Skeletonwitch - Serpents Unleashed

I first heard of Skeletonwitch from the bonus features on the "Get Thrashed" documentary dvd. Scott and Chance would give their opinions of a wide range of great 80's thrash bands from across the world. These guys knew their stuff.
A while later I heard their second album Beyond the Permafrost and was intrigued by how they incorporated old school thrash with black and death metal vocals. They were one of the newer bands that didn't get lumped in with the whole "Thrash Revival" movement at the time as they weren't as blatant in their Overkill and Exodus worship.
Fast forward to 2013 and we have their new album Serpents Unleashed released on Prosthetic Records. There are some hardcore ties as they recorded at God City Studios with Kurt Ballou from Converge producing the album.
The band were in town last week opening for The Black Dahlia Murder. I don't like them much. But Skeletonwitch were amazing. They were selling loads of vinyl including this one I picked up. The merch guy said this was a tour exclusive color and once it sold out it wouldn't be repressed. Whatever. I just wanted the new album as it was only released a couple weeks ago.

I have no idea how many were pressed and I haven't heard or read anything about it online. Red with black splatter vinyl isn't the greatest combo to go with the artwork, but at least it is heavyweight wax.

They had John Dyer Baizley from Baroness do the unmistakable artwork for the album. This came with a poster of the cover art as well. Nice bonus for sure. Too bad that it will never see the light of day in my house. I'm pretty sure the wife and kids wouldn't dig it.

I think the new album is streaming online somewhere. You should check it out. These guys are the real deal.

Glenn Danzig - Who Killed Marilyn?

Well I wasn't quite able to make it in time for Halloween, but better late than never. I was able to take some of my record sale money and pick up this sweet first press of the Glenn Danzig - Who Killed Marilyn? 7".

For half of my punk rock life, I thought that Who Killed Marilyn was a Misfits song. It has definitely been appropriated by the band and was included on the Legacy of Brutality album and also that Misfits box set (which also included the b side Spook City USA). Can you believe that that coffin cd box set came out around 17 years ago? Holy crap, that's a long time ago. Feels like yesterday.
Anyway, there's nothing like owning the real thing and I grabbed this fairly cheap off ebay after Mike put up a post on Vinyl Noize for the Halloween 7".  Despite Mike's tacky and all too obvious efforts of posting a Misfits - Halloween 7" right before October 31, I was fortunate the seller was getting rid of this at the same time. Thanks bro, I never would have saw this if not for your hack writing. I kid! I kid!

I was particularly happy to grab a first press on black vinyl as most collectors scramble for the purple vinyl second press. I will take a first press for 1/3 of the cost of a 2nd press color any day.
All in all, not a bad deal. That brings the number of original Misfits 7" I own up to seven. One to go, and of course it is the toughest, most bootlegged one possible. Fucking Cough/Cool. Oh well.

Have Heart - 10.17.09

I have come the conclusion that I don't know what I am doing.

I thought I was finally getting a handle on the insane collecting pace I had sustained from 2004-2012 when I bought every variant of every release by every band on every label. I had people who saw my collection ask me if I was a distro. 4000+ records, around 1/3 of it unique, and most of it from five labels. I needed to change my habits as it was unsustainable, especially with the increased number of represses and reissues rolling out daily.
I decided to make a threefold decision that would help shape and guide me into the future.

1. Only collect first pressings. If there are multiple color variants in that first pressing, cool. But no more endless represses. I was make Bridge 9 and RevHq orders for $100 plus $100 postage to put items untouched on the shelves. No more.
2. Sell all my 2nd press and higher variants. Well, not all of them. I have some pretty awesome collections going, but second tier stuff or records I bought on auto pilot because of the label had to stop.
3. Keep only one copy of marginal stuff or wholesale pitch records of bands I will never listen to again. Be ruthless and honest.

In the end it only amounted to 300 records. Oh well, it's a start.

I sold some at a record fair, I sold some on ebay and I sold some on Discogs (I still have some left. http://www.discogs.com/seller/DougW )
The rest I sold to a local record store for store credit. I felt good. Money in my pocket. A new outlook on collecting and a focus and direction to look for new music with a line of store credit to make it happen. All good.

Then I went and bought my 6th copy of Have Heart's live lp 10.17.09.

At least I can somewhat justify it, as it is the limited friend's press on solid green vinyl. This was limited to only 100 and were very hard to come by. I pre-ordered the dvd/cd/poster/vinyl set the second it was announced and I only scored a clear/300. White and blue copies were easy to come by and I scored a red on ebay fairly cheap.

The tough one was the damn solid green. I wasn't alone in my frustration to score one. Prices for this sucker have been as high as $160 just a couple years ago. Even a month ago one sold for close to $70.

I was fortunate to score this one for $25. I still don't know how I did it, but I'm glad it happened.

Oh and don't think for a second that this means I'm out of record collecting. I put that money to good use. Think greatest band of all time. Godfathers of heavy metal. Vertigo swirl.
I'm so giddy I could burst.

