august burns red - guardians

august burns red is one of those bands which constantly deliver. however the last two records felt a bit dull to me. not that they have been bad quality wise but i felt like the sensation had worn off. anyway, with this album they returned to form although they didn't change the recipe. they simply wrote a pretty damn good album.

august burns red - phantom anthem

what a great band august burns red is. i saw them live again at this years reload festival and i am always amazed at how this band seems to fly under the radar. they got an afternoon slot and the crowd was pretty small for a band with such qualities. i wasn't complaining, lots of space to dance and sing-a-long. they played one new song and so my anticipation was rising for the new record. a fellow record collector tipped me off and so i pre-ordered my version at impericon mailorder.

the first thing that came to my mind after i spun the record for the first time, was that "phantom anthem" was packed with hits. their last record "found in far away places" was lacking memorable songs. i enjoy it every time i listen to it but afterwards there is no song stuck in my head. the new record has loads of such songs. it's the same august burns red recipe as always but there is something about it, i fail to explain. whatever it is, it makes the difference between a great record and a masterpiece. check out "frost" and "invisible enemy" and glance a slice of brilliancy.

there were a bunch of vinyl versions available throughout all kinds of internet shops. in hindsight i think i rather would have ordered the white with red marble version which seemed to be an european edition. anyway, my blue with gold marble copy looks pretty nice as well. the gold marble was quite tricky to photograph and looks better in reality. the gatefold sleeve is a standard affair but is sturdy and works well with the double vinyl set. fantastic album that i can only recommend to everybody slightly interested in heavy music. 500 copies made. fearless records. 2017.

august burns red - constellations

august burns red is a fantastic band. period. musically they are absolutely on top of their game. in the metalcore genre there is none more imaginative, none more creative and none heavier. no killswitch engage, no caliban (boo!), no parkway drive. of course this is just my humble opinion but you simply cannot deny the musical force this band displays. from the vinyl point of view i was missing some essential releases of august burns red.

at the top spot and much to my dissatisfaction still there, their first full length "thrill seeker", which, i begin to believe, will be sitting there until solid state does another re-press. that damned first press is a nightmare to get a hold on for a half-way reasonable price. second place was "constellations", their third full length from 2009. a first press black copy, which was the only colour pressed, fetches insane prices up to two hundred bucks.

to avoid this madness i was waiting for the re-issues to come. if it wasn't for tobe, a fellow vinyl collector, i don't know if i learned about the existence of this new edition in time. he tipped me off and i ordered straight away. the only way to get it was via merchnow.com from the states. even though i e-mailed the lads to ship the vinyl outside the sleeve, the record arrived here sealed. sometimes the shrink wrap is tight enough to prevent seam-splits, not so this time. my cover has a top seam-split and my printed dust sleeve is split at all three edges.

fuck, i hate that! give me a small tear, give me a creased corner or give me a split plain white dust sleeve but lord, spare me those nasty cover seam-splits! as it is economically stupid to send my copy back and ask for a new one, i'll keep mine. i chose the orange inside clear red against the swamp green for obvious reason, because it looks better. solid state changed the cover a little bit compared to the original but still stood true to the idea. i am ok with that. the album is a scorcher indeed. check it out! 1.000 copies made. solid state records. 2009/2016.

august burns red - found in far away places

august burns red is an institution in today's metal scene. with increasing regularity, which means every two years, this u.s. five piece from lancaster, pa releases a new flawless album. at least that was the case in the past. so my expectations were set high for 'found in far away' places. it is the first record for their new label fearless records, which was unknown to me. after a quick research i found out that they released stuff from e.g. at the drive in and blessthefall, so now i can classifiy them in a musical context.

through lambgoat's 'upcoming releases' entries i heard of the news and set out to pre-order a copy. at first i only found pre-order options for the usa and the uk. i was close to order with the uk shop but then, suddenly impericon from germany came up with the european pre-order. so i was just a few clicks away from my new coloured copy of 'found in far away places'. with a few days delay it showed up at my doorstep.

