CONVERGE – All We Love We Leave Behind 2xLP

Awwwwww yeah!!! Here I am back to regain some of my hardcore punk street cred.

The almighty Converge returned with a new album, All We Love We Leave Behind. To say that this is album is a beast is an understatement. This is Converge at their meanest and rawest and most intense. In the band’s already ongoing 20+ years career, this album is a summation of all things Converge and then some. They have taken everything from before, beaten it into the current sound and style, and come up with a mish-mash that encompasses all the  best they have to give. And it’s fuckin’ glorious!

If you’ve listened to the album by now, then there is no need to “review” or retread what AWLWLB is all about. If you feel inclined though, just mozy on over to the proper review of the album I did on T1F. No, this is more and all about the vinyl. Vinyls. Records. Rekkidz. Yeah.

Waaaaaaaay back in late August, pre-orders for this bad boy dropped on and went live on Deathwish Inc. As expected fanboys and girls clamored for this and ordered with the quickness. Myself included of course. I don’t even remember what the expected release date was at the time. That’s a bit irrelevant by now. All that is widely known is that this pre-order was fraught with delays all thanks to The Beatles. Yes. The Beatles. I have no beef with the Liverpool foursome and their music. I enjoy what they’ve done and I’m cognizant of their influence and contributions to pop and rock music. (If you’re one of those narrow-minded assholes that kept saying “Fuck The Beatles” and bitching and moaning about their music when tied in with the delays faced by a lot of labels and record manufacturing plants, please do me a favor and get fucked. You’re an idiot and more than likely some young 20-something who doesn’t know his/her head from your own ass).

So yeah. The Beatles…or rather, whomever is holding the rights to their music nowadays, decided to release a massive box set of all of their records. Being that it’s a massive catalog and undertaking, this tied up at least two of the major record manufacturing plants in producing it. Which of course affected every other customer/label/band who had records to be made. Including Deathwish Inc. and all the Converge AWLWLB 2xLP.

But all the waiting and inherent bitching and moaning by the aforementioned narrow-minded assholes, was well worth the wait. The 2xLP release of AWLWLB is incredible. How can you beat a foil-stamped gatefold jacket and full-art in the centerfold as well as the insert?!?! You can’t!

     

The foil-stamping made it fun to photograph properly with and without the camera flash and even natural light. So shiny!

And of course as expected, it was off to the races to figured out what colors would be pressed and how limited they’d each be. Speculation ran rampant as soon as the first few orders started being received by all the clamoring fanboys and girls. Right out of the gate, Deathwish Inc. announced that there’d be a three-colorway as usual with their releases. Plus a 180gram Black and also an exclusive Yellow for their Kings Road Merch & Epitaph webstore.

At the time of posting this, the only pressing numbers known are the 180gram Black (1,000) and the KRM Yellow (1,000).

     
     

    

And there is also yet another color, a Red/Orange Swirl that the band currently has on tour in Europe. The exact pressing on that is still up for debate after much discussion and arguments over it. We will know in due time.

So. That’s a total of seven variants including the Black 180gram. And surely if you haven’t kept up the dominant record nerds message boards discussing this release, you’re wondering where that Clear variant came from and what’s it all about. So far it is being speculated that it’s a “friends & family” pressing much like Relapse Records does with their releases (coincidently also on clear vinyl). But if you’ve been a long Converge and Deathwish Inc. fan and supporter, then you know this along the same lines as the Axe to Fall “shards” and the Jane Doe reissue “peach” variants which were  randomly inserted to the first few orders and also given to long-time friends and supporters of the band and label. And are ridiculously rare and limited.

     

So there you have it.

Converge‘s All We Love We Leave Behind 2xLP. I’m sure that all pressing info will be released soon. And then people can start going nuts over what colors they have and how limited they are and inflate their senses of entitlement even more. Ha! Just kidding.

CONVERGE – Jane Doe 10th Anniversary

CONVERGE‘s Jane Doe turns 10 today. Released just seven days before the 9/11 attacks, it can be argued that it was a bittersweet release. Not only did it mark a pinnacle in the aggressive music genre, but it’s closely remembered to the terrorist attacks solely due to the proximity of the release date.

