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.

Organized Crime Halloween MMXII Package

The last couple of years Organized Crime records have listed a mysterious halloween package on their store, last years sold out real fast and an iPhone paypal error caused me to miss out on the records but I managed to score the shirt.  I subsequently ended up being gifted a glow in the dark copy of the Integrity In Contrast Of Sin 7" from Jamie Farrell last year which I'm immensely grateful for but never ended up blogging about, one day.

Anyways, this year I was bang on the ball, I'm not missing out on one two years in a row, like last year they kept the actual details under wraps and only asked for your shirt size so we knew only one thing.  Now OCR hadn't put out much in the year before, they did the Harder They Fall flexi 7" but I wasn't expecting a glow in the dark version of that, what we ended up with came a little out of left field, but not by much.

If you were hoping to be spoiler free until your copy turns up then I'd suggest not scrolling any further because there are gratuitous record pics from beyond the wax seal.

I'd already had a little spoiler of what I was to expect through some online friends (ooh, fwend) so the surprise was dulled a little, I still couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy.  What we have here is a split 6" record from Rot In Hell and Vegas.  The RIH side features what I'm assuming is the last song featuring Mr Nathan on vocals before they become Rot In H8000, VVegas offer up a haunting acoustic number, it was always going to be that or something blisteringly heavy.  For some reason the lyrics don't match up to the vocals on the RIH side, don't know what happened there.

I've never heard of a record coming on a 6 inch, now I have. Here's a comparison next to a 7" just for shits and gigs.

Everything on the outside packaging is screen printed, the wolf logo is the same as used on the shirt and the respective band logos are on the sleeve, it came with a silver sticker amalgamating both band logos too.

I probably wouldn't have opened this had I not read elsewhere that the wax seal was put over a round sticker that allowed you to prize it open with a knife without breaking the wax.  Had I not opened it I'd have had to settle on not knowing exactly what was inside the envelope.  Holy Terror, pushing the boundaries of art.

Integrity / Rot In Hell – Split [Thirty Days Of Night]

 Back in February 2010 when we were all a little more fresh faced than we are today, Thirty Days Of Night announced they were about to unleash pre-orders for a split 7 inch by Integrity and Rot In Hell.  I shat my pants at the time, like a lot of people because with this announcement Rot had just ended their Deathwish requested release freeze before the LP dropped (they still delayed it a while longer but that's a different story).  Anyway, a few nights later when the pre-orders went up I cancelled my plans to go to the movies and waited anxiously for the TDON store to be updated with the new bundles,  I ordered the most limited black copy plus the standard green/blue mix there and then.  I thought nothing of it at the time but no-one would have believed that we were to wait a further 18 months to get our hands on the things.  I won’t go into detail about it all because it’s been well documented elsewhere, I’m just here to give a bit of background and to blog about vinyl. 

This puppy is one of the band only copies on white vinyl out of 100 which I ordered direct from the band on the holy terror site, the records from TDON are safe and sound at the in-laws place.   Both records are housed in a black dust sleeve, it's good to see them opting for a corresponding colour rather than just the standard white paper, it's the attention to detail that I like most about records from these two bands.  This is a double 7" with the first record holding the actual split and the second being a kind of noisy accompaniment to the illustrations within the book by Herr Hellion.

 

The original idea was to have it housed within a hardback book but that didn't happen due to circumstances out of the band and label's control so it ended up being a double gatefold with a booklet inside which is still pretty different if you ask me.  It's full of creepy photographic art and messed up drawings of a fawn guy ripping a hole into another dimension and bringing forth all kinds of beasties.

Dwid saw fit to sign each of these copies which is a nice touch, makes the band only part of the press that little bit special.  Don’t expect to see any of my bands doing this though though, I think the record buying public would frown upon receiving their copies with my name scribbled all over it in wax crayon like the scratchings of a 30 year old man child.  We’d have our money requested back via paypal with a note saying “thanks a lot Duggan, you ruined hardcore.”

In all seriousness, it’s good to see this thing released and in the hands of the fans hands, the Rot tracks on here are tidy as usual, I’ve had the songs for a little while on the down low but you didn’t read that here.  Oh and pick one of these up if you’re a Colohan completist, just saying.  Integrity released the songs on here on their Detonate Worlds Plague 12" which I guess is technically an EP, this split was scheduled to come out ages before that record but it didn't so quit you're bitching.

