snapcase - end transmission

this year's september has seen real nineties galore on almost every vinyl blog i read on a regular basis, mine included. so i thought it might be very appropriate to finish the month with another deeply ninties rooted band. snapcase is the name. of all those lovely bands/releases of that decade snapcase was, despite their rather popular reputation, probably the least noticed by myself. i knew some stuff from their 'progression through unlearning' lp and put that on my wantlist. it wasn't really high priority, though.

one of that records i would pick up along the way, whenever a chance would appear. apparantly that didn't work out yet. when i was in düsseldorf on this year's holiday, checking out hitsville records store, i came across a nice reminder that i should put more focus towards snapcase releases. i snagged a copy of their last real full length 'end transmission'on coloured vinyl. i heard mixed opinions on that record, so i wasn't really expecting anything - i was just curious. after the first listen i was blown away at how much i liked this album. i needed some more spins to confirm my first impression and the record just got better.

a very sophisticated and progressive take on hardcore with loads of melodies, aggression and energy. check out 'believe/revolt' and 'new kata'. unfortunately my copy isn't what one would call prime condition. the sleeve is a piece of folded card and has a clipped corner and some warps. the vinyl has some surface noise but plays fine. the price was ok, too but i probably would have gotten a better copy on discogs for five bucks more. just can't walk off a store empty handed and i don't regret it at all. 835 copies on white with black bonus 7". victory records. 2002.

earth crisis - firestorm

two years ago i ordered a lot of records from victory records. if possible i try to avoid oversea orders because of the shipping rates and the custom duties for u.s. imports over here in germany. victory seems to have the only mailorder with moderate shipping costs. don't know how it works but they are not higher than sixteen bucks. so victory is a exception in rare cases. when i was ordering some between the buried and me and two emmure records (i posted about them this very month), i also included this little gem. and now these records are finally off the pile.

as you may know, i am an earth crisis fan. i have a copy of almost every recorded material of this syracuse powerhouse. so when victory announced a record store day re-press for 'firestorm' i really wanted a copy. they came on clear red and pressed out of 900 copies. not really rare for a hardcore band. thus i thought i would be an easy task to snag one. well, in the end i came up short and so i was really glad that in november 2013 still some copies of the victory exclusive clear with black smoke rsd 7"es were available.

i threw it into my cart and a few weeks later it was mine. i love that victory stays true to the actual looks of the releases for the most part. so the re-issue has only some minor changes, like the labels for example. sound-wise this is what you expect from this band. their very own brand of metallic hardcore which was deeply influential for a good chunk of the nineties hardcore movement. in the unlikely event you do not know it check 'firestorm' in full with this link. 110 copies made. victory records. 1993/2013.

iron maiden - seventh son of a seventh son

hands down, i don't know an awful lot of iron maiden. i listened to 'the x factor', which didn't really impress me and i know 'brave new world' quite good, which was the bruce dickinson comeback album and i think is pretty cool. that was about it, apart from some hits like 'number of the beast' or 'run to the hills'. my interest was awoken through some talking about the maiden with a good friend of mine, who is a huge fan. that made me check out 'powerslave' and i was surprised at how much i liked it.

so when i was on holiday this august and searching the racks of idiot records store in dortmund for some maiden wax, i was actually out for 'powerslave' but what hit me was a used copy of 'seventh son of a seventh son'. i really like the cover art, the vinyl looked good and so i grabbed it. not a mistake at all. 'seventh son...' was the one and only concept album maiden ever did. i am a sucker for those conceptional records.

it's based on a fantasy book by orson scott card and about a western superstition that the seventh son/daughter of a seventh son/daughter has some supernatural healing powers and can see the future. amongst others the record deals with the question if a clairvoyant can see his own death. i love the prog elements of the album. unfortunately my copy misses the insert with the lyrics. probably a replica boot from 2014? maybe i'll get an upgrade at some point. emi records. 1988.

turmoil - the process of

turmoil is one of those bands that i think got lesser attention than they deserved. maybe i am wrong because they have been releasing stuff through century media, which is a rather big label, but it seems that turmoil always comes second compared to other metallic hardcore bands of the nineties, bands such as earth crisis, snapcase or strife. whatever it might have been or if it even was that way at all, i really like turmoil.

i have two 7"es of them, 'who says time heals all wounds' and 'anchor'. i didn't post about the latter one yet but coincidentally my mate jake did a few days before. as i have a lot of love for those two 7"es it was clear that i also wanted their full length from the last year of the bygone century. unfortunately i could never make it happen, not until this year in cologne's finest record shop called underdog store.

