burnout store: h2o, hardside

h2o - nothing to prove
i have to admit that i have never really been into those hardcore-punk bands like pennywise, ignite or exactly h2o. i couldn't really get involved with their sunny california sound. even though i saw the first two mentioned bands playing live several times on different occasions and their shows were always cool. to me there are bands that totally convince me playing live but fail to do so when i listen to their records. walls of jericho for example are one of my favourite live bands but i don't really like their recorded stuff. pennywise and ignite fall into the same category and i thought h2o was no exception.

i managed to elude a h2o show since last year where i saw them for the first time together with madball and first blood. they were the direct support for the headliner madball and madball had a hard time to keep the crowd going after h2o's performance. to me h2o was the band of the night and i said to myself that i should check them out more appropriate then i did in the past. it took me almost another year. after i saw them again with agnostic front and hatebreed and after they were a blast again i gave myself a symbolic kick in the ass and bought this record at my next burnout store visit.

i love this record! love the messages, the straight edge background and the ear worm melodies. the album is from 2008 and bridge9 did it's fourth pressing recently. i really like opaque colours with some marble effects. looks nice! tan coloured vinyl out of 1000 with download code. bridge9 records. 2008.

hardside - time is punishment

i heard some tunes of hardside recently because the label of my trust, demons run amok entertainment, released a compilation of hardside's first two 7"es on 12" format which i have to get in the near future. i wasn't hooked immediately, so i didn't pre-order it. then in december last year jake posted about his copy of 'time is punishment' and so i was aware of the fact that hardside had even an album out. but what to do with the knowledge? nothing - until mid february (yes, that's how long i'm behind with posting). flicking through the h-section at burnout and after picking h2o another familiar looking cover caught my interest.

i dragged the record to the next free turntable and gave it a spin. i listened to the first song and after half of it through i said 'yepp, bought!' i didn't even make it to the chorus because excitement took over. back home i listened to it in whole and was surprised at the chorus parts sung with a clear voice. i wasn't really sure of it but after the second listen i couldn't get these refrains out of my head. brilliant heavy mid-tempo hardcore with really catchy refrains sung by some kind of heavy metal voice. makes them unique in my eyes and that's rare!

the record was released by 6131 records. according to the 6131 shop two colour ways were made: grey marble and solid green. the solid green is slightly marbled too. i presume that grey marble is the more limited because it stands on top of the solid green option in the shop but i can't be sure as 6131 records didn't post any numbers yet. comes with download code. 

6131 records. 2012.

ebay: empty handed, bleed into one

empty handed - perspectives 7"

i got to know this band by reading a fanzine called 'project print'. i discovered some other bands through the same way as you can read here. empty handed is a young band from leipzig, germany and they formed in 2009, i think. they play some modern, emotional hardcore i would call it. reminds me of verse and carpathian. it was actually released in 2011 as a co-release of four labels: blackheart inc., anchored rec., heads down rec. and shitpiece rec. two colour ways were made back then. a blue/black and a white with black marble version. i missed it in 2011 and as it had sold out, ebay was the best opportunity.

the seller loaded up a pretty blurry picture of the record but i was pretty sure it was the blue/black vinyl. i won the record for a really reasonable price and as i opened the package i was surprised that what was in front of me was the more limited white or better grey with black marble version with an even unused download dropcard. cool thing!

the second press is up now at blackheart inc. bigcartel. first press: 100 on grey with black marble vinyl and 200 on blue/black vinyl. 2011.

bleed into one 7"

this may be the last release of bleed into one according to musik-sammler.de. a shame that is because it's really good. the songs of side a are just class a! a whole record that way and they would have gone through the roof! side b isn't that overwhelming but still good.

it came out in 2010. don't know if it's some kind of farewell release but they broke up shortly after that, i think. it was released on final exit records. stunning how many little d.i.y. labels are around in germany.

i got this 7" from the same seller and it came for cheap too. a real bargain with this two 7"es. i didn't find any pressing information on this one but considering the small popularity of both, label and band, i doubt it was more than 500. don't know about other colours as well. 

