carpathian - isolation

almost two years ago i wrote about my black/grey mix copy of carpathian's 'isolation' lp from 2008. just recently i picked this record for a listen and while listening to it, i re-read my post about it. back then i wrote the following: 'deathwish made two colour variations. one white with grey swirl and another on black with grey swirl. the white is the more limited. man, i'd like to have one one day.' it was a friendly reminder and so i ventured over to the bay and searched for carpathian.

sometimes this incidents must have to be destiny. the first result of my search was a shining white with grey swirl copy of this fantastic record. starting bid was just below ten bucks. i thought this would hold off early bids but i was pretty sure that the price would climb the more time went by. with only a few hours of the auction remaining, the record still had no bid. ok, i threw in my maximum bid of which i was convinced no one would go higher. the next day i found myself winning the auction for the starting bid. fine with me but i was quite surprised. maybe it flew under the radar of many because of holiday trouble. whatever.

unfortunately my copy came without an insert. asking the seller if he forgot to sent it for whatever reasons, i got a negative reply with some stupid undertone, mmpphh, that gave me the shits a bit but hey, it was christmas time, time of forgiveness. anyway, bottom line was he had none. so i took the one of my black/grey copy. as i don't need several copies of a record, i gave my spare to a friend for watching after my two rats. thank you! to all of you a happy new year! see you 2015. 200 made. deathwish inc. 2008.

high on fire - blessed black wings

to make the high on fire set complete i was eager to get my hands on the last missing two. there is 'snakes for the divine' and then there is 'blessed black wings'. 'bbw' was after 'death is this communion' the second album i downloaded and listened to and still this is my second to favourite release by this stoner doom monster.

it has this groundshaking energy and those dreamy harmonies which made me love high on fire in the first place. the stuff which 'the art of self defense' and especially 'surrounded by thieves' were lacking of. with this record the unique hof mix is back. or better it appeared for the first time fully developed. maybe they needed the first two records to evolve that sound.

actually i wanted to order this record directly from relapse but as shipping rates from the states are a pain in the ass and i didn't want two records on the same colour way ('surrounded by thieves' and 'blessed black wings' were re-pressed on the same more limited colour pattern), i was looking for a domestic solution. thankfully i found a copy in hamburg's burnout store.

i must admit i am not the biggest fan of the choice of colour for this vinyl release. i mean, nothing wrong with an opaque purple but together with the colour scheme of the cover art it seems to be an odd choice. doesn't really work well together. ah nevermind, it sounds awesome though! 918 copies made on purple and still available. relapse records. 2005/2013.

yob - atma

i'm really getting into somm doom metal lately and by doing so, i came upon some more names thrown around. one name often appearing is yob. especially when i was checking 20 buck spin records for the latest pallbearer re-press. why, you might ask. it's because 20 buck spin also repressed a yob record lately, atma is the title.

with all this coming together i checked some actual music by downloading their 20 buck spin release in its full digital glory. yob is really playing some demanding type of metal. the umbrella term is doom metal but there is so much more. death metal elements, blues elements, accoustic soundscapes, progressive and techincal gimmickry and, of course, crushing doom. together with those transcendental lyrics this is some serious nerd music.

you can check out the title song and 'before we dreamed of two' and feel your utter self depart from the crude matter that is your flesh. bring our bodies! as i was looking for a physical copy of this record, i searched once more for ebay. there was an offer by hhv.de with a reasonable price but i went for a different seller because he expressly declared it a marbled vinyl copy. the seller was high roller records, an independent metal label from germany with a big distribution, i bought another record there too, but this will be a different story...

the presentation however is good standard quality concerning the sleeve. nice gatefold sleeve with all lyrics and recording information on the inside. the vinyl colour looks pretty impressive, if you ask me. it's an orange/yellow and blue merge configuration. on the edges of where the orange/yellow and blue meet the colour becomes green and so this is a very unique pattern. well done! the label calls it sunburst vinyl. can't say how many have been made. 20 buck spin. 2011/2014.

veil of maya - [id]

when i was posting about the four born of osiris records lately, i was curious about what else sumerian pressed to vinyl. i have some of their titles on cd and so i wanted to know if could get them on vinyl as well. searching the net i came upon a record that i only knew by the cover art. veil of maya's '[id]' album from 2010. i know veil of maya since their 'the common man's collapse', which was the forerunner to '[id]' and came out in 2008.