Jane Doe has become a de facto benchmark and measuring gauge on what a band can do within the hardcore punk & metal scenes. With this album Converge veered away from the conventional hardcore of previous releases and created a sonically pummeling experiment. I’ll be the first one to admit that when I first listened to the record I didn’t know quite what to make of it. It was jarring, cacophonous, noisy, and terrifying. But there was something about it that kept me coming back to repeated listens until, in an unexpected moment, it clicked. I was able to understand it within the music and lyrics. And it was glorious!

No, there’s not a 10th anniversary reissue. No fancy reissue with bonus tracks and demos and all that nonsense. The 2xLP reissue from Deathwish Inc. already happened. That’s enough. Jane Doe is perfect the way it is. No need to take away from the mystery and wonder of it.

So go celebrate by listening to it cranked up to 11. And enjoy some pretty pretty pictures of it here:

Yes…I am fully aware that the Root Beer and Black versions of the O.G. pressing are not pictured…

Oh well.

This Is Hardcore 2011 Releases

Ask any vinyl nerd what aspect of the whole hobby/game/lifestyle/obsession of collecting they enjoy most and a few are more likely to answer that they like finding and getting rarer versions or pressings. Whether it’s a record-release pressing, or something limited to 10 copies, or even friends pressing given out to random people who  commit lewd acts in front of the band or send in nudes…ya know, crazy shit like that.

When it comes to fests and special shows, some bands and labels take the route of creating something special and unique to have for sale at their merch tables. This is awesome as it makes the release more special and specific for that event and performance. But sometimes it can be a downer since some fans can’t make it to the show or fest when they’re far and away from their hometown. But much thanks to the internet age, it’s gotten a bit easier for someone to get Band X’s first album repressed with special cover covered in the singer’s blood only sold at the band’s final show in their Podunk hometown. Again…some crazy shit like that. But yeah…now thanks to message boards, Twitter, and Facebook, Fan Numero Fanatico Fantastico can beg and plead to friends and people attending the show to hook them up with a copy of that one record they want. Some get lucky and do get hooked…while others who tend to be overzealous and annoying in their pleas go unnoticed and ignored.

I tend to fall somewhere in the middle of that mess. But sometimes waiting can also work out as if there are any leftover merch, including those rare pressings, they become available online via the band or the label’s webstores.

In the case of this year’s This Is Hardcore, I lucked out in both fronts: having someone who went help me secure a couple of releases and also waiting for some to be available online afterwards.

Thanks to a good lad over at Dead Format, I was hooked up with Strife‘s My Fire Burns On 7″ and Moutpiece‘s Can’t Kill What’s Inside LP.

Strife was one of the first sXe hardore bands I got into way back when. Even though I am far from sXe they still hit home with their message and the music was great to mosh to. Ha! For TIH they repressed their My Fire Burns On 7″ and did a special silkscreened cover that folds out into a mini-print of sorts. Limited to 50 hand-numbered copies it’s on a grey marble puke messy color.

Mouthpiece is another sXe band I got into early. I believe it was last year…or maybe in 2009…Revelation Records compiled all of their recordings and put out the Can’t Kill What’s Inside LP. The band reunited and has been playing shows. For TIH, they took the second pressing of the discography LP of green vinyl and made a special cover for it limited to just 50. They got creative with this one using the G.I. Joe figure from the early 1960s on the cover. If you know your Revelation Records history, then you know how the “connection” with G.I. Joe and how this cover is an homage to that.

And now we have Deathwish Inc. They took the leftovers from TIH and posted them on their webstore thus giving fans a chance to get their grubby hands on these.

For TIH, DW took three records that they had vinyl for but no jackets and made special silkscreened covers. As it tends to surely happen, labels probably get an overrun of vinyl or jackets for some of their releases and these just sit in their warehouse or storage as they can’t really be released. So with these three, Deathwish went ahead and made something special for TIH.

Cold World – Dedicated To Babies Who Came Feet First. Black vinyl…unknown number on this pressing. Maybe a “reissue” for sorts to keep it in print. It feels weightier so 180gram perhaps? The TIH silkscreened cover is out of 110.

