meshuggah - chaosphere

i really do love those original artwork re-issues for meshuggah albums that atomic fire records does recently. of course i had to get 'chaosphere' on this neat marble edition.

2024 wrap up

2024 saw only 50 posts on this blog. By far the fewest in a year since I started in 2012. The reason for this was not my laziness, there simply wasn't more to write about. Prices for new vinyl are on an all-time high and thus pressing quantities decline. This won't change anytime soon, so we'll see how many posts I conjure up this year. So, feel free to drop by in 2025.

on broken wings - it's all a long goodbye

huge nostalgia album to me. on broken wings' sophomore album was on heavy rotation in my discman almost twenty years ago. again daze records did a beautiful job with this vinyl issue.

there were more limited and crazy looking pressings around, but this yellow splatter was easily available here in europe and looks lovely nevertheless. 200 copies pressed. daze records. 2005/2024.

rivers of nihil - hierarchy

boy, this one takes me right back to those myspace days in the mid to late 00's. what a throwback.

musically not as diverse as nowadays' version of ron, the listener gets a sharp attack of what deathcore was like in 2009. metal blade. 2024.

dimmu borgir - abrahadabra

wasn't much into this dimmu album upon time of release. back then i started to collect vinyl and was rather chasing copies of 'puritanical euphoric misanthropia' and 'death cult armageddon' on 2nd hand platforms.

when 'abrahadabra' became a thing for me, first press copies were long gone and a re-press of small quantity passed me by as well. not this time around. originally released by nuclear blast in 2010. re-issue on green vinyl by metalville. 2024.

blood incantation - absolute elsewhere

i had the vinyl of the new bi record standing in a pile in front of my turntable for quite a while. the overall hype surrounding the band put me off a little.

meanwhile i spun it a handful of times and have to admit that the hype is not undeserved. strong effort of these guys, which sees a new expansion of their unique sound. 700 copies on clear w/ purple splatter vinyl. century media. 2024.

artificial brain - labyrinth constellation

looooong awaited re-issue of this progressive technical death metal masterpiece. profound lore. 2014/2024.

nile - the underworld awaits us all

five years back, nile entered a new era in the band's history with 'vile nilotic rites'. Slightly altered guitar and drum sound, slightly different song writing and it all paid off imho.

fast forward to today and the nile's tenth full length emerges from the duat. it's a logical continuation of the new sound but all turned up a notch. unmistakably nile and yet fresh all the way through.

missed out on the most limited pressing but this dark green w/ yellow splatter vinyl looks really good as well. 300 copies made. napalm records. 2024.

exist - hijacking the zeitgeist

their last record "egoiista" was quite too long for my taste and tend to get a bit boring, so i wasn't really sure about the new album. for "hijacking the zeitgeist" they cut down the duration to almost the half and it worked wonders.

with an improved song-writing the tracks sound as fresh as can be. huge, catchy choruses and everything proggy inbetween. love it. prosthetic records. 2024.

year of the knife - ultimate aggression

was looking for a copy ever since i learned about the band and now i finally copped this recent re-issue. handy compilation of the band's first two e.p.'s. 1.500 copies made. pure noise records. 2019/2022.