i killed the prom queen - beloved

i went to see i killed the prom queen play live in june this year and i was over the moon after that concert. it gave me huge early 00's metalcore vibes. to my regret i realised that i was missing prom queen's last full length 'beloved' from 2014 on any format in my collection. i hit up jpc.de and here we are with a brand new standard black vinyl copy. pretty decent comeback album. it's time for yet another one, though. epitaph records. 2014.

converge - love is not enough

one of my favourite bands return with a slap to the face in the best possible sense. that's what it felt like after i spun 'love is not enough' for the first time. i didn't expect them to release such a heavy, fast and gritty album again, to be honest.

reminds me a lot of 'axe to fall'. the presentation is top notch as well. 'fallen angel' vinyl comes with lp-sized booklet. deathwish inc. epitaph records. 2026.

parkway drive - don't close your eyes

i absolutely love hardcore and metalcore re-issues from the late nineties and early 00's. have the cd comp since 06/07 and i regard a few of those songs as top tier pwd material. 500 copies made. epitaph records. 2023.

converge with chelsea wolfe - bloodmoon: I

pretty neat project that conerge pulled off here. i had the clear blue/clear red retail version but couldn't pass up this new pressing. super lovely neon violet/light blue merge vinyl out of 1.000 copies. second press. epitaph records. deathwish inc. 2021/2023

the dillinger escape plan with mike patton - irony is a dead scene

tdep together with mike patton were not from this earth! this e.p. is the wildest trip the band ever took, well, and that has got to mean something, right? very happy about this re-issue on orange/yellow galaxy vinyl. epitaph records. 2002/2022.

the ghost inside - s/t

i loved the band's first two releases "fury and the fallen ones" and "returners" and still have cd copies of them but i lost interest in tgi after "get what you give". i even sold my clear blue vinyl copy of it back in 2012. anyway, after the involvement in a tragic car accident causing the death of the bus driver and the loss of a leg of drummer andrew tkaczyk in 2015, the band returned with this self-titled effort last year. to me a return to from. 300 copies on white/blue splatter vinyl as an emp exclusive. epitaph records.

converge - the dusk in us (re-press)

i actually have a first pressing on yellow vinyl but fancied a re-press on this nice merge colour pattern ever since it was released. kingsroad merch eu still had copies in stock and when i ordered another record, the time finally came to add it to the collection.

a strong converge offering like all their records. i just love the furious energy on "a single tear", "cannibals" or "thousands of miles between us". good ol' converge never grows old to me. 1.987 copies on red/silver merge vinyl. deathwish inc. 2017/2018.

madball - hold it down

some good ol' hardcore on this blog again. these occasions became very rare in the last year. somehow i have zero interest in contemporary hardcore bands and releases. i am all over metal these days, especially from the late eighties and all throughout the nineties. turnstile have a new album out? i don't even feel an itch. pre-orders for the new parkway drive record are up? i couldn't care less. therefore it feels quite good to write about and listen to some hardcore again.

madball is one of my all time favourite hardcore bands. their debut "set it off" was one of the first records with heavy music i listened to. thus i was very pleasantly surprised to find this copy of their fourth album "hold it down" at a fine small record fair in hamburg. i visited the place with a friend and after some unsuccessful digging, i found this gem at one of last tables. the condition was very good and the price was too, soi bagged it and am still happy about this find.

the album was the only release on epitaph records for the band. it was pressed to vinyl upon time of release in 2000 and to my knowledge the original press is the only one ever produced. i don't know how many have been pressed but i presume a range between 500 and a 1.000 copies. all copies came on black vinyl with a printed dust sleeve. musically this is probably my favourite album after "set it off". check out the title song here. epitaph records. 2000.

converge - the dusk in us

finally the new converge record is upon us. it took the band five years to come up with new material but if it is with this high level of creativity and artistic brilliancy, i have no problems with waiting another five years for the next record. a good friend, who shares the fascination for this boston based band, and me were eagerly awaiting the pre-orders going live for this full length. we already bought the teaser 7" at the same time and when he messaged me that pre-orders were up, we checked the possibilities. we wanted to keep shipping costs as low as possible, so an order from the states wasn't acceptable. the deathwish e.u. store had an opaque orange version but shipping was still pretty high due to the store being located in italy.