final exit records. 2010.

nb pre-order: hatebreed, the black dahlia murder

hatebreed - the divinity of purpose

a hardcore heavyweight. around since the mid nineties and they never seem to disappoint me. i know them since their probably most successful album 'perseverance' (which screems for a proper vinyl treatment!) but after 'supremacy' of 2006 i little bit lost track of them. as soon as nuclear blast announced the release of the new record 'the divinity of purpose' i had the determing feeling that i got to have it.

and again no disappointment. the record is more in the vein of the 'supremacy' spirit. while 'satisfaction is the death of desire', 'perseverance' and 'rise of brutality' especially were really angry or rather pissed, 'divinity...' is a positive, head-up, looking forward piece of heavy hardcore.

while i like the pissed albums more, 'divinity...' is still packed with mean breakdowns that weigh tons, lovely crew-shouts and just good and simple hardcore. you get what you expect and that's a good thing. i saw them live in hamburg in january with agnostic front, h2o and the acacia strain and yes hatebreed has grown way more professional over the years than your average hardcore band. and yes, to me that kills a bit the feeling of meeting a whole bunch of friends, stage diving and singing along, but hatebreed still delivers and it was a cool gig - even without the possibility of climbing the stage...

nuclear blast did the vinyl version for europe. while razor and tie released it on a single lp version for america, nb made it two lp's with a d-side etching. the first coloured version that was available was white. i pre-ordered it and shortly after that nb put up a clear red version. but i think opaque colours look nicer and so i stuck with white.

the whole presentation is quality through and through. heavy gatefold sleeve, nice layout of the inner sleeve with all lyrics, additional poster, 180gr white double vinyl and one fresh hatebreed skull etching on side d. only thing i can complain about is the missing of a download option. don't know why nuclear blast and metal blade avoid to include them. the third of the big three (century media) gives you a cd with every vinyl release which is even better than a download code. so why don't you, nuclear blast and metal blade?

this baby is limited to 150 copies. mine is number 24. nuclear blast. 2013.

the black dahlia murder - nocturnal

good re-release! or better: good vinyl release! 'nocturnal' was my personal door opener to the black dahlia murder. of course i knew 'unhallowed' and 'miasma' before, i actually had them on cd but i was never completely sold to tbdm. so i remember that i wasn't too keen about this album. but i ordered it after it was out and i was blown away by it. the musical fury and those occult, old horror movie -ish lyrics made this real special.

so now, six years after its initial cd release, metal blade decided to release this modern classic on the one and only true format. no gatefold sleeve which i prefer, printed dust sleeve, a poster and clear blue vinyl with black smoke. good vinyl colour choice as it matches the damn cool cover art. finally this album sounds great on vinyl!

in early february i saw them live in hamburg together with devildriver and cannibal corpse. as devildriver live  always disappoints me (they sounded like a mess the three times i saw them) and cannibal corpse is cannibal corpse, the black dahlia murder were just great. lots of energy and the singer trevor got this infernal grin the whole time, you really could see that he was living tbdm's music.

the album is limited to 500 units worldwide. at least that is what the sticker says. another source (discogs) says that there are 1000 copies. but i don't really care how many copies existing. i just lean back and give 'nocturnal' another spin. 

metal blade records. 2007/2013.

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!

ebay: molotov solution-wfahm, black friday '29-death before dishonor

molotov solution - war from a harlots mouth split 10"

another big want off of my list. i can't really tell you anymore how i came across this release in the first place. i think it was played by a friend of mine in the youth club i was hanging around at the time. he used to love every kind of music which was complex and hard to get into - 'frickel' core we called it, which i would, referring to the dictionary, translate as tinker core. so when he was playing some new cd he was excited about he always wanted everybody else in the room to pay full attention to the music. and when a part would come he thought was cool he said 'listen to that, listen to that!' and was imitating the guitar or drum play of that part. most of the time nobody really got what he was talking about :-) what a guy... wonder what he is doing now...

