Sunday, June 30, 2013

2013 REV Repress

I'm not going to buy every REV vinyl repress, but there are some of them that I will buy until I have to pick up a second mortgage on my house.

I was oblivious to collecting vinyl when REV first pressed the Chain Of Strength discography in 1996. I also missed the boat with the second pressing from 2001. With all that is sacred and holy, I vow to never again miss out on a new pressing of Chain. Mark my words.

552 were pressed on blue.

I feel like Revelation really dropped the ball on the Inside Out repressing. They could have really done this right, and finally put the two CD bonus songs to vinyl, releasing this EP as a 12 inch. Judging by the Connecticut mailing address on the back cover, the label decided instead to put some extra covers to use. Shame.

550 on red vinyl.

Okay...I may have gotten tricked into buying this latest pressing of the Rival Mob LP. When REV listed that they were putting up pre-orders for the third pressing, I jumped to buy another copy. When it arrived, I figured that there was some kind of confusion. Red vinyl? Wait, the second pressing was on red vinyl. Did REV find some copies of the second pressing, and list them in their store? Did I think it was a new pressing, but it was really just a restock? I set it aside, and was thinking that I'd flip it to eBay when I finally get off my ass five years from now and sell some of the vinyl that I don't really want.

Then when I was reading Marcus' blog, I noticed that he mentioned that the third pressing was on red vinyl...just like the second pressing. Wait a minute. I take a closer look at the new record I received, and notice that he is right. The slight difference with the smaller spine, and the blue sticker on the front cover indicate the third pressing.

Normally I wouldn't give a fuck about this small of a change. Hell, I didn't buy the Betrayed second pressing when the only difference was the "II" notation on the vinyl label...so why would I care about some sticker on the cover that a year ago I would have probably thrown out with the shrinkwrap? However, now that I have a second and a third press in my possession, I feel the need to keep both of them. I'm stupid.

The only other slight difference between my two copies is the black "fingerprint" on my second pressing. If I ever build a respectable Rival Mob collection, and I pull out all the vinyl for a photo, these two pieces of red vinyl are going to look pretty weak next to each other.

1,097 pressed on red for this third pressing.

Friday, June 28, 2013

Night Birds For The Masses

The Night Birds released one of my favorite surpises of 2011 with their The Other Side Of Darkness LP, and then catching them live in 2012 turned out to be one of my favorite shows in a long time. With a new album just around the corner, the expectations are already set pretty high.

Fat Wreck Chords deliver a 7 inch single as a tease for the new album. The songs are still high energy, with that same Dead Kennedy's/surf guitar sound...hell, Boat Trash sounds like it would fit in nicely on Agent Orange's first album...great early 80's manic punk sound. Because I'm familiar with Night Birds, the element of surprise is gone, and Maimed For The Masses doesn't knock me on my ass like The Other Side Of Darkness did a year or so ago...but make no mistakes, this record is still a blast to spin.

There was a limited pressing on 70 gram vinyl that came with a different sticker on the front cover. Who cares? The regular edition, with the black and white sticker, suits me just fine.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Organized Crime Of Disapproval

Back in May I had a message pop up on Facebook that Organized Crime Records had repressed the Chorus album for a reunion show last year, and they had just put the last copies up in their webstore.

I don't know if it was the limited pressing, or the full silk screened packaging that shot the pricing through the roof for this record, but given how much I love Chorus...and that I didn't own this LP on vinyl...I didn't hesitate to add it to my cart and check out.

I need to get my hands on an original Nemesis pressing at some point!

Organized Crime stamp on the dust sleeve.

Hand numbered and limited to only 75.

Saturday, June 22, 2013

God Complex

When I first heard Black God last year, I was figued that I would be quite content with one copy for each of their records. I don't need to collect every pressing for every band that I listen to. I only need to collect those bands that I truly connect with...those bands that excite and move me. While I really liked the two Black God records, I didn't really consider them collectable. At least that's what I told myself.

