A389 Halloween Releases. Big on Ringworm

Halloween this year saw 3 new releases go up for order at A389 Records. There's really no way of spicing up this story into a riveting narrative so I'll just present the essential facts. The only way to get the most limited pressings of all 3 was to order it as a package deal. This was really no problem for me as I'm ordering everything they put out at the minute anyway, and seeing as it was payday which allows me to live in a fantasy world for around 24 hours where money is no issue that's exactly what I did.

This first one is a 7" that I would have ordered without question anyway - Ringworm split with Mindsnare. Pressed on purple and limited to 250. The colours and artwork tie in nicely with the Halloween theme.

Even cooler is that this first pressing comes with a mini-comic book, illustrated and put together by Ringworm vocalist Human Furnace. Is there a better and more suited nickname for a vocalist by the way? No there isn't.

Pretty cool. Ringworm bring the Clevo-thrash as excellent as ever and Mindsnare are from Australia and make a hell of a noise but reminded me a bit too much of metal bands like Job For A Cowboy who I'm not that down with. Still like I said, I would have ordered this for the RW side even if the split was with these jokers.

The other new release was a split 12" between Seven Sisters Of Sleep and Children Of God. Pressed on black and limited to 1000 copies ever. I'd only heard one track from each band before and couldn't really remember what that sounded like so my expectations were set somewhere around nowhere. First impressions of the packaging too weren't that great. Simple sleeve, black and white artwork. Not particularly exciting. And then I listened. And was blown away.

The more-depressing-the-more-that-I-think-about-it cover art of a dude receiving a lethal injection, the printed dust jacket of someone being gassed and the overall stark packaging all snaps into focus hearing the bands here. Unrelenting and miserable, but in the most enjoyable way possible. SSOS sound a bit like Electric Wizard meets Eyehategod with added despair. I guess you'll know whether you're gonna love it or hate it from that description but I was very impressed.

And finally, bringing it back to Ringworm and a flexi pressing of their Madness Of War demo from 1999. Originally serving as a "Hi we're back" release, this is pressed on clear, limited to 150 and was only available when buying all these 3 together. Pretty sure this is all new artwork too. The songs here ended up being re-recorded and included on the Birth Is Pain LP that followed it.

Flexi's so hot right now. Anyone particularly know why?