if memory serves one cd he came up with was this split of molotov solution from the u.s. and germany's war from a harlots mouth. unlike the majority of the stuff he usually put on i instantly liked this because of the odd jazz parts both bands included in their sound. inspired by this listen i bought the cd, this time i really can't remember where from. i think this was one of the very first deathcore stuff around. a style that was fresh and new at the time and both bands have outgrown by now. molotov solution because they disbanded and war from a harlots mouth because they play their own kind of music now - like meshuggah maybe.

i myself don't care about this breakdown-death metal-pig squeals music of today either so this is more like a relict. but one i definitely enjoy. still sounds great! i won this on ebay and since i'm into vinyl it was the first time it was up. so i was bound and determined and got it for a good price, i think.

the cd-version appeared in 2006 on twelve gauge records and shark men records, which is a small independent label from my former home town leipzig, did the vinyl pressing for this release. it was pressed on 10" format and 528 copies in total. 418 on black and only 110 on coloured vinyl. pink. it comes with a nice gatefold sleeve which is hand numbered. my number is pretty low - #3.

shark men records. 2007.

death before dishonor - black friday '29 split 7"

along the molotov solution-wfahm split i scored a copy of this 7" from the same seller for combined shipping. this was one of the records that i would take for the right price only. i got outbid on two other occasions and i wouldn't have been too sorry if it didn't work out this time as well. 

but as luck would have it i got it for lousy 4€. a nice addition. as i gave it a spin i realised that all the songs on this split were in my collection already. the death before honor part is taken from 'count me in' and the bf '29 part is taken from 'the escape'. released as a teaser for their full length releases that i already have, made this a little bit of a let down. this will be filed away with the satisfying knowledge of possession.

1500 copies of this split were pressed in total. 1000 of it on opaque yellow with black splatter and 500 on clear with black splatter vinyl. i have one of the last mentioned as you can see.

bridge9 records. 2006.

hellion store: behemoth

behemoth - the apostasy

i really like the last three behemoth releases - demigod, the apostasy and evangelion namely. fast, technical death metal with loads of blasts and doomy melodies plus an mystical edge to the lyrics is just the right mixture for me. i knew that the local hellion record store had in stock since i saw it several times before. after i could pick up 'demigod' in the same store it was about time for 'the apostasy'. of the three behemoth records i like, 'the apostasy' is the lesser good one which doesn't mean this is a bad record. not at all. it's a damn good listen, i just enjoy the other two a bit more.

the vinyl copy i have is a re-press of 2009 made by back on black. regain records, which originally gave the album the vinyl treatment, pressed it on black vinyl only. so i'm happy that b.o.b. made a limited run on coloured vinyl. i scored it for a very reasonable €15 price tag.

the record comes with a gatefold sleeve and on heavy 180gr milky clear vinyl. so the presentation is pretty much top notch. only thing which is a pain in the arse is the missing of the lyrics. back on black did the same with the 'demigod' re-release. that sucks! i mean, i have the cd version too so i have them anyway but why just drop them, back on black? if it's not working with the layout of the inner sleeve then an insert would have made me happy too. ok, whatever - the album sounds great on vinyl.

back on black. 2009.

burnout store pt. II: bloodattack/alcatraz, rude awakening

part two of two of my burnout picks. this time it's about the 7"es.

bloodattack & alcatraz - lazarus split 7"

as i spotted this 7" and read 'alcatraz' on the cover i was pretty enthusiastic to check this out. i really came to love their debut full length on demons run amok ent. if i had done something like a best-of-2012-list, 'smile now, cry later' would have been pretty high on it. so i moved myself to the next free turntable in the shop and dropped the needle on that piece of vinyl. 

