ebay usa: all out war

all out war - assassins in the house of god record store day re-release
this record i actually obtained three weeks ago or something. that shows how much i'm behind currency. but who cares anyway!
it's a victory records rsd-release that wasn't available in germany, somehow. or i just missed it by being too late... fact is that i recognized the post of lenny/theemergingaddiction about it and that i wanted it! so i consulted ebay usa and found various offerings. some sellers wanted ridiculously high prices and others had been pretty reasonable (don't really understand sellers inflating their prices while others have accessible costs. can't imagine they have prospering business). the seller i got this from had a "make an offering"-option and so in the end i made a bargain, i think. the record took four weeks to arrive so it's been a long way from ordering it to posting it :)
love the music! reminds me of heaven shall burn even though all out war have been around earlier, it's just my personal hierachy :) they play pretty straight forward death metal. nothing much left of hardcore music but the attitude.

nice white marbled opaque pink vinyl + download card. limited to 400. victory records.

ebay: nile

nile - in their darkened shrines

the first time i stumbled upon nile was in my "korn" times :) i've had a metal hammer magazine at home coming along with a bonus cd. the cd featured a couple of bands including nile with the song "lashed to the slave stick" of the annihilation of the wicked album. i found it pretty extreme and didn't know if i should like it but their was a certain attraction to it. 

years later i looked through the mp3 collection of a friend of mine to see if there's something interesting for me to check out. now hardened :) by bands like whitechapel, job for a cowboy, suicide silence and the like i grabbed the digital copies of "ithyphallic" and "annihilation of the wicked". all i can say is that i fell in love with them. Great music + great egyptological and lovecraftian lyrics + great liner notes to get even more involved in the topic. so now i'm working on a nile vinyl collection because their wax releases are awesome. 

my first catch is "in their darkened shrines". i bought this one at ebay for a fair price. i was lucky that a different seller had another copy at auction just half an hour intermediately and so most bidder seemed to try to get the first auction's item. 

i know all nile stuff upward from this record and i couldn't pick a favourite. listening to "in their darkened shrines" you close your eyes and plunge into a hot, sandy world lined with pyramids and big statues depicting gods of the underworld. fantastic... 

double clear green vinyl + printed dust sleeves with all lyrics + gatefold cover with liner notes. relapse records. didn't find pressing information but i think it's limited to 500. correct me if i'm wrong.

indie merch store: xforce of changex, whitechapel, hsb

xforce of changex - the bond we share 7"

this is the 7" that preceded their debut album on indecision records called "the fire still burns". the music on this could also be featured on the full length when it comes to quality (actually two of them are). i was out for this quite some time but my first attempt to buy it failed due to a last damaged copy in store :( 

i found it at indie merch by chance and was relieved :)

clear green vinyl. 200 made. 6131 records.

whitechapel - a new era of corruption
after the "somatic defilement" record from 2007 my favourite release of them. insane drum play! i love listening to it and guessing how the hell the drummer just made this combination happen without knotting his limbs. for an amateur like me always stunning! with this record they put a lot more atmosphere in their song structures. great modern death metal with guest appearances by vincent bennett of the acacia strain and deftones' chino moreno (how come?). i've just got their latest self titled effort at home but more of this in the near future.

didn't find any pressing numbers. but it comes in a nice gatefold sleeve. black vinyl. metal blade records.

heaven shall burn - whatever it may take
at the moment it's pretty hard to get even a glimpse of this record's original colour pressing. i check the bay regularly, searched the web extensively for some forgotten shop still having it in stock, looked out for it on discogs (it's there, oh yes but for 50 bucks plus shipping) and on some trade boards like dead format... nothing. at least not for a price i'm willed to pay (as yet). so as i took a look around at indie you may understand my excitement spotting it among their offerings. i clicked it for detailed information and it wasn't sold out yet (i fear hsb isn't such a big thing in the states :). i began to get sweaty hands as i recognized the price. lousy ten dollars. but then a little disappointment crept in. it was the black vinyl version.
but i took it anyway because it's the damn original pressing from 2002, hell yeah!

as the records finally arrived the shape of the sleeve was rather used. storage wear because it wasn't kept in a plastic sleeve which is quite stupid because to be avoided easily. but anyway the original sound is like an ode to my ears. much better than the polished sound on the re-press.
but i still want the coloured edition so i just wait until it shows up on ebay or i reconsider the discogs price. we'll see...

