zero mentality / the heartbreak motel - virtues and vices

another zero mentality release. the last i was missing. the collection is complete currently. i hope they will put the gear into action and come around with new stuff soon, so that i have a new piece of wax to add to the pile. for now this split release with the heartbreak motel is the last piece of the puzzle. i stumbled upon it on ebay and got it for next to nothing really.

the split came out in between 'invite your soul' from 2008, which is my favourite album of zm, and 'black rock' from 2009, which is very good but takes the last pposition in my personel ranking of the three full lengths. logically the two songs on display lean more towards the rock induced hardcore-metal-mish-mash of the 'black rock' record. i still really dig them. check 'the white hand of moses'.

the other band of the split - the heartbreak motel - was pretty much unknown to me. they are a punk-rock band from recklinghausen, germany. or better, they have been. they split up last year playing their last show in bochum together with zm. anyway, their part of the split is simply not my cup of tea. probably well executed punk-rock but i am the wrong person to judge that. check out 'lunar eclipse'.

the release was handled by d.r.a. and they did a great job with it. the split comes on double 7" format with one song for each side cut at 45 rounds per minute. the two 7"es are housed in a lovely gatefold cover, which is pretty nice for this format. i really like the inner gatefold showing some funny pics of the two bands. the vinyl comes in a marbled grey colour-way out of 400 copies. demons run amok. 2008.   

zero mentality - demo '03

so, zero mentality had a little comeback two years ago with their 'x' 7" on let it burn records. it was a two song seven inch, so not much more than an appetiser for future deeds. well, future deeds seem to be long in coming. we will see, maybe this band simply needs more time and i'll try to be patient. quite difficult when you listen to their stuff. their demo from twelve years back is no exception.

zero mentality has a great sense for energetic hardcore with catchy melodies. even so in their early days. the hardcore part weighed a bit heavier at the time but not to their disadvantage. all of the three songs also found their way onto their first full length called 'in fear of forever'. in a re-recorded form, naturally. unfortunately i could not find any sound excerpts on the net.

this demo 7" was released by now defunct dead serious recordings from western germany. this label released some decent stuff from the early to mid 00's. mostly european vinyl versions of u.s. bands like terror or 100 demons, and some liscensed vinyl versions of european bands like cataract. for this 7" dead serious made a cool fold out sleeve and pressed the music to some nice milky clear vinyl. dead serious. 2003.

zero mentality - in fear of forever

this is a record i was after for as long as i had their sophomore effort 'invite your soul' in my collection. 'invite you soul' is a cracker of an album, it was a regular guest on my turntable and i still like to give it a spin from time to time. first i checked pressing information for 'in fear of forever'. it turned out that there was only one coloured vinyl version released by a label called cathargo records.

never heard of them before and ever since but taking a look at discogs, i found out that they released a handful of vinyl records for some european hardcore bands of lesser popularity. bands like solid ground or teamkiller. anyway, they produced a turquoise colour version for this specific zero mentality album. in that case, the price isn't that much of an issue. availability is the key. i once had the opportunity to get it via discogs but i was too slow.

two years later, in 2014, finally another chance came my way and this time i was ahead of the game. for the first time i saw the real deal. i couldn't get any pictures beforehand because there just weren't any to be found and i always thought it was an opaque vinyl affair. man, take a look at this beauty. an 180g clear turquoise marble vinyl. lovely! check out 'face the music' and 'nicht mehr'. pre-order version limited to 100 copies. cathargo records. 2005.

zero mentality - x 7"

ruhrpott's zero mentality are back. after they released their last full length 'black rock' back in 2009, it became pretty silent around these guys. i think they even called it quits somewhere along the way. anyway, with 'x' they mark their renewed ascend. actually, i'm pretty late with this post.

i have this record since it initial release. i was pretty sure about it being released in 2014 and as i wanted to get all of the '14 releases off the pile, the time for this post was just right. in my preparation for this write-up i stumbled upon a minor mistake in my thinking. 'x' was released in 2013 already. damn me, time flies!

the name 'x' is well chosen because ten years before zm released their first demo, conveniently called 'demo '03'. i'll post about it in due time. music wise 'x' is very much in the vein of my favourite album of them - 'invite your soul'. check out 'gemini' and buy your copy here. don't know how many of the white vinyl was made. let it burn records. 2013.

shark men rec.: zero mentality, bury my sins, at daggers drawn

zero mentality - black rock

i really fell in love with their 2nd full length 'invite your soul' and so i was out for their other two releases. their debut 'in fear of forever' (which seems to be pretty hard to come by on coloured vinyl) and their last output 'black rock'. the last mentioned i can now remove from my list. i was looking around a bit on discogs with no direct intention of buying anything. i stumbled upon a seller named shark men records. in my previous post a shark men release was just the referred to object. so i thought i should check out what else shark men has put out because i wasn't really familiar with their releases.