the alcatraz part is excellent as expected. this is no frills, straight forward hardcore with a positive message. i really hope they'll do a european tour soon. the bloodattack part is more 'i-don't-know-about-this'. bloodattack are a band from koblenz, germany and they play, what i would call some old school european edge metal, if that gives you an idea. stuff in the vein of congress, old heaven shall burn and the like. it's not bad but it somehow sounds pretty obsolete. i like the afore mentioned originals better but we will see if bloodattack can convince me in time.

this split got released in september 2012. it totally passed me by and so i didn't know about colour-ways. i grabbed what was in front of me and that was the clear vinyl. mine is number 13 out of what seems to be 104. the picture below doesn't really show it but i'm not quite sure what the last number is. but as anything else than a 4 doesn't seem to be very likely, i say it's a 4 ;-)

300 copies exist. yellow, red and clear vinyl. as mine is out of 104 i definitely don't have the most limited colour. maybe bastardized recordings will put up the numbers soon.

rude awakening - the awakening 7"

this one got my attention because it was one of that releases i read about and put on my mental pinboard. i listened to a song in the store and was sure that i would like it. so i laid it on the pile and took it home. usually after i gave a record some repeated spins i know if i like it or not. but not this time. sometimes it leaves me with a feeling of boredom and sometimes i'm really taken by it.

this is another case where a record just needs more time to grow on me i think - or not. we will see. this 7" was released last year by triple-b records. triple-b has some interesting bands in their roaster. got to check downpresser next. 'the awakening' however was pressed on four different colours.

50 on black, 100 on teal, 200 on camo and 400 on yellow vinyl. so i have the most common colour but that's fine with me. clear yellow looks nice. i like the cover art on this one. adds an alan moore comic touch to it, which is always a good thing :)

triple-b records. 2012.

another very satisfying trip to burnout store. got to make more of these!

burnout store pt. I: black friday '29, champion, teamkiller

so here are my last pieces of vinyl that i bought in 2012. and what a nice day that was. i was in the city to buy some christmas gifts. i was on my own this time and therefore, after i got the gifts, i could pay burnout record store a more extended visit.

successful as always ;-) here is part I, a.k.a. the 12"es.

black friday '29 - black friday 2009

this was the last piece of the puzzle concerning my black friday '29 lp collection. i saw this copy in the store many times before and always put it back because of something else. but after i informed myself a bit on the internet about this release and with the knowledge that the white copies were of the pre-order version, this time around i wouldn't let this pass up. after 'the escape' and 'the pursuit of happiness' appeared on dead & gone records, 'black friday 2009' was released on cobra records from germany.

'bf 2009' is really their best output. it's pretty rare that a record blows me away at the first listen like the third full length of this ruhrpott band did. only nine songs but all straight to the point. great melodies, great hooks, great crew shouts ("we still got the fucking p.m.a.!") - what a great hardcore record! plus the last song in german which will always get an extra thumb up from me, because there are not even a handful good hardcore bands with german lyrics around.

cobra records did a good job with this. extra thick gatefold sleeve and heavy white vinyl. overall quality. the inside of the gatefold gives you some artwork and for the lyrics and recording information you get an extra insert. i didn't find any pressing numbers for the white pressing. but there is also a blue pressing of 200 copies. as this is the pre-order version i presume it's 100 or 150 for the white vinyl. but i can't be really sure. cobra records. 2009.

champion - promises kept

so this is the 4th pressing of that record and while some collectors complain about further pressings because they would take away that special feeling of having something limited, i can only welcome these re-pressings. because it means that i am able to buy a nice new vinyl copy of a record that i missed to buy at its initial release because i wasn't into vinyl at the time. 

every copy of previous pressings that i watched on ebay, which weren't  a lot, sold for pretty high prices and so i was really happy that i didn't have to pay big money for this great record. this time bridge9 decided to give 'promises kept' the gatefold treatment. i love the layout for the inner sleeve.

nice silver blue-ish colouring, some live pics and all lyrics. excellent! bridge9 held back pressing information for a pretty long time but now they are up on their page. i have the most common colour of the this pressing. not that i would really care about that when we are talking about the 4th pressing ;-)

great picture on the back of the sleeve. so again i'm really happy to finally have this on vinyl. 1000 made on gold vinyl. download dropcard included. bridge9 re-press. 2012.

