distro review thread

Doomcifer said:
Worst distro I ever had to deal with.
I agree, it took over 2 months for my order to make it up the east coast. and at that they issued me a credit slip for half my order(which I had emailed to confirm was in stock), I also paid using Paypal so they could've easily issued a refund.

Willowtip www.willowtip.com
Country: US
Selection: mostly Death & Grind
Orders: 10+
Shipping: <1 Week
Secure: Paypal.
Additional Comments: Awesome pricing, $10 PPD

Dark Symphonies www.darksymphonies.com
Country: US
Selection: Black & Doom with lots of other stuff
Orders: 10+
Shipping: <1 Week
Secure: Paypal or Secure Credit Card
Additional comments: $8 PPD now for just about everything

Goregiastic Records www.Goregiasticrecords.com
Country: US
Selection: looks like mainly Death, but I did order a bunch of Nokturnal Mortum stuff from them
Orders: 1
Shipping: <1 Week
Secure: Paypal
Additional comments: another $10 PPD, nice layout as well.

Sevared Records www.Sevared.com
Country: US
Selection: Death and Grind
Orders: 1
Shipping: <1 Week
Secure: Paypal
Additional comments: yes another $10 PPD, goldmine niche price if you ask me.

Deathgasm www.Deathgasm.com
Country: US
Selection: Death and Grind
Orders: 3
Shipping <1 Week
Secure: Paypal, Credit Cards
Additional comments: Most cds are $10, however there is a shipping charge.. huge selection
 
Distro name: http://darkhorizon666.com/WEBCART/menu.htm
Country: USA (Indiana to be specific)
Selection: Every genre of metal...there's also dvds, t shirts, books, and a shitload of other stuff
Orders: twice
Shipping: less than one week
Secure: Yes
Additional comments: Fucking awesome selection of underground and not so underground metal bands. The shipping was incredibly quick. Box and contents were taped up like a motherfucker. Prices are pretty reasonable ($10-14) but they'll stick ya on the shipping charges ($4). But definitely worth it
 
What country you are from: US

Relapse (www.relapse.com)
Country: Pennsylvania, US
Selection: Extremely wide array of all kinds of metal, plus some indie, rock, jazz, maybe even hip hop if I'm not mistaken
Orders: How many times you've ordered from them: 3
Shipping: 1 week to a month. Considering their HQ is only 3 hours from me, that doesn't bode well for anyone else. However, these were fairly small orders, and anything over $40 is automatically upgraded to UPS instead of the post office, and people in parts of Scandinavia have spoke highly to me of the turnaround time with overseas orders.
Secure: Yes. Paypal, Credit Cards, Snail Mail, all that jazz can be used.
Additional comments: This distro has both pros and cons. The good news is that the selection is practically unbeatable in terms of selection and diversity, so you can purchase titles from a lot of different styles and genres all in one place, which is sometimes worth it even at an extra couple of bucks per CD. The downside is that the website's selection can be deceiving. Even though the selection IS quite good, there's a lot listed on the site that is out of stock (while it clearly states this for some titles, for others it does not), and unless it's something they're more likely to keep on hand, like Relapse albums, it's somewhat advisable to call and find out if the items you want are available. Personally, I don't use Relapse much for this reason since I can usually find what I need elsewhere for cheaper, but the few times I did order online with them I had no problems.
 
Levykauppa &#196;x http://www.recordshopx.com/index.php
Country: Finland, ships everywhere
Selection: Anything from extreme metal to obscure prog to hip-hop
Orders: ~15
Shipping: 1 day to Finland, no idea internationally
Secure: Yes
Comments: Great customer support at least in Finland, usually received answers to any questions in under 5 minutes via email, and the super-fast shipping in Finland is awesome.
 
