d.r.a.: dead reprise

dead reprise – dystopia

dead reprise is a hardcore band from sweden that wasn't completely unknown to me. but honestly i pretty much only knew their name. i stumbled upon them when they were connected with other skandinavian bands like purified in blood or ad arma on some flyers i saw on the net. but this little familiarity pushed me to check this band out further as demons run amok entertainment announced this release. i listened to 'the hammer of justice' that features some guest vocals by freddy/madball. song is pretty cool and so i pre-ordered it.

the whole record is not as strong as 'the hammer of justice' implicates but it's a solid release all around. the instrumental to the title song 'dystopia' (the second to last on the record) is bad ass and puts the album one level higher. reminds me a lot of sepultura. the last song 'global meltdown' picks up some hooks of the instrumental and makes it a real great ender. a wise decision of the dead reprise guys to put this two songs at the end. leaves you with a good feeling :) i need to get their first record.

this album is a triple release by demons run amok entertainment, monumentrecords and de:nihil records. i can't say how many copies of this grey with black marble vinyl version were made. sadly there is no download coupon. that sucks big time! but no sweat, the internet knows how to help out :)

2013.

ebay: crush my calm, pride kills

crush my calm - lies make life easier

this record and the upcoming 7" were two impulse purchases i made on the bay. i didn't know this band at all i just found the cover art cool. i listened to a song on the net and decided that it was good enough to get it for a low bid. in the end it was a pretty low bid with that i was able to win this record. crush my calm play crisp hardcore in the vein of verse. good stuff but i see why i never heard of them before. too much 'more of the same'.

recently i ordered some cool records (that will end up on this blog in due time) from a small german d.i.y. label called take it back records run by christian unsinn. as i read through the credits on the inlay i came across the vocalist's name of this band. in this context the singer's name can't be a coincedence: christian unsinn. funny how things sometimes come together.

this white vinyl edition of 'lies make life easier' was released by fire walk with me records, an inactive czech label it seems. don't know how many were made. 2003.

pride kills 7"

again a band i didn't know in any way. and again this was a record i don't really wanted or better i wasn't out for. i checked the seller's other stuff and found it. the cover appealed to me and just like with the crush my calm lp it was a song on the net that pushed me to place my bid. i won it for the starting bid of one euro.

there are two versions of the first pressing. 280 copies of white vinyl and the same amount of clear red vinyl. additionally there are a tour and a record release version. pride kills play some heavier stuff. i would compare them to old hatebreed stuff. good hardcore but it won't spin on heavy rotation.

this 7" appeared on this blessing this curse recordings. they had a handful other bands in their roaster of which i only know life long tragedy. but that says nothing about the reputation of the label - just my own unknowing ;-)

this blessing this curse records. 2004.

ebay: final prayer

final prayer - right here, right now

another long time want off of my list. this record is up on ebay pretty rarely. i had just one chance to score it previously and this was in a lot with three other records i either already had or didn't want. i e-mailed the seller if he sell them separately but it was his way or the highway. and so i waited. patience is a virtue. and ebay didn't disappoint.

this album is fantastic! had this on cd and needed it on vinyl. their last album 'i'm not afraid' was a scorcher too but malicious gossip has it that they changed their sound a bit into the well recieved terror sound to appeal more to the masses. bullshit i say! but admittedly i like 'right here, right now' better. simple hardcore that leaves no one on their seats. their live appearances are also very energetic. to sum it up: a real good band that should get more attention!

the cd version came out on let it burn records from germany and the vinyl was released on i.c. recordings (innovative communication). i think it was a small label that was releasing vinyl versions of albums that appeared on other labels as cd only. i know just of one other release of them which is 'narziss - neue welt'. i believe i.c. isn't around anymore. i think there are 500 copies of this. but i'm afraid i have no references to rely on.

ebay austria: unearth, dark day dungeon, cataract

unearth - the oncoming storm

2004. what a year for me. so many great records i discovered that were milestones in my development of musical taste and of course way of living. vegetarianism and straight edge became big parts of my life and still are. therefore i always look on records from that year with a feeling of nostalgia. they have a special value to me. same thing with unearth's sophomore album. it's the only unearth album i seriously listened to. don't know why their other stuff eluded me. in any case 'the oncoming storm' is great. love the great sound on this which makes the breakdowns so goddamn heavy and the melodies so catchy.

as i mentioned in my previous post i bought this off a seller from austria. just like his cataract record (which i think isn't sold to this day) i was watching this unearth record for quite some time. too high starting bid for me and so i swayed to and fro if i should pay the money or not. the balance was turned by the seller as he lowered the starting bid. now it was reasonable to me and i pulled the trigger.

'the oncoming storm' was released on vinyl through metal blade records for north america and for europe through beniihana records from germany. that label ceased to exist some years ago, 2006 i believe. they pressed 500 copies. 100 on clear red, 200 on white and another 200 on purple vinyl, obviously of which i have one. comes with a printed dust sleeve.

beniihana records. 2004.

dark day dungeon - let the sin begin 7"

as always when i want to buy something through ebay i search what else the seller has to offer to make the order worthwhile. buying just one record is lame and if there is the chance, i'll take it. excactly that happened with this ddd 7" and me. i know this swiss band from their full length record 'by blood undone'. i didn't even know that they had been releasing more stuff on vinyl.

this is probably their first release but i can't be sure because the album 'know your enemy' appeared in the same year (2002) on let it burn records. the 7" came out on paperstreet industries. completely unknown to me. couldn't find any information about them on the net either. what i know is that they pressed it on lovely thick clear vinyl but not on how many copies. mystries over mysteries... maybe someone knows?

catatract - war anthems 7"

one of the first releases of my favourite swiss band. it's a three song release and they are pretty much of the same quality as the songs on 'golem'. so worth the listen and the money (which wasn't much though).

'war anthems' was released in 1999 by join the teamplayer records. a small label from bavaria, germany which isn't active anymore.

join the teamplayer records made it a nice fold around cover with all lyrics on the inside. i think it was pressed on black vinyl only. at least i didn't find any other information. also i didn't find pressing numbers. with this only one cataract piece of vinyl is missing (actually it's two but the self-titled record of 2008 sucks and comes on a picture disc, two reasons to forget about it) - 'killing the eternal' on red vinyl.

join the teamplayer records. 1999.

ebay: cataract

cataract - golem

one of these albums i already have on cd in my collection and wanted on my favourite format. like with so many other european hardcore stuff these records are not a question of money. i got my greedy hands on this for under ten bucks. only the wait for this was annoying, to say the least. in such cases ebay is first choice and i found an austrian seller who put this record up every once in a while with a starting bid that nobody was willing to pay. me neither because shipping was expensive. he seemed to realise that with such a starting bid he wouldn't get this thing sold and so he lowered it.

i thought that my time had come but just the same day the austrian auction ended i came across a german seller with a 1€ starting bid (i bought some other stuff from austria though - check the upcoming post). ha! and even better i won it for one lousy coin. shipping was more! a bargain to me as the record is in brilliant condition.

'golem' comes in a nice gatefold sleeve with all lyrics and liner notes on the inside. love liner notes! it's the first full length record of this swiss based band. the album was first released by ferret records from the u.s. on cd in 2000. one year later lifeforce records from germany gave it the vinyl treatment. one of my favourite bands from europe that was on hiatus but is now playing shows again. hopefully they come up with something new in near future. 

lifeforce records. 2001.

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.