Transition to wordpress

PSA: After experimenting I have decided to move the blog to wordpress due to the better layout options and the more powerful editor. New reviews are already available on http://vinylofthebeast.wordpress.com - Update your bookmarks and I hope to have your support on Wordpress too!

I released my next review on wordpress in order to have some data for comparision.

https://vinylofthebeast.wordpress.com/2016/04/10/review-emperor-in-the-nightside-eclipse-2lp-reissue/

Considering changing website

I am currently considering moving to wordpress with the blog as the editor is way more organized and powerful for a HTML newbie like me. I am still unsure but I re-created my last two reviews on wordpress for testing purposes. I'd be glad if some of you check it out and leave some feedback (on the comments here or there, via facebook or twitter) to help me decide.

Link: http://vinylofthebeast.wordpress.com

Review: Amon Amarth - Jomsviking Double LP

I was pleasantly surprised when I got no notification last week that the vinyl release has been delayed. And I was even more surprised when the records were delivered to me on the actual release date. So I am finally able to write a vinyl review on time and not years after the release of a record. Amon Amarth accompanied me through my teenage years from "Avenger" through "Versus the world" to "With Oden on our Side" and now "Jomsviking". Although I am a huge fan, there are two major questions which come with this record. Does the international release via Sony change anything? And more importantly - will Amon Amarth deliver in terms of Jomsviking being their first concept album? Let's find out.

Quick Facts: 
Artist: Amon Amarth - website
Album: Jomsviking
Version: 2 LP, black + CD  - Discogs Link
Label: Sony
Found at: Amazon

"Jomsviking" is the thenth album of swedish melodic death metal legends Amon Amarth and their first in nearly three years after "Deceiver of the Gods". This version is the double LP version (180g) in black. The Vinyl gatefold is advertised with including a pop-up viking boat and the album as CD (in a papersleeve). The vinyl version also includes the bonus track "Vengeance is my Name".

Quality and artwork:
The gatefold is thicker then the usual double LP releases and that's a big plus. The thickness comes from the pop out viking ship and the rather thick records which are 180g black vinyl. The aforementioned viking ship is propably the biggest let-down. I don't know what I expected but this adds nothing to the gatefold. The record itself is perfect, heavy, pitch black, perfectly shaped and no blemishes whatsoever. The quality is simply great.

They have gone all out on the artwork this time with five different artists contributing to the additional artwork. Two artists nearly exclusively worked with other bands before (John Lorenzi - Megadeth, Samwise Didier - Hammerfall) whilte other's seem to be pretty unknown in the field of album art. You should definitely check out the work of Indonesian Illustrator Adi Kalingga on www.silencer8.com. The impressive cover art was designed by Tom Thiel a german illustrator known for his work on various board games (Labyrinth), video games (The Settlers III) and album art (Amon Amarth, Brainstorm). He is also known for his artwork for the german tabletop RPG "Das Schwarze Auge").
                                                      
Sound Quality:
The sound quality is okay but worse than I expected from a Metalblade record (which it still is, despite the Sony release outside of the US). Listening to the album with turned down volume sounds crappy. The sound is washed up when you listen to the album on lower volume. The FDR Rating of the album is mediocre at best and a perfect example for the loudness wars. The differences between high quality spotify streaming and the vinyl version fortunately noticeable. But there are only little audible differences compared to the CD version which comes with the record. The album was produced, recorded and mixed by grammy winning producer (for Opeth - Deliverance) Andy Sneap who worked with legends like Accept, Saxon or Arch Enemy in the past. His mastering is usually near perfect, so I can't quite put my finger on where the sound issues come from. On higher volume, the record sounds great fortunately.








The Music
Die hard old Amon Amarth stuff fans might need some time for this album. It's more melodic and less heavy/brutal than their past releases. Although this should be no surprise considering the direction of the past albums. To answer my intitial question - they did deliver. This is a great concept album with a variety of different styles and tells an interesting story. Only the part of Doro Pesch on the Song "A Dream that cannot be" sounds a bit odd. In my opinion, there could have been better choices for the female vocals but that's just critique on a very high level. The album gets better and better with each time you listen to it. So if you are undecided to buy, give it a try on Spotify or YouTube first.

