xsentientx: verse

firstly you may have recognized that i changed a bit the look of this page. inspired by other blogs i wanted to give it a more personal look - but maybe it looks just like the other blogs right now ;-) i like it anyway... 

verse - from anger and rage

realising just what a great band i missed when i listened to the first verse record "rebuild", the hunt was immediately on for other releases. "from anger and rage" is their 2nd album from 2006. as this record is similarly admired it foreshadowed that it would be difficult to get an original pressing of rivalry records. i was outbid several times on ebay and so i searched some distro to probably have it in stock. per koro, unlike the last time for "rebuild" was a dead end. so i put 'verse from anger and rage lp' in the search field of a popular search engine and came across a d.i.y. distro from bremen, germany. xsentientx mailorder is the name. as luck would have it, the in my last verse post mentioned label prügelprinz records, that already re-released "rebuild", did also a re-release of "from anger and rage" for a similar occasion (euro tour 2008) and xsentientx had some in stock.. 

prügelprinz did three colour variations. regular black, clear red with black splatter and a black/red split. if you are a constant reader you know that i'm a sucker for split coloured vinyl. i just love the look of it! so i requested one and i was happy to recieve a mail with a positive answer. especially as this was the rarest colour of this re-press.

it comes in a lovely gatefold sleeve with all lyrics. positive and straight forward political. stuff which is not to be consumed easily but i like it that way. it challenges you to think, just like good hardcore should.

just like "rebuild" the dust sleeve is stamped and hand numbered. love the way the stamping is split coloured too. nice touch. all in all a lovely packaging by prügelprinz records. 275 made. 2008 re-press.

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.