Record stores are EVIL.

[Jim LotFP]

I mean, it's bad enough I have four CDs on the way from The End (Green Carnation EP, new Kayo Dot, Toby Driver solo album, latest Gory Blister), but I was going to get the new Ephel Duath from Kråklund today... and I walked out with that... AND the new Confessor... AND they had the Nasum Grind Finale thing playing on the stereo... I recognized the band but I didn't know that was finally out... and I just had to get it all. ARGH. ARGH. ARGH.

As we were leaving, Nasum's cover of Tools of the Trade came on. "Carcass cover!" I said. The guy at the counter, a 'classic grind' guy (we've had conversations about early 90s Relapse bands) had to look it up. C'mon, you're a sucky poseur if you never got the Tools of the Trade EP when it first came out. hee-hee-hee!

edit 1: ddduuuudddeeee... ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-TWO tracks over two CDs on this Nasum thing.

hee-hee!

edit 2: The Confessor album has a sticker with promo quotes from a Lamb of God dork, Phil Anselmo, and Karl Sanders. The sticker is on the jewel case, UNDERNEATH the fucking plastic wrap. grrrr...

 

[Occam's Razor]

I melted a jewel case once when I removed a sticker with the hair-dryer...

How do you like Ephel Duath?

Green Carnation has 42 minutes, it's a real album, and it's good, though only moody. Better than "Damnation", if you want to compare it to a similar concept. Their bass player has a great voice and should sing more if you ask me.

 

[Jim LotFP]

I melted a jewel case once when I removed a sticker with the hair-dryer...

Don't tell me that. I'll start melting jewel cases down to make melted plastic sculptures. I once filled all sorts of bowls and cups and stuff with water, stuck straws and knives and forks in them, and stuck them in the freezer.

When people came over I'd insist on showing them my ice sculpture work.

How do you like Ephel Duath?

The last album was WOW, but Confessor is in right now and Sanna's home so the drum madness will probably have to wait.

Green Carnation has 42 minutes, it's a real album, and it's good, though only moody. Better than "Damnation", if you want to compare it to a similar concept. Their bass player has a great voice and should sing more if you ask me.

The Burden Is Mine...Alone is what I got, it was advertised as an EP. Is the full album out yet?

 

[Occam's Razor]

The last album was WOW, but Confessor is in right now and Sanna's home so the drum madness will probably have to wait.

"Pain..." is somehow like one long "song", or rather fragments of that...I can't really make anything out of it, there is no carrying out of ideas audible, it's rather loose improvisation. The singer is in the lineup still, but you just hear the screams. A friend saw them live last week, I have to ask him how it was...

The Burden Is Mine...Alone is what I got, it was advertised as an EP. Is the full album out yet?

I got the promo from Sublife Records, it was released last week and got "album of the month" in Rock Hard France. Now, this does not mean anything, but it is really good - again no repetition of its predecessor.

 

[Jim LotFP]

"Pain..." is somehow like one long "song", or rather fragments of that...I can't really make anything out of it, there is no carrying out of ideas audible, it's rather loose improvisation. The singer is in the lineup still, but you just hear the screams. A friend saw them live last week, I have to ask him how it was...

I snuck a listen in.

Fucking hell. I had this notion that the new album couldn't POSSIBLY be as freaky as the last one, the band HAS to be getting safer, I mean, they're on Earache and were one of the two bands kept from the Elitist meltdown. They have to be getting 'trendier'.

... I was still buying it because if I don't buy the followup to an album as good as Painter's Palette, I'm no fan of music...

But ... oohh... myyy... godddd... this thing is MANIACAL!

 

[Occam's Razor]

I wish they had expanded on songwriting more - "Palette" had indeed some "hits". Also, they should have kept the sax. I love that so much in the heavy context (go listen to The Mass "City of Dis" and "Perfect Picture")...

My Spinefarm promos...Finland Metal sucks for the most part - I mean Norther? Twilight Guardians? - Only Ajattara was alright.
The dilemma of Scandinavian metal: too much craftsmanship, no vision.

 

[DBB]

I melted a jewel case once when I removed a sticker with the hair-dryer

The Confessor album has a sticker with promo quotes from a Lamb of God dork, Phil Anselmo, and Karl Sanders. The sticker is on the jewel case, UNDERNEATH the fucking plastic wrap. grrrr...