after the first listen it was pretty clear that august burns red didn't get weaker one little bit. 'found in far away places' is a damn cracker from first tune to the last. this band seems unable to produce any crap. forceful and hymnic as always, they go the path further which they took ever since 'leveler'. there might be just one little threat, which is their tiny lack of progress. don't get me wrong, again they put all their heart into these songs with some lovely bits of folk, strings and horn sections, but it's nothing real new.

if you gave me 'leveler', 'rescue and restore' and 'found in far away places' without telling me any release dates, i couldn't tell the differences in evolution. the new record is absolutely great and i enjoy every bit, but for future releases this modi operandi holds the risk of boredom. anyway, get this bad boy, it's so good! i got the 'sea blue' version out of 500 copies, which seems to be somethink like an european edition because it was the only colour-way available. fearless records. 2015. 

august burns red - messengers

pretty much at the beginning of my vinyl collecting days, which aren't that far back in the past, i stumbled upon a white first press copy of august burns red sophomore record 'messengers'. that must be four years ago by now. and if i remember correctly that specific record went out for something like twenty bucks, which is a joke considering the current going rate.

a first press catches easily an eighty to one hundert dollar price and boy, that's where i'm defitely out of the game. after the rsd version of their killer 'thrill seeker' passed me by unseen last year and is now a pain in the ass to get a hold on, i swore to myself to try to be more aware when it comes to new august burns red represses.

it was sometime in last year's november when i was looking for pictures of abr vinyl on the net, when i came across a most interesting view. i don't know why or what exactly i was looking for but what i know is that i saw a splattered vinyl disc of 'messengers' i never saw before.

after some more research i found out it was a re-press by solid state. no european store so i ordered directly from solid state, despite the high shipping rates. it was a pre-order set for delivery sometime in january. so you may understand my pleasant surprise to see a 'item shipped' mail in my account the same month and it even arrived shortly after christmas. looks nice with the re-vised cover art. i opted for the more limited haze vinyl. 300 made. solid state. 2014.

p.s.: if there is someone who wnats to part with his/her copy of 'thrill seeker', get in touch!

shop radio cast: august burns red, black dahlia murder

august burns red - leveler
i know these guys since their first release "thrill seeker" (which screams for a vinyl re-release, solid state!!!). that album was  really a scorcher! their two upcoming releases, "messengers" & "constellations", were pretty good, too but not the same level. "leveler", not as the name suggests going on in the same way, took it all one level higher. one could say they made a step closer to the main stream but i prefer to call this development progress, since there are no clean vocals or trendy game boy sounds. now c.i. records re-released it on an awesome vinyl colour pattern. will ya look at this!

the colours match the cover art perfectly. and just take a look at how side a & side b differs from each other.

class a vinyl presentation, class a record. cannot stop raving about it!
c.i. records. 1000 made.

the black dahlia murder - ritual
to make this order worth the shipping costs i was looking for an additional record. what i found is really more than just an addition. another album i'm pretty keen on is tbdm's "ritual". it has beaten "nocturnal" as my favourite record of detroit's finest. it has it all! the raging madness, the speed, the occult feeling, the morbid atmosphere, outstanding cover art, just all! so i didn't hesitate and put it in my virtual basket. the description said "green vinyl". i know that there is a black press, a gold press (which is nowhere listed but a guy on discogs made a comment writing that he has a gold one) and the above mentioned green press. what it eventually came to be confuses me but makes me even more happy!

if anybody has the clue to this pressing mystery, feel free to leave a comment :)
awesome multi-colour marbled grey vinyl + printed dust sleeve. metal blade records.

all in all that was a pleasing order at shop radio cast which arrived here in germany pretty quick. as all other oversea orders take somewhere between three & four weeks, this came in in about two weeks. thumbs up!