monotheist - scourge

the last of the prosthetic records batch right here. monotheist were new to me but since eighty percent of the vinyl records that land on my turntable are tech death related, i keep my eyes peeled for new additions to the collection. i still had a discount code from jpc.de to burn and when i spotted the record among other prosthetic titles, i decided to go for it.

i remembered a newsletter from prosthetic advertising the album as a new technical death metal pearl and so i gave it a shot. now, after a few listens, i really dig this release. it starts like the usual tech death massacre, solid but nothing new. as soon as "mark of the beast I: the image" kicks in the record takes a turn. the guys experiment with interludes, instrumentals, chamber music and weird hooks.

it still sounds a bit confused at times and not really cohesive but it is definitely a fun listen with many twists. the vinyl pressing looks really nice but is actually the real weakness of the release. a lot of surface noise and it seems that insufficient dehorning in the production process caused repeating grinding noise in the background. do i have a one-off or did anyone here experience the same? still, a great album musically! 300 copies made. prosthetic records. 2018.

the acacia strain - wormwood

finally! a gaping wound in my collection can now be closed eventually. to this point i had all the acacia strain full lengths on a first press basis, except that miserable first pressing of "wormwood", the band's fifth record. i missed out in the first place in 2010 and when i started to chase the vinyl versions a few years later, prices were already sky rocketing.

there were 1.000 copies of the first press, 500 on black vinyl and five colours each limited to 100. all of them are selling for 100 quid at least. the clear blue version even sold for 180 dollars. no way i was going to fight for a copy in that weight class. thankfully prosthetic records had the insight to finally re-press this monster.

musically this one is fantastic. i had almost forgotten about it but when i listen to the album, i cannot help but keep thinking that it is almost as good as "continent". especially the guest vocals by hatebreed's jamey jasta on "the beast" and 100 demons' bruce lepage on "nightman" are mind blowing. the colour-way is ace, too. 250 copies on semi translucent orange with white and blue splatter. prosthetic records. 2010/2019.

animals as leaders - s/t (10th anniversary pressing)

so yeah, this is actually my third copy of that specific album in my possession. my first one was the clear blue pressing out of 250 copies from 2015 which came in a single pocket sleeve. not my favourite colour-way and no gatefold but beggars can't be choosers, right?! two years ago prosthetic released another pressing.

as part of their silver series they marketed this version containing the songs of the re-vised "encore edition" with more additional bonus tracks and the original 3-d art on an insert. cooler colour-way but still no gatefold. when the band announced their touring cycle to celebrate the 10th year anniversary of their debut record this year, prosthetic records came up with a new pressing.

three colour-ways, encore edition track list and a freaking gatefold sleeve. of course i was all over the pre-order. jpc.de had copies available to pre-order and since jpc is a distro, i was bound to get the least limited version. no problem, because this yellow marble/clear green and black smoke edition looks really nice. finally i have my gatefold cover! 250 copies made. prosthetic records. 2009/2019.

post scriptum: of course i went to see the band play live in hamburg. i bought a ticket in last year, i believe. it was worth every penny. great atmosphere among the crowd, great set list with many songs of the debut, indeed and i even was able to catch a drum stick from matt gorstka (ok, actually the roadie threw it because the band was gone fast after the show :). fanboy heaven.

baroness - gold & grey

a new record by baroness. "already a new one?", i asked myself. it felt like "purple" came out last year or so. when i checked back, i realised that said album was released four years ago in 2015. boy, time flies. ok, so a new baroness record isn't that strange after all and i pre-ordered a goddamn copy anyway. i took the easy way out and opted for the indie retailer version that was available from a domestic mailorder.

there are a bunch of nicer looking versions out there but the orange/blue edition seemed like a reasonable choice when i pre-ordered at emp mailorder. after the record was delivered and i unwrapped it for the first time, i was amazed by the whole set. again baroness put so much love into the packaging, alone the lovely booklet with additional art by marald van haasteren from the netherlands is worth the purchase.

musically "gold & grey" is the logical next step to its predecessors "yellow & green" and "purple". a lot of smooth arrangements drenched in progressive rock songs with little bursts of energy here and there. i do really like that and i do have no bad feelings about the sound production here like so many others seem to experience. strong output which comes in a gatefold sleeve, printed dust sleeves, booklet, d-side etching and clear red-orange/clear sea blue vinyl. abraxan hymns records. 2019.

flub - s/t

flub. what a strange name. i didn't know the translation when i first read the title of just another artisan era records release. my research brought up the result that it means similar to a big mistake - still a strange name. when i visited the tube to check them out i found two videos. the first one showed the members performing in white shirts in front of white bed sheets. i really began to wonder.

the next video showed the members in front of the same bed sheets but this time in colourful hawaiian shirts. on top of this the vocalist looks like zach de la rocha and the weird feeling about this band reached its climax. alright, put aside all those admittedly odd appearances and what is left? solid deathcore that feels like it was made in the mid 00's with an proggy edge to it.

all this is very enjoyable because the band knows how to surprise. when you think you know what flub is about, they are coming with another bizarre twist round the corner. great debut that doesn't bore with too much detail. short and crisp! i ordered at jpc.de without knowing what colour-way i would get. i was really happy when i unwrapped the coolest. pink with light blue and purple splatter. 100 copies made. artisan era. 2019.

