alpha & omega - life swallower

in my book alpha & omega's second record 'no rest, no peace' is pretty damn good. it really grew on me since its release. after that i loosely looked out for the remaining vinyl outputs. in last year's september i have already written about their first 7" 'devil's bed' on 6131 records, which i scored on the bay. 'life swallower', the band's debut full length, was actually in my possession since march of last year. i am finally coming around to post it.

i won this copy of the u.s. pressing on ebay as well. i can't say what exactly i paid in the end but it wasn't expensive at all. my copy came in in great condition. musically this los angeles' based band knew how to record some tight metallic hardcore in 2010. it reminds me more than once of the heyday of the crossover sound from the nineties. bands such as merauder or almighty biohazard come to my mind.

check out the album in its entirety and be life-swallowed wholly. i really like the art concept here. the gatefold is made to look as a medieval book cover and opened you can gain knowledge of how to make a pact with the horned one himself. 6131 pressed three colour-ways for 'life swallower' and i have the least limited out of 600 copies. this purple with black smoke vinyl looks super lovely nonetheless. reality records from belgium even did an european pressing. 6131 records. 2010.

alpha & omega - devil's bed

i'm pretty busy with packing things because i'm moving appartments in the coming week, so everything is a bit stressful. that's why i didn't find the time to listen to as much music as i want to. i got some nice new releases but i can't say anything profound about them. next month will see more up to date posting about new stuff. for now this will have to do. alpha & omeg's first release in the form of the devil's bed 7" from 2008.

i really loved their sophomore album from last year, 'no rest, no peace', and i said to myself to get their previous stuff whenever given the chance to. and the chance came through ebay. i already lost an auction in the past and now the less limited blue version and this gold copy were ending not far from each other time-wise. the copy that was ending sooner, the blue copy, oddly went for more money than i got the gold copy for. strange world.

musically this is just the great stuff that made me fall in love with 'no rest, no peace'. great riffing, on point drumming and nice hook lines plus a forceful portion of energy. if you like metallic hardcore of any form, give them a chance. disappointment won't be a side effect. check out 'devil's blood' and 'no more pain' in case you don't believe. 1.000 copies of the first pressing: 100 on purple, 600 on blue and 300 on gold vinyl. 6131 records. 2008.

downpresser - don't need a reason

the first two releases of downpresser, 'perverted justice' and 'age of ignorance', were on my wantlist for quite some time. but i never came across any or never came across a copy for the price i wanted to pay. i had an option for a coloured test of 'perverted justice' but money seemed to high. but hey christmas is coming and maybe i'll enlarge my balls and catch up. so now to the record at hand. downpresser's latest output 'don't need a reason'.

i didn't order it in the first place because of the following problem. the most common colour of the first press is black. as 'don't need a reason' is out on an american label, over here in germany usually one gets the most common press from the general ditros. i didn't want the black vinyl and that's why i passed on it. but then, because i wanted to check the vinyl section at kings road merch, i stumbled upon the coloured copies of 'dnar'.

in the beginning i even overlooked the blue vinyl and ordered the clear vinyl. fortunately i noticed my mistake soon enough, so i was able to e-mail kings road before they shipped the record and change from clear into blue. the music itself is really good. pumping metallic hardcore. downpresser just knows how to play this stuff real tight. check 'twist of fate' or the title song - scorchers. shame that two or three songs are just average stuff. otherwise the record-of-the-year title had a most promising hopeful with 'don't need a reason'.

despite that. this album hits my imiginary top ten list of 2013 because of a movie qoute at the end of the record. it's a qoute by detective lt. somerset (played by morgan freeman) from the movie 'seven'. check it here. it's one of my favourite movies. that makes a special connection and that makes an special album. the vinyl colour sucks and is cool at the same time. sucks because it looks black and, here is the cool part, looks great hold up to the light. gatefold sleeve with nice and simple layout rounds it out. 600 on black, 300 on clear and 100 on blue/black vinyl. 6131 record. 2013.

rwhaf willem: the freebies

i'm going to keep this one short because these two records are no actual purchase and the picture beneath actually says it all.

