red sparowes - the fear is excruciating but therein lies the answer

i had the first two albums of red sparowes for years now and simply gave up on porpusely searching for a reasonable priced second-hand copy of "the fear is excruciating...". thanks to sargent house records the wait for a re-press is over.

the record is a mellow mind trip that gives the right punch at the right time. i am usually not that post-metal/shoegaze type but red sparowes push all the right buttons. beautiful re-press on this unique yellow/green splatter configuration. sargent house records. 2010/2020.

knocked loose - laugh tracks

after "a different shade of blue" left its mark in my auditory canals, i was bound to get a copy of the debut "laugh tracks". jpc.de got me covered here. and boy this thing rips. maybe i enjoy it even a bit more than the follow up.

knocked loose plays a type of beatdown hardcore that really resonates with me although i am actually not too much a fan of this type of hc. when i ordered i hoped for a recent repress on striped vinyl. it turned out to be a copy of the third(?) pressing on clear purple. i like it more and more though. 1.000 copies made. pure noise records. 2018. 

job for a cowboy - genesis (beige/orange marble)

i really love that first job for a cowboy full length. it's crisp, it's fast, it's melodic, it's crushing, it's ominous... i could go on. it's basically everything that makes music a great experience.

that was why i couldn't resist buying this lovely variant sold by kingsroad merch eu. they are now the official vinyl distro of metal blade eu and so they sell an exclusive edition usually limited to 100 copies. well, that's the one. #74/100. metal blade. 2019.

intronaut - fluid existential inversions

to my shame i am not too familiar with the intronaut discography. the only other record i own of them is "valley of smoke". although I think that said album is outstandingly good and so it was a no-brainer to pre-order their new effort " fluid existential inversions". i went for this nice mint green marble double lp edition.

i think this colour-way looks way better than the most limited (out of 100 copies) - a  transparent red/blue marble - so no regrets that i bought this one. musically the album needed a few spins with me but now i'm hooked. crazy metal/jazz/whatever weirdness. love it! cut at 45rpm. metal blade. 2020.

chamber - ripping/pulling/tearing

boy, what a scorcher this is. i stumbled upon the cover art when checking the pure noise roster. in a way i felt reminded of the caliban cover for "shadow hearts" (which is a banger as well). i checked them out and knew i had to get this.

this is a perfect mix of early 00's chaotic hardcore and mainly metalcore. a time the word "metalcore" didn't leave a bad taste in mouth like in the mid and late 00's. perfect e.p., give me more of that, chamber! pure noise records. 2019.

immanifest - macrobial

the artisan era has a great roster. bands such as inferi and inanimate existence and their releases are constant guests on my turntable. so everytime they put out something new, i check it out. when i heard the first tunes of florida based immanifest i was sold right away.

they play that brand of tech death which is almost typical for the artisan era but there is more to it. especially the keyboards remind me heaps of "spiritial black dimensions" and "puritanical euphoric misanthropia" era dimmu borgir. if you like symphonic death metal, then you should give it a try at least. 300 copies made as "spirit" variant. the artisan era. 2019.

blood incantation - hidden history of the human race

the ancient deities whom i called upon did finally here my prayers and brought me this re-press of blood incantation's celebrated sophomore release, called "hidden history of the human race". that one is a bit of an oddball for century media europe. usually they don't re-pressings that soon and they usually press mono colour vinyl.

in this i can only say that i'm happy that the label strayed from their path. the orbital haze looks slick and i finally can listen to that sucker on vinyl without giving an arm and a leg for a copy. musically this is breathtaking sci-fi prog death metal. check them out, is my advise. 500 copies made. century media. 2019/2020.

blood incantation - starspawn

a force of nature (or force of universe?). blood incantation destroys my turntable as of late. these guys never crossed paths with me until their latest album "hidden history of the human race" was released last year. so of course i missed out on all previous pressings of their debut "starspawn" from 2016. i saw the announcement for this pressing by dark descent records and as they are u.s.a. based, i didn't plan on ordering a copy because of the fucked up shipping rates.

the more i was surprised that high roller records from germany had copies in stock the other day. i ordered in an instant and when my copy arrived, i was delighted to see that i got a copy with less black in the mix. so you can see that it's actually a colour copy without holding it against a light source. a brilliant record that still lacks a bit of finesse, though. but maybe that's just because i listened to "hhothr" prior to "starspawn". anyway, love the album! period. dark descent records. 2016/2020.

the ocean - precambrian

another page in my personal book of bands i ignored way too long. heard about the ocean and especially about this album before (mostly because of similarities to mastodon) but never bothered to check them out.

when i was in the evil greed online store ordering the latest acacia strain record, i was looking to add sonething to safe on shipping. they still had colour copies left of "precambrian", even though this re-press came out last year already.

must have been their last copy because it was sold the next day. musically this albums rips. a wild trip in the beginning - matching the lava eruptions and inhospitable weather chaos in the early precambrian - and well balanced last two-thirds based on the forming of first life.

a masterpiece which spans over 80 minutes and is spread among six sides of vinyl. a top notch presentation. glossy die-cut gatefold and three different colour blobs inside of crystal clear vinyl. the vinyl feels a bit flimsy but sounds super silent. beautiful record all around. 250 copies as lava pool edition. metal blade records/. 2008/2019.

the acacia strain - it comes in waves

wow, the acacia strain are back with a vengeance. three years since "gravebloom" and the band brings a significant change of sound to the table. reminds me of "death is the only mortal" which also felt different to the rest of the band's catalogue.

dark and bleak as always but almost no hardcore elements anymore. a mix of death metal and post metal as far as i feel about it. at first i wasn't sure if i like it, but with repeated spins it grows on me more and more. the presentation is outstanding. sturdy stoughton tip-on gatefold sleeve, smashing artwork, invisible ink and sharp white/black merge vinyl. 700 copies made. closed casket activities. 2020.