goldust / deathrite - split 7"

i really like dresden's deathrite. their latest declaration of hate going by the name of 'revelation of chaos', was a real blast and in the meantime i was even able to snag a limited clear copy of their first self-titled 12" release on per koro records. the only vinyl release which was missing, was their split with goldust. fortunately to obtain this slab of wax didn't prove to be a difficult task.

actually i don't know where i got this from. either way i ordered it at per koro or cobra records, the two labels the split appeared on. as i ordered from both in the recent past and i somehow lost my memory concerning this matter, both seem to be possible. whatever, the deathrite part is definitely to my taste. released between the sel-titled mini-lp and the first full length 'into extinction', these two songs deliver finest death 'n' roll.

the song 'plagues' also found its way on 'into extinction' in a re-recorded form. the band this split is shared with, is goldust. the band isn't active anymore. goldust was founded in 2005 in münster, germany and played their last show in late 2014. they described their own music as hardcore noir and i think this description is pretty apt. some crsut-laden, dark stuff that doesn't really grab me, though.

you can check their still existing bandcamp page and listen to almost all of their recorded output. the packaging for this split 7" is pretty clever. the centre label shows the two sides of a moon that is the background for the house of the die-cut cover. nice idea. there is also a grey marbled vinyl version floating around. don't know how many were pressed on clear vinyl. per koro records. cobra records. 2012.  

ays - suburban haze

when i get into a band that already has a bunch of releases out, i always find myself trying to get their whole output together very quickly after i got hooked. i don't know, it's something like a new mission that i have to accomplish. sometimes it works out better than other times. anyway, after i bought ays' first vinyl full length release 'wreck my soul', it wasn't long until i got myself a copy of the follow-up 'eroded by the breeze'.

i ordered the latter at cobra records mailorder because daniel, the owner dug up a box with some left-over copies in his warehouse. while taking the chance of owning this nice piece of vinyl, i thought i might as well throw their latest 7" from two years ago into the package. listening to it, it feels like ays finally found the sound they were already looking for on 'eroded by the breeze'. while the full length lacks a bit substance, this 7" burns all the way through.

great mix of the typical ays energy ridden hardcore and the new darker elements, which already shown through on 'eroded...'. check out the title track and the video to 'ambitions' and see what places hardcore can take you. i really like the cover artwork, although i can't say what it means. anyone a clue? i have the clear vinyl version out of 300 copies. cobra records. purgatory records. dead souls records. 2013.

ays - eroded by the breeze

i did quite often hold this record in hands. it was one of that records that sat at my favourite record store for what seems like ever since it was released. i even did listen to it at the store but there was always some other records that i preferred to buy instead. when i picked up their second full length 'wreck my soul' at cologne's underdog store, it was like a starting signal for me to also pick up 'eroded by the breeze'.

funnily in this year's spring cobra records owner daniel dug out a forgotten box with some left-over copies of 'eroded by the breeze' from his storing room. so he put up fifteen copies for sale in his online shop. so everything was laid out right in front of me, i only had to reach out. this is exactly what i did and thus i am now the proud owner of a black and white split copy of ays last full length.

this sounds very much like some stuff that could have been released by deathwish inc as well. while 'wreck my soul' was a straight up hardcore record, 'eroded...' is dark and punk ridden hardcore of that converge end of the spectrum. usually i prefer the latter sound but in this case i choose 'wreck my soul' over 'eroded...'. not that this album is bad but the straight up hardcore was on better terms with ays.

well, you might want to forge your own opinion? here is your chance. check out the album in its full glory. 'eroded by the breeze' was a co-release by the mentioned cobra records and purgatory records from wales, uk. purgatory did some colour-ways and cobra did some, too but i haven't found a source telling me the exact breakdown. i am afraid i don't even know how many of my split version have been pressed. cobra records. 2010. 

ays - wreck my soul

ays, or against your society in full, is a hardcore band from düsseldorf, germany. they are around for quite some time now. around since 2005 at least, this band flew across my radar a couple of times. was it via some magazine interviews/reviews or via a copy of 'eroded by the breeze' sitting at burnout record store for something like two years. i don't really know what held me from getting some recorded material but it actually never happened. when i was in cologne this august things changed.

i was flicking through the racks at underdog store and came across a copy of ays' sophomore full length and first 12" release called 'wreck my soul'. i checked if it was on colour vinyl and as soon as this was confirmed, i knew it was finally the right time for ays and me. boy, must have been there for seven years waiting for me. could that be? whatever, to me this sucker is the freshest sounding hardcore record of the year, only that it was unleashed already seven years ago.

