Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Cryptopsy: Once Was Not

It was like a dream to get 3 Cryptopsy records in the same week! Since August, I have been able to get all of the full lengths (that matter)!

This record was a reunion with Lord Worm and the last release that they worked on together. I never understood why this received such harsh criticism. IMO this record is another excellent example of everything that Cryptopsy embodies, but more evolved and technical than None So Vile.

Nothing about this record is sub-par in my eyes.

I have listened to this at least 3-4 times through in the last week!

Great pressing that I got for a good deal on eBay




Cryptopsy: None So Vile & Blasphemy Made Flesh repackage

None So Vile is one of the best death metal records in my opinion. When I first heard it, it really changed my perception of metal and music in general. The overall intensity and technicality of this record was something that I had never heard before.

I have been a big Cryptopsy fan since then, through DiSalvo joining and minus the newest release.

I have been looking for a copy of None So Vile for a while now and it's was really hard to find an original copy of it that was in my price range. This repackage is both of the releases in one gatefold cover. It's a clever idea but, I am not very impressed with the execution. The artwork is there for both records, but the inside is very grainy and not well printed. Also, all of the label logos and copyright information is printed over the original cover artwork because there is no extra space.

It's probably unnecessarily particular but this is one of my favorite records! I will keep an eye out for these separated in the future.





Slayer: Christ Illusion

This is one of the Slayer records that I don't own. Little by little I am getting the ones that I like. I found this used at Easy Street and while its Slayer, Christ Illusion is not really groundbreaking. Slayer has really changed the face of metal in many ways, with many releases, but this one is pretty run of the mill Slayer.... with that being said.. run of the mill Slayer is still better than many current metal bands. Here is the Slayer Collection so far.


Sweet Cobra: Praise with poster and patch

I found this used at Sonic Boom. It is very well packaged, printed on heavy vinyl and comes with a screenprinted poster and a small patch.

Overall, I think this is a very good release. They definitely fit a lot of music onto this release and most of it is enjoyable! Finding this used, in such good shape with all of the extras makes it totally worth it.





Champion: Count Our Numbers

Champion is one of my favorite HC bands from Seattle. I picked up a copy of Promises Kept a couple of months ago and have been looking for Count Our Numbers since.

Scored this on eBay, its the regular black version on Bridge 9 records!


Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Reign Supreme: Testing the Limits of Infinite 12" and American Violence 7"


I was outbid on this a couple of times, so I just bought it straight from the distro. I placed an order for both releases and never heard anything after about 6 weeks. So, I called them and they said that it is in the mail now! Which means they didn't ship the first order but will rush the "replacement"! In the meanwhile they ran out of the light blue and sent me the dark instead.

It's not really what I wanted, but its still really nice. The American Violence on pink splatter is classic.. a real "tough guy" feel huh?




Thursday, December 9, 2010

The Bouncing Souls: How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Another Epitaph repress, this is my favorite Bouncing Souls record, for sure.

Nice black vinyl, original insert and nice cover. Repress was only $9.99 through Epitaph... Score!


Refused: Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent

Refused: Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent.

My second favorite Refused record! This is really hard to find for a good price. Apparently Epitaph just repressed it. Great packaging and nice, red vinyl!

I am really glad to not need to spend $50 - $60 on the original.



Dillinger Escape Plan: Irony Is a Dead Scene

Finally! Its a repress, but its still awesome!

One of my favorite releases in this genre and my favorite Dillinger release.
Dillinger Escape Plan and Mike Patton.. such a shame that this was the only release.

Repressed on Epitaph, 12" on Cola colored vinyl. Very nice copy of this!



Asst 7" from everythingsuperfan including Sheer Terror!

So, the Sam Black Church and Neglect came from everythingsuperfan on eBay.

Let me tell you, this guy is the best. Not only does he have fantastic taste in music and a great collection, he is a super nice guy!

I was just asking him if he had any other LI or NYHC for sale and he said that he would send me a few extra 7" that he had lying around! Who does that?!

He sent me 2 Bridge 9 releases - R 'n' R/ Fit For Abuse: Split 7" and The Distance: Your Closest Enemies.

Also, he sent over Snakebite: Every Bad Idea Is A Good Idea and Hellhole: S/T

These were a bit hit-and-miss for me, but all a lot of fun to listen to.



Now, the last 7", my favorite and most unexpected is Sheer Terror: Asshole and Proud!

This is a classic Sheer Terror release and I am super excited to have it! Sheer Terror is one of those bands that I have not started collecting yet because the releases always seem to get out of my price range quickly.



Thanks so much again supereverythingfan, you really made my day!

Sam Black Church: Let in Life and Neglect: Hang in There

I found an amazing seller on eBay who had way too many records that I was interested in.

I think I got outbid on 5 or 6 records that he had listed.

One classic record that I found from him was Sam Black Church: Let Life In!

Awesome hardcore from Boston. This was released on Taang records back in 1993.



