walls of jericho - with devils amongst us all

a blast from the past. had this record on cd back then and i fondly remember a few shows of the band i witnessed around 2005-2007. they had such a great stage energy and kandace always had the crowd hanging on every word she was saying. got this slick looking pressing via merchpit.com. 600 copies pressed on gold/red split vinyl. trustkill records. 2006/2025.

throwdown - covered with venom

i love my throwdown. that being said i tried to chase their vinyl releases over the last couple of years but never listened to their latest two full length albums. probably because they only have been put to compact disc and no vinyl. rather nontypical these days. ten years back who would have thought such an occurance could be nontypical? anyway, let's get to the point.

'covered with venom' was an accompanying 7" release to their full length 'venom and tears' from 2007. although it is not a single, because the two songs on this plastic platter are both cover songs. 'london dungeon' by the misfits and 'planets collide' by crowbar and are not featured on the vinyl record of 'venom and tears'. so i don't know why the band actually put this out.

the cover songs are cool but i really just bought this for the sake of completion. when i stumbled upon the the shattered realm record at the schwarzesocke.com e-store, i also found this copy on white vinyl and added it to the cart. there have quite a good deal of copies been pressed. white vinyl is out of 700 copies. for detailed info check out the according dead format page. trustkill records. 2007. 

first blood - killafornia

this album came out in the mid 00's. a time where i breathed in all that was out on labels like lifeforce records or trustkill. on the latter this baby appeared. i can't recall how i got aware of first blood from california. i suppose it was a myspace discovery, as usual back then. the album is pretty breakdown-laden, something that totally appealed to me at the time.

furthermore the political induced lyrics were another reason why this album was on heavy rotation on my discman. i always wanted to have a vinyl copy since i started collecting but somehow, a reasonable priced copy never came my way. until now, that is. bullet tooth records, the now renamed trustkill records, thought it might be apt to bring up a re-press of this almost classic title.

when i read news of this over at per koro, i knew i would include this in a sure coming order. the new pressing comes on heavy duty vinyl and in a clear red colour-way. don't know how many were made or if this clear red is the only colour-way of the re-press. anyone here has a clue? in the meantime, check out 'conspiracy' and 'tides' and break some furniture. trustkill records. 2006/2015.

underdog store pt 2/4: bleeding through - the truth

bleeding through – the truth

being in a physical stores and buying records is very much different to sitting at your home flattening your ass in front of your comp and ordering wax. the finger on the trigger is much more loosely when you hold the actual record in your hands instead of staring at a picture on your screen. sometimes it’s an advantage, sometimes disadvantage. i could have bought a copy of ‘the truth’ many times before. on discogs an offer was hanging around for quite some time, sold by green hell. a funny connection because green hell is the vinyl supplier of underdog store. just like burnout store …the world is small…

the discogs option was on white w/ black splatter vinyl. i wasn’t sure if there were more colour ways or if it was the only one. the copy i had in front of me was sealed and so i asked the girl behind the counter if she could slice it open, so i could check. as customer friendly as she was it was no problem. i checked. clear vinyl. well, i hoped for the white splatter but hey, it was cheaper compared to the net and – instant gratification! it was mine.

i’m not sure if i would like ‘the truth’ as much as i do now if it was a release of 2013. i mean, i didn’t even like it that much back then when it came out. the clear vocals are pretty cheesy, i admit. but somehow it grew on me over the years. has probably something to do with the memories i connect with that particular time in my life. ‘dearly demented’ still one of the best songs these guys have ever written. the album was released in 2006 by trustkill records, which listened the vinyl version to forsaken records. couldn’t find much information on them but ‘the truth’ seems to be their only output. 500 on white w/ black splatter and another 500 on clear vinyl. released on forsaken records in 2008.

per koro pt. 5/5: throwdown

throwdown - venom & tears

cross my heart - i'm a throwdown fan. i always loved 'haymaker', i began to really love 'vendetta' that i had on cd in 2006 but never really appreciated back then and i discovered their first two albums ('beyond repair' and 'you don't have to be blood to be family') which i love the shit out of them. plus two 7"es, one of which i posted already - 'drive me dead' - and another that i could already obtain and that will land on this blog in due time. so the only release that i don't have and which exists on vinyl was 'venom & tears'. i was a little undecided wether to order it or not. i heard some songs of it and knew that throwdown was going a new direction. more pantera-metal kind of. i wasn't sure if i liked it and so i held on for some time. but then finally the scale turned in favour of 'venom & tears'.