somehow the re-press of 2014 by escapist records from the states completely passed me by. so i was quite surprised to find a coloured version sitting at underdog. especially on a colour i never saw before. i grabbed the record without hestitation and made it mine. later i found out that escapist did a fifteen years anniversary pressing with original artwork and an insert with some personal impressions of persons related to the release and/or band in one form or another. only downer is the super flimsy cover. 327 copies on clear gold. escapist records. 2014.  

horn of the rhino - summoning deliverance

it's remarkable how many records one digs up by simply killing time on the digital device we all can't seem to live without anymore, the internet. it's probably a compulsion that many collector's feel when ordering a record via a new mailorder, i can't leave it be with just one record, i just have to see if i can add something cool.

this had been the case when i ordered the valley of the sun record from kozmik artifactz mailorder. i was looking for something to add. so i worked my way through the 'latest additions' section and came across a cover which artwork caught my attention. this apocalyptic scene with its burning buildings and alien titans was very attracting and so i checked some songs right away.

the first song i listened to was 'onward through domination' and it blew me away. the beginning with its ominous horn prepares for impending greatness and the first vocal lines were enough for me to click the 'add to cart' button. with the whole record now in front of me and after giving it appropriate spins, i can say that horn of the rhino plays a real mean mixture of sludge and doom metal. dark, gritty and just so damn good.

the singer javier galvez switches from his sometimes rather high pitched screaming voice to a formidable singing voice, quite often reminding me of soundgarden's chris cornell or of life of agony's keith, now mina caputo. with this singing voice horn of the rhino really shows its strength because of the unique sound, but the songs with screaming voice are also really good and take reminiscence of high on fire here and there.

the record was released by doomentia records from the czech republic and they did an awesome job with 'summoning deliverance'. glossy and sturdy gatefold sleeve with an included lp-sized booklet attached to the inner gatefold. that's pretty cool. the vinyl itself looks rad, too. clear with orange splatter and cut at 45rpm. only 100 copies made and sold out, i'm afraid. doomentia records. 2014.

morning again - as tradition dies slowly

another classic being re-pressed. after revelation re-issued the heavy-hitters of their back catalogue over and over again, it was finally time for one i was hoping for ages. an original coloured copy of morning gain's crowning work 'as tradition dies slowly', a lovely opaque sky blue vinyl, is pretty damn hard to come by for a price i am willing to pay, so the re-press is heartily welcomed.

usually i am far more familiar with the european representatives of that specific kind of hardcore/metal that was so popular in the nineties, especially with the belgian bands. and regarding u.s. bands i probably would choose culture over morning again but still this record's quality is beyond debate. sadly morning again split up after four years in 1999 and with only one real full length.

since then the band did a couple of re-union shows spread across the states, europe and asia, starting in 2000 up to this year. sometimes under different names and with changing line-ups. so i don't really expect them to release new material, but in the end you never know. revelation came up with clear vinyl for the re-press. mine has a nice black smudge inside the clear. unknown quantity. revelation records. 1998/2015.

postscriptum: thanks to willem's comment i repeated my research for pressing information. 550 copies on clear vinyl. thanks, mate!

cradle of filth - hammer of the witches

at this year's wacken festival i finally crossed a long time want off the list. i am not speaking about a record, although i also bought a record want there, what i mean is a live appearance of cradle of filth. i couldn't make it happen to that point, but this night of the 31st of july to the first of august the time had come. the days before had been exhausting. constant rain turned the festival site into a big puddle of mud and especially the folks that were camping over the weekend were pretty drained.

this and the fact that cradle was the last act on the mainstage of the whole festival, the crowd wasn't at a high energy rate. me included, even though i was able to drive home every night and sleep in my warm, dry bed - yes, i'm old, ok?! dani filth was a bit pissed considering this situation but the band still delivered a great show and i enjoyed every bit. at this day their new record 'hammer of the witches' was released and i pre-ordered it, of course.

actually the album was released on tenth of july but the pressing plant delayed the vinyl delivery. so this date was set instead. i don't know about the nuclear blast store versions but my emp mailorder exclusive couldn't adhere to this date too. so all in all after over a month i got my opaque blue version and, even though i just had a few spins of the record, i have to say this album is pretty good. i think it's safe to say that it's better than 'darkly, darkly venus aversa' and 'manticore'. maybe at eye level with 'godspeed and the devil's thunder'. time will tell.