What country you are from: ummmm i dunno

Distro name: Perris Records
Country: Houston, Texas, USA
Selection: Traditional, glam, power, some thrash & a tiny bit of "extreme"
Orders: never, i mean, this is me we're talking about...
Shipping: < 1-2 weeks
Secure: call or email credit info, secure enough
Additional comments: I used to work for Tom a couple years back (if you ordered from Perris in '04, i touched your stuff haha!), he's a real good dude, so I figured i'd give him some love for letting me eat his food and sleep on his couch. Wouldya believe I was involved with a glam label? :lawl:
 
From: Massachusetts, USA

Willowtip (http://www.willowtip.com/)
Country: Pennsylvania, USA
Selection: mostly technical death, grind
Orders: 3
Shipping: 3-5 days
Secure: Yes. Accepts Paypal and credit.
Pricing: $8 - $10 CD
Largest order: 3 CDs
Additional comments: Free shipping in US. Always reliable and fast.

Battle Kommand (http://www.battlekommand.com/)
Country: Illinois, USA
Selection: black and doom
Orders: 2
Shipping: 1 week
Secure: Yes. Accepts Paypal, cash, money order.
Pricing: $10 CD / $14-18 LP
Largest order: 9 CDs
Additional comments: Cheap shipping, quality selection, and excellent service. Plus, you get to exchange super friendly emails with Blake of Nachtmystium. :p

Fullmoon Productions (http://www.fmp666.com/)
Country: Florida, USA
Selection: black
Orders: 2
Shipping: 2 weeks
Secure: Yes. Accepts Paypal, cash, money order.
Pricing: $11-13 CD
Largest order: 2 CDs
Additional comments: Not that bad really. It&#8217;s pricey, but worth it for the obscure titles they have sometimes, like Alcest &#8220;Le Secret&#8221;. John&#8217;s scary handwriting is always a plus.

Autopsy Kitchen (http://www.autopsykitchen.com/)
Country: Indiana, USA
Selection: black, death, thrash, doom
Orders: 2
Shipping: 1 week
Secure: Yes. Accepts Paypal, cash, money order.
Pricing: $10 CD
Largest order: 5 CDs
Additional comments: Fast service, but no personal contact; you always wonder if they got your order or not until it comes in the mail. Pretty cheap considering the stuff they carry (Drudkh, Satanic Warmaster&#8230;). Shipping depends on delivery method.

Regimental Records (http://www.regimentalrecords.com/)
Country: New Jersey, USA
Selection: black metal, death metal, some doom
Orders: 1
Shipping: 3 Days
Secure: Order via email. Accepts Paypal, cash, money order, and credit.
Pricing: $9 CD / $10-$12 LP / $5 EP / $4 Tape
Largest order: 8 CDs
Additional comments: Super friendly and fast! Occasionally they have a $6.66 CD deal. Free shipping within USA.

Suffering Jesus (http://www.sufferingjesus.info/)
Country: Saskatchewan, Canada
Selection: mostly black metal, some death, doom, thrash
Orders: 1
Shipping: 2 weeks
Secure: Order via email. Accepts Paypal, cash, money order.
Pricing: $10 - $12 CD (US for US customers, Canadian for Canadians)
Largest order: 10 CDs
Additional comments: Friendly service. Free shipping in US and Canada, additional discounts on your order if they send without jewel cases.

Barbarian Wrath (http:// www.thebasar.org/)
Country: Germany
Selection: black, death
Orders: 1
Shipping: 1 week
Secure: Order via email. Accepts Paypal and others.
Pricing: &#8364;8-13 CD
Largest order: 5 CDs
Additional comments: Carries all Barbarian wrath stuff. Save on shipping by sending CDs without jewel cases. Good communication, extremely fast compared to other European distros I&#8217;ve used!

Drakkar Productions (http:// www.drakkar666.com/)
Country: France
Selection: mostly black, death, some thrash, doom, ambient
Orders: 1
Shipping: 2 weeks
Secure: Order via email. Accepts Paypal, cash, bank transfer.
Pricing: &#8364;10 CD (for American customers &#8364;1 = $1)
Largest order: 17 CDs!
Additional comments: Carries LLN-related French black metal, owned by Noctu of Celestia / Mortifera / Gestapo 666. Save on shipping by sending CDs without jewel cases. They sent the wrong CD and didn&#8217;t respond, but good communication prior to that. Oh well&#8230; it was a huge order.