i mean, they don't re-invent the hardcore wheel but it's simply better than most recent nyhc-tinged releases. fast, crisp, angry and the right dosage of melody. check out 'cruel minds' and the title song and realise that ays rules. when i was home again from holidays i checked the pressing information for this bad boy and was pleasantly surprised to find that i have a copy limited to 100 only. discogs says that there are 25 copies of the violet splatter version coming with record release cover and the remaining 75 being hand numbered. however, mine isn't numbered as far as i can tell. well, for full info check discogs here. cobra records. 2008.

unveil - a flame with nothing to feed on

after i added the 'narziss' record of the last post to my digital card and recognised that it was daniel of cobra records i want to buy from, i looked what else i could throw into the shopping bag. as i scrolled through the items, a particular little gem caught my attention. the last unveil record that came out on cobra. since i had the hypnopaedia 7" in my box, i always wanted it and the time had come.

unveil played a hardcore style with an obvious nineties vibe going on, some dark melodies and political lyrics and you have a pretty intense listen. in my eyes this band should have got more attention than they actually got back then. and this is the only way i can explain that the limited colours of this farewell record are still available. good for you.

check them out on their bandpage and then head directly over to the cobra store or the discogs shop and give this sucker a caring home. the album was pressed on three different versions. 200 black copies (even though i am not 100% sure about this quantity), 200 on black w/ white splatter vinyl and 100 on white vinyl. artwork looks pretty slick. swiss straight edge on the map. cobra records. 2012.

burnout store pt. I: black friday '29, champion, teamkiller

so here are my last pieces of vinyl that i bought in 2012. and what a nice day that was. i was in the city to buy some christmas gifts. i was on my own this time and therefore, after i got the gifts, i could pay burnout record store a more extended visit.

successful as always ;-) here is part I, a.k.a. the 12"es.

black friday '29 - black friday 2009

this was the last piece of the puzzle concerning my black friday '29 lp collection. i saw this copy in the store many times before and always put it back because of something else. but after i informed myself a bit on the internet about this release and with the knowledge that the white copies were of the pre-order version, this time around i wouldn't let this pass up. after 'the escape' and 'the pursuit of happiness' appeared on dead & gone records, 'black friday 2009' was released on cobra records from germany.

'bf 2009' is really their best output. it's pretty rare that a record blows me away at the first listen like the third full length of this ruhrpott band did. only nine songs but all straight to the point. great melodies, great hooks, great crew shouts ("we still got the fucking p.m.a.!") - what a great hardcore record! plus the last song in german which will always get an extra thumb up from me, because there are not even a handful good hardcore bands with german lyrics around.

cobra records did a good job with this. extra thick gatefold sleeve and heavy white vinyl. overall quality. the inside of the gatefold gives you some artwork and for the lyrics and recording information you get an extra insert. i didn't find any pressing numbers for the white pressing. but there is also a blue pressing of 200 copies. as this is the pre-order version i presume it's 100 or 150 for the white vinyl. but i can't be really sure. cobra records. 2009.

champion - promises kept

so this is the 4th pressing of that record and while some collectors complain about further pressings because they would take away that special feeling of having something limited, i can only welcome these re-pressings. because it means that i am able to buy a nice new vinyl copy of a record that i missed to buy at its initial release because i wasn't into vinyl at the time. 

every copy of previous pressings that i watched on ebay, which weren't  a lot, sold for pretty high prices and so i was really happy that i didn't have to pay big money for this great record. this time bridge9 decided to give 'promises kept' the gatefold treatment. i love the layout for the inner sleeve.

nice silver blue-ish colouring, some live pics and all lyrics. excellent! bridge9 held back pressing information for a pretty long time but now they are up on their page. i have the most common colour of the this pressing. not that i would really care about that when we are talking about the 4th pressing ;-)

great picture on the back of the sleeve. so again i'm really happy to finally have this on vinyl. 1000 made on gold vinyl. download dropcard included. bridge9 re-press. 2012.

teamkiller - bad signs

another great german hardcore band that disbanded a while ago. in 2011 to be exact. only the good die young. 'bad signs' is their debut record and appeared on dead serious records. way back when i had my last order with dead serious i got some stuff for free because of the very long time it needed to get shipped. among a cd of solid ground and an additional time 7" i already had was a cd of that very teamkiller album i'm talking about here. 

i know this band for quite some time and one or two songs by them. but somehow they never appealed to me. when i listened to the cd i couldn't see why they never did. that record is awesome. some real good heavy hardcore in the vein of hatebreed and madball. they managed to have some cool guest vocals on the album. scott vogel of terror and federico carminitana of cataract.