agnostic front - united blood e.p. 7"

as willem already wrote down, this one is essential. i'm not that much into the tunes, which the grooves release dropping the needle on it, but one has got to know where the roots are. hardcore history. plain and simple.

well done re-press in my eyes. bridge9 went for a new artwork but stood true to the original by printing the dust sleeve with the original artwork. the insert also included.

the sleeve comes with embossed lettering and the vinyl colour matches the colour-scheme of the sleeve quite well. solid all around. 800 copies made. bridge9. 2009.

down to nothing - 50 lions split 7"

as you can already read in picture #1, and as a constant reader you probably know, a copy of the superb split 7" is already in my posession. i got it from willem as well some months ago.

this time he sent me the white vinyl version. i think it was the most limited colour of the first press out of 100 copies. and with 50 lions being one of my favourite bands, this one is really nice to have. willem for president!

usually i don't collect several copies of one release but, of course, this is an exception. again, much appreciation and respect to willem. thank you mate. i'll give some back! buy his stuff from discogs!

6131 records. 2008.

burnout store pt. 2/4: strife

strife - witness a rebirth

i actually ordered this one way back in december 2012 or january this year from xsentientx distro which was late anyway. they had two options available. the black vinyl and the limited white vinyl out of 100 pressed by holy roar records from the uk. of course i wanted the white vinyl. sometimes i have an odd feeling with orders and then i e-mail the seller to confirm some informations stated in the description. i don't know why but i was suspicious that they still had some white ones. gut instincts they call that. i seem to have reliable guts.

after that e-mail i never got any reply which makes me pretty sure that they didn't had the limited white version anymore. why they never sent an answer though is beyond me. however i didn't send a second message. so i'd consider it a draw. anyway i didn't want a black version and so i looked out for it on the bay. well, all auctions were wether buy it now options which i thought to be too pricy or the auctions to bid on ended not in the range i was willed to pay. so actually the price was the one and only reason.

understandably i was pretty happy to hear that 6131 records announced a second press on blue vinyl. now i could easily order a coloured copy without the ebay struggle. i didn't pull the trigger immediately with a distro of my trust because to be honest i wasn't too keen on getting the record. other stuff got higher priorities. but as this new shining copy smiled at me at burnout the chance was right in front of me and i took it.

all in all the record is half damn good and half ok. not as good as 'one truth', which reminds me that i need a vinyl copy of that album too, but for a reunion pretty decent. hope to catch them live at some point. the presentation is lovely. great layout which favours the choice for a gatefold sleeve and nice clear blue vinyl out of an yet unknown number of copies (correct me if i'm wrong). 6131 records. 2012.

(edit: as the commentary by jake indicates i didn't tell you guys what happened to the order with xsentientx distro. of course he's right, so here is the story. after i completed the order at the xsentientx page i got an automatic confirmation e-mail. it sayed that they recieved my order and will get back to me with further information. stuff like if all the records are available and numbers of their bank account for the money transfer. after that automatic mail i sent the afore mentioned e-mail questioning about the white strife record. and after that only silence. so i never got to actually transfer any money and the whole thing came to nothing.) 

discogs: down to nothing-50 lions split

down to nothing – 50 lions split 7“

as i probably mentioned before 50 lions are one of my favourite hardcore bands recently. i love their snotty sound and their feeling for the right melody in the right place. of course they don't re-invent hardcore but hand on heart, who the heck wants that? they play it just better than the rest ;) as i have the two lp's they released and the self-titled 7“ there were not much to get anymore. i had my eyes on some copies of this split release for quite some time. all american ebay offerings which naturally increased the shipping costs. and so i didn't really get around to it as there is so many other stuff i buy.

one day a new blog entry of willem's 'records with history and future' appeared on my dashboard. in this post he pointed out that he would sell some of his stuff through discogs. scrolling through his list the down to nothing–50 lions split immediately caught my interest. he had different versions to offer. the green one i bought is not the most limited but in my eyes the best looking. willem packed it superbly and so i can only recommend buying from him.