Killing The Dream – Fractures. Transparent Ice Blue (Coke Bottle) w/ White Splatter. The vinyl itself is the second pressing out of 200. With the silkscreened cover out of 150. So does that mean that only 50 copies of the second pressing had real jackets? Hmmmmm… This is probably my favorite of the TIH releases DW did. The cover is like a mini print of J. Bannon’s artwork and design. Which is also an actual art print he did a year or so back. And it goes perfect with the vinyl color.

Blacklisted – …And The Beat Goes On. Black vinyl. No pressing info that known. I do get the sneaking suspicion that this the vinyl from a recent repress on 180gram. I say that because over at Six Feet Under Records’ webstore (and email newsletter) they mention a 180gram black vinyl reissue. Yet another Hmmmm. But this is out of 180 with the silkscreened cover. And it sold like hot cakes! Understandibly so as it is a great record.

Deathwish did a bang-up job on these for sure. Much like the Converge – You Fail Me leftover vinyl w/ silkscreened covers from a couple of years back, these are special and pretty overall awesome.

Pretty cool isn’t it?

And by the way…if anyone has an extra or willing to trade/sell a copy of the YFM red w/ black stripe w/ the silkscreened cover get at me. I’m down for a trade or purchase. juantspv@gmail.com

So that basically wraps up the TIH releases I got my hands on.

Surely there will be plenty of more fests and shows with special releases and pressings and variants that I will want to get my hands on. But only those bands I’m into. And labels I continually support and consistently put out great music. Like Deathwish Inc.

“Shamelessly brown-nosing since 1995”

This CONVERGE collection will kick your ass!

Over at Dead Format, a fellow CONVERGE fan and collector took the time to take a picture of his collection. To say that it’s mind-numbingly awesome would a gross understatment.

If a picture is worth a thousand words…then this one is worth a few thousand dollars and one word: FUCKIN’ AWESOME!!! (Ok, that’s two words…but fuck you this is my blog…kinda)

Mad props to darrenxdoe for sharing the pic…and taking the time to lay his collection out…and not falling off the ladder in the process.

 

Converge and Trap Them

While at the Converge show I scored a couple things other than the 7″s. Here are the other records. I’m not going to talk too much about them because they’ve been covered here in the past. As far as pressing is concerned, I’d be interest in knowing about the No Heroes and Darker Handcraft. Both of these bands were brilliant live and were also fantastic people cept for Nate Newton who appeared to be stoned on some kind of aerosol…..okay, not really but he really looked like there was something wrong with him. He was cracking me up all night.

Trap Them – Seance Prime: The Complete Recordings (1st print on white)

Trap Them – Darker Handcraft (Tour edition limited to 250 – 180 gram silver)

Converge – No Heroes (clear red)

Converge – Jane Doe (Black 2nd pressing)

Converge/Dropdead split 7 inch

Last night I saw Converge in my hometown of Morgantown, WV. While I was at the show I picked up the new Converge/Dropdead split 7″. This was a bit of a problem for me because Juan wanted four, Josh wanted one and I wanted two. I was a little sketched out cause I didn’t wanted to be identified as a eBay flipper (which I’m not) and told to fuck off. I had a game plan but it quickly turned to shit when met by the Converge merch guy.

The game plan was to name drop Vinyl Collective and mention that several people on the forum needed records. A goofy plan I know, but it was true and it was the best I could come up with. So I approach the merch guy, name drop VC and the dude looks at me like I’m a fucking alien. At this point I was fucked. I quickly got my records and took them to the car to formulate plan B.

Plan B never materialized. I knew I was just going to have to grow some nuts and ask for the remaining five records. At one point Jake B. was standing next to the merch guy for a while but I didn’t have the balls to go up to him with the same Vinyl Collective plan cause I wasn’t ready to deal with the same rejection the merch dude served me. In the end I just waited for the show to end, knowing there would be a huge crowd and maybe asking for five 7″s wouldn’t seem so strange amongst the chaos. Guy did give me a strange look but sold me the records without a problem. I still felt like a dick, but I’m a sensitive guy.