then it dawned on me that kingsroad merch europe would probably sell the epitaph exclusive version because they host the epitaph e-store. they did and as the store has its home here in germany shipping costs were reasonable. after almost two months of waiting, the record finally arrived. what can i say? it is a masterpiece through and through. maybe the scale turned a tiny bit in favour of the more melodic side of their work but the heavy and fast hardcore punk is still plenty. "the dusk in us" is so well balanced. i especially love the straight metal riffs at the end of the album in songs like "reptilian"or "cannibals".

new to this album is that jacob bannon does the complete clean singing. on previous albums a handful of guest singers did the job but bannon, probably trained by his side project wear your wounds, pulls it off flawlessly. the lyrical side of the album is amazing. so sophisticated, check "under duress" for example. the presentation is top notch like the rest. it comes with a fantastic holographic mirror board sleeve which represents all the rainbow vinyl colours of the first press. next thing is the outstanding thick booklet with wonderful artwork. beautiful! next to mastodon's "emperor of sand" converge's ninth full length is definitely the release of the year. period. 500 copies on yellow vinyl. deathwish inc. epitaph records. 2017.

parkway drive - deep blue

the second parkway drive record of the month. pretty industrious fellows over at epitaph records. at first they gave us the long overdue first vinyl pressing of 'horizons' for this year's record store day and shortly after that i saw a new pressing of 'deep blue' going up at the kingsroad merch eu store. man, what do you think i was doing? of course i ordered a damn copy to fill the last remaining gap in my parkway drive full length collection..

back in 2010, when 'deep blue' was initially released, epitaph already did a vinyl pressing on clear blue double vinyl. copies of the first press are pretty hard to come by and so i was thankful for this re-press. especially as it comes on solid blue vinyl. in my eyes way more favourable. listening to it now, i can't really say anymore why i lost interest in these guys. after 'horizons' dropped in 2007 i was way more into more extreme types of hardcore induced metal. deathcore ruled my daily playlists.

that's probably why they seemed a bit dull to me at the time. listening for the first time to 'deep blue', i think it's a great album. it's that typical melodic death metal mixed with modern hardcore they perfected on the first four albums and are now expanding with their latest work, called 'ire'. in particular i love the sound production by joe barresi (who also worked with tool, bad religion or soundgarden) and the artwork of this record shown on cover and the printed dust sleeves. comes additionally with a slip sleeve and on lovely 180gr opaque blue vinyl. epitaph records.

parkway drive - horizons

when i read the list for this year's record store day, there were just two releases that interested me. integrity's 'humanity is the devil' album and parkway drive's 'horizons' album. two years ago was a disaster with waiting in line in front of burnout record store, hamburg and getting none of my desired items - funnily i got a rare parkway drive record instead, rsd seems to be a good time for pd releases - and last year i went to the store a week after rsd and still got what i wanted. this taught me not to stress out.

a good friend and me went to town for rsd but vowed not to stand in line and haste for the rsd boxes. we would have a nice day checking out record stores and maybe luck out on some releases. we went into burnout records an hour after it opened and the smoke had already cleared. we checked the hardcore rsd box and there they were. still a few copies left of 'horizons'. we took two copies without any sweat and were happy. ok, i couldn't score the integrity record on that day but i am pretty sure i'll grab one through other channels.

listening to 'horizons' brings back some memories. i remember buying a cd copy of that album, which i still own, back in 2008 together with 'nocturnal' of the black dahlia murder. i listened to it a lot and saw the band play live around that time pretty often. next to terror, who are also playing every bigger tour over here in europe, i believe parkway drive is the band i saw play live most often. the record in particular has aged very well. especially playing it on vinyl feels great. lovely clear yellow with blue splatter out of 500 copies. epitaph records. 2008/2016.

