Necuratul said:
There is quite simple explanation for that. Record label. And the guys behind it.
In order to understand the realities in Hungary, you must see the big picture. The core persons in the Hammer Music (label for both Ossian & Pokolgép) control either directly or indirectly entire spectrum of music business. They run metal & rock labels, metal & rock distribution, rock & metal magazines, webportals, record stores and so on. They have achieved this by brute force and in the process they have crushed several local labels and distributors.
What does this have to do with the availability of the Pokolgép and Ossian titles outside of Hungary? In theory Firebox Europe Mailorder (i.e. me) could be an easy way to sell their titles as I can accept Euro bank transfers & paypal, i.e. the easiest payment methods. And Im only Hungarian mailorder that has these options. How have my dealings with Hammer Music gone so far? In one year period I have ordered from their wholesale division four times. First order took six weeks to process and deliver. Second one was faster, two weeks. Third order never materialized. Fourth order I placed in early-April, with clear order that I need the stuff within three weeks. Four MONTHS later they contact me and say that my order is now ready, do I want to order something more. As half of the order was already beyond the best before date, I said that I only need the other part of the order and said that just send it in. This was three weeks ago. No sign of that parcel thus far. I know distribution issues as I have been working on that field for the past five years and this service what Hammer Music is giving to me has nothing to do with distribution. The core people have simply decided that they wont serve Firebox. Hmm record label that wont sell their CD? Thats pretty common, no.
What about the distribution outside of Hungary? Here comes the tricky part for a couple of reasons. First of all, most of the labels from ex-socialist block are not ready to pay for the expo in the western music media = distributors are not interested to deal with that kind of releases. Secondly there is the distribution inside Hungary and what it has to do with the distribution issues outside of Hungary. When I said that Hammer Music has used brute force to eliminate the competition, they have used that also in the distribution field. They have simply ripped off several smaller and bigger labels from several countries. While the record companies and distributors dont have any inner circle kind of cabal, there is still plenty of mobility between labels and distributors. As it turns out, there is number of people who used to work for smaller labels, who are nowadays working for bigger distributors. And they remember, yes, the damn sure remember one certain Hammer Music who never paid a dime for their CDs. So, Europe is saturated with ripped off guys. And that means that chances to find Pokolgép & Ossian CDs are pretty slim.
Of course there is few mailorders that specialize on classic heavy metal & thrash and some of those actually carry Ossian & Pokolgép titles, but Im not sure that are those just names on the list or do they actually have the CDs too.
Hungary is nice place to do business, if you are part of the Hammer gang.
uke: 
