Organized Crime Records Halloween 2011 Surprise *SPOILERS!*

If you are waiting on this surprise package yourself and would like it to actually be a surprise when you open it up, I suggest you look away right now. Well, don't look away, as you'll just be sitting at your computer or with your phone in your hand looking in the opposite direction. That's just silly. But certainly get the heck off this page if you want the contents of this to remain a mystery, cause I'm about to open it up and expose its innards.

Still with me? Good. Let's go.

Last Halloween, like the year before, Organized Crime Records put a mystery package up for pre-order. All that was revealed was that it would include a shirt of some kind, as they took your size. The rest? Who knows. Based on the fact that last years contained one-off glow in the dark Integrity records and that this years was described as a 'must for fans of Holy Terror', I didn't think twice.

Opening up the parcel, I'm greeted with a t-shirt. A really cool t-shirt actually, with a bit of a teaser of whats to come judging from the logo's on the sleeves. More on the shirt later, we knew that was a dead cert. On to the secret business. Wrapped up in the t-shirt is a black envelope, with a black inked Holy Terror logo.

Flip that over to reveal the entrance, sealed with a wax Holy Terror stamp

Carefully easing that free, inside is a 6" record. The first side showing a logo that you might recognize

Vegas! Their Never To Wake LP was a favorite of mine from last year, so I was pretty happy that some new music from them was suddenly in my grasp. Their track on this split is wonderful. Vegas demonstrate two styles usually - balls out ferocity or haunting, ethereal folk. This track here is of the latter, and is incredible. Their side of the split is accompanied by a sheet giving a bit of background and explanation to the track

So, side 1 covered. Flip the sleeve over to reveal the logo of the 2nd mystery band

Yup. None other than Rot In Hell. It would be fair to say, and no surprise to anyone who has read previous posts or knows me in real life (hey, it could happen) that these are pretty much a favorite band of mine. So the only way this package could have been better is if they'd have fell out of the sleeve, blasted through Iron Halo in my living room and then fucked off back up the M6. Their side has the lyrics to their track 'Armoured Gideon' on the flip side to the sheet.

With a nod to di6 on the label

Unsurprisingly, I lost my shit to this track. I'm sure I've heard this track somewhere, or at least recognize the title. But I definitely hadn't heard it in all its studio recorded glory. Sounds real good. Their new vocalist is still safely under wraps though. This is Bean-era RIH.

The main inner sleeve is on a black card insert, silver inked with the logo's and a curious wolf/flower thing.

Hand numbered too. I think I remember the announcement saying these were out of 150, but some more must have got through as this says 165. I got number 91.

All in all, pretty amazing. Oh, and an ultra shiny RIH/VEGAS hybrid sticker

 The t-shirt that came with it is great, with the wolf/flower thing on the front, the bands logo's on the sleeves and a reminder on the back of when I bought it, just in case I ever get confused.

A truly excellent package, the sort of thing that inspired me to run this silly blog in the first place.

Rot In Hell / Hordes split 7"

The fact of the matter is I probably spend more time than a sensible person should do pursuing rare Rot In Hell vinyl. Another fact of the matter is that rare Rot In Hell vinyl seems to be fetching crazy money lately. A test press of the Sins Of Malice demo recently went for £85. Which makes the £24 I spent on this seem small in comparison. Still, £24 for a 7" that only came out around 3 years ago is a lot I guess. Yes, it makes me a very silly boy but it also makes me happy. This is the split with Hordes, released on the deceased Rat Patrol Records. Only 100 of these pressed on red/black.

Ive been looking out for this or a while and haven't seen it up for sale for a long time. But now it's all mine. To put on my shelf.

RIH have 2 songs on here, one of their own and an Integrity cover, both of which I already own anyway (see? Silly...) but if you open the insert up looking for lyrics to their Integrity cover:

you'll find some good advice instead -

Hordes on the flip side I was really impressed by. I hadn't heard them before, they do an Entombed cover for their 2nd track so a lazy thing for me to do would be to say they reminded me of Entombed but they did. Solid, sort of sludgy, downtuned riffing. I liked it a lot. Apparently they've got an album out but I couldn't find it anywhere.

This marks the last RIH split that I didn't own any version of whatsoever. So now I can stop endlessly searching for more. Yeah right.

ROT IN HELL / MOLOCH Split 7"

And so it came to pass - The end of a Rot In Hell era.

This is the latest Rot In Hell 7", a split with Moloch released on Feast Of Tentacles. This pressing on red limited to only 100 copies. It's the pressing that was for the record release show (more on that below) a couple of weekends ago, but leftovers were put up on the FOT distro and the RIH store. They sold out pretty quick, but you can still get it on black out out of 400.

Letter pressed covers on a sort of thick brown card with red ink.