both bands have three songs on this split. the down to nothing side is pretty good. never heard something disappointing by this band, though. but the winner to me of course, is the 50 lions part. they have a special sense for the best possible ending song. and again 'love and war' is top notch!

a really good split release out on 6131 records and resist records. 400 made. second press. 2008.

burnout store: h2o, hardside

h2o - nothing to prove
i have to admit that i have never really been into those hardcore-punk bands like pennywise, ignite or exactly h2o. i couldn't really get involved with their sunny california sound. even though i saw the first two mentioned bands playing live several times on different occasions and their shows were always cool. to me there are bands that totally convince me playing live but fail to do so when i listen to their records. walls of jericho for example are one of my favourite live bands but i don't really like their recorded stuff. pennywise and ignite fall into the same category and i thought h2o was no exception.

i managed to elude a h2o show since last year where i saw them for the first time together with madball and first blood. they were the direct support for the headliner madball and madball had a hard time to keep the crowd going after h2o's performance. to me h2o was the band of the night and i said to myself that i should check them out more appropriate then i did in the past. it took me almost another year. after i saw them again with agnostic front and hatebreed and after they were a blast again i gave myself a symbolic kick in the ass and bought this record at my next burnout store visit.

i love this record! love the messages, the straight edge background and the ear worm melodies. the album is from 2008 and bridge9 did it's fourth pressing recently. i really like opaque colours with some marble effects. looks nice! tan coloured vinyl out of 1000 with download code. bridge9 records. 2008.

hardside - time is punishment

i heard some tunes of hardside recently because the label of my trust, demons run amok entertainment, released a compilation of hardside's first two 7"es on 12" format which i have to get in the near future. i wasn't hooked immediately, so i didn't pre-order it. then in december last year jake posted about his copy of 'time is punishment' and so i was aware of the fact that hardside had even an album out. but what to do with the knowledge? nothing - until mid february (yes, that's how long i'm behind with posting). flicking through the h-section at burnout and after picking h2o another familiar looking cover caught my interest.

i dragged the record to the next free turntable and gave it a spin. i listened to the first song and after half of it through i said 'yepp, bought!' i didn't even make it to the chorus because excitement took over. back home i listened to it in whole and was surprised at the chorus parts sung with a clear voice. i wasn't really sure of it but after the second listen i couldn't get these refrains out of my head. brilliant heavy mid-tempo hardcore with really catchy refrains sung by some kind of heavy metal voice. makes them unique in my eyes and that's rare!

the record was released by 6131 records. according to the 6131 shop two colour ways were made: grey marble and solid green. the solid green is slightly marbled too. i presume that grey marble is the more limited because it stands on top of the solid green option in the shop but i can't be sure as 6131 records didn't post any numbers yet. comes with download code. 

6131 records. 2012.

per koro: verse, backtrack

verse - rebuild

i didn't know verse until this year. i mean, i heard of their name once or twice in the past, for sure. but i thought they just wouldn't be my cup of tea somehow. and actually that maybe would have been the case. but in the more recent past i'm opening myself to a wider range of hardcore stuff. i used to listen to a lot of so-called "tough-guy" hardcore. stuff like hatebreed, first blood, black my heart, born from pain, etc. i still like this way of hardcore but now i find myself liking this type of melodic hardcore (or whatever it is called) in the vein of verse pretty much. the actual initiation to check them out came through the band carpathian from australia. i love their 'isolation' album and their music is often compared to verse.

the only problem that emerged after i decided that i wanted a copy of this record, was the fact that 'rebuild' was released in 2004. considering the big status this first output has i was pretty sure i would have to pay big money on ebay. just out of curiosity (i wasn't really expecting to find anything) i put 'verse' into the search box at per koro. i was surprised to find a copy on vinyl, especially the addition 'coloured' got my heart beating faster. no hestitation. i placed an order.

more information from discogs led to the insight that this version is a 2012 re-press by prügelprinz records in celebration of their euro-tour '12. after i saw all the other colours of the original pressings by rivalry records and the re-presses by prügelprinz i'm quite happy with this cream colour. beside the marbled green vinyl of the first press this is my favourite.