Conclusion
While the quality of gatefold, the vinyl record itself and even the added CD is great, the record has surprising flaws in terms of sound quality. Higher volume is needed for the record to sound clear and good. On lower volume it's really hard to distinguish the different instruments and sometimes even the vocals. I am used to better releases by Metalblade to be honest. I'd still recommend it if you are a vinyl enthusiast. If you are all in on sound quality I'd recommend buying the losless version.

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Review: Nekrogobolikon - Heavy Meta Picture Disc

A "goblin metal" record released via the bands own label, run by "Elliot Box, an immortal wizard lizard who uses magic to make money off of music bands." As you might have noticed, Nekrogoblikon do not take themselves very seriously. But be not mistaken, they are bloody professionals. I first came across Nekrogoblikon through their already cult-like music video to "No one survies" of the 2011 album Stench. 4.6 million views on youtube speak for themselves. Just for the sake of comparison: Amon Amarth gets way less views on their music videos. To be honest, I lost track of Nekrogoblikon till last month, when they played in the smallest venue in my hometown in front of 50-70 people. And to make it clear, this gig is in the top 10 of all the concerts I visited (including Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Metallica...). Unfortunately the gig was near the end of their european tour and all the vinyl copies of Heavy Meta were already sold out. So much for my plan to get the sleeve signed... Nevertheless, I managed to snag a copy of this album via Discogs as the LP was not available at their european store that time.











Quick Facts: 

• Artist: Nekrogoblikon
• Album: Heavy Meta
• Version: LP, picture disc  - Discogs Link
• Label: Mystery Box LLC
• Found at: Discogs Marketplace

Reviewing this album took me some time as there was way more to research. First of all, Mystery Box LLC is the bands own label, so it is not possible to gather information about the usual quality as there are no releases on this label. Furthermore, I have not found the album in any of the databases I usually use. So I used a different approach this time. I compared the sound quality of the vinyl record, the digital download (comes with the album), high quality streaming on spotify and normal streaming. I did not use any technical equipment to measure anything, so the sound quality is really subjective this time.

Quality and artwork:
The album comes in a single cardboard sleeve. The cardboard is rather thin compared to other albums. Additionaly, my copy has been glued together badly at the top (a bit skewed). The record itself is a as perfect as a picture disc can get. Compared to other picture discs I own, the grooves are clearly visible and the record is not that heavy. The feel is definitely right. The record sits in a printed inner sleeve which has about the quality of a better poster. The record was apparently pressed by Pirate Press Czech Republic which is known for their high quality pressings.
The cover artwork is pretty awesome - especially how the band depicted themselves (see the image on the left). The back is just the landscape of the cover continued with track list and some additional information The inner sleeve is the band playing in a lake at sunset, again with a larger goblin prominently featured on the upper half. The large goblin is a recurring image as it is placed on the album cover, the inner sleeve and side A and B of the record. The record is beautiful as you can see in the pictures below.














Sound Quality:
Taylor Larson (Mastering) and Matt Hyde (Mixing) are not names I have heard of in the past. Larson apparently worked with Toothgrinder and Veil of Maya in the past, while Matt Hyde is a member of the band From First to Last. So once again it was not possible for me to deduct anything regarding the sound quality from the names. So it was about time to conduct my own experiment. The setup I used consits of Nubert nujubilee 40 stereo speakers and a Denon PMA-925-R amp for all sources. The vinyl was played on a Dual 1219 turntable, the losless via my pc connected to the amp, and streaming both via pc and my smartphone (Oneplus One).

I won't bother you with a report of every single source and just jump to the conclusion. The sound quality on vinyl is great and on par with the losless downloaded files. I honestly can't hear any difference here. Spotify high quality streaming was a bit tricky. Using my smartphone as a source the sound was a bit washed up and some instruments hard to identify. When I used my computer as the source the quality improved but did not reach the quality of the vinyl. Standard streaming on spotify was noticeably worse than any other sources used.

