yes, i know. i'm again pretty late to a new hardcore release. i mean, not that late but still a considerably time span. but let me start with the obvious. the beginning. when i first heard that madball would release their new album through nuclear blast, i was quite happy because nb is situated in germany and as a frequent customer that i am, i believed i could get a limited colour way hassle free. stupid me. as the time came around for pre-order i browsed through their shop but i couldn't find any colour option for the record. just black vinyl.
i began to wonder if they actually pressed a coloured vinyl version at all. i fired off an e-mail to nb asking about the coloured vinyl matter. the response was, that there wasn't any plans for such platters. why this guy at nb didn't tip me off that there was a coloured version, only sold through a different retailer is beyond me. so at that point i assumed there was only black vinyl and suddenly the new madball album became not that overly important. i knew i could get a black copy at any time and somewhere inside i hoped for a coloured second press.
time went down the river and one night while i was killing time on the net checking some unknown internet distros, i came across depot mailorder from a small town near my hometown called wernigerode. scrolling through the m-section i saw the impossible. a red vinyl copy of madball's new effort. fuck that. this is what i get for ignoring all social networks. as i read on i learned that this was a special emp mailorder version out of 100 copies. i ordered quickly only to get an e-mail the other day with message of it being sold out. damn it! emp had sold out on them long before also and so i was forced to play the waiting game, because discogs prices started at €44, which was defenitely too high for me.
fortunately i had not to wait long. a discogs message came my way with a new copy at €29. i thought this to be reasonable and pulled the trigger. and finally here it is. and what a scorcher it is. definitely my favourite post comeback ('legacy') album. they managed to throw some new, more melodic elements into their hefty groove and breakdown orientated hardcore mix. they consequently walked the path further, started with their 'rebellion' 7" two years ago. check 'nbnc' and 'born strong' with candace from walls of jericho (boy, don't want to mess with her though). my copy came with a poster and a promo card. don't if that is part of the emp version or if the discogs seller threw them in. anyway, go get this! nuclear blast. 2014.