spirit adrift - infinite illumination

the swansong of spirit adrift and its mastermind, founder and part-time sole member nate garrett. the band had many incarnations and this last album is no different.

still there was a musical common thread tied together by garrett. 'infinite illumination' is a worthy farewell leaned towards the doomier end of the spectrum. neon green vinyl out of who-knows-how-many copies. 20 buck spin. 2026.

atræ bilis - aumicide

i held off buying this album upon time of release, because i thought the orange retail version looked quite boring. so i said to myself to wait for a 2nd pressing which is usually just one but a crazier colour variant.

killing time on kleinanzeigen (a german 2nd hand platform), i came across this lovely first press 'koi pond' marble variant for a real good price. musically this is their best work in an already flawless discography. 20 buck spin. 2024.

tomb mold - the enduring spirit

beautiful new album by the mold. love the new more proggy direction. uber lovely presentation, too. 20 buck spin. 2023.

tomb mold - aperture of body

in the wake of their latest full length, this little gem from 2022 got the deserved vinyl treatment as well. lovely stuff. 20 buck spin. 2023.

lunar chamber - shambhallic vibrations

boy, what a tech death debut e.p. by lunar chamber. leaves me craving more! 20 buck spin records. 2023.

ulthar - helionomicon

the lighter twin on white and pruple merge with splatter. what a behemoth those two song/fourty minutes album is. contender of the album of the year right here. 20 buck spin records. 2023.

ulthar - anthronomicon

brilliant twin album release by these u.s. lovecraft worshippers. blackened death metal the way i like it. this is the darker twin and what a beauty it is. black and purple merge with splatter. 20 buck spin. 2023.

ænigmatum - deconsecrate

what an album. dazzling proggy/tech death metal from the united states. took me way too long to get a copy. bought this through italian grindpromotion records. love the artwork and vinyl colour combination. 20 buck spin. 2021.

atræ bilis - apexapien

loved the first e.p. "divinihility" by these canadian death dealers and thus was excited for the band's upcoming full length on 20 buck spin. what can i say? "apexapien" came out great, beautiful low key dissonant death metal with mediative melodies. nice orange cloudy vinyl. 2022.

cerebral rot - excretion of mortality

swampy, murky, filthy death metal with a doomy edge to it. cerebral rot really carved a niche for theirselves with their unique trademark sound. of course, the disgusting lyrics and visuals only add to the sensation that is this band. hot pink and red merge released by 20 buck spin records in 2021.

ulthar - providence

the second album of this blackened death metal entity from the u.s.a. their prominent lovecarftian lyrical theme is part of the brilliant experience that is ulthar. i think i liked "cosmovore" a bit better but still "providence" is a rager! nice deep purple and milky clear merge vinyl released by 20 buck spin records.

ulthar - cosmovore

progressive blackened death metal from the united states with a deep rooting in all lovecraft and cthulhu mythic. ignored them for way too long but now can't get my ears off of them. lovely pinwheel vinyl re-press by 20 buck spin label. 2018/2020.

khemmis - doomed heavy metal

khemmis coming up with their new e.p. to shorten the wait for their new full length in progress. to be fair, this e.p. doesn't provide too much new material, none to be precise. an old song, two covers and three live tracks. everybody came for the dio cover, i guess, but to me the winner on here is "empty throne".

completionists already have the decibel flexi disc, on which the song was featured three years ago. i don't and so this was new to me. pretty good to say the least, just as the dio cover "rainbow in the dark". the rest are fillers. still, the vinyl colour looks uber awesome! 500 copies pressed. 20 buck spin records. 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.

tomb mold - manor of infinite forms

when i ordered my"planetary clairvoyance" copy from german van records, i quickly recognised that they also had a re-press of tomb mold's second full length in stock. i listened to a few songs and was delighted to see that this album really had its own flavour and feels different to the follow-up. the colour-way is very nice, too. a no-brainer, like they say. 20 buck spin. 2018/2019.

tomb mold - planetary clairvoyance

i am usually not into those nineties death metal revival bands. i rather listen to the original stuff. but every now and then there comes a band that makes the exception to the rule. canadian deathsters tomb mold were low on my radar because i follow closely what their label 20 buck spin is doing. until lately i thought their style wouldn't appeal to me.

there was a huge buzz around their latest record "planetary clairvoyance" and i finally checked it out more thoroughly. i am still not the biggest fan of the vocals but admittedly it works great with the overall sound. musically they are modern enough to stay relevant and the space/alien theme makes the whole affair uber slick. lovely re-press on purple/blue galaxy merge. 20 buck spin. 2019.

spirit adrift - divided by darkness

it took me quite a long time to finally be convinced by spirit adrift. it started in 2017 when 20 buck spin records announced the release of the second full length by a band called spirit adrift. i never heard of them before but when they were likened to pallbearer, i was all ears. i am a fan of all things pallbearer but "curse of conception" could not really grab me.

i filed spirit adrift as "not for me" and moved on. when "divided by darkness" came out it was the same play. again i gave them a try but it did not click. while i was checking the van records store (van records is the european distributor of 20 buck spin) lately searching for the new tomb mold, i came up empty handed in tomb mold terms but found a second press for "divided by darkness". listening to the tunes this time and suddenly everything made perfectly sense. i ordered a copy quickly.

