born from pain - reclaiming the crown

oh yes, here i am in 2015 and a wish of mine has just been fulfilled. since i was able to track down all of the iconic born from pain releases, which are 'sands of time', 'in love with the end' and 'war', i was praying for a re-release of 'reclaiming the crown'. it was the bfp's debut full length from 2000 and i had the re-issue cd with blue instead of red cover and re-mastered sound by tue madsen since 2004 in my collection. it ranks on second in my personal list of favourite bfp records.

therefore i always wished for a vinyl pressing to listen to this piece of my personal hardcore history on the best format there is. fifteen years after its initial release, gsr music did me the favour and i was all over it when pre-order started in summer this year. the delivery got a bit delayed but that's seems to be almost inevitable with pre-orders these days and i am not complaining. the result is pretty ace anyway.

gsr went for a whole new artwork which is definitely in touch with the original one. the new front and back cover shows some imagery from the inner cd-booklet of the original, so the link is there. for my part, i would have liked the same cover from the cd release better but you can't have it all. sound-wise gsr pressed the re-mastered version of 'reclaiming the crown' from 2003 onto the plastic plates. i like both versions, so that's all good.

click here to experience the whole excitement that is bfp's first album. gsr pressed 500 copies of this first press of 'reclaiming the crown', 200 on black vinyl and 300 on white with red splatter vinyl. of course i did go for the colour vinyl. seeing the actual result, i have to admit that i am not the biggest fan of this heavy splatter. i must have been among the first twenty orders because i got a first press copy of the cd on top. cool! gsr music. 2000/2015. 

born from pain - dance with the devil

long life hardcore bands are always a bit impressing. i mean, your ordinary hardcore band makes something like four or five years?! and i don't even say that with an contemptuously undertone. it's quite natural. members part because of life getting in the way. jobs, family, age and so on. furthermore your ordinary hardcore band just cannot make a living by playing this kind of music. only a few out there can. hardcore isn't the place to get rich. and right so!

born from pain is around since 1997. eighteen years. chapeau! this band went against all odds and is still here in one way or another. ten fromer members and only one original being there right from the beginning. even carl schwartz and scott vogel (as a stand-in on a tour) were once members, more or less.

after all this time they released a new record. 'dance with the devil' is the title and i was pretty curious if these dutch champions can ever come close to famous stuff like 'sands of time' (over ten years ago, holy crap!). their last effort 'the new future' was a bit disappointing to me, so i hoped for the best. after some listens i have to say this record is solid. i spoke to a friend lately and we both came to conclusion that the only thing missing is a hit. something that lifts the other songs by its sheer aura.

nevertheless i really enjoy 'dance with the devil' and fans will dig it as well. listen to 'cause and effect' and 'truth of the streets'. and wei, of course there is an scott vogel guest appearance on this one, haha. pre-ordered at bdhw. solid green vinyl out of 100 copies. beatdown hardwear. 2014.

born from pain - in love with the end

i love old born from pain stuff! and with 'old' i mean the times as che snelting was on vocals. my first album was 'sands of time' from 2003. man, what a record! one of my favourite euro hardcore records generally. in the past i was able to score most of the born from pain vinyl, i was out for. one piece managed to elude me consistently, and i couldn't even say it was undeserved. hollow man records from belgium handled vinyl things for metal blade back then. hollow man is/was a division of hypertension records and when i looked through their stuff two years ago, a clear copy of 'in love with the end' was sitting there for lousy eight bucks. but i didn't pull the trigger.

why i was doing this bullshit move? well, read about it in my post for born from pain's 'war' record and shake your head again in bewilderment. anyway, after waiting was well deserved, an option from discogs came my way. even though my record-limit was spent for the month, i wouldn't let myself be the idiot again. listening to the record again after maybe five or six years, my impression i had of it wasn't changed at all. a very strong first half, that gives you the feeling of holding the record of your life in hands, is followed by a medium good second half. check the whole album here.