to my surprise i found out that black rock got the vinyl treatment through shark men and that there were still some limited copies of the pre-order run left over. for the ridiculous amount of €5 i just couldn't say no. the fact that i could get a pre-order copy for lousy five bucks doesn't really speaks for the record but hell no! some people just don't seem to recognize a quality record. the album is superb!

ok, it's not a second 'invite your soul' and the last third of the record lacks a bit power but it's still a damned good listen. period! as the album title implies they developed an even more rock sound. and then with the crossover of hardcore and metal they just can't do wrong for me. check out the song 'electric lips'. just the right song for driving to work in the middle of winter's return here in north-germany.

the purple record is housed in a lovely gatefold sleeve of thick quality and comes with a poster, a sticker and a download dropcard. the cd version was handled by powertrip records. white vinyl version with a lot of multi-colour traces in the vinyl. don't know how many have been made. 

shark men records. 2009.

bury my sins - rats e.p.

bury my sins was a small german metalcore band that never really got any attention. before this e.p., which was their last release, they can look back on two full length albums. they were washed up in the flow of many german metalcore bands in the mid 00's but did only small local shows, which isn't a bad thing though. they called it a day in 2011.

like all their other stuff the music here is quite good. it's not a masterpiece but enjoyable (this will probably explain their comparatively little reputation). really cool is the life of agony cover song 'river runs red' at the end of side two. again the price for this record was so low that i just had to buy this.

the description at discogs said that the vinyl would come with a download code. but as i opened the package i just couldn't find a dropcard. i actually wanted to contact shark men but then i found what i failed to notice all the time. the code is glued on the printed dust sleeve. cool idea!

shark men called this colour 'golden' vinyl. i don't know. in a certain light it looks like some kind of gold, pretty dark though. against the daylight it looks more like a shade of green. pressed on pretty thick 10" vinyl and 500 copies in total.

shark men records. 2010.

at daggers drawn - new bruises e.p.

to be honest i wouldn't have bought this when it was only about this record. i got a bit over excited as i saw the prices with that shark men offered their stuff. and as i just had to pay three more coins i just thought why the hell not. i listened to one song on youtube and decided it was good enough to loose 3€.

and for that amount it was worth it. ok, it's post hardcore and i usually don't even have a good yawn listening to that kind of music but i can enjoy at daggers drawn from berlin. make your own opinion here.

the presentation by shark men is again out of question. top notch! thick gatefold sleeve with all lyrics inside, thick clear 10" vinyl and some extras.

a self written postcard by the band (cool), a band sticker and the always welcomed download dropcard. couldn't find pressing information. shark men rec. 2011.

additionally i got a whole bunch of other stickers. among them was one that is so good that i probably will never use it because i don't know a place worthy of it. check this.

awesome!

dead serious rec. pt. I: zero mentality

that order from dead serious records was a downright pain in the ass! i ordered around the end of july and paid all the stuff via paypal the same day. usually i expect to get the records within a week. after one week: nothing. no confirmation mail, no records. ok, no big deal. sometimes it takes two weeks. after two weeks still nothing. i wrote a mail - no reply. three weeks and another mail later i was as wise as before. after four weeks i wrote a slightly more insistantly mail and finally i got an answer. something was wrong with the new shop, they didn't get all the mails and stuff like that but they would send it right now. good - i was relieved. after the fifth week without any package arriving they told me that the stuff was send back due to undeliverability. they sent it again and after six weeks i could finally hold the records in my hands. boy, there was something very wrong with it.

here is part I/II.

zero mentality - invite your soul

a great german hardcore band which called it a day some years ago. i know the band from the time they were active but didn't pay any attention. that seems to happen too often now and i could just bite my ass not being aware of the greatness of this band when there was still a chance of catching them live.

this is their 2nd full length album

zero mentality plays a great mixture consisting of the two chief ingredients hardcore and metal. nothing new you might say but they are adding some lovely melodic punk rock and half german half english lyrics to it. definitely unique. 

the album comes in a gatefold sleeve with a hilarious picture on the inner sleeve. what the hell is that?! knowing that the band didn't take themselves too serious i look at it as some sort of joke ;-)

the record itself looks when put against a dark background more lilac. when held against the light it's more purple.

and the marble looks different too. great colouring on this one! another quality release by demons run amok. 400 made. 2007.

zero mentality/the setup split 7"

as far as the zero mentality part is concerned this was a teaser for the said full length. so the two songs on this are also part of 'invite your soul'. the band which this split is shared with, the setup, comes from belgium. i think they disbanded too but i'm not really sure. they play dark old school hardcore with a metal edge and the two songs on this were a teaser for their full length 'minister of death'. good stuff. i'm looking out for their other stuff on coloured vinyl. if some one can help out?

crazy gold vinyl. held straight against the light it looks like clear vinyl with some dirty smoke in it. 

held in a different angle it looks like flowing gold. amazing colouring!

depending on which side you prefer you can call this split 'soul and death' (zero mentality for 'invite your soul') or 'death and soul' (the setup for 'minister of death'). clever packaging!

gold vinyl. 400 made. demons run amok entertainment. 2006.