies. the lyrics deal with ritual mummification, hungry ghosts and open graves. for fans of serpent venom, goatsnake and st. vitus. as i'm not familiar with the aforementioned bands i'm not sure if the comparisons are accurate but probably you want to check them out for yourself, anyway. here's your chance.

i love the first song 'book of grief' and the rest is in the same vein. but it's five songs in 45 minutes and it's hard for me to listen to this record in one go, because of the slowness of the songs. as a hardcore and tech death metal fan i just need some tempo. nonetheless i really like the crushing heaviness of these kiloton riffs. the presentation is outstanding. thick matte card for the sleeve plus ace artwork, thick paper for the insert, also with great art on one side and nice clear vinyl in a black dust sleeve. very solid job! at this point are still coloured copies left. i presume 100 of them made. per koro records. 2013.

on a side note: you remember my post about the fear my thoughts - the great collapse record i scored on ebay? it was released by per koro in 2004. my copy came without an insert and i wasn't sure if this was the way it was meant to be. so i asked markus and to cut a long story short he sent me an insert he had still lying around and my copy is complete now. thanks a million, markus!

converge - axe to fall

this is the latest converge record i added to my collection. i ordered it, along with the 'jane doe' re-press, from per koro. i missed it several times. for the first time on ebay where i got outbid on a coke bottle clear copy and for the second time on discogs. it was a solid baby blue copy and i put it in my cart. i didn't check it out immediately and left it there for some days. don't really know why. probably because it wasn't high priority.

after some time discogs informed me that the item in my cart wasn't available anymore. that's what you get for waiting too long. but as i got the e-mail from deathwish with news of a 'jane doe' re-press plus a new pressing of 'axe to fall', i didn't hesitate to order it straight away from my favourite german distro. i have got to admit that of all converge albums i know so far, 'axe to fall' grabs me the least.

i can't quite put my finger on it. i mean, this is unmistakably converge but somehow the majority of the material fails to excite me like the other records did. sure there are real crackers on it like the title song, 'worms will feed, rats will feast' or 'wretched world' (great last song) but the rest falls a bit short for me. the presentation however looks simply great again! the iconic j. bannon style in another facet. re-press comes on white vinyl. maybe 1000 made? anyone a clue? deathwish inc. 2009/2013. 

converge - no heroes

'no heroes' was the second converge album that i bought on vinyl. it was the only one i remotely knew but knowing something remotely and liking it cannot be said in one sentence with the band converge. i think, you have to invest more effort and spend more time with their records, than with your average hardcore band. but it gives more than it takes, without a doubt.

i got this copy through discogs. i was browsing through the vinyl offerings for 'no heroes' and came across a seller from canada. all together with shipping costs i spent around €25, so not over the odds. plus i got a first press copy.

music-wise this is, again, outstanding hardcore punk, new-school-hardcore, noise- post- whatever-core... you name it. the list goes on and on. i think it's the only real compliment when people fail to categorise a band, because the band is its own category. listen to the album in its entirety here.

another proof for the assumption that there is no bad jacob bannon artwork. i like the inside of the sleeve even more. only problem that arises concerning the layout is the arrangement of the lyrics. it's printed continously without any breaks, so it's a pain reading them along the music. nice colour way. pink w/ white swirl vinyl out of 1000 copies. 'no heroes' is in its fourth pressing by now. check details here. dethwish inc. 2006.

converge - you fail me

i won this baby on ebay for real good price, i think. the current price on discogs for a grey vinyl press is around €15 plus postage from the u.s. and i paid something around €18 all in all. so i'm quite satisfied with my score :) in my impression it seems like 'you fail me' doesn't get much love from converge fans these days. at least not as much as other records they released.

i can only partly understand this. the only thing which is a little downer is the sound. it lacks a bit substance. sounds thin, if you know what i mean. but that's it. musically the record is out of question. the sheer intensity of the title song or the frantic energy of 'drop out' sends shivers down my spine when it hits my ears. the artwork is pretty good, too. jacob bannon doesn't seem to disappoint.

the cd version was released on epitaph records. the vinyl version was handled by deathwish inc. the first press has some weird numbers according to discogs. take a look for yourself here. when i leave out the ridiculous one, four and eight copies pressings, which i will never get my hands on, i have the second rarest colour version after the clear second press of 302 copies. 514 copies on marbled grey vinyl. deathwish inc. 2004/2010.

converge - jane doe

some posts back i made a little series on harms way vinyl. that was fun in a way and so i decided to make another. this time i'll make a run on converge vinyl and, of course, starting with what is widely regarded as their best album 'jane doe'. i got to admit that i'm real late to the party. i foolishly ignored them for the most part. i knew some stuff from the 'no heroes' record but that was it. 

i think i listened to converge for the first time somewhere around 2004 and found it too demanding. so i wrote them off. now that i'm opening for the kind of hardcore that converge shaped, there was no doubt about checking out the original. and yeah, what should i say. 'jane doe' is a masterpiece but you knew that already. this is the latest re-press of deathwish inc. 

i won an ebay auction of a clear red vinyl re-press by deathwish from ebay australia. the price for what i scored this was remarkable. all together with postage i paid €18, which is around $25. i paid through paypal and waited for the record to show up. after five weeks i e-mailed the guy and after some mails back and forth he gave me a refund of my money.