When I placed records I and II, that I owned, next to each other, I loved how they looked. That pink and burgundy just looked amazing together. I started checking the pressing info on No Idea's discography page, and when I saw the five colors listed for II, it got me wondering how they would all look as a full collection. Shit. I think we can all see where this is headed.

My first stop was the local record store. I remember seeing a copy there a year or so ago, and I felt pretty confident that Black God didn't have a big following in Portland, Maine...so I went hunting for it. As a bonus, the record was now on sale for 50% off. Sweet deal.

No Idea doesn't have a lot of info on the pressing for the first record. I assume this is part of the second pressing, listed as the "dark green mix". Limited to 175.

I've never used the No Idea mailorder, but I was desperate for more Black God colored vinyl. I fired off an email to their mailorder crew to find out what they had available for the second record. They were great to deal with and quickly got me the details and I placed my order.

300 were pressed on green/brown mix, and Matt from No Idea included a note to let me know even though this copy was more brown than green, this was the one that I wanted. Of course now I'm wondering how this one might compare to one that has more green than brown.

200 were pressed on clear vinyl.

eBay doesn't seem to see a lot of Black God action. I was looking to build this collection as big as I could for this post, but the only other pressing that I could find was this grey vinyl pressing of the first record.

Six records in for a couple of records that I wasn't going to collect. How does this happen? I can't wait to see where this goes from here.

Friday, June 21, 2013

Vigilant Cruel Hand

Cruel Hand decided to jump ship from Bridge Nine a while back. The band had released two solid albums on the label, so I was kind of surprised when I heard that they were moving on. Maybe it was the string of of shitty New Found Glory and Lemuria records, and they didn't feel it was a good fit anymore...who knows? I was under the impression that the band was going to release their next record themselves, so it was a pleasant surprise when Triple B put up the latest preorder for their new 7 inch.

Given how great the art work was for the last two Cruel Hand albums, the cover for the Vigilant Citizen 7 inch has me thinking, "What the fuck is that?". Is that a collection of doodles from the margins of someone's High School notebook? Weird.

Just one I told myself, I don't need multiple copies, so when preorders went up, just one was all I bought. Black and white swirl (grey) colored vinyl was the more limited pressing at 300, so I was content to just grab that one.

Now typically, it takes me some time to warm up to Cruel Hand release, but with these two songs I was immediately loving them. Total ragers. When Cruel Hand posted on Facebook that they were selling some copies on white vinyl in their store, I couldn't resist buying a second copy.

The white vinyl that I got from Cruel Hand had a stamp on the dust sleeve. I'm going to have to assume that all 700 of the regular white vinyl press did not have this stamp, and that it was limited to the ones the band was selling.

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

God Wills It

Back in April, Karl from The Gates Of Slumber posted on the band's Facebook page that he was looking to unload some of his TGOS vinyl collection to help pay expenses for an upcoming tour. I'm a sucker for buying records direct from a band, so I dropped him a line hoping to score a copy of either the Villain, Villain or Conqueror LPs. No luck. Apparently, Karl got hit with a bunch of orders and all he had left available was the Hymns Of Blood And Thunder LP and the God Wills It 12 inch.

By this point, I already had my heart set on buying something from him, and even though I couldn't get what I initially wanted, I couldn't just walk away empty handed, and took the opportunity to grab the band's 2005 EP.

Since the songs on this EP have been appeared on various other records over the years, this isn't really that essential. Still, as an early piece of history for The Gates Of Slumber, I'm quite happy to have this.

200 pressed on red vinyl.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Early 90's Intent

You may be aware of a new band that is kicking around these days called Intent. Great band, and if you haven't heard their No Rules demo from last year, you are missing out. But until they put out an actual record, the name Intent will belong to a Texas Hardcore band from the early 90's.