the cover artwork is outstanding and is printed on a nice matte card sleeve. according to musik-sammler.de there is a yellow vinyl pressing and a grey vinyl pressing of 250 pieces. i don't know if it's 250 copies of each or 250 copies in total. besides i have a grey with yellow splatter vinyl record in front of me. a bit confusing. dead serious is pretty low on information, too. but maybe here someone knows.

dead serious records in co-operation with new morality records. 2006.

hell & back bigcartel

a short one today...
hell & back - don't tell me what i can't do 7"
after my first experience with hell & back was an impulse buy that paid off i checked if this young stuttgart band had put out other stuff. a little search work later i found the bigcartel shop run by the band itself. this 7" was released also in 2012. early 2012 i'd guess. pretty good work for one year!

the cover artwork is outstanding. love the idea behind it. additionally to the 7" i got a poster with the same artwork for free. this will definitely be hanging on the wall soon. the songs, five in number, are pretty similar to the everything you say is just how bad things are 7". but if written in a short timeframe this could be an explanation. check the title song here.

my cover has a bend. must have happened during shipment. things like this plain suck! the 7" comes with the big hole and a fold over cover. white vinyl. 250 made. drastic actions records. 2012.

cobra rec.: coldburn, empowerment, hell & back

coldburn - the harsh fangs of life
pre-order time at cobra records. previously i wrote about coldburn's first 7" called 'hybris'. their full length is definitely a step forward. they still got these pretty unique melodies and strange but lovely pace changes included in their heavy hardcore sound. what really stands out is the development of the singing abilities of the vocalist. he added a melodic edge to his screaming without ever sounding cheesy. all in all they don't managed to keep the high quality of the first half of the record throughout the whole play time but that just means that they're that close to a masterpiece.

the record comes in a nice matte paper sleeve and with a poly bag that has a sticker with band and album name attached to it. furthermore you get the always welcomed download dropcard.

i have the pre-order version. i got sweaty hands as i read the colour description 'red/white'. thought it'd be a split coloured record. as i pulled it out of the dust sleeve i was a bit disappointed. it's a clear red vinyl with some white streaks. they are hard to see, not only in this picture :-)
pre-order edition. limited to 100 copies. cobra records. 2012.

empowerment - gegen.kult
this stuttgart based band with ex-members of teamkiller got a bit hyped recently but empowerment deserves this. they are different to your average hardcore band repeating itself over and over again. they maybe aren't different in music but definitely in words. empowerment has a message and plenty of statements. statements against rasicm, police, politics, consumerism and conformity. loud and clear, without any metaphors or common phrases - and in german. so this will probably stay a german thing. but even if your mother tongue isn't german, empowerment is packed with energy and that'll work non verbally. music is somewhere around madball, merauder and biohazard. nyc school ;-) listen to it here.

the packaging is outstanding, too. the sleeve has some kind of cardboard turntable attached under the upper cover. so you can choose between 4 characters standing in the door of the trailer.

i've chosen the best looking chick ;-) additonally you get a fold out lyric sheet in poster format with a band picture on the flip side. sadly there is no download card but i got the rarest vinyl colour so that thing evens itself out.

cyan blue vinyl. 200 made. cobra records. 2012.

hell & back - everything you say is just how bad things are 7"

another band out of stuttgart. usually this isn't my taste. you find hell & back somewhere between punkrock and hardcore. but this is such great, positive music that makes you feel good immediately. i couldn't resist... my girlfriend said it sounds a bit like old foo fighters. yeah, she isn't that far away. you can listen to their stuff over at partyausfall.

just like the coldburn lp i thought i would get a split coloured 7". description was red/clear vinyl... ok, i should have known. i was lesser interested in the 'clear/black' coloured vinyl. now i saw that it's clear with black smoke. damn! but to be honest, i'm not too bothered to buy another copy. although it itches...

200 made. comes with a download code. cobra records. 2012.

cobra records: final prayer

final prayer - i am not afraid

yes, the new fp record. berlin's hardcore institution seems to get better with every album they put out. this time they extended their sound with more melody and catchy sing-a-long's. they have a german song on this, too. the ode to their home district "heimathafen kreuzberg" is a nice change to their mostly english lyrics. furthermore the record has one of the best ending songs you can possibly imagine. "nothing" leaves you with the urge to listen to the whole thing again - lovely stuff! 

i ordered this one directly from the label that handled the vinyl version - cobra records. yellow is the most limited colour. 100 made. there is a white press also, so if you like intense hardcore in the vein of the latest terror record - check this god damn thing out! my cat loves it, too ;-)