Integrity - Detonate VVorlds Plague [Holy Terror]

I like Integrity, I think they're all right you know? They put out a couple of duds around 2000-2002 but everything else has been pretty much solid gold.  This new record is a collection of all of the new material written with the prodigal son Mt Rob Orr, more of a stripped down Integrity.  If you're looking for a production similar to To Die For or Humanity Is The Devil, you're shit out of luck, this is a band doing what they want and setting out to please no-one.  In fact, I'm sure if you were to not like this and then go on to tell anyone in the group, they'd be pleased, kind of like how Stewart Lee revels in the fact he isn't as popular as some of the comics you see on the panel shows on the telly. I like The Blackest Curse, it had more of a metal sound to it, this record is the one you should play to a friend who hasn't heard that band they keep seeing the kids wear the shirts of when they go to the local rock concerts.

This wasn't one of those simple pre-orders where you go to the website and order all of the colour variants at one, this was a staggered release.  Holy Terror had the purple copies (which came with the big ass patch and CD version with the extra tracks and interview) and the black while Hellfish had the yellow which didn't go on sale until a few days later, the red copies went up on Holy Terror a few weeks after I got mine in the post, these are the band copies out of 100, wish I'd known beforehand. Seriously, if you were to not go online for a week you'd probably miss out on another Integrity pre-order. I settled on just the one colour so that i at least had a copy of this on vinyl, saving money is real hard eh.

Invisible ink is something that has been used on many an Integ record in the past couple of years, this one is no exception, all of the song names on the back are written in it too which makes for a less busy but more artistic sleeve. The CD version also uses the same technique.  My copy came with a free patch, I haven't got a suitable jacket to put it on without removing a Rot In Hell one, plus I haven't even worn it out of the house yet.  Fucking sewing.

 It's hard to get a decent picture of the vinyl, in normal light it's purple, that's what colour it is officially, but try to take a picture of it in my flat and it either looks blue in the light, or nearly black when placed on the table.  It's a good tone nonetheless, I might order the red vinyl as I've seen a few posted online and it's nic, plus it's more limited so that automaticly makes it better.

Rot In Hell - Niu [A389]

This is a one sided live EP which I have on tape from Grot Records, they did a couple of different covers and I was meant to do a post about it along with a bunch of other things over the past couple of months that I just haven't got round to doing, real life eh.  Anyways we've (Santa Karla) been playing this beast in the van since I got it and it really captures the pissed off live sound that Rot have.  You can't hear the dancing but you just know everyone's losing their shit, or maybe they were just standing around not knowing what to do like at CTW, seriously, this band make me want to punch someone in the face or grab a girl inappropriately whilst picking them up when they fall over moshing to Cold Snap.  Wise up guys, this is the band you want to break your nose to.

This is out of 300 I think, all the records are on black too, you can't see too well from my amazing photographic skills but the cover is screen printed with silver ink.  The whole thing is more DIY than a regular A389 release, but coupled with the tape version and the fact it's a live recording it all ties together nicely.

Side B has the same labels as The Blackest Curse, you don't see me complaining.  It would've been cool to have a screen printed b-side but I know these were done as a kind of last minute release so there probably wasn't much time for such a thing.

Withdrawal - Unknown Misery [Wendigo]

Another from the A389 distro, I've only got this one on black so I thought it'd be cool to have a second copy on gold.  This one comes with a lyrics sheet unlike my other copy, but instead of a card cover it's a paper cover, both are colour photocopies.  I think I may copy the lyric sheet for the black record, it's better than nothing, is that the done thing? 

Haven't a clue on the pressing info for this, I guess the guys pressed it on their own label as a demo or something, it used to be that colour vinyl was rarer than black but these days a few labels use black as the rare colour, pretty weird but I can understand that.  People want to buy a record more if it's on a cool colour, if there's less black record to shift then there's less risk of being left with 10 boxes of something and more chance of shifting them on the unsuspecting newbie vinyl buying public.

Go buy a copy of this record, support Canadian.

Integrity - The Blackest Curse [Deathwish]

I didn't post about this record straight away because I knew I'd be picking up the second press from the Deathwish store at some point and I didn't want to post three times in as many months about the same record. The record is numbered out of 30 copies from the first press records of the red vinyl (which are out of 300), they have stamped inserts which are wax sealed and Dwid sketched a photo which is included inside the sleeve.  I know Herr Hellion likes to make these special variations of his groups records and whilst it makes it that little bit cooler to own a rare variation it also adds a personal touch to an already great package that this LP is.

A closer look at the sketch:

Close up of the wax seal:

So that's the "special edition" of TBC, four copies of the first press so far, missing a test which I know for a fact I'll never own since there were 2 made and one went on eBay for about $400.  Onto the second press, this is out of 1000 so I didn't rush to order one since I'm pretty confident the real nerds were all over the first press.  They're all on grey, I saw Marcus posted about this one the other week and I agree they missed a trick by not pressing it on black, but word is the third press may be noir so I guess I've got another record to look forward to purchasing.