i checked some of these songs in the glory days of myspace and knew that they were playing this kind of nerdy tech metal like born of osiris or between the buried and me, that was really hyped at that time. i don't know why i didn't buy the cd back then. probably money, probably it wasn't really good. whatever it was, it made me forget about veil of maya. when i saw a picture of a white vinyl copy of '[id]' on the net, i checked them out via youtube and was sold on them.

this is not all too innovative, they work with the same ingredients as the aforementioned bands but they manage to stay as their own. they paly their stuff crisp and with no holds barred. listen to 'resistance' and 'conquer'. i ventured over to discogs and found a white copy and threw it in my cart to check out later. i do this quite often lately if i'm not to one hundert percent sure to get a certain record. that doesn't work out as planned all the time. sometimes somebody doesn't need as much time to consider as i do and the record is gone. so was the case right here.

so i checked ebay to see if there was something waiting for me. i didn't really expect to find something because sumerian titles are elusive in europe. but to my surprise there was an offer by a seller from swiss. very reasonably priced but with no further information concerning the vinyl colour. as i couldn't find any info on black vinyl i took the gamble and ordered. when it came around i was surprised to find a purple copy in the sleeve. i saw way more pics of the white version on the net and so i presumed it to be the more common version. don't know if that's true though. one unreliable source speaks of 500 copies made of the semi-translucent purple marble version. merry christmas c-3po! sumerian records. 2010/2012. 

in circles - rêverie cult

now that the end of the year is coming nearer and nearer, i search my backlog for remaining 2014 releases. i'd really like to clear it of those records but i'm afraid i'm not going to make it. in my attempt to do it anyway i'll throw the latest in circles 7" into the ring. actually i wanted to start with the beginning, their first output 'void of illusion' to be precise. that came out in 2013 and as i'm late to post about it anyway, i might as well start with their second release 'rêverie cult'.

in circles is a young german band from jülich in western germany. they play a brand of metallic hardcore with loads of dark and melancholic melodies. reminds me of some deathwish bands like carpathian, killing the dream or the carrier. on this 7" you really can feel the progression compared to 'void of illusion'. the songs are more to the point, song writing is better all around. with a full length like this and some touring they should gain alot of attention. check them out on their bandcamp page.

i came across this 7" accidentally and in the coolest way there possibly is, in a physical store. you know, flicking through the racks and discovering a gem that seems to be coming out of nowhere. no force fed internet propaganda, no months long pre-order process, just you and your new record. yeah, christmas is approaching and that warms the cockles of my heart. good record, get involved! 300 on clear. powertrip records. 2014.

the acacia strain - coma witch

i was in breathless anticipation as i red about the anouncement of the new the acacia strain record 'coma witch'. you know about my feelings concerning the last record 'death is the only mortal'? to sum them up, i was highly disappointed about it. it was so exhausting, so inaccessible, and yes, so boring that i thought their good times were all through. but then came their teaser 7" 'above / below', these two songs promised a revival of their old sound.

with 'old sound' i mean the fantastic first three records up to their crowning achievement 'continent'. and now that i hold the record in hands and played it a few times on my turntable, i cannot get the grin off of my face. yes my the acacia strain are back. i welcome their regained straight forward riffing. of course they still have these off-beat elements and dissonant rhythms but they scaled them down to a digestiable dosage.

i'm really more than happy about this return to form. you know how it is, a loved band of yours strayed from the path and you just had to let them go. and then, out of the blue, they're coming home. welcome back! you sit around a table, chat about the new things, giggle about times you've been through together way back in the day and cast aside the recent misdeeds with a wave of the hand. listen to 'holy walls of the vatican' and to 'send help' and make yourself comfortable.

the second disc comes with a track called observer which spans over both sides of the vinyl. in the description text over at per koro, where i bought the record from, said this was a half an hour long song consisting of dark samples, growls and screams. i was initially put off by this statement. my first association coming to mind was the intro of the slipknot's 'iowa' album. you ever heard that? man, that is hard to take because it sounds so utterly insane to me. after i listened to 'observer' for the first time, i was relieved to find that it was nothing like that. it's simply an overlong song that gets under your skin. take the time and be rewarded!