You know that I've got a soft spot for that early 90's Hardcore, and discovering records that I'd never heard back in the day, is like uncovering some long lost treasure. Now I'd had Intent's Drift 12 inch from '92 since it's initial release, but I'd never come across the band's first 7 inch. You know the story, sometimes in those pre-internet days some records were just never made available to you for one reason or another...then as time goes by, they get forgotten. While blasting through that Drift 12 inch recently, it dawned on me that I'd never heard the 7 inch. No surprise that I couldn't find a download anywhere...nope, if I wanted to hear it, I was going to have to buy it. There was a copy on eBay with a $17.00 Buy It Now price tag, but I was pretty confident that only douchebags would try and sell a copy for that much, so I sat and played the waiting game. Thankfully, someone with more sense posted another copy for auction, and as I expected I was the only bidder.

I was pretty happy to grab a copy of the 7 inch off eBay for $5.00, and even more thrilled that the one I got was an "extra". Number 506 out of 500 pressed.

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Clear Second Pressing

The Clear demo is absolute Straight Edge perfection. Six songs in under five minutes. It will be a true tragedy if this band fails to give us another record.

It was no surprise that the first pressing from Triple B sold out. It was also no surprise that I was one of the first in line to buy two more copies when the second press was available.

100 were pressed on pink...400 pressed on yellow.

Sometimes a collection of records will look so perfect that I have to take a picture.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Fifteen Months At Camp

In March of 2012, I sent payment to Camp Records for the pre-orders that they had posted for the debut Caught In A Crowd 7 inch. In September the label posted on Facebook that the records should begin shipping in a couple of weeks. In October, they stated that they should begin shipping that weekend. When January rolled around, and I still hadn't seen my order, I fired off a note to the label asking if mine had shipped. I got a quick reply that stated that most of them had gone out, but that he would make sure that mine went out that weekend. Still, no records arrived, but I'm a patient man, so I continued to wait. In March, the label again posted on Facebook, thanking everyone for their patience and that more records were shipping. Here we are in June...fifteen months after the pre-order went up, and the records finally landed in my mailbox.

Hey, he acknowledged that I'm awesome and threw in a couple of pins, so I guess it was worth the wait.

For those that don't know, Caught In A Crowd are a Straight Edge band out of Massachusetts. They have a new record coming out this year on REACT!, so you know they are on the verge of being huge. You've Lost is a great debut from a promising band. If I had this in my hands last year, my Best Of 2012 list may have looked different. I can't say enough good things about this record.

100 pressed on clear vinyl for pre-orders, and 500 pressed on black.

After I was repeatedly told that my records were shipping, and then have months go by without receiving them...I finally gave up. I broke down last month and bought a copy of the CIAC record through REV, and I was preparing to write a Camp Records Can Suck It post. Of course that was when my records finally arrived, leaving me with an extra copy on black vinyl. This whole thing has been a clusterfuck, but I'm glad that Camp finally came through in the end, and that I received my records.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Holy Ghost

Ghost released one of my favorite Metal albums in 2010, with their Opus Eponymous LP. I listened to the shit out of that thing. I couldn't get enough of it. Even though I don't typically collect multiple copies of Metal records, I couldn't resist Satan's call, and I ended up buying four of the twenty different pressings for that first album.

Because I loved the first album so much, I worried that Ghost might fall on their face with the follow up, Infestissumam. Could they match the magic of their debut? Since the band's popularity grew so quickly, would there be a drastic change in sound that would put me off? If they didn't change their sound and basically did the same album again, would it bore me?

Yeah, I know...I put way too much thought into this kind of stuff.

I checked out the albums first couple of singles, including the video for Year Zero with all the boobs...but I didn't really spend much time with them, as I really wanted to hear them in the context of the album. However, once I had the album, I was still hesitant to lock myself away and spend some time alone with it. Soon, I started hearing from friends how great Infestissumam was, so I finally took the plunge. After a handful of spins, unbelievably, I'm starting to wonder if this new album is actually better than the first. Amazing.