The recent Tankard reissues have what should have been a sticker on the shrink-wrap or the jewel case directly printed over the original artwork of the album covers. I had a grand mal seizure--absolutely no way to remove it. Noise Records are fuckin' idiots. I was surprised that the liner notes and lyrics are all there though--a lot of the CDs and resissues the label has done in the past are just atrocious. The Gamma Ray digipaks with new art are crimes against humanity.

Record stores are indeed evil....I will be making a trip over to The Metal Haven here in a week or two and it will be ugly.

 

[Occam's Razor]

Tankard reissues? - Haven't heard about that yet, or is it only in the US?
The band is on AFM Records now...what good have Noise issued in the last years - I think they live off the back catalogue of their old bands.

I'm still waiting for re-issues that would make sense (e.g. Toxik).

 

[DBB]

Tankard reissues? - Haven't heard about that yet, or is it only in the US?

The copies I have are imports and what appear to be some retrospective musings in the Zombie Attack/Chemical Invasion two-for-one are in German.

I'm still waiting for re-issues that would make sense (e.g. Toxik).

Don’t hold your breath…

Lollipop: Why something like Pestilence and not Believer?

Conner: Believe it or not, even when Believer was doing “well,” they never sold many copies. The Pestilence (reissue) isn’t selling many copies right now, either (chuckles).
Lollipop.com

I’ve only seen the King Diamond Fatal Portrait/Abigail reissue—but everything about it was cheap and barebones, and I have numerous other problems with the entire line of "From the Vault" reissues, so the rereleasing of more obscure albums would be somewhat unwelcome. ..

My ancient cassette copy of Sanity Obscure is on its last leg (lost the insert many moons ago) and Dimensions disappeared from my collection at some point over the years—so Believer reissues would be welcome, but the only ones out there are off limits:

May 5 , 2005

To Believer fans:
A Message from Kurt Bachman

It has recently been directed to our attention that re-releases of Sanity Obscure and Dimensions from Retroactive Records contain “bonus material” in the forms of demo tracks and bootlegged live material. Joey and I have never given our permission to use this material on these re-releases and were quite upset when we heard this news.

We have always prided ourselves in releasing to our devoted and deserving fans only the best sounding recordings of Believer tunes that we could produce. We also put together records that we feel are “complete” works for that particular time in our musical lives. The idea of cramming on “bonus” tracks that sound awful at the end of re-releases for the purpose of making a “new” product to generate sales really pisses us off. Sanity Obscure ENDS with Like A Song, Dimensions ENDS with “Take care we love you, bye bye.” Not with some old recording that doesn’t belong.

We are currently looking into this situation to ensure that this doesn’t happen again and hope that these add-ons don’t leave an undesired impression in your musical minds.

 

[Jim LotFP]

Arch Enemy's Black Earth.

Opeth's Orchid, Morningrise, My Arms Your Hearse.

What other albums have been ruined by bonus track idiocy? (not just the presence of bonus tracks, but bonus tracks which either ruin what is supposed to be THE END of an album, or are so obviously out of place they disrupt the mood the entire album has established)

My first run-in with this was probably on Moonspell's Wolfheart. I had a perfectly good jewel case with the dark wolfheads-and-moon cover with the old evil logo.

Good fuckin' stuff.

But then I saw a DIGIPAK that had that godawful amateurish two-wolves-fighting cover... and a BONUS TRACK!

So Alma Mater, a great song, ends... and so should the album. But on this extra special version... here comes... Ataegina! Or as my girlfriend at the time asked, "Why are there gay leprechauns on this CD now?"

*kill kill kill*

 

[BenMech]

Queensryche, Mindcrime remaster.

Bonus material should have been on a 2nd cd.


Btw, I keep my promo stickers for later year curiosity. What I do is use an exato knife to cut around on the shrinkwrap (which I can remove without tearing the damn thing)

 

[DBB]

I keep my promo stickers for later year curiosity.

Well, hell...man. If you have been saving these for a long time you should break them out and share the odd, interesting, unbelievable and laughable.


Stickers on the front of jewel cases are irritating, but there is one I will never remove:

“This is pure metal in the absolute, and those proclaiming the genre’s death have officially been silenced.”

- Metal Maniacs

“DECEASED is music for metal fans made by fans of metal music. If you are proud to call yourself a metalhead then this album is truly dedicated to you!!!”

- King Fowley, drummer/vocalist

 

[Occam's Razor]

My first run-in with this was probably on Moonspell's Wolfheart. I had a perfectly good jewel case with the dark wolfheads-and-moon cover with the old evil logo.

The funny thing is that the original with the evil logo is hard to find now, the bonus track is good, though...