Nile: Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka

I found this in the clearance box, new at Easy Street and it had the Relapse color vinyl sticker on the cover. I really like Nile and this record in particular. They printed 1000 copies and this is the breakdown.

Pressing information:
100 Clear (Not available to the public. Please do not request clear.)
300 Orange/Yellow Splatter
300 Clear/Orange Splatter
300 Orange

I was not sure which would be in there, but I was hoping for anything but the solid orange and I ended up with the Clear/Orange splatter! It really looks awesome. It looks like the splatter should show some texture on the top of the record!

Atari Teenage Riot: Burn, Berlin, Burn!

It does not really fit in with the rest of the records listed on the blog, but a great record nonetheless. I came across this used at Easy Street. I hadn't listened to it in years!

A Collection of Records from Hot Topic Clearance Sale!

I know, I know.. Hot Topic, right? Well, my buddy sent me a link to the clearance section of the site and they happened to have tons of items for stupid cheap prices. I originally placed an order for 2x as much as I have here, but never received a confirmation and apparently it didn't go through. So, the next day, I went to place the order again, but about half of the records I wanted were gone already. Be that as it may, I ended up with 6 good pieces.

Believe it or not, I actually got 2 Back on Black releases.. Mind you, all of these were between $4 and $7, so its a steal, esp for Back on Black records.

Carpathian Forest: Fuck You All on double, heavy black vinyl and in a nice gatefold sleeve.



Same goes for Fintroll: Ur Jordens Djup. These guys are pretty funny. It was a good time listening through this one, for sure!



Next, I got 2 different The Number Twelve Looks Like You records, Mongrel and Worse Than Alone. Both are pretty good records.



This is one of my favorites of the bunch, Arsonists Get All the Girls: The Game of Life. I have always liked this record and the packaging on the vinyl is just lovely. All the way around. It is the art from Hits from the Bow along with The Game of Life and the vinyl is split to match (partially) the cover art of each piece. Just great overall presentation on an already good record.



Last and maybe least... Kataklysm's newest endeavor, Prevail. It is very nicely packaged and printed on limited "Nuclear Green" color vinyl from Nuclear Blast, gatefold cover and poster insert. Everything that should make a good record..



Tbh.. its a bit cliche for me and the record just isn't that good. I have always liked Kataklysm, but stopped listening a ways back. Since this was cheap and looked good, I figured I would try it out and that it was worth it. Ill spin it a couple times to give it another shot..but, not having high hopes.

Mastodon: Leviathan 3rd Press on Orange Wax

Mastodon is another set of records that I am trying to put together but are becoming increasingly difficult. Since they have become so popular, the represses are selling for amazing amounts of money. There definitely is a buzz about these guys now. One of the represses of Remission that I bought from Relapse a couple of months ago is selling for almost double already.

So, with this record, I kept watching it on eBay, but it was selling for quite a lot and it was sold out on Relapse. What I did was look on Amazon and for some reason, it was selling for quite a bit cheaper. The catch is that there is no pressing info on Amazon at all and it would just be a crap shoot. Since the last pressing was all color with a short run of more limited black and the earlier pressings sell for a more, I figured it was worth a shot! So, this is the most recent pressing out of 997 copies.



Since this ended up being so exciting, I decided to pick up a couple more copies through Amazon so that I could get a better color. I really like the color, but it just does not seem to fit with the layout of the artwork. Since the value seems to be holding steady, I will pick the best color and sell the rest on eBay to break even.

Devin Townsend Presents: Ziltoid - The Omniscient!

Finally Ziltoid!! I absolutely loveeeeee this record! It was pressed by Back on Black recently and everything about it is just perfect! For those who are not familiar with this, its basically..... a heavy metal, space opera written by Devin Townsend about Ziltoid, The Omniscient who is searching for Earth's ultimate cup of coffee.

Yes, it is pure awesome!

The inside of the cover has all of the lyrics broken down into character.

On dual, heavy plum vinyl.

Dying Fetus: Grotesque Impalement and Purification Through Violence

These are a couple of other records from The End. These are both limited to 500 and still available. I have been working on the DF and Misery Index collection for a while. These are both must haves!