The lyrics & credits are printed on individually stained pieces of thick paper, and there's a brown paper dust jacket.

The RIH track, Cauldron Born, is incredible. You may know, I like Rot In Hell just about more than any other current hardcore band. Its easy to cite their obvious influences, and the band make no secret of them, but their own stamp on that sound is huge one and should not be under-estimated. They bring a level of chaos and exploding fury that leaves me slack jawed. Likewise - acoustic, harmonious yet haunting interludes/intro's (like the intro on this track) and English heathen-folk strings (see the closing section of Twilight Rouges on APBS) put them head and fucking shoulders above. English heathen-folk might be a genre I just invented, but it's what springs to mind when I listen to it. But anyway, as I said, this version was for the record release show in Nottingham with Moloch. Which they pulled out of suddenly, only to just as quickly announce that they were back on the bill, but that it would be vocalist Nate's last ever show. 

A real shame. Double gutted that I also couldn't get to the show. Me and a mate had talked about going and meeting up, but in the end I couldn't make it. Common sense prevailed on my part - my 8 week old daughter needs nappies changing and bottles preparing more than I need to lose my shit at a hardcore show. 

There are some other RIH records in various stages of being released (A Murder Of Crows being one of them) that might feature Nate as they seem to have been started before his departure (does the Integ/RIH split pre-order seem like a distant memory to anyone else?) but this seemed like a relevant record post to write about this. 

Rot In Hell will carry on, rumour has it, which is great news in my book and I'll look forward to hearing it. Tough vocal act to follow though.

This post has rambled on (again) but I need to mention Moloch on the flip side, who hail from Nottingham and feature Chris Braddock who runs Feast Of Tentacles.

Imagine all the worlds misery and despair in musical form, with elements of Iron Monkey dirge and EHG misanthropic sludge and you're there. It ain't pretty, but it's crushing and very, very good

Part 2 of ROT IN HELL - 7"s.

As promised, the 2nd part of my Rot In Hell vinyl, the 7"s. This will be the last post of stuff already in my collection. New arrivals from here on out!

Some of the 7"s here are not on the most limited runs. I imagine this is like looking at your girlfriend knowing you only went with her cause you wanted to shag her mate. You still love her and all that, but secretly you know she was your second choice. Such is the nature of this vinyl beast, sometimes you just miss out. But they're out there, and one day some silly sod will sell them to me.

A good place to start - the Sins Of Malice demo. A really impressive package this one. Even better is the fact that a good friend of mine up North sent me this for free. He may be grooming me for sexual favours at a later date, and I don't mind that.

Flip it over to reveal foldy cardboard Process Cross

Open it up - Spray painted picture of Robert DeGrimston on the flip-side, lyric sheet, spray painted dust jacket with hand numbering. I got 028/219.

Not bad for a demo! The tracks on here (one of which ended up re-recorded on the APBS lp ) are raw as bollocks and sound incredible.

Next, RIH split with Brain Dead - Millennial Psychosis'. The RIH track on here is my favourite thing they've done. Its listed as 2 tracks but it never actually stops, it's one long awesome beast.

Curious plastic dust jacket. Joint release by Rumour Control & Feast Of Tentacles records. Brain Dead on the other side are a UK Powerviolence band from Leicester. I like these a lot from what I've heard here and on a Rumour Control compilation 7" I've got. Well worth checking out if you like it fast as fuck one minute then slow and crusty the next. All good.

Next, RIH & The Process split - 'The Works Of Fate'

Great artwork by Scrawled Design.

Really detailed. The devil cradling a baby goat? Just what you need.

The RIH track features guest whispering by Dwid.

The Process are a UK metallic hardcore band. From the spoken part at the end of their song it sounds like they're actually from somewhere in Scotland. Hadn't heard them before this but I was impressed. Not as fast as RIH but channeling the same spirit. They've got a full length out now called Rosenkreutz, but it's only on CD for the time being, vinyl to follow. I can wait...

This 7" released by Feast Of Tentacles and limited to 500.

RIH & Wayfarer split. Amazing artwork on this one, again by Scrawled Design.

Thick gatefold, pressed on Grey 180g and limited to 200. Astonishing amount of effort put into a 7". Released by Carry The Weight records.

Wayfarer are another UK hardcore band, who again I hadn't heard of. After hearing this I got more of their releases, a full length and a 7" both on CTW records. They're pounding, crunchy metallic hardcore, in the vein of New Lows or Thirty Seconds Until Armageddon. If that sounds good to you then check them out, you will not be disappointed. They seem to use a lot of Norse mythology for their subject matter, which to a guy like me who knows fuck all about Norse mythology, somehow makes it even cooler.