The North America pressing is on a nice looking red colored vinyl. The drawback is that the album cover comes with the new Ghost B.C. name, after the band had to change it in the States for legal reasons. Retarded.

I'd passed on previous pre-orders of the first single from the album, the Secular Haze 10 inch. With a release date in April, I couldn't bring myself to pre-order the single from overseas when they went up for sale earlier in the year. When I saw a US distro selling a package deal that included the new album and the 10 inch, I took the opportunity to finally grab one.

The main selling point for the 10 inch single was the b-side cover of Abba's I'm a Marionette. Like their cover of The Beatles Here Comes The Sun, I'm a Marionette is hauntingly brilliant. An excellent choice for Ghost.

I've already mentioned that I'm not a fan of the new "B.C." addition to the name, and when I saw the Scandinavian pressing that Doug posted about, I knew that I needed to get my hands on one.

The clear vinyl pressing was long gone by the time that I bought a copy, and I ended up with just black vinyl. That's okay...the deluxe packaging for this version still makes it worthwhile.

Apparently there was some delay with the CD in the States, as the pressing plant had an issue with the Satanic orgy artwork. Apparently people still get uptight over this shit. The Scandinavian pressing displays the picture in it's full 12 x 12 glory on the record sleeve.

What makes this deluxe packaging so special is the booklet that is included, with each song getting it's own page with a dedicated piece of artwork. Classic.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Entering The Mouths Of Madness

To say that I've been looking forward to the new Orchid album would be an understatement. It has easily been one of my more anticipated releases for the year. The band haven't lost any of that Sabbath influence that I've loved from past releases...Leaving It All Behind starts off with a riff that is similar to Sabbath's After Forever, and the video for Wizard of War bares a striking resemblance to Paranoid...still, as a wise man once said, "Complaining about too much Black Sabbath, is like complaining about too many boobs in your face".

Shit got out of control when I started collecting Orchid vinyl earlier this year. As soon as I thought I had them all, suddenly a new pressing would prove me wrong. Things started off a little slow in collecting The Mouths Of Madness, with Nuclear Blast only releasing a few different colors...but then there were a couple more...and then a few more. It got to be overwhelming, and a few times I've come close to throwing in the towel and quitting. This post covers eight different pressings, and does not come close to being a complete set. Madness indeed.

First off, this album cover rules. I absolutely love everything about it...then entire look and feel for this thing is perfect. Green vinyl was only available to Nuclear Blast Bronce customers (whatever that is) and limited to 100. It was one of the surprises that I found out about after I'd bought seven copies of the album. Not wanting to miss out of the most limited pressing from Nuclear Blast, I scooped one up off eBay. The price was a little high, but not nearly as high at the $100 price tag some douchebags were trying to sell it for.

Yellow vinyl is limited to 250.

Just like the poster that was included with the Capricorn LP, singer Theo Mindell does an original artwork piece for the gatefold sleeve of The Mouths Of Madness. Nice touch.

250 on clear vinyl.

Another nice touch is the etching of the Orchid logo on the back of the second record.

The etching is a bit difficult to see and photograph for some of the vinyl. Clear colored vinyl makes it damn near impossible to see the etching in pictures.

500 pressed on gold vinyl.

Of course there had to be a poster. I think that any release that Nuclear Blast puts out these days comes with a poster. Does anyone really care about these?

500 pressed on purple splatter vinyl.

Each record comes with a sticker that shows which color the vinyl is, and the more limited ones are hand numbered. I love these things, as I'm not left to guess which piece of vinyl is inside.

In addition to the regular Nuclear Blast pressings, the label also did a couple of runs for Napalm Records out of Austria. I'm not sure what the purpose was of these Napalm pressings, but as they were limited to 100, I'm glad that I didn't hesitate on them as they are now sold out.

Hot pink and purple vinyl for the Napalm Records distro.

Even the Napalm pressings have their own individual stickers for the front cover.

So there it is, eight copies of the same record. The scary fact is that this post is part one in my continuing saga to collect them all.