exist - hijacking the zeitgeist

their last record "egoiista" was quite too long for my taste and tend to get a bit boring, so i wasn't really sure about the new album. for "hijacking the zeitgeist" they cut down the duration to almost the half and it worked wonders.

with an improved song-writing the tracks sound as fresh as can be. huge, catchy choruses and everything proggy inbetween. love it. prosthetic records. 2024.

dawn of ouroboros - velvet incandescence

this turned out to be quite a surprise. came across the band accidentally because of the cover and the label they're on. atmospheric, uplifting yet still heavy af. 666 copies on cosmic candy swirl. prosthetic records. 2023.

beneath the massacre - marée noire

another nice vinyl pressing of this e.p. on handy 12" grey marble vinyl. originally released in 2010 in 7" format. prosthetic records. 2022.

beneath the massacre - incongruous

finally prosthetic records did this much needed first vinyl pressing of this killer album. prosthetic records. 2012/2022.

psycroptic - divine council

psycroptic really stepped up their already great game with "divine council". more diverse, tight song-writing and epic melodies conclude in their best record to date in my humble opinion. the pressing looks really nice although the white in the splatter mix obviously doesn't come through against a snow background. prosthetic records. 2022.

happy new year and all ;-)

exist - egoiista

bought this album upon time of release and it took me that long to warm up with it. now i'm really in love with it. it's a tad long but bursting at the seams with superior musical craftmanship and inventiveness. the vinyl colour-way looks ace, too. 250 copies made. prosthetic records. 2020.

body void - bury me beneath this rotting earth

pretty intense doom/sludge metal from the states. never heard of them before, just stumbled upon some pics on insta accidentally. checked it out and when this re-press was available through emp, i pulled the trigger. love that sexy pink vinyl right here. prosthetic records. 2021.

through the eyes of the dead - bloodlust

finally! had the chance to snag a white copy many moons ago but waited too long and ever since regretted it. second hand prices rose and so this nice re-press comes in handy. red with black marble vinyl released by prosthetic records. 2005/2021.

venom prison - samsara

a death metal slap right in your face - this is what it feels like listening to venom prison. with a slight hardcore edge to it, they know how to balance their high aggression level with some nasty groove. yeah, i like them. 750 copies made on white vinyl. prosthetic records. 2019.

venom prison - animus

these guys from wales know how to write a death metal record that feels like the hit of a sledge hammer. primal and energetic. i suppose they groove real hard playing live. 500 copies pressed on the orange splatter variant. 2020 re-press. released by prosthetic records in 2016.

vile creature - glory, glory! apathy took helm

this is a sludge/doom two piece from canada and they are a couple, too. saw them a few times via social media and thought they were cute but never really checked them out. this changed when the new record was released and boy, it's a cracker! do yourself a favour and take a listen! 250 copies on clear with black swirl via prosthetic records.

undeath - lesions of a different kind

that release was heavily hyped upon its release and prosthetic still sells variant after variant. i think the album is quite good but don't believe the hype is deserved. rock solid but not outstanding osdm. got this coke bottle clear edition for christmas. limited to 250 copies.

venom prison - primeval

i was fairly surprised when i learned that the singer of venom prison was the former singer of wolfdown. i really enjoyed those two early wolfdown 7"es and their debut full length. when she left the german based band, things went really downhill for wolfdown. not in terms of music but in terms of misogyny - but that's a different story.

i'm happy larissa stupar is back with this straight up death metal band. their distinctive hardcore punk edge is really refreshing and i'm looking forward to get more of their stuff. "primeval" is a re-recording of their first two e.p.'s from 2015 plus two new songs. nice colour-way limited 500 copies and released through prosthetic records.

astralborne - at eternity's end

boy, what a goddamn good melodic death metal album. riff for days, melodies for months and music for years or so... flys a bit under the radar it seems but if you have the chance to get your hands on this, i recommend to pick up astralborne's beautiful debut full length "at eternity's end" right away.

beneath the massacre - mechanics of dysfunction

when beneath the masacre released their unbelievably strong come back album "fearmonger" this year on century media, prosthetic records were able to read the signs of time and came up with a vinyl issue for their debut "mechanics of dysfunction" from 2007. i also ordered this at banquet records from london and the record came in prime condition due to great packaging.

i never listened to that album before and when i dropped the needle on it for the first time it was unmistakably beneath the massacre. the guys have a very unique sound, a mix of sheer speed mayhem and very groovy parts all combined with a sense of technicality. the vinyl colour is a gold with black marble and is a perfect match for tew cover artwork. 350 copies pressed. prosthetic records.