Anyway, if what the merch guy told me is true, they used a ton of colored vinyl in making these and the variations are limitless. He seemed to really enjoy the fact that these things were so varied.

Jesuit (Discography)

Jesuit, now that was a bad ass band. I’ve waited many years for all of this stuff to get put out. I’ve waited quite a long time since MB said they were putting it out. It sucked waiting that long ass time, but it’s here. One thought is the packaging might be a little too fancy for such a primitive and gnarly band. Though the jacket for this monster is really impressive and the art is incredible. There is an amazing booklet in here that has all these great stories from people that were associated with the band. The music is as fresh and explosive as it was when this band roamed the earth.

This history of this band is a little something like, they had that dude from Converge and that dude from Dillinger Escape Plan and… well dickhead has a little bio HERE.

1000 of these were pressed so far. I have the CD and the 7″ they put out way back so I think I have everything on this set except the demo, but as of this moment I’m way too lazy to confirm that fact by walking into the other room and rummaging through piles of CD’s and records to look.

This is the 7″ of the demo.

Trap Them ‘Seance Prime: The Complete Recordings’ now available

I can’t speak for Juan or Nick but me? I’m a BIG fan of these guys. So, I quickly snapped this up as soon as I saw the word that it was up at the Deathwish e-store.

If you you want to get your hands on this beast hit up the link quick; there’s only a thousand in this pressing (300 clear, 700 white.) but I assume if there’s a big enough demand and this sells out DW might continue their trend of repressing stuff on black (ala what they’ve done with some of the Converge stuff recently) so that nobody is left out (or presumably is forced to pay secondary market prices I suppose.)

Anyway, here’s the details via the Deathwish website;

“Seance Prime: The Complete Recordings” 12″LP combines all of their pre “Seizures In Barren Praise” material (the “Seance Prime” CDEP and material from their split 7″EP with Extreme Noise Terror) into one brutal 12″LP release. All of the material has been remastered by guitarist Brian Izzi and the release also features reworked packaging from designer Ryan Patterson (Coliseum, etc.)

The “Seance Prime” sessions were recorded by longtime Trap Them engineer Kurt Ballou (Converge) at his now infamous Godcity Studios. This release in its original form put Trap Them on the map with listeners and critics worldwide as one of the most interesting heavy bands out there today. Songs like “Day 13: The Protest Hour” and “Day 14: Pulse Mavens” are a tornado of D-Beat hooks, frantic bursts of speed, and earth shaking dirges. Erasing the line between metal and punk with every unpredictable twist and turn. All of it dizzying and awe inducing, already deserving to stand among the elite of the extreme metal and hardcore genre.

Eulcid

Album – Eulcid

Artist – Hope: and Songs to Sing

Purchased From – Robotic Empire

I always liked Eulcid and when I found this on sale at Robotic Empire I had to pick it up…man was that a great decision. Eulcid played rock like Rites of Spring meets Dinosaur Jr. meets something from Lovitt Records. I hate to put it that way cause this band is way hard to describe but that’s the best I can come up with. These guys had a pretty cool history featuring members of tons of bands that you love. That history is chronicled by Second Nature HERE. This is a band that if you don’t have all their shit you might want to get their two records cause they really are fantastic.

Doomriders (reissue)

Album – Black Thunder

Artist – Doomriders

Purchased From – Magic Bullet

I got this cause It’s a great record, I didn’t have it on vinyl and Magic Bullet always has fantastic deals on record. Bummer Brent may be one of the biggest pieces of shit in HC. I really like the color of this vinyl and man do these cats melt faces. I may be in the minority here but I think this record blows away their latest one. There is something primal and messy about this one that I don’t get in their last album. Who know that may change in time as my opinions on music constantly develop and change.

There were two colors in this pressing, here’s the scoop on the one I got.

The second variation is “PURPLE HAZE.” It’s a lavender/light purple marbly melange of a color. Either way, it’s entirely based on the background haze of the front cover at that Jebb painted. I thought it would be really cool to have the record itself look like an extension of that since we never really had that before on this title. Again, about 250 of these exist.