devildriver - the last kind words

when bmg did that re-issue campaign for devildriver's roadrunner years, i bought three out of five and never really pursued to get the remaining records. it was not like i didn't want them, they were just not high on the list. that changed last christmas.

i put one on my wishlist and my mother-in-law gave it to me - thanks a lot. a pretty neat album "last kind words" is. it is about to become my second favourite, right after "the fury of our maker's hand". the colour-way is really nice - love them split colours! originally released in 2007. bmg. 2018.

kirk windstein - dream in motion

what kirk windstein touches becomes at least solid and even more often plain brilliant. that guy has such a creative output that i always stand in awe when i see the list of albums, he was involved in. because i consider myself a fan of the riffmaster, it was a no-brainer to me to pick up his solo work.

i expected material in the vein of crowbar, especially after i listened to the single "dream in motion". the whole album is a bit quiter and a bit more experimental than that song and i really enjoy it, although i prefer the stuff from his main band. cool cover art (with the lettering in type o negative fashion) and lovely ultra clear with orange/blue/grey splatter double vinyl with etched d-side round out the package. e one. 2020.

spirit adrift - curse of conception

after spirit adrift's third full length "divided by darkness" was a bolt from the blue to me, i knew i had to get their previous stuff. problem was that i found no fucking store in europe which still had coloured copies in stock. after painful months of waiting, a seller from france came to my rescue.

it was a record store from lyon which had distro titles from 20 buck spin for sale via discogs. i snagged a copy of "curse of conception" right away. it comes on lovely light blue with red and white splatter vinyl and sounds awesome. great album all around! 20 buck spin. 2017/2019.

cattle decapitation - death atlas

cattle decapitation always had their own style and with every new record they added more variety. "death atlas" is the current peak of that evolution. everything sounds so rich in ideas, creativity and dynamic - a plain masterpiece it is. the artwork is brilliant as well.

the colour-way i snagged doesn't even look good from an aesthetic point of view but is a nice little novelty. black and yellow vinyl colour and #09 must have been destiny, as i am a fan of german football club bvb 09. heja bvb! metal blade records. 2019.

converge / agoraphobic nosebleed - the poacher diaries

found this copy on ebay with a decent buy-it-now price tag and so i snagged it up. it is one of the around-the-milenium splits they did and that one is musically closer to "when forever comes crashing" than to "jane doe". i love the converge part of this split.

the band they shared this release with is agoraphobic nosebleed. i didn't like them before hearing their part and still doesn't like them afterwards. the record was still sealed and it happened to be the most common colour-way. don't really mind because it looks nice! 500 copies on yellow with red splatter vinyl. relapse records. 1999/2007.

decapitated - carnival is forever

overlooked this polish force of nature for quite a bit. when back on black announced the re-pressings of "blood mantra" and "carnival is forever" i got curious and checked them out. fantastic progressive death metal found its way to my ears and i knew, that i needed to get copies. "carnival is forever" comes on slick ultra clear with white and red splatter vinyl. nuclear blast/back on black. 2019.

i am looking forward to see them live in march in hamburg playing together with beyond creation. oohhh yeah!

despised icon - purgatory

this canadian deathcore institution is still going strong. they are pioneers of the deathcore genre and besides some hardcore parts here and there, they have a soft spot for some tech death assaults and i really love that.

they will probably never hit me the way they did on "the ills of modern man" but "purgatory" is no busted flush at all. a great record all the way through and at least on par with their comeback record "beast". 1.750 copies on grey with black splatter vinyl. nuclear blast. 2019.

knocked loose - a different shade of blue

ok, i didn't see that coming. knocked loose is a contemporary hardcore band that was kicking up a lot of dust lately. i saw many pictures on the net of folks going crazy about collecting all the vinyl variants, which are quite a few. those pictures came up so consistently that i began to ask myself, if i should take the effort and check them out.

i hit up youtube and was amazed by the raw energy the band gets across. they include a lot of heavy breakdowns in their sound but really to pick up the vibe of the song and emphasise the groove and not for the sake of the breakdown alone. really good stuff, sometimes the singer's voice is a notch too high pitched but that is just a minor complaint. nice clear with multi-blue splatter vinyl out of 4.000(!) copies. pure noise records. 2019.