ebay: only attitude counts

boy, i can't catch up with myself at the moment. the records are piling higher and by now i have a two months delay from recieving to finally writing about them. the main problem here is that i want to really listen to the music to form a proper opinion. so here is what i purchased in early october on the bay.

only attitude counts - triumph of the underdogs

this record i see around ebay every once in a while. it often comes up as a 'side effect' when i search for bands like agnostic front or sick of it all. this austrian band is one of the 'i heard of them but i never came around checking them out' bands. this record is up on ebay by multiple sellers for a buy it now price from 12€ to 16€. these sellers don't provide much detailed descriptions and so i couldn't tell if there was a coloured pressing. but i didn't really checked discogs or any other source for pressing informations either, other stuff caught my attention at the time.

one day, i was poking around ebay killing time i found a seller who had a proper picture of the actual item up showing white vinyl. as i'm always out for new records i finally took the chance scoring it at a low price. my maximum bid of 6,57€ was the winning bid. i think i didn't even listen to a single song of that album before. i fully based this purchase on the low price and the fact that tue madsen and his antfarm studios did the production on this. i wasn't let down.

the comparisons with agnostic front and sick of it all are quite appropriate when you think of the recent outputs of that nyhc legends. more af if you ask me. nothing new here but they sound fresh and there's no way of holding still when the needle is dropped. to my disappointment this vienna based band called it a day in 2010.
don't know how many were made. white vinyl. thingamajigger records. 2009.

xsentientx: verse

firstly you may have recognized that i changed a bit the look of this page. inspired by other blogs i wanted to give it a more personal look - but maybe it looks just like the other blogs right now ;-) i like it anyway... 

verse - from anger and rage

realising just what a great band i missed when i listened to the first verse record "rebuild", the hunt was immediately on for other releases. "from anger and rage" is their 2nd album from 2006. as this record is similarly admired it foreshadowed that it would be difficult to get an original pressing of rivalry records. i was outbid several times on ebay and so i searched some distro to probably have it in stock. per koro, unlike the last time for "rebuild" was a dead end. so i put 'verse from anger and rage lp' in the search field of a popular search engine and came across a d.i.y. distro from bremen, germany. xsentientx mailorder is the name. as luck would have it, the in my last verse post mentioned label prügelprinz records, that already re-released "rebuild", did also a re-release of "from anger and rage" for a similar occasion (euro tour 2008) and xsentientx had some in stock.. 

prügelprinz did three colour variations. regular black, clear red with black splatter and a black/red split. if you are a constant reader you know that i'm a sucker for split coloured vinyl. i just love the look of it! so i requested one and i was happy to recieve a mail with a positive answer. especially as this was the rarest colour of this re-press.

it comes in a lovely gatefold sleeve with all lyrics. positive and straight forward political. stuff which is not to be consumed easily but i like it that way. it challenges you to think, just like good hardcore should.

just like "rebuild" the dust sleeve is stamped and hand numbered. love the way the stamping is split coloured too. nice touch. all in all a lovely packaging by prügelprinz records. 275 made. 2008 re-press.

coldburn big cartel

coldburn - hybris 7"

coldburn are a young band from leipzig, germany. by the time i was living in leipzig i heard nothing of that band. but maybe they didn't existed when i left town, 2010 that was. anyway, i check the cobra records site from time to time and came across a pre-order for their latest output 'the harsh fangs of life' of which i will post soon. i checked their stuff at bandcamp and was blown away by the song 'love left me'. if you like stuff in the vein of naysayer, final prayer, backtrack, downpresser and and and... check it and get it!

after informing myself about other releases i hit their big cartel shop and ordered one of the last copies of their first 7", called 'hybris'. lucky me!

lovely cover art work. reminds me of terror's 'always the hard way'. actually i don't know which piece of art they used as cover here. maybe someone adept in art can shed some light?

the 7" comes in a fold around piece of thick cardboard. looks nice! the record itself is on bottle clear vinyl. you can download this release at their bandcamp site. 

worship records. 2011.

per koro: verse, backtrack

verse - rebuild

i didn't know verse until this year. i mean, i heard of their name once or twice in the past, for sure. but i thought they just wouldn't be my cup of tea somehow. and actually that maybe would have been the case. but in the more recent past i'm opening myself to a wider range of hardcore stuff. i used to listen to a lot of so-called "tough-guy" hardcore. stuff like hatebreed, first blood, black my heart, born from pain, etc. i still like this way of hardcore but now i find myself liking this type of melodic hardcore (or whatever it is called) in the vein of verse pretty much. the actual initiation to check them out came through the band carpathian from australia. i love their 'isolation' album and their music is often compared to verse.

