Ancient VVisdom - A Godlike Inferno [Magic Bullet]

This record came out in 2011 and marked the first time in my life that I have legitimately downloaded a record on MP3.  I really hate to admit it but there was no vinyl release announced at the time and I'd rather just have the songs on my iPod than own another wate of space that is a CD, even if the package looked more like a gatefold LP.  I'd also like to note that for me it was the record of the year, I listened to it non stop last summer and even the missus enjoyed it which is a rarity.  

Fast forward to now and it's finally got the vinyl treatment via Magic Bullet Records, we have here a bevvy of colour choices out of a total of 500.  The artwork is expanded from the CD release which was just a plain cover with the fire from the colums in the middle and the band name/album name.  I'm pleased they went with a different cover actually, makes the wait for it a little bit more worth it.

The four different colours have names like Wasteland and THC, I'm fucked if I can remember what record they correspond to and all I care about is that I have all 4 of them.  I missed out on a test press as they sold out about 3 shows before I caught them back in January in Toronto, maybe I'll catch up with one of those in the future.

 Black record sleeves too, it just makes it a little bit different.

If you've not heard Ancient VVisdom before, they're kind of a satanic folk band that sound like Danzig playing the Manson Family jams, it's the kind of stuff that makes you want to build a fire by a great lake, drop some acid and wait for the star constellations to come to life.  That shit aint for me though, I'll have a root beer and toast some marshmallows while everyone else sees the great bear take a shit in the plough in the sky.

 One thing I'd like to mention about the way these were sent to me that I feel is very important and often gets overlooked, the record sleeves themselves weren't inside the covers, just loose in the pastic outer sleeve.  This is the CORRECT way to mail a record.  If they're left inside the main cover then the record gets thrown around inside the mailer in transit and often splits through the cover leaving a tear of at least an inch and a ruined purchase.  If you're mailing a record to someone please take the extra ten seconds to take the record out, you only look like a dick at the other end and it saves on any disputes that undoubtedly will arise.  A lot of labels and collectors mail the correct way, just don't be the wanker who forgets, kids.

So ends my record mailing rant.

Ancient VVisdom / Charles Manson - Split [Withdrawal]

I know a few people that found it hilarious that Charles Manson was still releasing music, I guess to Joe public it could be a little strange but he's getting those recordings out of the joint for our listening pleasure and that's all that matters to me.  Ancient VVisdom is the new band of ex Integrity/Final Plan member N. Jochum, it sounds like a doomy folk Danzig.  The two tracks on this are so good, check this out right away.  The Manson tracks are similar in style to the ones on the Holy Terror 7" Dwid put out earlier this year, half poetry based songs, half jam, pure Charlie.  All of the tracks are on one side of the LP and side B is just smooth.  I assume this was a little too long to fit on both sides of a 7", I'm cool with that.  Artwork is by Charlie's friend Star, I like it, reminds me of some awesome pagan ritual or something.  This came on 4 colours, 3 of which you can get from the Withdrawal records store, the other direct from the bands.

Mixed out of 306.  This is that standard colour you get sometimes, it's like a bit of everything chucked in to randomly get a colour, I think some plants give you a deal on using this because they get to recycle old cut offs or something.  It looks kinda sucky but it works.

Red out of 151.  My favourite of the variants, it's cool how there's some black swirls going on there too, I picked one up for Ben SK at the same time and his one is different in that the black is less prominent but still there.  I'm guessing that a lot of these were splattered with black after the main black press was finished.

Blue out of 57.  This one I had to get direct from a band, in this case one of the ATWA stores Charlie has one of his helpers set up.  

The other variant is black out of 366, we all know what that looks like so I took a closer shot of the label.  Those in the know will get it.

These look pretty tight as a collection, kind of pissed I didn't pick up all of the Charlie 7"s from HT, cannot wait for more AVV music, two songs just doesn't cut it.  They have another track on the myspace page, go have a listen, you know how to use google.