black vinyl + printed dust sleeve. 700 made. lifeforce records.

bridge9: ramallah, dead swans

ramallah - but a whimper 2x7"

since i really enjoyed their second effort "kill a celebrity" i was bound and determined to get their other stuff. a little research discovered that their was only one other release, "but a whimper" namely. i tried to order it through per koro at one point but it turned out to be not available for the mailorder anymore. so i placed an order directly at the label's e-store.

musically you hear the progress they made with "kill a celebrity" but it's still a refreshing approach to hardcore music anyway.

great looking marbled opaque orange vinyl. the first 7" slightly different to the second colour-wise. 1st cut at 33rpm, the 2nd cut at 45rpm. 1000 made.

dead swans - sleepwalkers

i stumbled across this band from the uk by looking through the bridge9 roaster. they play very passionate hardcore which reminds me of bands like carpathian, have heart or the carrier. very lovely tunes! i didn't give it much spins as yet. but i have the feeling it will grow on me even more. i'm looking foreward to angle their repressed split 7" with architects out of my mail box to which i was pointed to by s.f.r. ;-)

i've got a copy of the 2nd press. clear yellow with red splatter vinyl + gatefold cover + digital download. sadly there was no pressing info for this press on the bridge9 site.

triple-B: lie and wait

lie and wait - led astray
i spied this band while i was looking for the label that released the last dead end path record. after i found out that triple B records was the sought after label, dead end path just doesn't really grab me (if you're interested in this lp just check the stuff of my fellow blogger lenny/theemergingaddiction). so i just checked what else they had in store. it wasn't really much but lie and wait just caught my attention. listened to them on the net and didn't waste a second to check my cart out. next to their e.p. 'led astray' from 2007 i grabbed the 2008 7" 'the awakening'. all together for a price that was lower than the shipping costs because their stuff is on clearance. to give you an idea they remind me a lot of cruel hand, a shame they disbanded...

'led astray' on really nice white with blue swirl vinyl. looks awesome and makes a good match with the cover art. one sided. 350 made.

'the awakening' 7" on tri-colour vinyl (white/black/clear yellow). 300 made.

dead truth records: 2x xbishopx 7"

xbishopx - bless the dead 7"

this 7" came out in 2007, one year after their first full length "suicide party" but was actually recorded as a demo in 2004. the three songs are quite heavy and they obviously stood true to their sound as "drugs" is pretty much in the same vein. as an extra cover song you get the most apparent band covered there is for an edge band. almighty minor threat!

lovely three-way colour split. didn't find pressing informations. dead truth records.

xbishopx - asylum

this is their latest release from 2009. the two songs on side 1 is regular xbishopx quality. short, heavy, direct, dynamic. you gotta love it! side 2 contains a further seems forever cover song "pictures of shorelines". the singer gets even melodic. chanting actually :) surprising but cool, somehow.
clear green vinyl. didn't find pressing info, either. dead truth records.

since their "drugs"-release has really grown on me, i'm excited to get the whole vinyl discography of them. the only piece that's missing is the "suicide party" 12". unlike the other stuff (all released by dead truth records) "suicide party" was released by seventh dagger records and is sold out, unfortunately. ebay seems to be the obvious solution. so i got to wait until it shows up...

cobra records: final prayer

final prayer - i am not afraid

yes, the new fp record. berlin's hardcore institution seems to get better with every album they put out. this time they extended their sound with more melody and catchy sing-a-long's. they have a german song on this, too. the ode to their home district "heimathafen kreuzberg" is a nice change to their mostly english lyrics. furthermore the record has one of the best ending songs you can possibly imagine. "nothing" leaves you with the urge to listen to the whole thing again - lovely stuff! 