the only problem that emerged after i decided that i wanted a copy of this record, was the fact that 'rebuild' was released in 2004. considering the big status this first output has i was pretty sure i would have to pay big money on ebay. just out of curiosity (i wasn't really expecting to find anything) i put 'verse' into the search box at per koro. i was surprised to find a copy on vinyl, especially the addition 'coloured' got my heart beating faster. no hestitation. i placed an order.

more information from discogs led to the insight that this version is a 2012 re-press by prügelprinz records in celebration of their euro-tour '12. after i saw all the other colours of the original pressings by rivalry records and the re-presses by prügelprinz i'm quite happy with this cream colour. beside the marbled green vinyl of the first press this is my favourite.

the record comes with the original artwork on heavy cardboard and hand numbered, stamped dust sleeves. i have 119 out of 141. the fold out insert comes in poster size. one side with the lyrics, flip side with the cover art. nicely done by prügelprinz. this label seems to be an one man enterprise with a strong political left wing attitude. maybe i'm wrong but check the banner on their blogspot ;-)

marbled cream vinyl. prügelprinz records. 2012.

backtrack - deal with the devil 7"

a band i wanted to check just because of the strong reaper records roaster. i wasn't let down. damn, that 7" sounds rad. from the first tune to the last this stuff grabs you and just won't let go. 'deal with the devil' was released by 6131 records and their pressing info says clear vinyl, black vinyl and blue vinyl. so when i got my copy that i ordered together with the verse record i was surprised to see that it's a clear red copy. wow, is that something special? checking jake's blog i came to the harsh realisation that it's just a copy of the 2nd pressing. but fuck it, i still like it.

deal with the devil that i try to escape

don't know about pressing numbers. it was supposed to come with a digital download. mine seems to be gone... clear red vinyl. 6131 records. 2009.

ebay: meltdown

meltdown - demolition + demo 12"
a chance bargain i made here. i came across the name meltdown several times before and just knew that their demolition 7" got quite some positive response. so as i was looking around the bay i found this,again, lovely demons run amok release. i was bidding on some other stuff ending the same day as the meltdown record. i threw in some max bids and unfortunately the only record i got was this european release of meltdown's 7". but hey, i don't want to complain. as said it was a real bargain.

the band features members/ex-members of verse and learn but i'm not too interested to find out who. meltdown plays some heavily thrash metal influenced hardcore. although sometimes they play more hardcore influenced thrash. a lot of anthrax and a lot of slayer. it's a fun listen for sure. but at the end of the day nothing really sticks in mind. but that's propably just me not being the biggest thrash metal fan. this european release came out a bit later than the u.s. and was issued by dead serious recordings. the vinyl release was handled by demons run amok rec. it comes with the demo that was released one year earlier, i believe.

clear green vinyl. 418 made. printed dust sleeve. demons run amok entertainment. 2007.

discogs: down to nothing

down to nothing - the most

i have to admit it took me some time to warm up with down to nothing. i remember this record being hyped pretty much here in germany when it came out. i think i listened to one or two of songs at the time but it didn't really grab me. i saw them playing live in leipzig with some other bands (terror, the ghost inside i believe). their show was pretty intense. lot of action in the crowd, sing-a-longs, stage dives - the whole thing. i enjoyed it but i tend to like every hardcore band live when they play their stuff with energy and are able to set the crowd into movement. so with the songs in mind that didn't grab me i didn't put any effort into getting to know this band better. five years later i'm checking out alot of different vinyl blogs around the net and what do you think which record strikes my eye with persistence?! time to think over my previous opinion.

pretty good stuff! songs like 'conquer the world', 'serve and neglect' or 'higher learning' don't get out of my head. a short, crisply record that has everything a good hardcore album needs. i recently read that they were writing new stuff - good news. before that i need to check the rest of their releases. 

i bought this record off a guy from france at discogs. it's of the second pressing and as i'm a big fan of split colouring i'm very pleased with it. great combination. 

clear purple / opaque orange split vinyl. 525 made. revelation records. 2007.

dead serious rec. pt II: xcasey jonesx, deadsoil

after handing out enormous amounts of sweets for the "trick or treat-kids" i finally found some peace to write my 2nd dead serious records post. ok, it wasn't that bad. actually i just gave four chuppa chups to two more or less dressed up children (one kid had a mask at least but the other kid was sensationally disguised as himself). halloween just isn't that big here in germany like it is in the states i think.