teamkiller - bad signs

another great german hardcore band that disbanded a while ago. in 2011 to be exact. only the good die young. 'bad signs' is their debut record and appeared on dead serious records. way back when i had my last order with dead serious i got some stuff for free because of the very long time it needed to get shipped. among a cd of solid ground and an additional time 7" i already had was a cd of that very teamkiller album i'm talking about here. 

i know this band for quite some time and one or two songs by them. but somehow they never appealed to me. when i listened to the cd i couldn't see why they never did. that record is awesome. some real good heavy hardcore in the vein of hatebreed and madball. they managed to have some cool guest vocals on the album. scott vogel of terror and federico carminitana of cataract.

the cover artwork is outstanding and is printed on a nice matte card sleeve. according to musik-sammler.de there is a yellow vinyl pressing and a grey vinyl pressing of 250 pieces. i don't know if it's 250 copies of each or 250 copies in total. besides i have a grey with yellow splatter vinyl record in front of me. a bit confusing. dead serious is pretty low on information, too. but maybe here someone knows.

dead serious records in co-operation with new morality records. 2006.

hellion store: cradle of filth

cradle of filth - midian

this is the second cradle album that found the way into my ear canal. one of that records i literally absorbed. i remenber that i did paper rounds with my discman listening to midian. i can sing along to every song (not in whole indeed) and know every song detail to which i can make some cool gestures to impress my friends with how good i know this record, haha :) lennart will know what i mean. i even read clive barker's book 'cabal - the nightbreed' on which dani's lyrics are based on. so i can say quite rightly that 'midian' is one of my favourite metal albums. with this insight i knew i had to have a vinyl copy of it.

last year over at nuclear blast shop i was looking around in the new vinyl section and found 'midian' for pre-order but without any further information. so e-mailed them asking what this would be. coloured or not, back on black, music on vinyl, peaceville - what was this record about? the reply held this information: it will be a peaceville re-press on black. the price for it was 25,99€ and plus shipping it was around 30€ for one single album. too much for me i decided.

when i ventured into hellion record store i actually had a different record in mind. i wanted to buy the back on black re-press of cradle's debut 'the principle of evil made flesh' because i thought that i saw it in the store previously. memory didn't really serve but what i found was a new shining copy of 'midian'. as i looked on the back of the sleeve to see what pressing this might be, i didn't see a peaceville logo. what i saw was a music for nations logo. could this copy be of the first press from 2000? i was excited, price was under 20 bucks so i grabbed it.

coming home and checking the internet i came to the conclusion that this was an u.s. re-press of koch media of 2009. ok, no original pressing and by then i recognized the koch logo next to the music for nations logo. but what i like about it, is the inner gatefold. the 2012 peaceville re-press has the band picture spread all over the inside. i don't really like this because it makes the inner gatefold useless and boring. i love to hold the gatefold in hands like a book and read along to the lyrics, so the koch media solution is favourable.

double 180gr vinyl on black. can't say how many were made. koch media. 2009.  

hell & back bigcartel

a short one today...
hell & back - don't tell me what i can't do 7"
after my first experience with hell & back was an impulse buy that paid off i checked if this young stuttgart band had put out other stuff. a little search work later i found the bigcartel shop run by the band itself. this 7" was released also in 2012. early 2012 i'd guess. pretty good work for one year!

the cover artwork is outstanding. love the idea behind it. additionally to the 7" i got a poster with the same artwork for free. this will definitely be hanging on the wall soon. the songs, five in number, are pretty similar to the everything you say is just how bad things are 7". but if written in a short timeframe this could be an explanation. check the title song here.

my cover has a bend. must have happened during shipment. things like this plain suck! the 7" comes with the big hole and a fold over cover. white vinyl. 250 made. drastic actions records. 2012.