Decapitated: Winds of Creation

I went ahead and placed an order with The End Records to pick up some really nice stuff that I have been looking for. I ordered 5 records in total and only got 3. Apparently one is pre-order and the other is waiting for restock.

The first one I opened up is a new press of Decapitated: Winds of Creation!



I still believe that this record was so far ahead of its time and that many bands in the genre still have not caught up to its proficency. That, and the fact that they were all under the age of 19 when making this record, with little influence from releases that were similar, this is amazing.

Manowar: Sign of the Hammer

I have been interested in putting together the Manowar collection, but its been going very slow! There are 11 full lengths that I would want and I only have 2, including this one. They just tend to sell for a bit too much on eBay and they are hard to find locally. This one was a score from Jive Time in a stack of metal record that were going out. Its an original press and it great condition.

Turns out that Back on Black just repressed a few gems from the catalog, including this one. Most are all double 180g vinyl in gatefold packaging etc.. so, maybe after all I got lucky in not getting some of these already!

Red Sparowes: The Fear is Excruciating, But Therein Lies the Answer

I was tracking this since it came out and it was just a bit too expensive for me. There was one variation in color and one in mono, but the sleeve did not state whether or not the vinyl was special inside. That and it being around $20 for a slip sleeve and regular weight vinyl, just didnt do it for me. So, finally, I found a sealed copy on clearance at Sonic Boom! It comes with a nice little poster and the overall presentation is really nice.

Red Sparowes: The Fear is Excruciating, But Therein Lies the Answer

4 Great Records from eBay - 2 Bad Brains/The Damned and Jane's Addiction

I have some auto alerts setup in eBay and every once in a while I catch some great deals. This time an alert went off for the self titled Bad Brains record. It was a great price and I picked it up Buy It Now immediately and then in searching through his other auctions, picked up the other 3 records he was selling. In total I got a great copy of

Bad Brains: Self Titled, Bad Brains: I Against I




The Damned: Damned Damned Damned




and Jane's Addiction: Ritual De Lo Habitual.



Now, when I opened this, there was a copy of Nothing's Shocking inside the Ritual sleeve! I emailed him and worked out a deal for the Ritual vinyl and the Nothing's Shocking sleeve, so I will have both of them soon!

Agnostic Front: Victim in Pain Early Repress + 2 others

This is a great, early repress of Victim in Pain. It is a little beat up but is still a great addition to my collection. I really like the black on black cover. So, I purchased this on eBay and the seller shipped it packed between 2 other records.



These records came with the sleeves and liner notes etc. Both of them are pretty cool!

They are Todd: Purity Pledge on heavy vinyl and The Stallions: Hey Baby, It's The Stallions on purple vinyl.

Mayhem: Chimera

This is one of my favorite Mayhem records, by far and this is a great copy of it. It was released on Back on Black records and is a limited run on blue vinyl.

I have been collecting stuff from Back on Black more and more as they have an an amazing catalog of hard to find metal vinyl.

Cathedral: The Ethereal Mirror 12x12 Promo Ad

Cathedral: The Ethereal Mirror is one of those records that just keeps getting out of my price range every time it shows up. I have a couple of friends who so happen to track the auctions every time they are listed. I think it will be quite some time before we all get copies.

When I was searching on eBay for it, I came across a really cool promo ad from Earache that would be a great addition to the vinyl and just nice to hang on the wall.

This will have to do until I can get the record itself!

Black Sabbath: Heaven and Hell + Volume 4 (Ozzy and Dio)

I purchased a copy of Heaven and Hell on eBay and the guy had a copy of Volume 4 packaged with it. The only issue is that the cover of 4 was demolished. I took a gamble and it worked out well! The copy of Heaven and Hell is really nice and the vinyl from Vol 4 sounds great.

Listening to these back to back is pretty amusing. Volume 4 is 1972 Black Sabbath with Ozzy and Heaven and Hell is 1980 with Ronnie James Dio. It is 2 very different eras, both of which are awesome, but very different and side by side show very little similarities.