i ordered this one directly from the label that handled the vinyl version - cobra records. yellow is the most limited colour. 100 made. there is a white press also, so if you like intense hardcore in the vein of the latest terror record - check this god damn thing out! my cat loves it, too ;-)

hellion store: hatebreed

hatebreed - the rise of brutality
after passing my theoretical test for the driver license... (yes, i'm 26 and i still do not have it, which is pretty unusual for a guy in my age in germany. but living in a big city it's redundant. you get everywhere faster going by bike or public means of transport. because i'm residing in a fringe area now it gets more and more necessary.)
...i wanted to reward myself :) so after the test was over i took the direct route to the next bank, armed myself with means of payment and invaded the next record store which was hellion record store. flicking through the racks i found hatebreed's rise of brutality. i own it since this cracker came out on cd in 2003 and i can remember how i was impressed with how much of a row can be made on a single album. outstanding production by zeuss' planet z studio.
this black vinyl version was released in 2006 by cargo records. don't know how many were made.

merchnow: throwdown, obey the brave, blackened

throwdown - haymaker (again;-)
looking at my stuff you maybe already recognized i'm not very anxious about getting all vinyl pressings of any particular record. i choose the colour i like best and this is it. knowing this you maybe also recognized that i call "haymaker" my own already. but this case is different, the story: i always loved "haymaker" and so i wanted it on vinyl real bad. searching for it on the net i found a re-release of trustkill including "vendetta". per koro shop had it in store and so i ordered it. i didn't bother if there was a single vinyl pressing of it.
i can't really recall how i found this picture on the internet of the version i now hold in my hands. all i recall is that i thought: "damn, that colour split looks rad!" and i knew i got to have it! i was aware of the fact that bullet tooth records (in the past a.k.a. trustkill records) sell their stuff through merchnow and there it was... bingo!
so now i have some kind of two pressings of "haymaker" but the exception proves the rule :) end of story.
blood red/white split vinyl. 850 made. give me strength/trustkill records.

obey the brave - ups and downs 7"
getting stuff from overseas increases shipping costs. so i always try to order two items at least. checking things at merchnow i stumbled over obey the brave. they caught my attention because alex erian is their singer. he was in despised icon formerly which i liked quite a bit. i watched the video clip on youtube and decided to give them a shot. solid modern hardcore with guest appearance of scott vogel/terror. they don't reinvent the wheel but it's enjoyable. check them out!
there is a bronze, a silver and a gold press which are more limited (200 each) but look rather boring. so i ordered the most common pressing - nice clear green black splatter vinyl. 400 made. good fight music.

blackened - this means war
alongside i ordered a copy of blackened's debut album. i saw the colour at the shop and it appears that split colouring is my favourite way of vinyl colouring. actually just because of this and one listening to a single song i bought it. listening to it now in whole i'm not really enthusiastic about it anymore. the music alone is pretty cool but the singer's voice is rather annoying. it's sometimes very high pitched, almost hysteric. all in all the record is ok but i don't think i'll listen to this very often.
one sided white/orange split vinyl. 200 made. think fast! records.

shop radio cast: august burns red, black dahlia murder

august burns red - leveler
i know these guys since their first release "thrill seeker" (which screams for a vinyl re-release, solid state!!!). that album was  really a scorcher! their two upcoming releases, "messengers" & "constellations", were pretty good, too but not the same level. "leveler", not as the name suggests going on in the same way, took it all one level higher. one could say they made a step closer to the main stream but i prefer to call this development progress, since there are no clean vocals or trendy game boy sounds. now c.i. records re-released it on an awesome vinyl colour pattern. will ya look at this!

the colours match the cover art perfectly. and just take a look at how side a & side b differs from each other.

class a vinyl presentation, class a record. cannot stop raving about it!
c.i. records. 1000 made.

the black dahlia murder - ritual
to make this order worth the shipping costs i was looking for an additional record. what i found is really more than just an addition. another album i'm pretty keen on is tbdm's "ritual". it has beaten "nocturnal" as my favourite record of detroit's finest. it has it all! the raging madness, the speed, the occult feeling, the morbid atmosphere, outstanding cover art, just all! so i didn't hesitate and put it in my virtual basket. the description said "green vinyl". i know that there is a black press, a gold press (which is nowhere listed but a guy on discogs made a comment writing that he has a gold one) and the above mentioned green press. what it eventually came to be confuses me but makes me even more happy!

if anybody has the clue to this pressing mystery, feel free to leave a comment :)
awesome multi-colour marbled grey vinyl + printed dust sleeve. metal blade records.

all in all that was a pleasing order at shop radio cast which arrived here in germany pretty quick. as all other oversea orders take somewhere between three & four weeks, this came in in about two weeks. thumbs up!