after the anew departure of paul allender, the main song-writer, i feared cof couldn't keep up to former glory, but after the first listen of the record all my worries had been washed away. with the two new guitarists they even added a new facet to their trademark sound. while paul allender wrote the songs for one guitar, now the pieces hold some real nice iron maiden twin-guitar harmonies. we will see if this line-up is of consistency. the lyrical concept is pretty cool too. history gets turned up-side down and the witches go on hunt for church dignitaries. check the first single 'right wing of the garden triptych'. 200 copies on opaque blue. nuclear blast. 2015.

cradle of filth - godspeed on the devil's thunder

despite of its awkward album title, 'godspeed on the devil's thunder' evovled into my second to favourite cradle of filth album. after i wasn't totally convinced by 2004's 'nymphetamine' and 'thornography' was a downright disappointment in 2006, i lost track a little. eventually in 2010, after four years of complete abstinence and two years after the release of this record, i checked 'godspeed...' for the first time and was delighted.

gone were the horror rock elements of 'thronography' and gone was the exaggerated blood romantic of 'nymphetamine'. back with furious speed, back with majestic harmonies and back with frantic energy. some pissed punk attitude on top and you have one of the best cof records ever written. i love the great drumming of the then new member martin in particular. convince yourself with 'tragic kingdom' and 'darkness incarnate'.

the next thing that made me fall in love with this album is the lyrical concept. based on life and times of gilles de rais, 'godspeed...' is pure entertainment on various levels. de rais was a french nobleman living in the fifteenth century. he fought against the english on the side of jeanne d'arc. the album concept implies that gilles was in love with jeanne d'arc and after she was burned on the pyre, he gave hisself to alchemy and dark rituals inside his castle tiffauges.

the last part is historically proved and in order to fulfill his cruel rituals he is said to be the murderer of over a hundred victims at least, foremost children of the peasant population. after a considerable amount of time he was adjudged guilty for his crimes, first in front of a clerical and afterwards in front of a secular court and was hanged with two of his complices. stuff made for a cof album. it was pressed by roadrunner records in 2008 on an unknown amount of black vinyl.

cradle of filth - the principle of evil made flesh

another guilty pleasure of mine was and is cradle of filth. in celebration of the release of their new album 'hammer of the witches', which is finally in my possession, i will start a little series with all in all three cof records. i have this particular copy of cradle's debut album 'the principle of evil made flesh' for about ten months on my shelf and now is the right occasion to post it off eventually.

i bought this album on cd at some point in 2003 but sold it again because i wasn't really pleased with anything prior to 2000's 'midian' release. i still think that 'cruelty and the beast' and especially 'dusk and her embrace' are the weakest efforts of this suffolk based band, even though i know that there are a lot of fans that praise these very two albums as the band's crowning work.

anyway, since i found out that back on black re-issued the album on double clear blue vinyl in 2011, my interest was back. so i re-visited the album and i have to say that this time i was quite surprised that i pretty much liked what i heard. of course, it's an early work of the band and that is definitely what it sounds like, 1993, raw and unpolished. a product of its circumstances but it has that distinct cof magick.

i think paul allender's song writing skills were the key. except of the unspeakable 'thornography' his impact made the difference musically. an impact, an energy 'cruelty...' and 'dusk...' were missing. anyway, back on black copies sold out and so i was glad to see this new pressing. it was brought to us by the end records from the states. the mock up pictures were showing a lovely blue and white merge vinyl colour. well, it came out a bit more blue and less white. 1000 copies made. the end records. 2014.

emmure - speaker of the dead

the record that makes my emmure collection complete. it's emmure's fourth album from 2011 called 'speaker of the dead'. it's the record after 'felony', wich is despite one completely failed song my favourite album of n.y.'s most controversial band, and that's why 'speaker of the dead' was always a tough act to follow. i usually believe that it's healthy for a record to not cross the ten songs limit (intros and such not included).

mostly albums above that limit tend to get exhausting because it's hard to keep attention high, funnily this seems to be regardless of duration. anyway, 'speaker of the dead' has fifteen songs and some feel like fillers. the band had so many good ideas on that record but seemed to have written for every good single riff one song instead of channeling the best ideas into a more compact song-writing.

nevertheless there are some real good shots on this album. check out 'demons with ryu' and the haunting 'bohemian groove'. emmure's singer frank palmeri is obviously keen on the video game street fighters. i know this game too because i spend a lot of time with it on my grey kerbstone called game boy twenty years ago. so the colour description for this green version made me chuckle. blanka green out of 400 copies. victory records. 2011/2013.