These guys always had a unique sound.



He also had a copy of Neglect: Let in Life. This is one of my favorite Neglect releases from back in the day. A friend gave me this CD ages ago and it never had a cover or case. Its great to have this original press on We Bite records.

Represent Lindenhurst, Long Island!


N.W.A. Straight Outta Compton

Come on.. This is just classic!

Original, first press on Priority records.

I only have a handful of old school rap and hip-hop records and they are important to my collection.

This is up there on the list and its good to have.




Wednesday, December 8, 2010

100 Demons: S/T and Starkweather: Into the Wire


From the same seller as the Creepy Crawl record, I picked up 100 Demons: S/T and Starkweather: Into the Wire.

The 100 Demons is pretty intense and I like it quite a bit. I did not know it was produced by Zeus and sounds amazing..



The Starkweather on the other hand... is just not that good. Maybe it's one of those records I have to give a few more listens, but it just did not really appeal to me.



A good friend of mine is a Starkweather fan, so I thought I would pick it up... but maybe its better suited for his collection!

wait....The one review on Amazon makes me really feel like I missed the point of the record. Sorry Jeff! I think this will remain in my collection for a while longer.

from Amazon.. "Ok, here is the deal with this album. Starkweather is a band that you have to understand to like. When that happens, you will be obsessed with them. It's just that simple. With such powerful vocals (very hard to understand at times...but the lyrics can bring tears to eyes), and such a melodic and painful background of musical abilities...this is a MUST have. If you like "Emo" or just plain beauty...this is for you. I can't explain it...you just have to HEAR it! "

Creepy Crawl: Live! NYHC at it's best!

I've been holding out, waiting for this to show up for a good price, for a while now.

Many of my favorite bands are on here and its all live from Coney Island High in 1996!

Absolute classic!



Also, check out the posters on the back.


Track listing
1. Care Bear - Murphy's Law
2. 5 Year Plan - H2O
3. Don't Forget the Struggle, Don't Forget the Streets - War Zone
4. Slosh Victim - Down Low
5. Wise to the Game - 25 Ta Life
6. Feelings - Crown of Thorns
7. Scarred Love - Skarhead
8. Trying Again - Ensign
9. Void - 9 Lives
10. Here Today - H2O
11. Murphy's Law - Panty Raid
12. F*** MTV - The Sub Zero
13. Take by Force - Merauder
14. Fool's Day - Killing Time
15. Growing up Hard - Cold Front
16. Nowhere to Turn - Maximum Penalty
17. Dissed by You - Rejuvenate


Botch: Unifying Themes Redux Repress

This is a great record that has been recently repressed on Hydrahead records.

The presentation on this is just what I would expect from Hydrahead and Botch.

Printed on brown, speckled vinyl and housed in a gatefold white, matte paper sleeve and comes along with a CD copy of the material.



This record has the cover of O Fortuna from Carmina Burana on it. In my opinion, this is one of the best stylistic translations ever written.



For each 15 records you by at Easy Street, you get one free ... this was my "free" one!

Cryptopsy: And Then You'll Beg

A fantastic find for me at Singles Going Steady!

I love old Cryptopsy and it's so hard to find these used, locally.

One of the last stacks that I went through had a copy of And Then You'll Beg in great condition!






Young Widows: Old Wounds

Also at Looney Tunes, I found a used copy of Old Wounds by Young Widows.

I just found these guys a couple of months ago and like their style a lot.

This is on a very small label, Temporary Residence and its on very nice blue transparent vinyl with black swirl. This looks great with the black, matte cover.




Incantation's Onward to Golgotha: Decibel's Hall of Fame Edition

I have been waiting for this for a while now. While in NY, I went to Looney Tunes and found a copy.

Incantation: Onward to Golgotha is a genre defining record. It is one of my favorite old school death metal records. This is Decibel's Hall of Fame Edition with comes with a high quality back patch and a sticker. This is also the red vinyl, limited to 500.




Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Cave In: Antenna

I found this at Easy Street in Queen Anne. It was in the used section and I had heard some good things about them. They always seem to be cross referenced with some bands that I really like.

However, somehow I missed listening to them up to this point. Its on Hydrahead and I was afraid that it would sell quickly, so I picked it up impulsively.

When I got it home, I was very open minded to hearing it for the first time!!

Unfortunately, I really can't say that I like the record too much. As much as I wanted to, it just .. meh..




Neglect: Four Years of Hate (Long Island Hardcore)

This is a German release of some of Neglect's material. Its double vinyl with some demos and live stuff etc.. Its nice to have, but not very easy to listen to as some of the material is very raw.

The inner sleeve has some old show flyers that are really cool to look at. Kind of a cross-section of the scene at the time.




Harm's Way: No Gods, No Masters 7"

This is a great 7" from Good Fight records.

Harm's Way: No Gods, No Masters printed on clear vinyl with yellow and black splatter!