i saw some pre-orders going up but only for clear vinyl and green for bundles. must have been already late to the process because later on i was informed about a 'starbust' colour via discogs more limited than the clear or green ones. as the release date came i checked at per koro and thankfully they had a coloured option available. by then i saw pics of a pruple marble on the net which had been chosen for distribution. i got that in the end and am very happy with it. it just looks lovely. don't care about the admittedly high pressing number of 2400 copies. comes with full album on cd. rise records. 2014.

korn - s/t

after i gave in and bought my favourite korn album 'follow the leader' on coloured vinyl and was aware of the fact that music on vinyl would re-press all the good korn albums on vinyl, i was thinking about if i should get all the other records, too? either i would only buy 'follow the leader', justify it by the personal involvement and leave the rest alone, or i would buy them all. nothing in between. as i listened the shit out of all the other korn albums as well, the decision was easy after all.

who am i to lie to myself? of course i would buy them all. music on vinyl released their self titled album from 1994 at first in august this year. this one passed me by and the first time i saw a copy, was on a record shopping spree in hamburg. even holding a physical copy in hands, i didn't really feel the need to get it. but then came 'follow the leader' and that set the ball rolling.

i checked the internet for a copy and again i came across an offer of hhv on ebay. as every order with hhv was very convenient so far, i knew i could rely on them. i ordered it together with another record that i will soon post about. the records came in fast and in perfect shape. won't be the last order i placed with berlin's hhv store.

musically i was never that much of a fan of it. back in the day when i heard the album for the first time, my best friend and me had an agreement. after we both loved 'follow the leader' we knew we had to get the two preceeding albums as well. i was responsible for 'life is peachy' and he would get the self titled album, so we could exchange the cd's. then i preferred 'life is peachy' over 'korn' at any time. i think that hasn't changed.

i mean, the songs are good but it's the first record and, in my humble opinion, korn needed some more releases to fully develop. interestingly songs like 'fake' and 'lies' have aged really good and i can't remember that i enjoyed them as much as i do now. i really like that music on vinyl pressed the 'whole' album to vinyl (unlike on 'follow the leader'), so you can hear the argument of a couple over an exhaust that the producer ross robinson found on a tape in an abonded house. it's pretty spooky and i really loved this sixteen years ago. the fact that this was found somewhere in a house and nobody knows who the couple is or who taped this adds to the creepiness. pressed on lovely red w/ black marble vinyl. 2500 made. music on vinyl. 2014. 

unearth - watchers of rule

i am one who learns his lessons. in the past i made the mistake to ignore emp mailorder as a source for new and limited colour vinyl. as a result to that behaviour i missed out on a coloured version of madball's 'hardcore lives' record of this year. never again i would pay extra in the aftermath. by now i'm checking the emp upcoming releases section very carefully and regularly. by doing so, i just could not overlook the new unearth effort.

i really love unearth. together with killswitch engage they were part of my in between phase, where i began to look for more thrilling stuff than nu metal ala limp bizkit or drowning pool. they gave way to that european hardcore scene of the mid 00's that i hold so dear. actually, they were a part of it (aside from not being european). their 'the oncoming storm' record is an evergreen to me and with it, they formed a musical style called metalcore, which is still nostalgia to some and an insult to others.

i like to look upon this style with a part nostalgia but rather as simply good music. i have all their other albums on vinyl, too - except 'III: in the eyes of fire' of which there is no vinyl version - but i didn't find the time to write about them. unearth delivered almost with every record and as i saw the limited red double vinyl on pre-order at emp, i didn't hesitate to jump on it.

musically unearth takes no prisoners here. man, i couldn't believe my ears at the first listen. this record is played so tight, it will most likely beat 'the oncoming storm' to second place in my personal ranking. the album starts with a freaking blast beat, that i don't think i ever heard on an unearth record, and takes you on a death thrash hardcore journey of the wild kind. check out 'the swarm' and 'guards of contagion' and tell me you don't have to headbang all the way through. either way you're deaf or you're lying.

but wait, didn't i order a double vinyl pressing? you may understand my astonishment as i opened the package, because i was pretty sure i ordered such a vinyl copy. as i put in my pre-order i was surprised to see a 2xlp version at emp because century media, the label the record appeared on, sold a single lp version. ok, i thought, the double lp was probably the emp exclusive version. now i think, emp got wrong informations somewhere along the way. i kept the sticker with the double vinyl text for the oddity cabinet. century media. 2014. 