spirit adrift - chained to oblivion

there it is eventually. the debut album of spirit adrift on vinyl. there is a first pressing floating around but long sold out and i didn't want to bite the bullet of inflated second hand price tags. so this prosthetic re-issue comes in handy. ordered at first via jpc.de but they cancelled my order half the way through. then i tried my luck with banquet records from london due to lack of options.

must say that i was very satisfied with how the order went down. will probably place an order with them again. musically "chained to oblivion" is a remarkable debut, especially when one considers that every instrument was recorded by mastermind nathan garrett himself due to not having a functioning band at that point. lovely blue splatter lp's and fantastic revised artwork by jesse jacobi (who might be known for his work on the last tomb mold). 300 copies pressed. prosthetic records.

psycroptic - s/t

after i made first contact with psycroptic with their latest effort "as the kingdom drowns" last year, i said to myself to loosely start to buy psycroptic records when given a reasonable chance. i am not sure anymore how i stumbled upon this copy of the predecessor at amazon for eighteen bucks but i ordered right away.

just like on "as the kingdom drowns", psycroptic has a technical side but still are pretty catchy, if that makes sense. out of three colour-ways it happened to be the gold vinyl. well, not the coolest in my book but in combination with the cover artwork it works quite good. prosthetic records. 2015.

monotheist - scourge

the last of the prosthetic records batch right here. monotheist were new to me but since eighty percent of the vinyl records that land on my turntable are tech death related, i keep my eyes peeled for new additions to the collection. i still had a discount code from jpc.de to burn and when i spotted the record among other prosthetic titles, i decided to go for it.

i remembered a newsletter from prosthetic advertising the album as a new technical death metal pearl and so i gave it a shot. now, after a few listens, i really dig this release. it starts like the usual tech death massacre, solid but nothing new. as soon as "mark of the beast I: the image" kicks in the record takes a turn. the guys experiment with interludes, instrumentals, chamber music and weird hooks.

it still sounds a bit confused at times and not really cohesive but it is definitely a fun listen with many twists. the vinyl pressing looks really nice but is actually the real weakness of the release. a lot of surface noise and it seems that insufficient dehorning in the production process caused repeating grinding noise in the background. do i have a one-off or did anyone here experience the same? still, a great album musically! 300 copies made. prosthetic records. 2018.

the acacia strain - wormwood

finally! a gaping wound in my collection can now be closed eventually. to this point i had all the acacia strain full lengths on a first press basis, except that miserable first pressing of "wormwood", the band's fifth record. i missed out in the first place in 2010 and when i started to chase the vinyl versions a few years later, prices were already sky rocketing.

there were 1.000 copies of the first press, 500 on black vinyl and five colours each limited to 100. all of them are selling for 100 quid at least. the clear blue version even sold for 180 dollars. no way i was going to fight for a copy in that weight class. thankfully prosthetic records had the insight to finally re-press this monster.

musically this one is fantastic. i had almost forgotten about it but when i listen to the album, i cannot help but keep thinking that it is almost as good as "continent". especially the guest vocals by hatebreed's jamey jasta on "the beast" and 100 demons' bruce lepage on "nightman" are mind blowing. the colour-way is ace, too. 250 copies on semi translucent orange with white and blue splatter. prosthetic records. 2010/2019.

animals as leaders - s/t (10th anniversary pressing)

so yeah, this is actually my third copy of that specific album in my possession. my first one was the clear blue pressing out of 250 copies from 2015 which came in a single pocket sleeve. not my favourite colour-way and no gatefold but beggars can't be choosers, right?! two years ago prosthetic released another pressing.

as part of their silver series they marketed this version containing the songs of the re-vised "encore edition" with more additional bonus tracks and the original 3-d art on an insert. cooler colour-way but still no gatefold. when the band announced their touring cycle to celebrate the 10th year anniversary of their debut record this year, prosthetic records came up with a new pressing.

three colour-ways, encore edition track list and a freaking gatefold sleeve. of course i was all over the pre-order. jpc.de had copies available to pre-order and since jpc is a distro, i was bound to get the least limited version. no problem, because this yellow marble/clear green and black smoke edition looks really nice. finally i have my gatefold cover! 250 copies made. prosthetic records. 2009/2019.

post scriptum: of course i went to see the band play live in hamburg. i bought a ticket in last year, i believe. it was worth every penny. great atmosphere among the crowd, great set list with many songs of the debut, indeed and i even was able to catch a drum stick from matt gorstka (ok, actually the roadie threw it because the band was gone fast after the show :). fanboy heaven.