meshuggah - none

when the first batch of meshuggah re-pressings were unleashed by nuclear blast in late 2018, i left out the e.p.'s and just went for the full lengths. it felt like i didn't really need those half-baked ideas of a proper album and thus i walked away. when the second and final batch was up for pre-orders and the e.p.'s were still available in the limited colour variants, i began to reconsider my opinion.

in the end, i gave in and ordered at least one of the mini-lp's. i went for the 1994 release called "none". i don't know why, it was simply the most appealing to me. musically this is the logical link between the full lengths "contradictions collapse" from 1991 and the follow-up "destroy erase improve" from 1995 and it is highly enjoyable too.

like all the other re-issues "none" also got a re-vised artwork by artist luminokaya. can't say i like it more than the original though. the inner gatefold shows some funny pictures of the band back in the day. ah yes, the nineties... the colour-way, clear red with black smoke, is rad as well. 300 copies made. nuclear blast. 2018.

integrity - to die for

integrity's comeback album from this weird integ2000 phase came in the form of "to die for" in 2003. it was released by deathwish inc. and it marked the first collaboration of the band and the label. back then deathwish did not care for a vinyl release - dark times. years later in 2010 a389 records took pity on that miserable situation and released a 10" vinyl version, which was re-pressed a few times by now.

i never really fancied a copy because of the format. a full length on a 10" seemed somewhat undesireble. the more i was happy when i heard news that backbite records from germany was about to give "to die for" a proper 12" release. unfortunately i missed out on the two limited marble colour-ways and got the clear red version instead but it is still a looker, though. dwid hellion himself re-vised the artwork (although the original by jacob bennon is lovely too) and of course the sleeve comes with the obligatory invisible ink. musically the record is a scorcher indeed. 300 copies pressed. backbite records. 2019.

blink 182 - take off your pants and jacket

my favourite instrument of the classic metal associated instruments - guitar, bass, drums - is definitely the drum set. maybe it is because for me, as a non-musician, the drums were always easier comprehensible than the string instruments. anyhow i don't play air-guitar, i always play air-drums. so when i asked myself who might be the coolest drummer around, i eventually came up with the only possible result - travis barker from blink-182.

in my mind it was a hard fight of barker with georges kollias from nile. almost completely different styles of music, i know, but both of them have the ability to make a song better just because of their drumming. not just simple background rhythm but perfect musicianship. considering i love travis barker's style so much, there was an embarrasing lack of blink vinyl in my collection.

shop radio cast (srcvinyl) released the band's back catalogue on colour vinyl over the years but they don't have distribution over here and so the shit gets expensive. therefore i was delighted to find a colour copy of "take off your pants and jacket" in the racks of my local media markt. it is a 2018 pressing on solid red vinyl by universal music. hopefully they will do more re-pressings for the european market. the album was originally released in 2001.

hypocrisy - osculum obscenum (tape)

of course floga records wouldn't just drop one classic hypocrisy album on tape. nuclear blast had four more to offer but i went with only one other. to me it made sense to start with the early albums. so after i bagged the debut "penetralia", the sophomore album from 1993 seemed like the most obvious choice. i had to decide between two shell colour-ways, transparent green and transparent red.

i went with the green shell and think it looks very neat with the detailed print on the shell and all. just as much care went into the j-card. a multi-panel card with some band pics on one side and cool live pics on the flip side, all made of sturdy and textured card. the sound quality is awesome too. musically this old school death metal with an american tinge to it. i like this album a bit more than the debut. 250 copies made. floga records. 2018.

hypocrisy - penetralia (tape)

some old school death metal for a change. when i listen to european death metal from the early nineties, the bands usually originate from the united kingdom. speaking of bolt thrower, benediction and the like. i rarely venture into scandinavia, most of the stuff coming from there is not my cup of tea. when i saw these nice tape re-issues by floga records for a couple of old hypocrisy albums, i got curious, though.

my knowledge about hypocrisy records is limited, to say the least. i have listened to "a taste of extreme divinity" only, years back when i good friend of mine used to play it in his car. after i checked a few tunes of "penetralia", i was sure that this was up my alley and so i ordered a copy with a yellow shell. lovely j-card with much care for details and nice art. 250 copies made. floga records. 2018.

intronaut - valley of smoke

intronaut was a bit of dark horse to me. i tried to get into them previously. since they were on lifeforce records with their first album "void" back in 2006 and i used to listen to all what the label released, i checked a few tunes (i think i downloaded an mp3 from the label site - jesus, like in the stone age). but back then i wasn't ready and four years ago when century media released "the direction of last things" i didn't understand them.

how come i got "valley of smoke" on vinyl now? well, i bought the latest integrity re-press of "to die for", which was released by the german d.i.y. label backbite records, directly from the label's shop. browsing through the shop i saw that backbite also re-released two intronaut albums. i was interested and when i checked "valley of smoke" on the tube it finally clicked with me. unfortunately all the colour copies were sold out.

in such cases discogs is the first address for used copies. backbite has also a discogs store, or better the physical record store which is run by the dude who also runs backbite has a discogs store. strangely there were copies available and via a make-an-offer option i was able to lower the price to an appropriate bargain. the album itself is fantastic. progressivity, simplicity and atmosphere are forged into an unstoppable beast. love it! 100 copies on brown vinyl. they turned out a bit dark. actually released in 2010 on century media. backbite records. 2018.

length of time - shame to this weakness modern world

not too much new vinyl additions to my collection as of late. one of the few is this re-issue of length of time's e.p. called "shame to this weakness modern world". the original pressing on goodlife recordings from 1999 was way out of the price range, i was willed to pay and therefore i was really happy to snag the re-press which gsr music unleashed onto the world. i missed out on the actual start of the pre-orders and kind of stumbled upon it accidentally.

when i arrived at the scene the pre-orders were still going and i was happy to get a copy of the limited white vinyl version. it was delayed by the pressing plant which sent too much black vinyl instead of white by mistake. the delivery date was postponed from january to mid-february. when my copy finally arrived i was really pleased with the outcome. at first i was disappointed in gsr changing colours and layout of the original pressing.

by now i have grown to really like it. still i prefer the original but those black and white aesthetics really work well with the image shown (although i don't know what it depicts). musically i love everything length of time did and this e.p. is fantastic. great crossover sound made from hardcore and metal to forge the beast that is "shame to this...". gsr made 300 copies on white vinyl housed in a lovely reverse board cover sleeve coming with an insert. twenty year anniversary. gsr music. 2019.

post scriptum: for the first time i ordered a bundle. i could have done without the poster but the cd of "let the world with the sun go down" and this lovely shirt were well worth the price of admission.