Prepare To Be Let Down

I recently picked up the second pressing of Ruiner's album, Prepare To Be Let Down, on tri-colored vinyl. I love the cover artwork on this thing...very dark...and compliments the music laid down on this record as well...very real and passionate hardcore. Sick record all around.

While ordering this record, I also picked up the Bridge Nine Mystery Box. In an attempt to do some spring cleaning in their warehouse, they ran this limited $10 offer for the Bridge Nine Mystery Box. What you would do is give them a list of your four favorite B9 bands, and they would fill the order with what ever they wanted. I took the chance and sent them my list of bands; Champion, Have Heart, Carry On, and Betrayed. Then I waited to see what I would receive. Some people would post pictures on the B9 messageboard, showing what they got. My anticipation grew as a few people were receiving rare pieces of vinyl. I saw kids receive very rare American Nightmare vinyl, a Death Threat test press, and the Carry On LP on clear vinyl. Some people received banners from B9 bands, and others received screened tour posters. And then there were those that received rather disappointing orders...one kid received 10 copies of the Anger Regiment CD. It took them a couple of weeks to fill my order, so I was getting nervous that all the cool shit was already gone. I finally received my box yesterday, and yeah, I was a little let down. No rare vinyl...no cool, limited posters for my music room. I got four CD's...Blue Monday (which I already own), the Some Kind Of Hate EP (I have the blue colored CD, but received the orange one), plus a CD from Death Before Dishonor and No Turning Back (which I have downloaded and burned to a CDR, but didn't like enough to really buy...so now I have an actual copy of it...karma?). I also got two t-shirts. I got a Have Heart shirt from their Euro tour. I already own this shirt...bought it for $5 at the Edge Day show a couple of years ago. The funny thing is that last week, my wife was telling me that this was not her "favorite shirt"...which is code for "I hate this shirt". Now I have two of them. I also got a long sleeve, black Ruiner shirt. I'm not sure how I feel about this one...it definitely isn't a style that I would have purchased...my wife on the other hand, hates this one as well. I also got a handful of stickers that I probably won't do anything with. Overall, this was a very cool idea from Bridge Nine, and a very different approach in a time when lots of labels are throwing their rare vinyl up on eBay to fund future releases. While I didn't really get a box of stuff that blew me away, it was a fun purchase.