No Colours (http://www.no-colours-records.de/)
Country: Germany
Selection: mostly black, some death, traditional
Orders: 1
Shipping: 1 month and a week
Secure: Yes. Accepts Paypal, bank transfer.
Pricing: &#8364;8-12 CD, some steals at &#8364;4
Largest order: 14 CDs
Additional comments: Carries hard-to-find No Colours releases&#8230; plenty of Graveland, Iuvenes, Wigrid etc. Save on shipping by sending CDs without jewel cases. VERY SLOW!

more later...
 
Fresno, CA

http://www.alldirect.com
Country: USA
Selection: EVERYTHING
Orders: 3 orders, $400
Shipping: Free shipping takes about 7-10 days(free only for orders $99 or more)
ships from TN
Secure: Don't know...it's a VERY basic site
Comments: An extremely basic site that has a greater metal selection than amazon.com. CDs are usually 3-4 dollars cheaper than amazon.com and 5-9 dollars cheaper than ALL brick and mortar stores. I find lots of cds for $6.99 that sell on the streets for 13+.
The packaging is superb as well, they uses boxes with plenty of popcorn and i've had zero broken cases because of it. Its simply the best place for non-bmg/sony purchases. Another good thing is that out of stock merch does get filled up regulary. The only problem is that the site has been down for about a week. email= help@alldirect.com if ur interested in ordering or wondering when it will be back online

possessed-seven churches

Price: $13.98 amazon.com
Price: $9.34 alldirect.com
 
This thread should be stickied.

Casablanca, Morocco

http://www.season-of-mist.com/
Country: France
Selection: ENORMOUS!
Orders: 6 orders
Shipping: <1 week
Secure: yes
Comments: Fantastic distro... huge selection. VERY LOW prices on many items - the ones marked "cool price" (in the 3-6 euro region!!!). Fast delivery. Bonus stuff (demos etc...) generally come with every order. Constantly re-stocked. Can't praise this distro enough for people based in Europe (or North Africa like me)
 
Galy Records: http://www.galyrecords.com/index.html
Country: Canada
Selection: death (some tech too), black, thrash, grindcore, etc.
Orders: 4
Shipping: <1 week
Secure: Yes, via Paypal
Comments: I really like this distro/label, they've these bands get big : Gorguts, Cryptopsy, Neuraxis, Ion Dissonance, Despised Icon, DBC, Beneath the Massacre, Aggression, Anvil, Fistfuck, etc. There's a lot of Canadians bands in there and they have good prices.

Also, never tried this one online but went to their store http://www.gwnrecords.com/
they have grindcore bands, viking, doom, death, black, etc. Mostly Canadians bands but they have Russians, Europeen and Americans bands too.
 
Distro name: http://www.roboticempire.com/
Country: United States
Selection: Punk, Metal, and Grind
Orders: 2
Shipping: 1-2 weeks from my experience
Secure: Yes, Paypal
Additional comments:Good prices and a wide selection. My friend who ordered from there got sent a free album because they took longer than expected on shipping it, too.
 
Here's one I haven't seen yet:

Distro: Soldats Inconnus ( www.soldatsinconnus.cjb.net )
Country: France
Selection: Primarily European black metal, good selection of Drudkh and Hate Forest merch.
Orders: 1 (two shirts, five cds)
Shipping: 10-14 days with the registered shipping (extra 4 euros). Pretty fast for overseas.
Payments: Paypal, most of the other popular methods. Orders arranged through email. No shopping cart.
Prices: 10-12 euros for albums, 15 for shirts. I got the excellent Crushing the Holy Trinity for 25.
Comments: Seemed to be a rather small operation, but I was satisfied with their selection and the speed was good. I was kind of raped by the exchange rates, but they have some exclusive stuff, it seems.