parkway drive - ire

when parkway drive released their first album 'killing with a smile' in august of 2005, it was a few month later when a friend of mine played it to me while driving from a show. i thought, man, this is pretty damn good. i bought the cd and listened the shit out of it. two years later came 'horizons' and i got the cd as soon as it was out. expectations weren't fully met but it's still a real good record, which by the way has never got the vinyl treatment. someone needs to fill that void!

three years later 'deep blue' was released and this is where i lost them for a while. 2010 was a troubled year for me with some big changes along the way. money was short and so i stood away from everything that wasn't totally necessary. 'deep blue' fell through the cracks back then. in 2012 'atlas' was unleashed and i struggled to get a copy. it took me another two years to finally pick it up.

listening to that record, i had to admit to myself that i was an idiot for ignoring them. 'atlas' is a powerful record from start to finish. so when parkway drive announced their new album going by the name of 'ire', i knew i would be there right from the start. well, not straight because i didn't pre-order but i knew that there would be plenty of options available, so no real pressure to order fast.

in the end i even got hold on one of the most limited colour-ways. this transparent red should have only been available to people on the pwd mailing list. well, i am not but through some links of the kingsroad merch eu shop i got directed to the offer and so i took the chance. with a few spins under my belt i must say that these aussies really amaze me. the band is experimenting quite a lot. pwd got a bit catchier and more hymnal on 'ire' but also more intense.

boy, just listen to 'writings on the wall'. vocalist winston mccall gives me the goose bumps with his batman voice here, haha! the record sounds like it was made for the big halls, the big summer festival stages. it might push them further and they are standing on the edge to become a real big name. we'll see. the artwork is quite cool, even though i don't think i understand it. the vinyl looks ace. somehow pinkish. the d-side etching looks sharp as well. very good release all around. 300 made. epitaph records. 2015.

parkway drive - atlas

so this is actually my record store day post because this nice find is what i purchased on that said and sad saturday in april 2014. but let me begin with the beginning. of course i heard news that my favourite physical record store, burnout record store in hamburg, would partake of this event the world knows as rsd 2014. so i checked at the internet what would come our way this year. three releases i was interested in. two victory record releases and one think fast! release. i know that burnout always has a decent hardcore selection so i was pretty sure they would have some of them. so i talked my girlfriend into standing up early for the thirty minutes drive into the city, dropped her at some clothing store and made my way to my destination. i arrived there five minutes before opening. so of course i had to put my ass into the line and due to the comparatively small salesroom they only let ten to fifteen people in at a time. after approximately twenty minutes i came in with the second row... and... tata... nothing! not one single record. aaarrgghhh, fuck!

then i watched some dudes asking the shopkeep if they had shot their bolt. he replied that they would fill the racks with the remaining stuff in one or two hours. one or two hours, man, waiting one or two hours was a task to think about carefully before setting into action. as i didn't know any other record store in hamburg with only half a good hardcore selection, i came to the conclusion that i should take my chance, as remote as it may be. so i grabbed some records from the regular racks that i always wanted to check out, went to a free turntable right next to the rsd shelfs, waited and watched the scenario. i have to admit that this was quite amusing. people lurking around the vinyl, shifting one foot to the other, taking records, thinking, putting them back, taking them again. entertaining and kind of making the wait worth it. in the end i only waited 45 minutes but in vain unfortunately. only the earth crisis re-press of "gomorrah's season ends" of which i have the original. in my despair i went to two other stores in the near of which i already assumed they would have nothing but just in case. nothing again of course.

to make up for the mess i thought i might as well check saturn, hamburg. saturn is a big electronic warehouse with branches all over europe. the store in hamburg has a good metal vinyl section and an ok alternative section with some hardcore stuff. so i knew they wouldn't have rsd releases but maybe i could find some else. and just look what i found. the latest parkway drive album called "atlas". i struggled with it in the past. i was pretty close to order it through kingsroad merch when it came out but lost interest somewhere along the way. a failure in hindsight. i loved their first outputs and "killing with a smile" is one of my all time favs but you know how it is when a band gets too big and everybody loves them and they headline every important tour over here. they just don't seem special anymore. yeah, foolish i was. this record is a cracker.

