Raise Hell

These days, I do not expect to get very excited over buying live albums, and most of the time they are easy to just ignore. When I heard that there was a new live Anthrax album up for preorder over at No Remorse Records out of Greece, you would have thought that I would have just shrugged my shoulders in indifference and walked away...yet, I was curious to see which tour this Chile On Hell live album was from, so I thought that I'd give it a little look.

I wasn't aware, but apparently Chile On Hell was originally released on Bluray and DVD back in 2014, capturing the band during their Worship Music/Anthems tour. I had been underwhelmed with the Worship Music album, and never cared about the Anthems cover album, but I was kind of interested to hear the "new" songs live...and once I saw that Night Of The Vinyl Dead was releasing this for the first time on vinyl, I immediately placed my order with little thought paid to the $60 price tag it was going to cost for the album and overseas shipping.

I'm a huge fan of the Night Of The Vinyl Dead label, and they never fail to impress me with the quality of packaging for the records they press. The NOTVD releases are usually unique and limited, and in most cases, you better move quick if you want one...or risk paying top dollar off Discogs or eBay down the road. The two Dio albums that NOTVD did carry ridiculous price tags these days, and it is going to cost me stupid money for the Magica record when I finally make a move for one.

So even though I knew the price paid now was going to be a bit high, I didn't want to risk trying to grab it later, and as soon as it arrived, I knew that I'd made the right choice.

With a nice gatefold sleeve, packaged in a die-cut slipcase cover, this thing looks gorgeous...even the colored vinyl looks great. You can tell that this label puts a lot of care into what they do. Impressive.

Hand numbered out of 700.

The album itself is pretty cool, with a number of Anthrax classics...although there is absolutely zero reason for the band to play I'm The Man live ever again...it was funny back in 1987, but seriously, let it go...and while we are at it, can we talk about dropping Antisocial from the set as well. Still, these two songs aside, this is a solid live album, and it is cool to hear some of the newer songs along side older classics that I was excited to see listed here, like In My World and Medusa. Solid.

Killing The Vinyl Dead

Just barely over three months into this year, and I've probably crossed off more high price records from my Want List than the last three years combined. Between some extra money coming in from work, and loading up my Paypal account from selling some records that I no longer wanted, I've been on a fucking tear. After blowing my load on that Gorilla Biscuits album recently, I managed to go a full three days before pulling the trigger on another expensive record. I could get used to living like this.

I'm a huge fanboy for anything Dio, and when I pulled out all of his albums for one of the challenges during the January Record A Day thing over on Instagram, it got me thinking about the holes in the collection. The Night Of The Vinyl Dead pressing of Killing The Dragon has been another record that I figured was out of my price range...but when it comes down to it, I guess it really just depends on how badly you want it.

Night Of The Vinyl Dead always puts a lot of creative thought into their packaging, and with the dragon pop up from the center of the gatefold sleeve, this album is no exception. A really cool touch.

Considering that the NOTVD pressing is the only real vinyl option, it feels great to finally add this to the collection. I mean, sure there is the Record Store Day picture disc pressing from 2011, but compared to the black vinyl, no one is really counting that as a serious option.

It wouldn't be a Night Of The Vinyl Dead pressing unless it was super limited. Only 500 pressed for a Dio record is crazy. No wonder this thing was no joke to chase.

Exodus Official Live Bootleg

Night of the Vinyl Dead is a record label out of Italy that specializes in pressing records that originally never saw an official vinyl release. I was obsessed with this label back in 2008, spending good money for vinyl releases for King Diamond, Mercyful Fate, Sodom and Saxon. Vinyl pressings were never more than 500, so they were pretty limited, and trying to grab them through eBay got to be damn expensive. After my initial shopping spree throughout that year, I got overwhelmed with the pricing and moved on.

I got the itch for more Night of the Vinyl Dead pressings with the copy of the Laaz Rockit live LP that I picked up earlier this year. Then when I saw the latest NOTVD pressing available in the Nuclear Blast Germany webstore during a last ditch attempt to get a few more 2015 releases before the year came to a close, I jumped at the opportunity.

Exodus - Live at the DNA 2004 | Official Bootleg.

Nuclear Blast originally released this on CD, back in 2005, so it is nice to finally have a vinyl pressing of it ten years later. This show was recorded for the band's record release party for Tempo Of The Damned back in 2004. At one point Exodus was selling DVDs of the live show, but it is apparently out of print and rather difficult to find these days. While I downloaded an unofficial bootleg of the show years ago with the full set list of 24 songs, this official release contains only nine of the songs...all from Tempo Of The Damned.

Pretty cool "bootleg" packaging, on red vinyl with hand stamped labels. Number 393 out of 500.

While this isn't something that I'll probably return to very often, it is still cool to own this record, and it makes a nice addition to my Night Of The Vinyl Dead collection.

Taste Of The Vinyl Dead

Back in 2008, I became obsessed with Night Of The Vinyl Dead Records. The label specialized in vinyl pressings for records that had never been released on wax, and within five months, I scratched five of them from my Want List. I was rollin', but since they are pressed in very limited numbers, and I had to order them all with high shipping prices from overseas, I quickly became burned out on spending the money needed to try and chase these. I bailed on the game, and instead I focused on things that I thought was more important at the time...like wasting my money on more Have Heart 7 inches.

After picking up the first Laaz Rockit LP at the end of 2014, I suddenly couldn't get enough of the band, and soon after found myself downloading their second LP, No Stranger To Danger. Those two records quickly dominated my playlists over the summer, and it got me thinking more and more about checking out some of their other stuff that I'd never heard before. While I grew up with Know Your Enemy and Annihilation Principle, I never bothered with anything that came out after '89. Feeling adventurous for some new Laaz Rockit, I dove headfirst into their live LP from 1992, Taste Of Rebellion - Live In Citta. I figured that if a live album full of latter day Laaz Rockit couldn't sell me on these songs that I'd never heard, nothing could.