xcasey jonesx - i hope we're not the last
i'm aware of the sheer existence of xcasey jonesx since an order at alveran records (a closed down german label that, beside some european bands, had been releasing eulogy records stuff for the european market - unearth, on broken wings, wisdom in chains,...). so i listened to the 2006th album 'messengers' which i got in a promo version as part of the said order at alveran. i can't really recall if i liked it back then and due to my financial possibilities at the time i sold it on ebay - for quite nothing if my memory serves.
anyway, i spotted this version of their 2011 effort 'i hope we're not the last' at dead serious and thought i might give them a second shot. good idea of myself :) the record is great.

catchy as hell hardcore punk with maybe the best song title i've ever read: 'if james hetfield can stay straight edge, anyone can' period ;-)
this was released on ratpack records which is a division of the german mailorder green hell.

it comes in a simple fold around cover. i believe i saw the black vinyl version at burnout record store with a regular sleeve. pressed on clear vinyl. 300 made (another 100 on clear red as pre-order version and 500 on black vinyl). cd out on eulogy records. ratpack records. 2011.

deadsoil - forever the enemy
this was the forerunner to their full length 'the venom divine' of which i posted here. 'forever the enemy' sounds more 'tough guy' because they had a different singer on this who sounds like a human bear. the five songs are pretty good though. not as varied as the venom divine stuff but yeah, i like it. it comes on a 10" format which i think is quite cool. i know that many collectors don't dig it but it looks agreeable on my shelf :)

pressed on thick clear vinyl. it was released by a small german straight edge label called *poisonfree.com records. i think they aren't active anymore as their limited discography indicates. don't know how many of these 10"es were made. 2003.

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.

nb pre-order: knuckledust

knuckledust - bluffs, lies & alibis

my mail address is part of the gsr-music mailing list. therefore i'm pretty up to date when it comes to new releases. i believe it was august when a new mail of gsr appeared in my mail account. two dispatches i was excited about. first was the new release of 'born from pain' and 2nd the new effort of knuckledust with a video of each band's single. whilst born from pain's new song plain sucked (they are just not the same without che on vocals) i was very pleased with knuckledust's song. gsr-music is from the netherlands and that's why i didn't want to pre-order directly from them because of shipping costs. i knew i could get it from per koro rec after the release date. only thing a bit risky was the point that i couldn't pre-order plus the low pressing number of 300. but i know that there isn't much of a hype about knuckledust so i wanted to take the risk.

one day sneaking around at nuclear blast i faced the opportunity to pre-oder it after all for a reasonable price and reasonable shipping. sometimes my self-control pays off :)

this album is quite good. maybe the best stuff i heard of this institution from london. some punk influenced hardcore with lots of crew-shouting (i love crew shouts) and some thrash metal influenced hardcore. great mix which makes the record a real treat!

the record comes in a gatefold sleeve, 180gr vinyl and a download card. i have what the label states to be 'oxblood' vinyl out of 200. looks more like brown but i think that's just the way oxblood red looks like. another 100 pressed on dark-grey. gsr-music. 2012

the river card big cartel

the river card - momentum

yet another find inspired by j@screamingforrecords. seems that it's always worthwhile to check his posts ;-) greetings to you, dude.

the river card is a british band playing hardcore in the vein of bands like naysayer, backtrack, cruel hand, ect. 'momentum' is a pretty strong record and if you can get into afore-mentioned bands you should definitely check them out. listen to the album on their bandcamp site from which you can get forwarded to the big cartel shop. exactly from that shop i ordered. as i got the stuff and opened the record i was a little bit confused not to find a download dropcard of which i thought that i read something about in the description at the shop. so i thought i could download them at the bandcamp site like this is sometimes possible with other bands. but nope, no option like this at bandcamp. i didn't really pursued a solution 'cause i was a little tied up in work. one day i got a mail by chris (don't know if it was the drummer or the singer, they're both named chris) sending me over my download code and apologising for forgetting to include it. decent chaps!

lovely cover art! i like it a lot. white w/ red splatter vinyl. 100 made (and still available). bare necessities records. 2012.

the river card - the great fall 7"

of course i wouldn't buy just one item when checking the other stuff. so i grabbed this nicely coloured 7" 'the great fall' which came out two years before 'momentum' was released. actually two songs were featured on this release first before appearing again on the full length (the songs 'the great fall' and 'momentum' obviously). sound wise i prefer the 7" to the 12" - the drum sound is more organic.

 again the cover art is superb!

great white/grey split vinyl. 200 made. a clear vinyl version also available (300 made). bare necessities. 2010.