i don't know what really happened. probably the guy thought that it was way too less cash for the record, which i'd think too if i was him, or it got lost in the mail. but i prefer the first idea. anyway, shortly after that incident, i got a newsletter by deathwish announcing this new colour re-press. must have been destiny. i ordered through per koro. looks real good on clear blue. makes a nice match with the iconic artwork. comes with lp-sized booklet. originally released on equal vision in 2001. deathwish inc. 2013.

reign supreme - fuck the weak 7"

i really like reign supreme. 'testing the limits of infinite' was one of my first vinyl records and 'american violence' was just as good. their first 7" 'fuck the weak' is a little bit harder to come by because i didn't find any distro that still has it in stock. but discogs or ebay are there for the rescue. ebay was my source for this pick up here.

the first time i came across this record was on lenny's blog 'the emerging addiction' (who is back from the dead, check it!) and then some time later on jake's blog. both displayed the seafoam green version. i wasn't aware of the different colour pressings of this record, so i was really delighted to see an ebay auction of a copy with my favourite colour pattern.

musically there are no surprises. crushing and energetic hardcore. so if you like the other stuff of them, 'fuck the weak' will be right up your alley. i've seen three colour versions of this on the internet. seafoam green, half green half white and a black w/ pink swirl. to find any numbers was impossible to me. only information i've seen, was provided by jake. you know about the others, dude? rock vegas records. 2007.

look my way - mentality

as one could read in the last post, i knew that 'mentality' was out as soon as it was put up in the bdhw web store. i usually check out everything that is out on bdhw because of good experiences in the past (nasty, warhound or the setup for example), but because they released it on cd only i had no interest in buying. i didn't know that a different label was issuing the vinyl edition. i found that out later by reading the fanzine 'between the lines'. to me, stuff like this proves the relevance and importance of printed zines. it's great to see that in times of the omni potent internet these physical zines are still out there.

just like the '520' 7", save my soul records gave us the one and only worthy format, the vinyl version of 'mentality'. another thing i love about the hardcore sub-culture are all its small d.i.y. labels and especially germany seems to be packed with them. check save my soul releases and buy stuff from their webstore! look my way's first full length has some really good stuff to offer. simple nyhc that will surely work as it is supposed to be played live. and i think that is the best way to listen to that album - played live. as i said it's good but after listening to it for about eight times, i'm through with it. no long-term effect. but that's my personal impression. check out for yourself!

i love the cover artwork. foremost the x-watch does it for me :-) save my soul records pressed 75 copies on pink vinyl, 103 copies on my green vinyl and 345 copies on black vinyl (with 25 copies coming with special 'ninja-fest' covers). a download coupon for your digital amusement included. save my soul records. 2013.

look my way - 520 7"

look my way is a hardcore band from the west of germany. they are relatively new to me. ‘relatively’ because i saw their 520 7” quite often when i searched for madball vinyl on ebay. but the cover never made me want to check them out more closely. so when beatdown hardwear announced their full length record ‘mentality’ last year, i wasn’t too enthusiastic about it. and when i saw that bdhw only released it on cd my interest was gone. as time moved on i read a review about ‘mentality’ in a fanzine called ‘between the lines’ (check them out!).

some references to other bands i like had been made there and it said that save my soul records released a vinyl version. so i moved to their webshop and found next to the full length record, their first 7” ‘520’. i bought them both on coloured vinyl. admittedly ‘520’ is just pretty much alright. nothing real special here. being named after a madball album, they play metallic hardcore with a heavy nyhc edge. they tried to include some own flavour (check ‘black soul’ and listen to the vocals at the end) but it didn’t really work out for me. like i said the songs are alright and that’s it. the ‘mentality’ record is way better.

nevertheless '520' is in its second pressing right now. the first press came on 100 clear/red/black vinyl and 200 black vinyl copies in numerous editions. check discogs for a detailed breakdown. the second press comes on 200 light blue vinyl copies and is still available. next up will be the 'mentality' lp. save my soul records. 2011.

harms way - blinded

so with the latest harms way release i close my little hw-vinyl issue for now. after i stumbled upon them in last year's september this mini lp was already out. that's why i came up short for the rarest colour way, a sea blue with green swirl plastic plate. man, that looks so good, i found some pics on the internet and am pretty jealous of everyone who has a copy. but what's the use, i probably wouldn't have ordered from the states anyway. maybe ebay will help out in the future. of course, per koro helped me out with this one here.

the five songs on 'blinded' are easily their best material to date. this is dark, ominous and heavy metallic hardcore at it's very best. i could rave on and on about this stuff but probably you should just listen for yourself. check out 'frontal lobe' and the instrumental title song 'blinded', my favourites of the record. on this recording they dropped their industrial elements for a more organic sound. i like it. wonder where the movie samples are taken from. has anyone a clue?

the presentation is as good as the music itself, if you ask me. great artwork, i can see a blindfolded horse that is kind of drowning? anyway, looks real nice! i really like the choice of colours, all in a blue-greenish tone. yeah, that sea blue green swirl would have looked awesome... but the clear version is a nice match too. better than white in my book. 2000 copies made in the first press. 300 on sea blue mint green swirl, 700 on white and 1000 on clear vinyl. cut at 45rpm. deathwish inc. 2013.