Sign Of The Witch

Two years ago, things got kind of crazy. I was obsessed with Orchid, and I spent a silly amount of money chasing every vinyl pressing for their entire catalog. Under normal circumstances, this might be an easily attainable goal, but since we were dealing with Nuclear Blast, it was straight up over the top. When all was said and done, I ended up with 35 pieces of vinyl...with the majority of them only released that year. The chase was fun, but in the end it burned me the fuck out. When Nuclear Blast came through with yet another pressing, I dropped out of the game. What is the point in racing to the finish line, only to find that it keeps getting further away?

That experience changed my view on record collecting, and I walked away from it a bit more jaded than I was before. Collecting always meant something to me...it was historical and important...but after the "Orchid incident" I saw that not all labels have such a pure mindset. It isn't always about the music, and at times it is about how many units they can move. To me, it corrupts the game, and I won't play that anymore. When Nuclear Blast announced the new Orchid 10 inch, Sign Of The Witch, on six different colors of vinyl, I was quite content to pick up my one piece and then bow out.

This four song 10 inch is well worth the price of admission though. While there were obvious nods to Sabbath with the occasional riff here and there over the years, when I listen to these new songs, I just hear Orchid. The band have grown into their own...although there is still the tie to Sabbath with this release through the artwork on the insert, which was also used on Sabbath's Greatest Hits album from '77.

300 pressed on red vinyl.

Orchid In Full Bloom

Orchid are an amazing band, and with the release of their new album, The Mouths Of Madness, I was excited to start building a collection of their vinyl. I ordered a few copies of the new album that went up for pre-order at Nuclear Blast Germany, and went back and ordered colored vinyl for their first two records. Then there was a second pressing of those first two records, then more pressings of the Heretic 10 inch, then an exclusive pressing of the new album through Napalm Records...then a second exclusive pressing through Napalm...then a few more pressings of the new album through Nuclear Blast...then I found out about the exclusive green vinyl for the new album that was only offered to select Nuclear Blast customers...when the Nuclear Blast USA pressings came around, I came close to throwing in the towel. What started out as a fun project, had quickly spiraled out of control.

First up, Nuclear Blast USA gave us one pressing for the Mouths Of Madness LP. Okay, I can handle that. The purple and black vinyl looked really nice, and it came in a package deal with a sick looking shirt.

200 pressed.

Just when you thought it was safe, Nuclear Blast USA had pressed the LP on two more colors.

400 pressed on orange colored vinyl.

400 pressed on silver vinyl.

The Nuclear Blast USA stickers aren't as cool as their German counterparts, but it is still kind of nice to have them labelled.

Along with the second round of colored vinyl for The Mouths Of Madness, we finally get a US pressing of the Wizard Of War 10 inch.

What's three more pieces of vinyl at this point?

With three more copies under my belt, I figured that I must have this collection complete. I mean, how many more variations of The Mouths Of Madness can they press, right? I double check the pressing info on discogs...FUCK...there is another one that I don't have! Apparently there was a white vinyl pressing that Nuclear Blast Germany did that was limited to "vinyl dealers". I found a European distro that carried the white vinyl, and I grabbed one.

This is all of them, right? No. I just noticed this morning that Nuclear Blast Germany has two new pressings up for sale. I don't know if I can keep up any longer.

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.

Ten Inch Orchids

Yeah, shit got a little crazy with my last post, as I worked to grab every pressing of the first two Orchid releases, Through The Devil's Doorway and Capricorn. In collecting the bands two EP singles, Heretic and Wizard Of War, the insanity only intensified.

I already owned three copies of the Heretic ten inch single, and when Nuclear Blast Germany threw down the dreaded Triple Dog Dare with three more pieces of colored vinyl, I couldn't back down from the challenge.

I love the hand numbered stickers on each different pressing.

When Nuclear Blast USA upped the Orchid game with a North American pressing, there was no way the I was going to fold. I was all in at this point.

No individual sticker for the North American pressing. They all get the same one that announces that the record is limited 666...222 for each color.

I was hoping that there would be a bigger difference between the white Euro pressing, and the cream US pressing. The difference is only slight. I can tell them apart, but just barely.

Not to be forgotten, I also grabbed the last copy that I needed for the Wizard Of War ten inch single.

Add these new pieces of vinyl in with the copies that I already owned, and we are looking at a total of 12 ten inch records. The crazy thing is, I'm missing one. Before I was completely sucked into the madness of collecting Orchid, I let the black vinyl pressing of Heretic pass me by.

Orchid In Full Bloom

Orchid have a new album coming out this year, and as this post will clearly show, I'm kind of excited for it.

A year ago, I picked up the first two Orchid records, Capricorn and Through The Devil's Doorway, on vinyl. I quickly ordered as soon as they were available from Nuclear Blast, only to find that I should have waited and ordered the colored vinyl direct from the label, Church Within Records. The problem was that these records were only pressed overseas, and after spending the money on the black vinyl, I couldn't justify buying them again on colored vinyl...until now. As my excitement and anticipation grew over Orchid's upcoming 2103 release, I found that my desire had finally overshadowed any money concerns, and I decided to spring for the colored vinyl.

I was thankful that the label still had the first press on red vinyl available. Limited to 200.

Much to my surprise, the label had a second pressing available as well, with two new options for colored vinyl. Suddenly, I realized that this endeavor was going to get more expensive than I had initially thought. I was committed though, and ordered all three colors.