pallbearer - sorrow & extinction

my doom awaits me. the pallbearer comes to take me under. yeah, i'm pretty satisfied with this word play all around. pat my own back. but now to the subject. you ever heard of the fertile symbiosis of music and art work? sure you have. you read about it on this blog a few times before, so on others. most likely you experienced it yourself. a strong connection it is and it worked out well again with this new find of mine.

i was checking the metal selection of hhv.de on their ebay shop and came across this lovely cover art of pallbearer's first full length 'sorrow & extinction'. knowing the post to conan's 'monnos' record this might sound familiar to you, as this was just the way i discovered that record. i checked the label this album was released on. 20 buck spin records from the states. i browsed through their shop i came upon a recent re-press of 'sorrow & extinction' on a lovely merge colour. everything was looking so good, the music just had to be great.

i downloaded the album and what can i say? it grabbed me and didn't let go. pallbearer plays a pretty classic doom type. similar to iron heel. i love this massively down tuned guitar sound and in combination with the singer's dreamy vocals and their spaced-out harmonies they have quite a unique sound to call their own. listen to 'devoid of redemption' and 'an offering of grief', close your eyes and take in the whole atmosphere. man, i can see why people love to get stoned to this stuff, haha.

the latest pallbearer record from 2014 called 'foundations of burden' created some hype and the coloured version sold out very fast. too fast for me, so for now this 'sorrow & extinction' re-press will have to do until 'foundations' itself gets a re-press. by now, the starbreaker swirl vinyl has sold out, too over at 20 buck spin. so i'm happy that i was just in time for it. and boy, that colour configuration looks bad ass. totally in touch with the art work. fantastic record all around. get this! can't say how many had been pressed. 20 buck spin records. 2012/2014.

tears of gaia - burial

when i wrote about the 'unveil - destruction wherever i go' 7" in august this year, i mentioned that i bought the unveil 7" and two others in one go and that it actually had been four, rather than three. now i will solve this mystery all you guys probably lost your sleep over, the ebay seller also had this gem right here up for bidding. i did bid on it but someone wanted it more than me. i lost the auction by fifty cents.

after the auction ended, pretty quickly i got an automatic e-mail from ebay telling me that i could buy the item for my maximum bid. i don't want to breed bad blood but i have the suspicion the seller got a friend to bid on his stuff to up the price. this friend accidently won the auction and so i got offered to buy it instead. i mean, in the end it doesn't matter because i was actually happy about this offer. my maximum bid wasn't unreasonable and so all is ok.

musically this band plays nineties vegan straight edge hardcore worship. played actually, as i believe this band doesn't exist anymore. beside a compilation song and a self made cd-r, both from 2003, 'burial' is their only release and that appeared in 2007. so i think it's safe to say they called it quits somewhere along the way. check out the title song anyway and get this vegan sxe monument on vinyl (revhq and xsentientx seem to have some in stock). comes on double white w/ black haze 7" vinyl out of 1000 copies. new eden records. 2007.  

conan - horseback battle hammer

after i bought the latest re-press of conan's first full length 'monnos' lately, i wanted more. the vocals of guitarist and bass-player plus their monolithic, down tuned riffing got me real hypnotised, craving for more doom metal madness. so i checked back what else the band had released. my usual source for such information is discogs and no exception this time. i came up with the information of an e.p., another full length and two split releases also in existence. even a live recording but that doesen't count to me.

i thought it would be apt to check their first e.p. 'horseback battle hammer' from 2010. it's actually their second output, but 'battle in the swamp' was a self-released demo from 2007 that never got the vinyl treatment. 'horseback' was put to vinyl for the first time via throne records from spain. they came up with a nice grey splattered limited colour version. then head of crom rec. from the uk did a repress on white a year later. and now, to my advantage, napalm records from austria just pressed another run on vinyl.

conan's latest record 'blood eagle' was released through napalm rec. and so they thought it might be a buzzing idea to release another colour version. right they are. i found a german seller on discogs who had it up for sale for a reasonable price. after i sealed the deal and payed the record, i found out that napalm had a left over copy in stock. stupid me, would have saved me five bucks. but i can still sleep, so it's alright.

