when i'm after a new band, i'm pretty persistent. if i really like an album of a certain band, i definitely want to hunt down their remaining vinyl output. the sooner the better. conan's 'monnos' was on heavy rotation on my turntable and therefore there was not even the shadow of a doubt, that i needed more.
getting my hands on 'horseback battle hammer' proved to be very easy as discogs came to my rescue. no exception with 'blood eagle'. fortunately it was released last year and because of that i was able to snag a copy directly from the label. considering the fact that i even missed the first press, i must praise conan's growing publicity which made napalm records press a second run.
the 'blood eagle' took a bit before it sank its talons into me. after the first several spins it was a good one already, sure, but not as mind blowing as 'monnos'. by now, i think, i fully grasped the album. for me this kind of music needs time to grow. the repetition and heavy slowness doesn't reveal its trance-like magick immediately. but when it does, it won't let up before the last string is touched and the last drum is hit.
check out the video for 'foehammer' and convince yourself! as i mentioned before i got a copy of the second press. the artwork is pretty ace, a bit more colour would have been nice but that's just my humble opinion. it's been pressed on a lovely, very bright shade of red. of course it's called 'blood red' vinyl and being out of 100 copies. the silver vinyl out of 200 copies is still available.
i love it when records come with a sticker to identify the colour and the limitation. every record should have that. no more questions for distributors, easily distinguishable copies in the physical stores and no more searching the net for pressing numbers. what?! a collector can always dream... napalm records. 2014.