Possessed - Seven Churches

In preparation for the Possessed show tonight at the Noctis 666 metal festival here in Calgary, I figured I would pull out my Seven Churches collection. This album is one of my personal favorites. It was a groundbreaking album as the band pretty much created death metal even though most of the members were still in high school. Back in 1985, I considered this album thrash. Crazy, fucked up Satanic thrash, but thrash along the same line I considered Venom thrash. I wasn't very worldly back then.

Seven Churches was also a great album to collect. Anything released on one of the "indie" metal labels from the 80's had lots of variants with all the licensing imprint deals. 

The first press on Combat came with an embossed cover and green labels. The side spine is also mis-spelled as "Seven Curches". The only downside is that the cover has a real bad tendency to develop ring wear just like the Combat Core version of Agnostic Front's Victim In Pain.

 The album also came with a b/w two sided glossy inner sleeve. Of course there are split seam issues. That shit happens with 30 year old records.

The second press of the album is close to the original except the labels were changed to the familiar camouflage ones. The embossed covers remain as does the mis-spelling on the spine and the awesome inner sleeves.

Next up is the Century Media Euro pressing from 2000. It comes on red vinyl and a drastically changed layout. The title is now in red lettering and the embossment is gone. The back cover is also changed and is a major letdown.

Here is a comparison of the two back covers. No contest. The Century Media one sucks.

I never bothered to pick up the Euro Roadrunner version from the 80's just because they never had the embossed covers.
To round it out, I have included my Banzai Records Canadian version of the cassette. I love anything to do with tapes and the Banzai speed metal swirl!

I don't for a second think that tonight's show is going to be anywhere near as good as seeing the band back in their heyday. Hell, only Jeff Becerra is left and he has been in a wheelchair since the 90's and doesn't play bass anymore. Still, the chance to hear Pentagram and Seven Churches will be a dream come true. Good times.

Gorilla Biscuits - Start Today "Final" Press

Lately, I have been making an effort to try and finish off my Revelation "final" presses collection. I kick myself because it's not like I wasn't around when they were first released in the early 2000's. Hell, I even bought a couple at the time. My copy of Judge's  Bringin' It Down on orange is still sealed.
I have a lot of regret when it comes to this collection. At the time I thought owning multiple copies of albums was stupid and I didn't want to waste $12. Wow, $12.
I did a post on the Bold - Speak Out last month, so this time around is Gorilla Biscuits Start Today.

The "final" press for this one was limited to 310 copies on clear red vinyl.

The cover is the one used for later presses with no embossing on the band name or title. Pretty standard insert as well.

This particular copy came partially sealed. The previous owner opened the shrink enough to check on the color. The sticker on the front would have been a giveaway to me, but an unplayed copy is downright awesome. I had no reservations with slicing the shrink wrap up the rest of the seam the second I got it. Got to take pictures you know.

The Rival Mob - HC4HC SFU Showcase

Not too much to write about with this one. The Rival Mob's Hardcore For Hardcore 7" that was specially pressed for the 2010 Six Feet Under Records Showcase. 

I wasn't at the show. I can't tell you a cool story of wrenching it from some kid's hands during the chaos of a merch table war. Nope. I bought it on ebay a couple weeks ago. I have been pretty patient with this one as the cost over the last couple years has been kind of nuts whenever it pops up.

I do have to say now that I finally have it, this is one the nicer looking fest press records I have seen in a while. It's got all the bells and whistles. I really like the variation on the regular cover, the stamped blank labels and the showcase date clearly printed on the back cover instead of carved in with a sharpie or something!

 There were only 75 of these pressed, all on black vinyl.

There was quite a feeding frenzy for these as the band gained more momentum leading up to the release of their latest album. I'm just glad I was able to get one without breaking the bank. Be patient. I'm finally starting to get that.

Bold - Speak Out "Final Press"

I was very recently accused of slacking so hard on this blog that I was essentially letting it die. Well, that might be true.
I think I have said it before, there are lots of really good record collecting blogs that do an admirable job showing off all the new stuff people have acquired from labels or distros. Totally cool.
I just figured no one wants to see what I got in the mail when they were getting the exact same thing. So I have been pretty selective on what I post. Plus I'm not going to lie, summer in Canada is like three weeks long. I got shit to do outside.

One thing I did get in recently that is blog worthy is this "final" press Bold Speak Out. You all remember when Revelation decided in the early 2000's that vinyl was dead and pressed very small numbers of color vinyl as final pressings for some of their earlier releases? Yeah, that kind of fell by the wayside. There were a couple releases though that got the discography treatment and the originals ended up being actual final presses. This is one of them.
I don't know why I passed on buying this for so long. I dig the album and the band, but maybe it was the cost that was so prohibitive. Anyway, I finally got one.

The album was pressed on the ugliest yellow vinyl I have ever seen. There were just 330 of these made back in the altogether scary year of 2001.

It was released with the same blue labels as the later non-gatefold pressings. Well except for that one press with white labels. I just bought one of those too. Hopefully it gets here soon.

As all the the later presses came with standard sleeves, one sheet inserts were used. I have to say, I really dug the first three pressings of this record with the gatefold sleeve, black vinyl and two tone color labels. That was awesome.

I have a couple more Revelation "final" presses on the way that I am looking forward to receiving. One of them blows this out of the water! Still, I'm glad to have this and color vinyl is never a bad thing.