Finally, RIH & Horders split - 'The Omega Suite'

If you didn't look at the sleeve and just stuck this on, you'd have no idea this was RIH. It's not Nate on vocals, it's one of the guitarists. Instead of dark raging hardcore, it's dark acoustic pagan folk. I have not much experience of pagan folk on which to base that link but still that's what springs to mind. Haunting acoustic guitar and clean sung mantra-like vocals repeating 'god is man, man is god'. I can imagine the residents of Summerisle dancing around to this while they burn Edward Woodward. Despite being the polar opposite musically of what they normally sound like, it works perfectly. The art is awesome, all done by Give Up.

Horders are the musical side project of designer Give Up, and provide 2 tracks of dark instrumentals. Clean, slightly out of tune guitar picks out a tune over faint distorted chords. It's creepy stuff, really good accompaniment to the Rot side.

Released on Feast Of Tentacles, a run of 400.

That's about the size of it.

Part 1 of ROT IN HELL - 12"s.

The eventual aim of this blog is to post only about new records that the postal service doth deliver unto me. Im going to avoid posting about all the vinyl I've collected up until now for the most part but, like with the ANB stuff, there's a couple of bands in my collection that I'm going to add here anyway. Mainly because I aim to add to what I've already got and I want it all up here. So there. Breaking my own rules. 

Anyway. Onwards. The first part of my Rot In Hell collection. RIH are one of my favourite hardcore bands currently together and releasing music. I'm talking top 3. They might be number 1. They're also from the UK, which makes it double brilliant. They play a ferocious breed of Holy Terror, with all the right nods to Integ and Gehenna. And if that doesn't sound good, then you done goofed.  First up, my 12"s.

This is the Hallways Of The Always LP, released on A389 Records. A collection of tracks from the demo 7" and the split 7"s they did up to a point. Any RIH fan will know that they release a split 7" about once a week so it's far from complete, but nice to have some early stuff all in one place.

Front cover art. I love this. Badass forest/Process Cross combo.

It's a gatefold deal. Photo of the band. 

Nothing special there you say? What's that? You say there should be a Process Cross embossed on each band members face that only shows up when you hold it towards the light? Well look again...

Pressed on black with white splatter, limited to 800.

Next is the bands latest and first full length release, As Pearls Before Swine. Needless to say it's balls out and one of the best things I'll hear all year.The cover art is a piece by Jacob Bannon, and it's some fucked up rat skeleton just so you know what time it is.

The gatefold cover folded out, double rat skeleton.

Inside the gatefold, which has the tracklist and a dead animal. I suppose it could be sleeping. It's not. 

This is on the back of the lyric sheet. I don't know what that is.

The vinyl itself is brilliant. I've never seen such a cool mix of colour used to better effect. It's listed as Orange/Gold mix on the Deathwish release list.

It matches the artwork perfectly, and the rotting rust effect it gives suits the corrosive sound to the music.

Released by Deathwish, only 300 pressed.

Lastly, the Nui live LP. it's not an LP i guess, clocking in at just over 20 mins with 5 tracks but it rips anyway. I had no idea this had been released. I spotted it browsing A389's webstore looking for Weekend Nachos vinyl to buy and ordered it instantly. Originally released to raise cash for the bands flight over to Baltimore to play at the A389 Birthday Bash i believe. 

Awesome silk-screened cover.

Black vinyl and the insert. The insert gives details of when it was recorded and it reads like it was performed in front of a selected, invited audience. Lots of other stuff too like how 'the prescence of the Barghest' was in their midst and how 'some doors should never be opened'. I just wish I was there. It's a pretty stark package but works really well.

Best of all is the flip, which is blank vinyl. 

This looks like the shiniest, smoothest, blackest thing know to man. I love seeing a blank vinyl flip-side. Process Cross in the centre. Released on A389. One time only press of 300. Done deal.

Part 2 of this will be all my RIH 7"s, which I'll get up here soon.

ROT IN HELL, INTEGRITY and some other bands. NO PEACE/WAR Compilation.Band Members pressing.

This was a record store day 2011 release that I totally missed out on. To the point where I'm not even sure I knew it was happening. So I was pretty excited when Rot In Hell announced that they had a few they were selling in their webstore. Not only that but they were selling band member copies.

Pressed on red, hand numbered out of 185 (I got number 75). Apparently the idea and some work for this compilation started years and years ago but it all got put on hold for some reason. Essentially, it's Western hardcore covering Japanese hardcore.

The Integ and RIH tracks were what drew me to this but the rest of the bands offer up some cool stuff too.

The RIH track doesn't disappoint, and the Integrity one is great. Cape Of Bats sound pretty cool, should check them out. The other 2 tracks, by Gehenna and Vegas are not of the best quality, but sound bad news nasty.