Wow. This is some great shit. Live metal in '92...I had no idea that this style was still going this strong. Nirvana might have been blowing up at the time, but no one told Laaz Rockit as they were still bringing some great, straight forward Heavy Metal.

After falling in love with this live LP, I remembered that Night Of The Vinyl Dead did a pressing of it, and suddenly I was back on the NOTVD hunt. Of course I had to buy it from overseas, which meant that the shipping cost almost as much as the record itself, but I didn't care...I needed this. Another quality vinyl release from NOTVD...hand numbered and limited to 275...plus, since the album was recorded in Japan, the album cover comes wrapped in a cool looking OBI strip. Well done.

War Dogs

I've had this one for a few months, holding off on posting it, with the expectation that I would be getting another record from Night of the Vinyl Dead. There was a time when I was really hot to buy a bunch of releases from this label specializing in putting out some classic Metal albums that never got the vinyl treatment. You can't order directly from the label, and it seems like you can only find them in the Nuclear Blast Germany webstore where they rape overseas orders on shipping charges. I tracked down a few that I really wanted on eBay, and ended up paying quite a bit for them, but these pressings are pretty limited and sell out quickly, so I didn't mind paying extra. In the end though, it got to be too much of a hassle searching through eBay, and then hoping to place the winning bid, so I just stopped looking. They still have a bunch of releases that I hope to add to my collection, but for now I'm chasing my next obsessions.

So here is Saxon's Dogs of War album. Pressed on a nice "sandy" colored vinyl to match the album cover, this pressing also comes with a bonus set of stickers which is pretty cool and unique. While this is a far cry from Saxon's glory days of the early 80's, this album, released in 1995, isn't too bad...although, truth be told, I probably wouldn't own this if it hadn't been released on Night of the Vinyl Dead and pressed in such a limited amount. Hand numbered 87, out of 333 pressed.

Back From The Dead

Mercyful Fate released Time in 1994. At the time of it's release, I had pretty much distanced myself from anything Metal. I was getting pretty immersed into the Ebulliton Records scene of politics and political correctness. Music was serious business for me at the time, and the theatrics of a band like Mercyful Fate were ridiculous. While I would still catch the occasional show by Strife or Mouthpiece, for the most part I was going to see shows by scruffy hardcore punk bands in an empty room behind a health food store in Alston, Massachusetts. It was a great way to distance myself from the tough-guy bullshit that was going on in the hardcore scene at the time. These shows were pretty small, roughly only 50 people at the most, and there was no dancing what so ever. Slamdancing was seriously frowned upon in the scene, and therefore we all stood there with our arms crossed, bobbing our heads to the music and watching the band. I saw a lot of really cool bands during this time...like Shotmaker, Bleed, Weston, Rye and Cable, but to be honest, the whole thing was pretty pretentious and way too serious (except for those early Weston shows which were always great fun). Over the next couple of years, the Youth Crew revival kicked in and reminded me how much fun hardcore could be with stagedives and sing alongs. What is the point of music if it can't be fun...and damn it, Metal is fun. Time was re-issued through Night of the Vinyl Dead early in 2008 on white splatter vinyl. Mine is number 309 of 500 pressed.

When I started checking out the back catalog of Night of the Vinyl Dead, I saw that they had released a couple of Sodom albums on vinyl. I hadn't heard this band since I bought Agent Orange in 1989. Code Red was released 10 years after that, and in looking into their discography I was surprised to see that they were still around and releasing albums. I downloaded the albums that the Vinyl Dead had to offer and holy shit, I had forgotten how much fun Metal could be. Sodom are great, and here they are still true to their roots and blasting out some totally ripping German thrash. Code Red just blew me away, and I started searching eBay for the vinyl. Released on red vinyl, and mine is numbered 310 of 500 pressed.

I Love The Dead

I've recently become very interested in a record label out of Italy called Night of the Vinyl Dead. The mission of the record label is to re-issue Metal records that never got a proper vinyl release. Each record is released in limited quantities, and is hand numbered. I remember when they released their first record, the War is My Shepard 12 inch single from Exodus, back in 2006. A friend of mine had told me about the label, but at the time wasn't really into collecting Metal records, and since the price was around $35 for the single I quickly passed on buying it. A year and a half later, and here I am looking to expand my Heavy Metal collection. I checked out the Night of the Vinyl Dead site, and was surprised at how many awesome pieces of vinyl the label had released while I wasn't paying attention. All of a sudden I had a desperate need to own something from this label. I hit ebay and started to search. I was able to pick up two of their newer releases, both of them from overseas ebay sellers. Shipping cost was a bitch, but I did not want to miss out on getting these two records.

Both of these records were new to me, as they were both originally released when I was totally immersed in hardcore and had no interest in the Metal scene. Mercyful Fate, Into the Unknown, is a really cool record. Sure it is a step or two removed from the classics of Melissa and Don't Break the Oath, but it is still some great Fate. The vinyl is pressed on "sunset" vinyl, and just looks sick...matching the album cover nicely. My copy was numbered 367 out of 500. The King Diamond record is a "Collectors Edition" EP. Originally released on CD in 1999, it features songs off of a couple of King's latter day records. I'm really having a good time discovering these albums that I missed the first time around. Fun stuff. The King Diamond record is pressed on white vinyl and comes in a cool PVC cover. Mine is numbered 271 out of 500 made. I can't wait to get more from the Night of the Vinyl Dead catalog.