the record comes with the original artwork on heavy cardboard and hand numbered, stamped dust sleeves. i have 119 out of 141. the fold out insert comes in poster size. one side with the lyrics, flip side with the cover art. nicely done by prügelprinz. this label seems to be an one man enterprise with a strong political left wing attitude. maybe i'm wrong but check the banner on their blogspot ;-)

marbled cream vinyl. prügelprinz records. 2012.

backtrack - deal with the devil 7"

a band i wanted to check just because of the strong reaper records roaster. i wasn't let down. damn, that 7" sounds rad. from the first tune to the last this stuff grabs you and just won't let go. 'deal with the devil' was released by 6131 records and their pressing info says clear vinyl, black vinyl and blue vinyl. so when i got my copy that i ordered together with the verse record i was surprised to see that it's a clear red copy. wow, is that something special? checking jake's blog i came to the harsh realisation that it's just a copy of the 2nd pressing. but fuck it, i still like it.

deal with the devil that i try to escape

don't know about pressing numbers. it was supposed to come with a digital download. mine seems to be gone... clear red vinyl. 6131 records. 2009.

indie merch store: xforce of changex, whitechapel, hsb

xforce of changex - the bond we share 7"

this is the 7" that preceded their debut album on indecision records called "the fire still burns". the music on this could also be featured on the full length when it comes to quality (actually two of them are). i was out for this quite some time but my first attempt to buy it failed due to a last damaged copy in store :( 

i found it at indie merch by chance and was relieved :)

clear green vinyl. 200 made. 6131 records.

whitechapel - a new era of corruption
after the "somatic defilement" record from 2007 my favourite release of them. insane drum play! i love listening to it and guessing how the hell the drummer just made this combination happen without knotting his limbs. for an amateur like me always stunning! with this record they put a lot more atmosphere in their song structures. great modern death metal with guest appearances by vincent bennett of the acacia strain and deftones' chino moreno (how come?). i've just got their latest self titled effort at home but more of this in the near future.

didn't find any pressing numbers. but it comes in a nice gatefold sleeve. black vinyl. metal blade records.

heaven shall burn - whatever it may take
at the moment it's pretty hard to get even a glimpse of this record's original colour pressing. i check the bay regularly, searched the web extensively for some forgotten shop still having it in stock, looked out for it on discogs (it's there, oh yes but for 50 bucks plus shipping) and on some trade boards like dead format... nothing. at least not for a price i'm willed to pay (as yet). so as i took a look around at indie you may understand my excitement spotting it among their offerings. i clicked it for detailed information and it wasn't sold out yet (i fear hsb isn't such a big thing in the states :). i began to get sweaty hands as i recognized the price. lousy ten dollars. but then a little disappointment crept in. it was the black vinyl version.
but i took it anyway because it's the damn original pressing from 2002, hell yeah!

as the records finally arrived the shape of the sleeve was rather used. storage wear because it wasn't kept in a plastic sleeve which is quite stupid because to be avoided easily. but anyway the original sound is like an ode to my ears. much better than the polished sound on the re-press.
but i still want the coloured edition so i just wait until it shows up on ebay or i reconsider the discogs price. we'll see...

black vinyl + printed dust sleeve. 700 made. lifeforce records.

ebay picks: cruel hand + cataract

cruel hand - without a pulse
since i'm a big fan of their sophomore release "prying eyes" i was looking out for their other stuff. "without a pulse" crossed my way on ebay while i was looking for a blacklisted lp. blacklisted didn't show up but i was happy to get my hands on this. i know that there is a orange/splatter vinyl press but it seems pretty hard to get, so i'm content with the yellow one. good hardcore-punk with more punk this time.
6131 records. solid yellow vinyl. 700 made.

cataract - martyr's melodies 7"
i think it's their first release on lifeforce records. a warm up release before "great days of vengeance" came out. i really love the three songs on this as i love all cataract stuff up to "kingdom". straight euro hardcore-metal at it's best :)
nice green vinyl!