musically this is not as great as 'monnos' in my opinion. the guitar sounds that overly fuzzed out. too much of a good thing, if you ask me. the songs are quite good but lack a bit of that hypnotic touch, which makes 'monnos' so outstanding to me. still 'satsumo' and 'sea lord' are good listens and it's essential background to fully understand their musical development. presentation wise 'horseback' has some nice artwork, but again i like the colourful approach on 'monnos' better. the gatefold is of matte card and thick quality. the clear vinyl with heavy red splatter is really well done. looks almost like the splatter has some texture. 300 pressed. napalm records. 2014.

no turning back - damage done

no turning back is an european hardcore institution. they formed somewhere around 1997. after a few 7"es they released their first full length 'revenge is a right' in 2003, and since then they are a force to be reckoned with in the euro scene. they were and still are deeply rooted within the d.i.y. mentality. therefore and to quote themselves, they decided to take control with their own label, conveniently called 'take control records'. their latest album from 2012 'no regrets' was released via this label and they started to re-issue their own back-catalogue on vinyl.

i already posted about the first re-press of the 2008 record 'stronger' and this time it's about the 2004 piece 'damage done'. i personally consider this album their masterstroke. 2004 was an important year me when it's about influential hardcore releases. told the story many times. stuff like heaven shall burn's 'antigone', destiny's 'the tracy chapter' or cataract's 'with triumph comes loss' had been huge records to me and paved the way for further musical discoveries.

as 'damage done' was also produced by denmark's master mind tue madsen (who worked also on the aforementioned records), i knew some songs of this album but never really came around to pick up a cd copy. so no turning back's second record never had such an impact on me as other releases of 2004 but as i poked around on the net and came across this recent re-press, i simply couldn't resist. i downloaded the whole album and after a few clicks more, i ordered a lovely green copy of 'damage done'.

the order process was again not without delays. after i waited for three weeks or something, i asked where my stuff was at. i got no reply but after two days it landed on my front door. whatever, what counts is this nice piece of vinyl. take control rec. pressed three colours of vinyl. yellow limited to 200, brown also limited to 200 and green limited to 100 copies. this version comes with a cmy sleeve. frankly i have no idea what this is. the picture in the store shows that it's a bit paler then the regular sleeves, but that's all i see. anybody knows the secret to cmy sleeves? take control records. 2014. 

high on fire - surrounded by thieves

as i mentioned in my last high on fire post, i'm working on getting all the records together. so here is another piece of the puzzle. this time it's about their second full length record called 'surrounded by thieves. it was released three years after 'the art of self defense' now on relapse records. signing with relapse this album made them known to a broader audience. the album was firstly pressed on a single lp. i believe two pressings have been made this way. further pressings had been given the double lp treatment.

my copy is of the second double lp pressing, so actually the fourth pressing if my information is correct. the constant reader knows that i'm a sucker for split coloured vinyl. so before i ordered this one, i had to evaluate several aspects. first fact to consider was that all high on fire releases on relapse had been pressed on this colour way. as i think owning different records on the same colour way is boring, i only wanted one of the three on this nice orange/green split vinyl. but which one? 'death is this communion' was out of the picture, as i already had the opague green version. so the choice was between 'surrounded by thieves' and 'blessed black wings'.

it wasn't easy because i listened to both records beforehand and knew that i liked 'blessed black wings better' but then, the decision was made when i realised that i was able to buy 'blessed black wings' locally at burnout record store. that saved me alot on shipping and so i went for the second album. the whole order process went pretty smooth. convenient to order with relapse records. thumbs up!

after repeated spins of 'surrounded by thieves' i must say that it's the weakest high on fire record so far. i love high on fire for their dreamy melodies embedded in their very own stoner sound. i can't quite put my finger on it but there is something about their music that sounds familiar to me. on 'sorrounded by thieves' however these melodies seem to be missing. there is some good stuff, sure. for example 'the yeti' or 'nemesis' are strong songs but the whole delivery pales in comparison to their other releases. and then there is this stupid front cover. i can hang with the rest of the artwork but this fat demon guy on the front looks ridiculous. what kind of position is he in? sitting, lying? the rest of the presentation is pretty nice though. fat, sturdy gatefold sleeve and awesome half orange half green split vinyl with white splatter. 598 copies made. relapse records. 2002/2013.