Amon Amarth: Surthur Rising Box Set w/ Viking Action Figure!

This is very much out of my character, but I think this is awesome! This is a CD/DVD box set with a limited action figure! I saw this was coming out and was totally on the fence as to whether it was an interesting concept or really cheesy.. I am still on the fence, but think it's interesting marketing nonetheless.

And check it out... how cool does it look!

Sepultura: Morbid Visions OG Press 1986

This was really a shock to see in the local record store. I have been working on my Sepultura collection for a while now and I am not too concerned with the presses, but this one is special because it comes with the original intro of Carmina Burana which was pulled for copyright reasons on subsequent releases.

This is on Skark records out of Germany and is in great condition. There was also a copy of Schizophrenia there, but I just got a copy a couple of months ago. With the repress out of Roots, I am pretty close to getting all of the full lengths! Excellent record that was the beginning of a thrash revolution and a great career for Sepultura.

Death Before Dishonor: Better Ways to Die

I purchased a copy of this a while back and it so happens that I was listening to it the other day and then found another cheap copy at Sonic Boom. They had a blue copy and the one that I originally purchased was on grey. I think this is a all around solid hardcore record.

2 Burning World Releases: The Austrasian Goat and Gnaw Their Tongues

I got both of these on eBay while bidding on a bunch of stuff he had. Most of the records I was bidding on got out of my price range. I was specifically interested in Gnaw Their Tongues and since he had The Austrasian Goat as well, I figured it was worth a shot.

Now, both of these records are challenging to listen to. Very dark and broody music and imagery. The art concepts and song titles tie in very well with the emotion of the music making it a respectable and impressive release albeit difficult. To see such well thought out presentation as well as the time and money it took to produce these, it makes me want to understand the concepts they are putting across. As with any other disturbing art.... it takes a specific audience to want and try to allow themselves to accept it in it's entirety. I do not know yet if I am in this audience.

Dropkick Murphys: The Meanest of Times

I've been eying this at Singles for a couple of weeks and finally decided to get it. I thoroughly enjoy Dropkick and this record is no exception.

I got this used for pretty cheap. Even though it was in the used bins, it was sealed. Double 180g vinyl in a nice silver and black gatefold sleeve and the full length CD.

Record Store Day No Peace/War Compilation

This is the best thing released on Record Store Day this year. Overall, it seems RSD was a bust. This year everything was sold out super early and most of the vinyl was on eBay before I woke up. It seems to defeat the original idea of RSD, but its better than not having it.. just a bit disappointing.

Enter the Organized Crime comp No Peace/War. This was limited to 135 copies on blue in the states and 185 on yellow in the EU. It was limited to 1 distributor in the states and we had to wait until Sunday for the mail order of offer them. Luckily my buddy and I were both able to get one each.

From The Hidden Archives of dar es Balat

To celebrate Record Store Day (April 16th 2011) Organized Crime Records have teamed up with some shitbird bands to bring you the No Peace/ War 7" compilation. No Peace/ War was conceived nearly 2 decades ago by Dwid Van Hellion of INTEGRITY. The compilation was to include some of his favorite western hardcore bands paying homage to some of his favorite Japanese hardcore bands. Originally it was scheduled to be one of the seminal Blood Book 7" singles. Unfortunately No Peace/ War was indefinitely shelved due to unforeseen forces. Now 17 years later the compilation will finally see the light of day. Included on No Peace/ War are exclusive tracks by INTEGRITY, GEHENNA, VVEGAS, CAPE OF BATS and ROT IN HELL each covering their favorite Japanese hardcore songs.

Morbid Angel: Formulas Fatal to the Flesh

I must admit that this was only on my radar for a short time when it came out. Somehow when it was released, I thought it was a great release, but then just had not heard it for a good handful of years since.

In my quest to get the Morbid Angel releases, I got this along with the Record Store Day Integrity 7".

I thing the musicality on this record is through the roof.. very stereotypical Morbid Angel but it definitely leaves a lot to be desired in the songwriting department.. imo
..and.. ya.. Pretty cheeezy artwork