check out "sleight of hand" and "old ghosts / new regrets" and i spare you my talk of how great these songs are because you will experience it for yourself. i was really lucky that saturn had the rarest colour way in stock. marbled grey out of 300 180gr double lp's with an etched d-side. i don't know how they got it. it had sold out quickly in 2012 and it wasn't sitting there before as i know by my own eyes. also it wasn't re-pressed as far as i can tell. but in some weird way this double lp found its path into my hands. lucky me and justice at last, ha! epitaph records. 2012.

kings road merch: parkway drive

parkway drive - killing with a smile

i like re-issues. that being said i know that a lot of collectors wish them to hell because they only add more variations to the vinyl pile. for me they mostly give me the opportunity to get a record hassle free and wallet friendly into my collection. this instance right here is something different because 'killing with a smile' never got the vinyl treatment before so technically this thing is as 'first press' as it gets. only eight years after its initial release on resist records from australia. 

because i ordered there some time ago i always get a newsletter e-mail from shop radio cast. and it was spring this year i believe where they announced that the breakthrough record from parkway drive would be available on vinyl soon. i knew that epitaph would handle matters. the only problem that arose was that src didn't announce any colour vinyl. i mean, i was pretty sure that there would be some but you know, it's that little shadow of a doubt. so i began the check kings road merch regularly. but always when i tried to enter their vinyl section it said 'no items available'. and then i forgot about it. other stuff was important too...

and then june came around and i was killing time on the internet. i came across a photo of 'killing with a smile' on gold vinyl. immediately i was back on track. i wanted it badly. the photo i found was from the north american epitaph store. but the record had sold out there. again i checked kings road europe. but this time i checked the 'parkway drive' section instead of the vinyl section. that was the trick. a golden copy was there for the taking. that's what i did, et voila - it looks real good! it sold out in the meantime but kr-merch relisted it, it seems.

comes with printed dust sleeve and album on cd. 500 pressed. epitaph records. 2013.

ebay: h2o

h2o - faster than the world

as i'm determined to get the whole h2o back catalogue, i always have an open eye for their records set on ebay. this time around it was f.t.t.w. that crossed my way. it was one of that last-second-bids that made this baby go into my caring possession. i got it for under twenty bucks which is good i think. even though i saw it on discogs for 9€. but it comes from japan and shipping included would make about the same price. so it's all good :)

musically it's just another great record of new york's h2o. i've got their self-titled record from 1996 now too and i couldn't chose a favourite of the albums i know so far. positive music that is perfect for the coming summer. now i need only the 'don't forget your roots' tribute record and the 'go!' lp, which seems the hardest to get, to complete the full length's. we'll see...

f.t.t.w. got released through epitaph records. nowhere i was looking for pressing information i was able to find some numbers. no dead format, no discogs, no epitaph. has anyone here a clue?

white vinyl. epitaph records. 1997.

kings road merch: obey the brave

obey the brave - young blood
obey the brave is the new band of alex erian, former vocalist of disbanded despised icon (a shame). i loved his voice in the context of despised icon's modern technical death metal. it brought some hardcore vibe to it which made them pretty unique. so as i heard he would start a hardcore band i was all over it. when i got their debut 7" 'ups and downs' i said already that they don't reinvent the wheel but i liked it anyway. listening to the opening lines in their intro 'lifestyle' i chuckled inevitably.

not trying to reinvent the wheel

we keep it simple

we keep it real

these lines say it all. you get nothing what you didn't hear before. old parkway drive, the ghost inside (they are also on epitaph, coincedence?) are the bands that came to my mind immediately. but admittedly it's all played on a high quality level. catchy melodies, crew shouts, break downs. so with the first preparing lines and a damn cool hip hop skit ('grim') they got my sympathy (even the clean guest vovals on 'burning bridges' of ligeia's keith holuk couldn't destroy that :). better a band knowing they are not the most innovative musicians around than a band jumping on every new trend. 

the picture on the kings road europe site shows a kind of opaque yellow vinyl. the sticker on the cover to verify the colour is pretty yellow too. the vinyl however is definitely a clear orange. don't know how many were pressed.

printed dust sleeve + cd with the entire album. epitaph records. 2012.