emmure - eternal enemies

in my last post about the mantar lp, which i bought in hamburg's saturn store, i let shine through that i was actually there for a different reason. here is this reason: emmure's latest effort called 'eternal enemies'. but let me tell you the whole story. of course i heard news of a coming new emmure record via victory records earlier on this year. at this point i was pretty sure that i could easily pick up a copy through my favourite mailorder per koro. when the release date came i saw that victory pressed two colour ways and a black retail version. shit. that meant per koro would only get the black vinyl. as i wanted to avoid shipping costs from the states, i looked what other possibilities might appear. i checked ebay and came across a seller who offered a coloured copy for twenty bucks. pretty high price but still less compared to the u.s. order option. so well, i pulled the trigger and some days later the package landed at my door.

removing the mailer and holding the sealed copy in hands, i noticed the missing of the 'limited coloured vinyl' sticker that is common for victory records. opening it up, the missing of the sticker became logical. it was a black copy. shit². i e-mailed the seller saying that i got the wrong copy. he said that he only got copies without the colour stickers, so they were all black. he apologised for the mistake in the auction's description, gave me a refund and i sent back the record. i checked more german and european distros but couldn't find what i desired. so my last idea was to ask at saturn store. it's one of the biggest entertainment media stores in germany with huge selection. i asked a seller and he looked through the wholesale program. he found the coloured vinyl option and told me to send me an e-mail when it arrived at the store. got the e-mail, drove to the store and saw the copy the friendly employee handed out to me. again no 'coloured' sticker and again a black copy. shit³.

must have been a mistake by the european wholesale distributor. so the only option now was to bite the bullet and order from the states. after all the hassle, i gladly paid up and was happy to recieve a new, shining, coloured copy. the musical part is really good. it's always a mystery to me how this band constantly repeats itself from record to record and still manages to sound fresh. it's the same ingredients emmure are known for: freaked out guitar overtunes, massive breakdowns and frankie palmeri's sometimes mystical and sometimes right in your face lyrics. this album excites me and i still love those weirdos. check out 'most hated' and 'we were just kids' and you have good examples of their musical range from bone breaking heavy to popy sweat. fantastic job, guys! clear green out of 300 copies. victory records. 2014. 

mantar - death by burning

i came across this one here accidentally. my first encounter with this album was while reading the fuze magazine. it's a free music magazine that comes with orders from certain labels and distros or can be found in physical record store to take away. they specialised on hardcore, punk and some assorted metal stuff. i don't know which issue it was anymore, but i know that saw the album cover in the review section. i shortly glanced over it but it left no deeper impression.

a physical copy crossed my path when i was in hamburg's saturn store. actually i wanted to pick up a different record.it was the latest emmure record i actually wanted. but read about this disaster and the happy ending in the up-coming post. my girlfriend was with me and we had not that much time, but she looked at me and must have seen the disappointment in my eyes. she said that she knew that i hate to leave a store empty handed and that we should take a quick look through the metal vinyl section. god knows i love her.

so i started flicking through the vinyl and she, just to kill some time, looked at some covers she thought were cool. doing so she pulled 'death by burning' from the shelf.i looked at it and remembered the fuze magazine incident. so i took a quick listen and i was sold. that was some pretty good stoner/doom metal with a good portion of hardcore in the mix. as i'm on a huge high on fire kick right now, mantar really appeals to me. great shit. listen to 'the berserker's path' and to 'into the golden abyss' and convince yourself.

mantar is a two-piece from northern germany. amazing how just two instruments can produce such lovely noise. the amazing cover art tops it all off. my girlfriend proved good taste here. very good release all around. 700 on black vinyl and 300 on bronze vinyl. another version on white vinyl also available. probably the second press? svart records. 2014. 

korn - follow the leader

yeah, you got me. i admit, i am a korn fan. but let me explain to you. as a kid, i was introduced to heavy music by my uncle. i told that story many times before, so i won't bore you with another repetition. that must have been around '95 and '96. for two years i was content with the hardcore stuff i had on self-made tapes. i mean, i was at the age of nine or ten. i had more things to do than just listening to music. playing football, annoying neighbors and stuff. in 1998 things really begin to change. a good friend of mine and i were on winter vacation with our families. in the evening we were watching mtv and wittnessed something that became our first own musical discovery.