Great deal on eBay!




Prosthetic Records order.. Lamb of God: As the Palaces Burn; Before and After!!

So, I purchased As the Palaces Burn from Prosthetic Records on eBay.

When I received this, it was absolutely astounding how mangled it was.

I have never seen a record in such bad shape. It makes me curious what the post office could have possibly done to get it so broken.



Amazing right?!!

It took forever to get in touch with them as they were moving offices but they finally said they were sending a new one out.



Much better!

In the meanwhile, I went to the estore they have and found a few more records..

Some I really wanted and others were really cheap so I got them just to see what they sounded/looked like.

The 4 that I was experimenting with are Himsa: Hail Horror, Through the Eyes of the Dead: Bloodlust, Unholy: New Life Behind Closed Eyes and Crematoruim: The Process of Endtime



Next, I purchased Beneath the Massacre: Dystopia.

This is a fantastic record from these guys and this is printed on very light blue, transparent vinyl.



I was interested in one of the new Testament represses that they had for sale and as a bonus, they threw in the The Gathering due to the long wait!

So, I now have a copy of Demonic and The Gathering. These are both printed on heavy vinyl are double LPs and the last side is etched. Very interesting presentation for these.

Testament: Demonic


Testament: The Gathering



I am a huge Gojira fan and The Way of All Flesh is one of my favorite metal albums released recently. I have a copy of it on purple vinyl, but it was on sale... very cheap.. so I bought another copy. This one turned out to be on purple as well, so I am stoked with 2 copies of this.... you know.. in case the first one .. gets lost .. or .. ok, I don't really need 2.



That's it for the Prosthetic order!! It was a fun one





Sunday, November 7, 2010

Trapped Under Ice: Secrets of the World 2nd Press

When I purchased the Terror record from Reaper, I picked this up. I have been waiting to get it for a while and the 2nd press is so much better looking than the first and they had it in stock at Reaper.

This is printed on a matte, gatefold cover with great artwork.

The vinyl is transparent with black splatter and it matches the cover well, much better than the 1st press.


Terror: Keepers of the Faith 1st Press/Blue

The new Terror record on Reaper records. This is the first press on limited blue vinyl.

I got this straight from Reaper to fill out my Terror collection. Its a good record overall and I think that Terror succeeded in creating a new branch of hardcore.

They have always remained consistent and its great to see that they are still pushing the bar.






That makes it 4 out of 5 12" from Terror, just missing The Damned, The Shamed.




Metallica: Master of Puppets Audiophile edition

Finally! When I was putting together a blog post for the Metallica records, I somehow missed this one. I had just assumed that I had a copy of Master of Puppets, but apparently not.

This is a great copy as its on 2 12" and is cut at 45rpm. It sounds a bit better than the original version. The only thing is that there are only 2 songs per side, so its a bit cumbersome to listen to!



This.... now, actually rounds out the collection!!






Bane: The Note -- Pink and Black Swirl

This was one of the first Straight Edge records that I ever really got into. At least of this generation. It taught me a lot about that scene and it just felt like a necessity to pick up. I am not sure how much I will really listen to it, but its a great record for what it is.

This copy, is really interesting looking. It is something of a dark pink mixed into the black. Each side has a distinctly different pattern.

Lovely presentation in my opinion.






Monday, October 25, 2010

Witch: Self Titled

I had heard a lot about these guys but could not remember what they sounded like.

They are on Tee Pee records, which puts out a lot of great music.

It was cheap and then another 22% off because of the Easy Street Anniversary sale.





Coliseum: Self Titled

From Singles..

I searched through the whole store and in the last little batch I found this and the repress of No Salvation, which I had already bought.

This is a great album and the printing is really interesting. I like how random the pattern is and I think that it matches with the copy of No Salvation!




Coliseum: No Salvation

This is one of those records that I sat on for some reason when it was repressed.

I was about to buy it 3 or 4 times and something came up. Then.. finally, I got around to it and it was sold out!

So, instead of getting the repress, I was able to score a first press on grey-splatter for around the same price.

Thanks Carmen!!


Isis: Mosquito Control


So, I have had this on my wish list for a while. Its pretty competitive on ebay, but I usually check on the auctions and see if one falls in my price range.

This one came from a really sketchy auction where this guy was having some real trouble keeping his feedbacks good. Also, the photos were horrible and there was basically no info about his records.

Because of all of these factors, I score the record for about 1/3 of the price that it should have gone for.

Now.. fast forward about 5 weeks and I am still waiting to hear from this guy and get the record..

Finally.. after emailing him back and forth.. he remembered that the record was boxed up, but waiting for payment toward the Torche record I bought..

Believe it or not.. it finally shows up!

I didn't know what color it was on and I was assuming it was black.

Much to my shock.. this was in excellent condition despite poor packaging and it is printed on black and red splatter vinyl..

I really got lucky on this one!!

This is my favorite Isis album and I love the way this looks.