So that's 5 copies of the record I own now, I guess the red is technically a spare/double since I have the special version of it.  Looks pretty cool, also I have 4 digital downloads spare if anyone wants one, I suppose you could call it a gift, leave a comment if you want one.

Gehenna - Upon The Gravehill [King Of The Monsters]

I'll admit I'm a little new to this band, I only picked up the collection record 'War Of The Sons Of Light And Dark' last year while trawling through some label's online stores, I gathered a few records on mp3 after that and always meant to get some more of their stuff on vinyl.  This month I succeeded.
This is their '03 record repressed on lovely coloured wax, same label, I think it's Mike Cheese's own label, correct me if I'm wrong (edit: I was wrong).  I don't know the numbers on the first press, and I'm not normally one to hunt things down on ebay, if I missed it first time around, I missed it, move on.  Unless it's Disciple, then I need to get it all.
I ordered a couple of these with the thinking that I'd pick one up for someone in the UK who wanted to get one and didn't want to pay the postage for just one record.  I assumed I'd only be getting the purple vinyl which is out of 110, it took me a little while to notice the records were both different, only when I noticed one was slightly darker did I find out I had one blue and one purple.  That was kind of cool actually because now I didn't have to bother with any trades or sorting out someone to take it off me, I had pretty much a full set of the second press (there were 6 copies on black, for the band like).

Purple out of 110:

Blue out of 550:

Holding them up to the light shows they're definitely different colours but if you see them without being illuminated from the back they're nigh on indistinguishable from one another:

Another thing is that the sleeves are numbered, but out of 110 each, did I get a purple cover with a blue record inside?  This is the sleeve for the purple record:

While this is the sleeve for the blue record:

Anyways, enough of that, onto the artwork, this one's got a fold out insert, one of those ones where it folds out to four times the original size and I'm reliably informed that this press has lyrics unlike the first press, always a good thing (Edit: that was misinformation).  I kind of hate it when the lyrics aren't including, almost like the band has something to hide or they're embarassed in a way of the lyrical content.  Some bands leave a URL and say the lyrics are going to be there, but how long are they going to pay for that hosted URL?  November Coming Fire did that on Black Ballads, they actually never got round to even making the website so good job they put the full lyrics on the 7" version.

The other side has the full front artwork, good job, another potential framing victim there.

Lastly, Mike put a little note in with the records, the personal touch, I've said it before and I'll say it again, more labels should do this.

Integrity - VVe Are The End [Magic Bullet]

I was waiting to get this for a little while now, by that I mean it has been about 3 weeks since I ordered it, which is nothing really.  This is the new 2 track 7" from Integrity (I say 2 track, it's more of a duo of songs melded to one, or one song with two names, take your pick), I don't know much about where the songs are from, I'm assuming they were recorded on or around the same time frame they recorded The Blackest Curse, or possibly after, I'm no expert.  I picked this up from the Holy Terror store after I got wind that there was going to be 30 copies of the pink vinyl going on there which are kept aside because the other 70 were being sold at the Integrity show in Anaheim on 7.17.  These are all individually numbered and have a wax seal, also Dwid signed the back of the cover.  It's one of those records that are just a 7x7" sheet of card, no fold or anything, artwork has pretty much everything you could expect from a pastiche Integ cover: process logo x about 50, Robert DeGrimston, Anton LaVey, a few Manson girls, Charlie Manson, the goat of Mendes, some arabic(?) text and a bunch of other symbols.  I fucking love it, I've been sitting here checking out all of the pictures in the background while spinning the record and had to play it twice before I'd studied the whole thing.  Did I mention it was super detailed?

The wax seal has Dwid's face drawing on it, the one from dwidhellion.com, I got #9.

The pink record has a few tiny specks of grey spotted around it, probably only 5 or 6, I'm guessing this is left overs on the plates from the run of 100 grey records that Magic Bullet were selling on pre-orders with a limited shirt.  I didn't order one, stupidly I opted out because they didn't have my size shirt left, what I should've done was order it anyway and flog off the shirt, silly me.

This is the icing on the cake right here though, the b-side is blank, both tracks fit on the a-side, so on the back there is the Integ skull laser etched instead.  I've seen b-sides have scratched designs, Hope Con's File .03 has the skull bomb scratched on it.  This is very clean and more like what the apple logo looks like on the back of an iPhone.

Yeah those are Jack Skellington coasters from the Disney store, what of it?