i think with this album, born from pain was on the peak of their career. i remember them playing some big festivals, such as wacken and with full force. i saw them live a couple of times back then and they killed it every single time. good memories. can someone please press their first album 'reclaiming the crown' to vinyl? that'd be great. don't know how many copies were made on this lovely crystal clear vinyl. but i suppose, by the rarity of appearances on ebay and the like, it might be something in the range of 100 copies. hollow man records. 2005.

born from pain - the new future

you know how it is, when you order a record you just have to look around for another possible new vinyl disc. so as i packed the arkangel is your enemy lp into my cart, i looked for another one to add. and there it smiled back at me. born from pain's latest output 'the new future'. in the past, ten years ago, netherland's born from pain was one of my hero bands from europe that made me love hardcore and all its values. boy, 'sands of time' was such a good record! after vocalist che snelting left the band in 2007 i lost track of them. to this day i never listened to their 'survival' album from 2008.

now with this record from 2012 they left metal blade records, or maybe metal blade dropped them, and went back to gsr music. musically i got a split opinion about the record. the first half is very good and then born from pain opens the door for electronic elements to their sound. and this is where they lost me. meehh... i don't like that. i mean, i appreciate that for their guts to experiment with stuff, only the brave are favoured by fortune, but it just doesn't work for me. check 'change or die' and 'kampfbereit' (which is the german word for being embattled) for a good and a bad example.

the record comes in a gatefold sleeve of nice thick cardboard. the artwork is well thought out but again not really my thing. the vinyl itself comes on lovely 180gr clear green vinyl. furthermore you get a cool laminated download dropcard. to put it into a nutshell: the album is ok. they can't come close to their early works. hopefully gsr considers a vinyl pressing of their debut 'reclaiming the crown'. so if anyone of gsr is reading this, i'd dedfinitely buy one :) gsr music. 2012. 

dead format 1/3: born from pain - war

born from pain - war

as i made a good expirience the last time i aquired a record through the deadformat.net board, i wanted to push my luck some more instead of waiting for ebay opportunities coming my way. another record i was out for some time was born from pain's last record with che on vocals, entitled 'war'. i have this album on cd since its initial release in 2006. boy, that's seven years. quite a long time. doesn't feel like that.

in the past i could have easily purchased that record through the internet shop of the label. it appeared on hollow man records which is a division of hypertension records from belgium. the 'war' lp sat their, along with the 'in love with the end' album, for a stupid low price. i didn't go for it because postage was pretty high, but all in all the price was ok, considering the bargain prices for the records. furthermore i thought if those lp's were waiting there since 2005 or so, they would wait a month or two longer. how misdirected i was... after failing miserably, because the records sold out, i was waiting for it on ebay. time went on and it wouldn't appear. i thought 'fuck waiting!' and stretched out for it on dead format. 

same approach as last time, sending mails to people who had it in their trade lists. i was able to arrange an agreement with ewald, a solid dude from belgium. i made him an offer and he was honest enough to tell me, that he was selling his whole collection for fixed prices. my offer was higher than his fixed price but he wasn't bullshitting me and didn't take advantage on me. much appreciation for this, ewald! i think in the end it was good for him too, because i bought more off him :) so, now i have a nice shining clear red copy of born from pain's 'war' album, finally. don't know how many of these red copies were made. a black pressing is also in existence. hollow man records. 2006.

zardoz: born from pain

born from pain - sands of time
in the recent time i was able to track down a lot of my favourite albums that made me love hardcore music and its ideals in the first place (heaven shall burn, cataract, etc.). one among them has been and still is born from pain's sophomore release sands of time. very dark and angry hardcore from this dutch power house plus great sound by tue madsen's antfarm. i kept my eyes open for it for a long time and it was available on ebay only for 35€, which was just too much for me. one day looking around at discogs (www.discogs.com) it was there for the taking for 16€. "strike!" was my first thought. but it got even better: checking the seller i recognized it was a record store from hamburg, zardoz namely. so actually i didn't have to pay for shipping. one lucky day ;)
cd version out on gangstyle records. vinyl was released on street justice records. semi-translucent white vinyl + printed dust sleeve. hand numbered: #467.