pelican - australasia

it has been quite some time since i posted about a pelican record, three years actually. that was mainly due to the lack of new stuff (although that's not really true, i just skipped live records and e.p.'s) and high second hand prices of stuff i still need. speaking of, one release of the band had always high priority to me - their debut "australasia". i didn't want just any copy of the several pressings, though.

i was after a special pressing of the record, the fourth to be precise. "australasia" was actually released in 2003 with the first vinyl pressings made by hydra head records in 2004. this edition was unleashed in 2008 and pressed by interloper records. interloper took care of further vinyl pressings of the album starting with the second press. the label changed the cover colours for their pressings to give it an individual flavour, i guess. but with this version they went above and beyond.

the gatefold is made of untreated card board and hand-printed with several layers of colour. that alone looks super slick but the vinyl colours take it one step further. loveley grey marble for the first disc and even nicer brownish marble for the second one. a feast for the eyes and ears as well. my favourite pelican material runs from the grooves of this double lp release. it comes in handy that the band just released a new record. have to get my hands on a copy. 1.000 copies made. interloper records. 2008.

arkaik - lucid dawn

"lucid dawn" is arkaik's fourth full length already but the first one that was pressed to vinyl. from the time on i bought their follow-up "nemethia", i always wanted to stretch out my fingers for a copy of the predecessor. actually it took me something like half a year to finally do so. be that as it may, here i am with a cheap copy i picked up through the amazon market place (like so many records recently).

after the first full spin, i was really into it. the album sounds so fresh, unburdened and full of joy of playing that it feels like "lucid dawn" is the album the band wanted to write with "nemethia". the latter mentioned feels like they tried really hard to sound perfect and thus lost a bit of focus. "lucid dawn" is complex and technical as well but with the right feeling for an easy groove or hook at the right time to make the songs memorable.

all in all, i think that "lucid dawn" is the better album of the two arkaik records i know. i hope that unique leader will press the first records to vinyl as well but it doesn't seem like the guys have such a big reputation. re-issues may not be worth the effort to the label. well, we will see. the presentation is solid here. single pocket sleeve, printed dust sleeve and milkey clear with red splatter vinyl. good job, unique leader records. 2015.

exocrine - molten giant

another excellent record of the technical death metal genre put out by unique leader records. one solid + album after the other, not by chance the artisan era and unique leader records releases are dominating my turntable. although "molten giant"is out since last year, i just came around to finally add it to the collection. well, not quite.

back when i ordered psycroptic's latest album "as the kingdom drowns" from impericon mailorder, i did order a copy of exocrine's third full length as well. it arrived damaged and after some e-mail correspondence impericon did not send me a new copy but did only refund me (although copies had been available). anyway, an amazon marketplace seller had an unharmed copy for a good price and here we are.

exocrine from france play a brand of tech death metal somewhere between decrepit birth (most of the time) and born of osiris (the lovely and weird electronical bridges). the dystopian lyrical concept of a godzilla-like entity fighting humanity and other monsters gives a hint of uniqueness where the music fails to do so. don't get me wrong, i love the album it is just nothing new (which i don't give a shit about frankly). check out pure quality here. sharp clear red with yellow splatter vinyl. unique leader records. 2018.

arkangel - prayers upon deaf ears re-issue

arkangel was one of those great belgian bands from the late nineties that played such a distintive brand of death metal paired with hardcore ethics. congress will always be my favourite of the time but arkangel comes pretty close. therefore i always found it to be torturing that original vinyl pressings were so hard to come by.

gsr music from the netherlands did re-issue some gems of the goodlife recordings heyday (giving the cue length of time) and now they finally give "prayers upon deaf ears" a worthy re-issue (although it was not actually released on goodlife recordings). back then in 1998 it came on cd via released power productions and a year later lifeforce records from germany produced a 10" vinyl version. those suckers, especially the red version, is a pain to get a hold on.

gsr proved some sense and made it a 12" edition and i snagged a die hard version. i actually think that the original cover art looks cooler but i didn't want to pay for two copies and so just took the special edition. it comes with a screen printed cover, an insert and clear vinyl with a stamped centre label. i like the three post cards included, it is a little take on that goodlife habit from back in the day. #71/136. gsr music. 2019.

aethereus - absentia

it is amazing in which quality the artisan era pumps out one tech death metal pearl after the other. my latest purchase was the new flub record, which i will post about in due time. the record at hand, aethereus debut called "absentia", was already released last year and i am just late to the party. that fact doesn't lower the brilliancy of that album a single bit.

i more or less ordered the record blindly. i listened to one song at some early point in 2019 and put it on my mental wantlist. a month ago i finally pulled the trigger remembering vaguely what the band sounded like. when the record arrived a few weeks later and i dropped the needle on it for the first time, i was surprised at how fantastic "absentia" flowed from my speakers.

the guys take some references from bands like rivers of nihil or fallujah and then just write great songs with dense atmosphere, riffs for days and majestic melodies. not necessarily innovative but really good at working with what is already there. a shame that the retail colour-way looks so unspectacular. in comparison to the fancy splatter versions, this one is a bit boring. it doesn't keep me from spinning this bad boy, though. great one! 250 copies made. the artisan era. 2018.