the record is fantastic. the pallbearer comparisons are undeniably accurate but that is not a bad thing. "divided by darkness" gets better with each song and in combination with the breathtaking artwork this bad boy might be the best doom metal release of the year. on a side note: after opening the parcel and pulling the vinyl from its dust sleeve, i was delighted to see that i actually got a tri-colour merge copy from the first press. lovely surprise. 250 copies made. 20 buck spin. 2019.

khemmis - hunted

khemmis is the new force to be reckoned with in doom metal at the moment. their first record "absolution" which was released in summer last year hit the metal scene like a sledge hammer and was praised by the press as one of the best doom albums of the year. rightfully so as long as i am concerned, even though i jumped on the band wagon a bit late and bought a third press copy only a few months ago. a year after "absolution" was unleashed, 20 buck spin announced the follow-up release "hunted", set to be put out in late october 2016.

the pre-orders were going live in early september and i was ready to put some money towards a limited colour vinyl version. when i read the descriptions for the several vinyl colours, it appeared that 20 buck spin was selling a silver version via nuclear blast and a very few of the shop exclusive electric blue edition via vàn records from germany upon release date. back when i ordered my copy of "absolution" from 20 buck spin, i wasn't aware of the partnership between the two labels.

i missed the chance to order an exclusive colour-way with reasonable shipping charges. but not this time, i said to myself. so i waited. it was quite hard to see the limited electric blue version sell out over at 20 buck spin. i e-mailed the vàn records team to ask if i could pre-order the khemmis record but got no reply. as there was no specific date announced when the record was available, i started to check the vàn page on a daily basis. paranoia of a record collector. when the record showed up in the store last weekend, i didn't hestitate to order a copy straight away.

vàn even had some sea blue inside ultra clear vinyl copies on offer but of course i chose the sick white inside electric blue with silver and black splatter vinyl (pretty long description for a colour-way, huh?). musically this is just the keeping of what "absolution" promised. melodic doom metal in perfection. no big talk, just listen to the whole album by clicking this youtube link. listen and stand in awe. my colour-way, as all the colour vinyl of the first press, is limited to 150 copies. comes with a nice 8" booklet and a slip sleeve with foil print and a coloured inside. sharp! 20 buck spin records. 2016.

khemmis - absolution

so this is the other record that arrived two days ago. the very metal one. it is khemmis' first full length called 'absolution'. khemmis and me had a long way coming. when this album was released almost a year ago, i was aware of it because i get the 20 buck spin newsletter. i really found the cover art real cool but i never managed to listen to them. after that the album crossed my path here and there in one form or another but still there must have been more important records. when 20 buck spin announced the third press in a few months, i decided to finally check what the buzz was all about.

i listened to the whole record with the help of a complete album stream on the tube and was blown away. this is lovely doom metal the way i like it. ominously melodic and crushingly heavy. the label draw comparisons to bands such as pallbearer or yob and i think these are quite accurate. if you are into the aforementioned music groups then khemmis will be right up your alley. the six songs are doom metal perfection. maybe a little too close to the pallbearer sound at times but for a debut record it is outstandingly good. what is pretty unique about them is that the singer has one of those great classic metal voices and is able to produce quite some guttural growls as well. makes the overall sound very dynamic.

again, the cover art is looking sharp. wish i had such a pretty assassin to rid myself of opposing wizards. since i thought that 20 buck spin is selling their colour copies through their web shop exclusively, i ordered from the states which meant high shipping costs in the same breath. little did i know that van records from germany had some in stock too. now their copies are gone but i will check back for later 20 buck spin releases to save on shipping. 200 copies made on this lovely gold inside clear w/ white splatter. 20 buck spin records. 2015/2016.

pallbearer - demo 2010

pallbearer are a recent guilty pleasure of mine. i discovered them in last year's october, i think. i was checking ebay for some conan vinyl and came across a seller, of whom i bought nice underground label releases quite often in the last months. hhv.de is the name.

so i got my hands on 'sorrow and extinction', pallbearer's debut full length on 20 buck spin records. i really love their style of classic doom metal mixed with those down tuned, fuzzed out guitars. winner! as pallbearer vinyl sells rather good and their popularity seems to only grow, 20 buck spin decided to press their 2010 demo to vinyl. good idea!

back in 2010 the band did a self-released run on cd-r and deathsmile records from the states did a limited tape version. so now, four years after its initial release, 20 buck spin gives the pallbearer fans what they craved for. with black vinyl and the more limited purple vinyl already up its sleeve, the label didn't stop there.

for the die-hards comes the special 'reliquary edition'. this edition consists of the vinyl colour of your choice, - of course i opted for the purple coloured platter - a pallbearer and a 20 buck spin logo sticker, a pallbearer nickel pin, a big poster of the cover art, an lovely b-side etching and a sick slipmat with the motive of the b-side etching.

you may have noticed that the nickel pin is mising in the pictures. well, everything coming with the reliquary redition can be safely put into the sleeve except this little nickel pin. so i put it somewhere safe. unfortunately it's even safe from my very own. can't find that damn thing. when i finally have i will put up a photo later. here is the one from the 20 buck spin site.

two songs of the demo are already familiar with me, as they are also to be found on 'sorrow and extinction'. 'gloomy sunday' is the bands interpretation of the 1933's classic. nice addition. by the way if you want a coloured vinyl version of the band's latest album 'foundations of burden' and missed out on the first run, here's your chance. already ordered one. 20 buck spin. 2014.