I'm not typically a fan of splatter vinyl, but I find that this black and white pattern looks really good. Limited to 300.

The third color option available was listed as "red white and blue". I was disappointed when this color did not arrive with my order, and instead the label sent me two copies of the black and white splatter vinyl. I emailed the label and they said that they would be willing to offer me a discount if I wanted to order another copy. Instead, I quickly sold my copy on ebay, and found that there was a U.S. distributor, Doooomed.com, that had it in stock, so I ordered it from them instead.

I was hoping for a cool red, white and blue pattern like the Bridge Nine pressing of Agnostic Front's Live At CBGB album. Instead we get a mix of red, white and blue, which makes purple. Limited to 200.

With my original order, only the original first press of Through The Devil's Doorway was available. After I received my order, and was working through the issues with the label on the duplicate black and white splatter of Capricorn, I noticed that they had put up two more colored vinyl options in their store. Yup, I'm going to need those as well. I'll skip the overseas shipping this time around though, and just grab them through doooomed.com.

First pressing on white vinyl. Limited to 200.

Clear orange/gold vinyl is part of the second pressing.

Lastly, we have the clear vinyl with red pressing...also part of the second pressing.

So while I don't typically buy multiple copies of records from Metal bands, there has been something about Orchid that has captured my attention and I haven't been able to resist the call to collect their vinyl. Much more to come very soon.

Wizards And A Heretic

Orchid's new album, The Mouths Of Madness,is one of the most anticipated releases for me this year. I love Black Sabbath, and Orchid is like hopping into a time machine back to 1971 and listening to Sabbath's follow up to Paranoid from an alternate universe. I can not get enough of this band.

As a preview of the new album, Orchid released a 10 inch single for Wizard Of War. Like their previous EP, Heretic, Nuclear Blast released this on vinyl as a 10 inch.

The 10 inch contains three songs...a preview track from the new album, a song exclusive to this release, as well as Albatross that was previously released on the band's Capricorn LP.

In addition to a couple copies of the new Orchid single, I figured that I'd throw in one of the new pressings for their Heretic EP as well.

Each one is hand numbered and limited to 250.

I'm the Heretic

Black Sabbath may be one of my favorite bands of all time, and I consider Orchid to be a present day version of that greatness. Orchid attack with songs full of heavy doom riffs...some of them sounding like they were lifted direct from Sabbath's back catalog. An excellent homage to the Sabbath legends, while delivering songs that still pack plenty of power.

I don't typically collect multiple copies of Metal records, but in this case, the excitement got the better of me and I couldn't resist. I fell totally in love with Orchid's 2011 release, Capricorn, and when Nuclear Blast announced they were releasing the band's follow up EP, I was beyond excited for the new material. Of course the EP was only available overseas, but without blinking an eye, I still added two copies of the Heretic 10 inch to my cart.

Cool ass photo on the inside of the gatefold, with the vinyl delivering three new amazing songs, plus one that was included on last year's Capricorn LP.

Clear and orange (also known as gold) vinyl. Black vinyl was also available, but I didn't bother buying one at the time. Now I want one. Record collector regret.

Each pressing was hand numbered and limited to 250. It's a nice touch, but completely irritating that the sticker was affixed to the shrinkwrap. This record has gatefold sleeve, so in order to see the full gatefold packaging, you have to remove the shrinkwrap and thus remove the sticker. Frustrating. In the end, I ended up using a hair dryer to heat the sticker and remove it from the shrinkwrap, so I could then affix it to the poly sleeve. Pain in the ass.

Orchid Of Doom

In the early 2000's there was a screamo band out of Massachusetts called Orchid. They sucked. Man, I hate that style. Ten years later, San Francisco give us a Doom Metal band with the same name. Hell yeah, now that's more like it! Orchid released my favorite Metal record last year with Capricorn.

Originally, Capricorn was only released on CD. I felt like the only way to own this, the only way to do it justice, would be to wait for the vinyl pressing. Through Facebook, the band kept promising that the vinyl was coming. I just needed some patience. I waited it out, and as soon as the preorders went up at Nuclear Blast, I quickly ordered my copy. It was an overseas order, so I paid through the roof, but as far as I was concerned, the band was worth it. A couple weeks later, it was announced that the colored vinyl pressing was available through the record label, The Church Within. Goddamn it, I wasn't expecting a colored vinyl pressing and pulled the trigger too early. While I was tempted to order the colored vinyl as well, dropping another $80 for two records from overseas was not going to happen.

To say that Orchid were heavily influence by early Black Sabbath would be an understatement. Some of these riffs seem like they were lifted straight from those classic Sabbath 70's albums. Does it bother me? No. This album crushes.

The gatefold packaging is very well done. The whole thing looks amazing.

The status updates from the band on Facebook would occasionally mention a painting that someone in the band was doing for the vinyl release. It ended up making it into the Capricorn release as a poster. Pretty bad ass.

In addition to the vinyl release of Capricorn, The Church Within also pressed Orchid's 2009 EP on vinyl for the first time. Through The Devil's Doorway is another slice of pure 70's Doom. Fucking impressive.

Yeah, the packaging is cool as shit for this 12 inch EP as well. No paintings of boobs, but it still rules.

Ozzy reunion with Black Sabbath in 2012...who cares. Orchid will demolish anything that Sabbath will hope to produce this year.