we watched a music video and by the title of this post you might already guess which one that was. yepp, 'freak on a leash' by korn. we were totally blown away. we looked at each other and were like, dude, you've seen that? boy, that was so cool. the whole bullet thing in the video. these cool dudes in baggy pants and with dread locks. and then this crazy song with its heavy guitars at the end. that was the shit, we decided. back home my buddy got the cd single (jeez, cd singles were real crap!) and we listened to this song without end. then, i decided to get the album.

in my small home town there wasn't any fancy music store, we just had a book store with a small music shelf. of course, they did not have it in stock. they had to purchase it at wholesale and then they informed my mom that the album was ready for pick up. i don't know what i paid anymore but it was a good chunk of my monthly pocket money, if not all of it. i took it home with great anticipation. and man, they were fully met. at one point i transfered the music to casette and took the album with me everywhere i went on my walkman. i remember listening to 'follow the leader' exclusively all the time through the summer family vacation in croatia. i loved this album to the death.

as time moved on and i was a youth, new possibilities arose with the internet and mtv became more and more uncool, just like nu metal in general. somehow korn, limp bizkit or coal chamber were not enough anymore. i craved for music with deeper meaning for my own life and so hardcore came back into my life with all might. i sold all my old cd's to fund future purchases of more important stuff like heaven shall burn, cataract or bleeding through. nu metal and korn with it was dead to me. dead until an announcement of music on vinyl made me pretty curious. the newsletter said that they would re-press all korn records up to 'take a look in the mirror' on coloured vinyl. well, that didn't get me hooked immediately. in hamburg, i came across a golden copy and suddenly i felt like i wanted it but the price put me off. back home i downloaded the album, just to see if i still liked it.

what can i say, i still do. i know these songs so well and everything came back - good memories and the album simply feels like home. so of course i wanted it. i ordered it together with the conan - monnos lp from hhv.de. the record looks lovely on gold vinyl and i really like the glue pocket sleeve. only downer is the missing of the bonus song 'earache my eye'. apart of that the presentation is top notch. they even put the white promo sticker on the pvc sleeve. had the same on my cd copy back then. the question, if i should get the other re-presses as well, will be answered in due time. 2000 made. music on vinyl. 2014.      

conan - monnos

in my second post this month (life of agony) i spoke of my new mailorder find, hhv.de namely. this mailorder has a very, very decent metal section and huge part with small european and u.s. label distributions. all the stuff you don't get via the big labels nuclear blast, century media and metal blade. they have literally thousands and thousands of titles to offer. and in my foolish attempt to browse through them all in one go without losing  perseverance, i came across this one here.

the first thing that caught my attention was the artwork. it has a nice comic touch to it and reminded me vaguely of stephen bissette and his work on eighties swamp thing comics. it also reminded me of the 'death is this communion' cover art from high on fire. with reminiscence of two things i really like, i ventured over to the tube to see if my gut instinct could be proven right. i listened to 'grim tormentor' and fell in love. i'm not the biggest doom metal fan. in fact, a year ago i didn't even know one doom metal band by the name. things changed with austrian's iron heel and my interest grew. but, you know, there is doom and then there is doom. i love the mean kind with bottom low down-tuned guitars. and hell yeah, liverpool's conan is definitely that kind.

so i checked back with the label that released this cracker. burning world records from the netherlands is the name. never heard of them though. but my unknown concerning this metal sub-genre explains that to an extend. the first pressing of 'monnos' was long gone, as it actually appeared in 2012. but they had a fresh re-press available. probably to cash in on the release of conan's latest album this year. not that this would be a bad thing at all. the new pressing, now on green vinyl, was all coloured. so i didn't hestitate to throw this in my cart and check it out along with another record, that will be featured here next.

in natura this baby looks brilliant. this great artwork which reflects parts of the lyrics and the album title (if researched correctly, monnos is a figure taken from the world of warcraft video game, which people get crazy over but fails to excite me in any way), lovely thick, 180gr apple green vinyl and a black dust sleeve make it a pleasure for almost every sense. check this shit out and if you love your music neck crushing, steam rolling heavy, than this is your address. don't know how many were made. burning world records. 2012.