i think i can safely say that i really like this record. of course it's not another 'haymaker' but i like it for what it is. if i wasn't a throwdown fan i probably wouldn't spin this as much as i do. but in the context of their whole discography this album makes sense. don't get me wrong, it's a good one. the breakdowns are as heavy as only throwdown can deliver, cool hooks and straight edge, it's all there. but it's a new direction. like always when bands take a new course the older fans usually like the older stuff more because it was the very thing they became fans in the first place. as i said before it's still a pretty good listen though. i didn't listen to 'deathless' yet, which is their latest album from 2009. it never got released on vinyl and that's why i wasn't interested. but now i'm curious. heard that throwdown are writing new stuff. interesting, interesting...

'venom & tears' was pressed on two different colours. there is a dark red version and my marbled blue. dark red is limited to 660 copies. the blue one is limited to 433 copies plus 4 test press copies. i got the numbers from dead format but they seem odd though. all together that makes 1097 copies. strange number. anyway, if the information is correct i have, again, not the less limited colour way. in this case it's even the rarest. that was a good order from per koro ;-)

trustkill records. 2008.  

per koro: knuckledust, throwdown

actually i ordered "life of agony - river runs red" with these other fine records, but the per koro guy said that he was sorry and the record was a "shop-corpse" and not available. so i just have to keep my eyes open for it. but now to the records i actually got:

knuckledust - time won't heal this

in celebration of the london based band's 15th anniversary, gsr music decided to re-release their debut record in a re-mastered version and on vinyl, too. i remember seeing them live in 2003 on resistance tour with ignite, madball and suicidal tendencies and liking the punk bass player with the iro hair :) i little bit lost track on them since then but it's a very good debut record in the vein of old hatebreed or madball. very lovely vinyl presentation!

clear yellow green-black splatter vinyl + download coupon. gsr music

throwdown - haymaker/vendetta 

foremost i wanted this double lp release because of "haymaker". the only throwdown album i know that i love from first to last tune (but i have to admit i don't know their two previous records). relentless straight edge hardcore that just makes you wanna move! "vendetta" i owned on cd some years ago but i sold it on ebay. having it now on vinyl again i remember why i sold it - just a bit too slow sometimes, but some real good songs on it nevertheless. i like it more now then in the past!

i checked some pics on the net before i purchased it informing myself about the colours. i saw it on yellow and blue vinyl. what i got is a different colour press with which i'm more satisfied :)

gatefold sleeve with all lyrics + "haymaker" on semi-translucent marbled dark red vinyl + "vendetta" on marbled opaque brown vinyl. trustkill records

per koro: terror, awaken demons, 50 lions, the carrier

this is actually my first post of an order that i really recieved in march 2012 :) so, now the more or less "real-time" documentation starts ;-)

terror - the damned, the shamed

as said before i'm not a big picture disc worshipper. just like in this case i hate the missing of a cardboard sleeve! but with the admittedly good looking disc comes a big fold out poster that also functions as a back cover. so nevertheless i like it...

reaper records

awaken demons - the mirror

like so many other bands out there i knew the band by name for quite a while but never was really interested enough to listen to them. a mistake as it appears :) pretty good tough guy hardcore with straight edge attitude! just my taste :) i found this on sale at per koro.

marbled solid green vinyl. trustkill records

50 lions - time is the enemy

as mentioned before the sophomore release "where life expires" really gets me going :) so i just had to have this first album and it's quite as good as the second record. out on demons run amok entertainment with a nice gatefold sleeve and clear red vinyl with two or three black speckles :)

the carrier - one year later

passionate hardcore with a melancholic melody edge to it. reminds me a bit of new carpathian stuff or the ghost inside. good stuff!

opaque neon yellow vinyl + gatefold cover + digital download. deathwish records

greed records order: bleeding through, final prayer, figure four

this one here is another greed records order.

here i got "bleeding through - declaration" for cheap. it's on solid yellow vinyl. but somehow there is a flaw on this one. there are some songs that go into one another seamlessly, but there's always a slight pause to be heard. like a mp3 player that skips the songs. that's pretty fucked up. i wonder if the pressing is flawed completely...

next one is "final prayer - filling the void" on demons run amok entertainment. great marbled green vinyl which is only to be seen good held against the light.

last but not least: "figure four - suffering the loss". i stumbled over this one checking the e-shop. the band is not around anymore and members went on with bands like comeback kid. i really do like the music and can dig the lyrics, even though they're a christian band.

nice clear yellow with black smoke vinyl on blood & ink records