veil of maya - the comon man's collapse

one of my favourite djent records out there. veil of maya and born of osiris in particular formed my love for this great era sumerian records had in the mid to late 00's. so i was all over this first vinyl pressing when it was up for pre-order in late 2019, i believe. after a long pre-order and shipping process, i recieved it summer of 2020.

unfortunately the guys at sumerian u.s. merch don't know that decent vinyl merchants sent their records in mailers with corner protection. so my copy has bummed corners which is a pain! anyway, love the look of the vinyl and the sound is brilliant. 400 copies pressed.

crowbar - time heals nothing

i missed out on the first vinyl pressing of this rager from last year like a goddamn amateur and thus was very happy about the second round. e-one made these beautiful clear with black centre and red/yellow splatter edition and there was no way i was missing out again. one of my favourite crowbar records!

the contortionist - intrinsic

the contortionist is a band i eyed for quite some time. i always missed out on predecessing re-issues, which didn't come in too great numbers in the past, and found second-hand options way too pricey. e-one did me the favour with this easily obtainable re-issue of the band's second album "intrinsic" from 2012.

the band plays such a delicious blend of djent metal that i am really looking forward to more re-issues of their back catalogue. the colour-way of the vinyl looks pretty ace as well. i think there were 500 copies of these pressed. 2021.

arkangel - hope you die by overdose

the last missing piece in my arkangel vinyl collection. a re-press of the band's second full length from 2004. gsr music from the netherlands did a pretty good job with these version using artwork originally used for asian cd editions. 400 copies pressed on this silver/grey vinyl and released in 2020.

aversions crown - hell will come for us all

have this since release but never came around to post it, so here we are. fourth full length by these australian deathcore band and they didn't disappoint. althou i think that "xenocide" was stronger, "hwcfua" is a down right banger. cover art and vinyl colour way are the cherry on the cake. 300 copies pressed and out on nuclear blast records. 2020.

xedenisgonex - become a curse

relentless militant vegan straight edge metal that left me absolute breathless - it's that good. imagine old heaven shall burn and add a little portion hardcore mosh and there you are. i love this record and the presentation works hand in hand with the music. 200 copies made on this red smoke vinyl, released by bound by modern age records in 2019. cd out on mark my words records.

venom prison - primeval

i was fairly surprised when i learned that the singer of venom prison was the former singer of wolfdown. i really enjoyed those two early wolfdown 7"es and their debut full length. when she left the german based band, things went really downhill for wolfdown. not in terms of music but in terms of misogyny - but that's a different story.

i'm happy larissa stupar is back with this straight up death metal band. their distinctive hardcore punk edge is really refreshing and i'm looking forward to get more of their stuff. "primeval" is a re-recording of their first two e.p.'s from 2015 plus two new songs. nice colour-way limited 500 copies and released through prosthetic records.

depravity - grand malevolence

depravity from australia deliver fierce tech death that is too good to deny. probably they won't break genre boundaries but if you like this style of metal than there is no way around depravity. transcending obscurity from india done a great job on the packaging and vinyl presentation. the colour-way is insane and the metallic foil gatefold looks amazing. limited to 80 copies.

gatecreeper - an unexpected reality

wasn't overly impressed by the announcement of a new gatecreeper e.p. to be honest. found "deserted" quite overrated and was more into "sonoran depravation" because of the faster song material. when i listened to the e.p. digitally i was floored by how great the first part was. fast and snotty death metal the way i like it. by the time i ordered first press was already gone. love this purple splatter version out of 1.000 copies anyway. closed casket activities. 2021.

enfold darkness - adversary omnipotent

the last record of my the artisan era batch. enfold darkness is a symphonic technical death metal band and their shit is right up my alley. if you like dimmu borgir and have also a heart for bands like obscura or beyond creation than this is for you. pretty slick artwork and awesome vinyl pressing (sacred variant limited to 100 copies) round out the package.