The Music
Nekrogoblikon classifies their music as goblin metal (duh). It's a very keyboard heavy mix of melodic death metal with folk elements. Their music has recognition value - if you hear Nekrogoblikon, you know its them! This is a concept album about the band (We need a gimmick!) and thus the name "Heavy Meta" - you should definitely check out the lyrics. Compared to their past releases the album is definitely more accessible in terms of music and although rather short, one of my top 10 releases of 2015. I won't go into more details as there are plenty of reviews out there, but I'd suggest to just listen to a few tracks on youtube or any other legal source.

ConclusionFor a self-released vinyl picture disc the quality is great and among the better picture disc releases in my collection. The sound quality is good and on par with the high quality download files. If you're into Nekrogoblikon's music I'll definitely recommend a purchase.

If you manage to see them live, go for it. Their show is amazing, the atmosphere is great and seem to care a lot about their fans.

Thanks for a great show in Graz!
Truly yours, your biggest fan this is.. ah suck it.

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Vinyl fairs: Expectation vs. Reality

First of all, I don't know which term is common in the scene as I've seen both exchange and fair being used and I could not make out a difference.  For the sakes of readability I am going to refer to them as fairs.
A vinyl fair can be a blessing or a curse. I've been to only three of them but I made classic mistakes on each of them. I still came home with a bunch of great heavy metal records, but I literally  paid my tribute for not being prepared. So here are the lessons I learned the hard way.

Expectation I:
It doesn't matter if I show up an hour after opening.

Reality:
The good/reasonably priced records go fast. I arrived late on my first fair and people showed me what they've purchased today. Thrilled to find similar records I kept on digging only to find that the interesting records where already gone. With that in mind I went to my second fair with...

Expectation II:

I will find a rare record for a good price.

Reality: 

A vinyl fair here in Austria is an event where record stores sell their used or in some cases new records. These guys know exactly what they have and what to sell it for. You can find rare records but don't expect them to come at a bargain. The prices are usually slightly above discogs prices, and the rare records by a margin. Darkthrones first pressing of "A Blaze In The Northern Sky" was available for €200 while Burzum's "Aske" Mini EP was seen for 900€. Those records are usually used to show off and nobody with experience in buying vinyl would buy the records for those prices. With my hopes of finding a rare record for cheap crushed I lowered my standards to...

Expectation III:
At least I'll get some good metal records from the past few years.

Reality:

95% of the records at the fairs are non-metal. 95 % of the metal records are from the same few bands: Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Dio, Rainbow, Ozzy Osbourne, AC/DC and you find a lot of rock filed under metal/heavy like Bon Jovi or the Scorpions. With my hopes crushed again I settled for...

Expectation IV:

The price tag on the records I find and want to buy will be okay.

Reality:

If you don't barter, you'll lose money. Many sellers set their prices 5-10 € above value so it seems you'll make a good purchase. 20 € price tag for a 1982 VG+ edition of Iron Maiden's - Number of the Beast? "Hey for you I'll make it 15." - Emperors reissue of "In the Nightside Eclipse"? - "Usually 29 but for you 22". Bartering is essential if you want the records for their market value. I am all for supporting local record stores but sometimes it's a total rip off.

Lessons learned:
- If it is a small fair, show up early.
- You will find rare records but the price tag is hefty
- Be prepared that most of the records are non-metal
- Be prepared that the heavy/metal section consists of the same few classic bands
- Be prepared to pay a bit more than online

Vinyl fairs are a great event when you keep in those lessons in mind. And it's an interesting place to meet vinyl enthusiasts and metal fans alike. Especially when you talk to collectors or sellers who dedicated their lives to vinyl you may hear some very interesting stories.

So here's a quick overview of what I came away with this time:

Lamb of God - Sturm und Drang
I was fortunate enough to come across a sealed copy of Lamb of God's recent album. According to the seller he bought two copies by mistake. This is the 2LP clear limited edition (Discogs link). The price was the same as on discogs and below retail.

Enslaved - Frost
I am a big fan of Enslaved and I am collecting all their releases. So when I came across the picture disc of Frost. The front is the album cover and the back is a ridiculous image of the band. (If you need to know, check this link).

Dark Funeral - In the sign...

This is a 2000 reissue of the original Dark Funeral self titled EP with two bonus tracks. This record is amazing in every way. The sound and the music alike. 

Primordial - Where greater men have Fallen
This was one of the few newer records I stumbled upon. There where actually three sellers with this album and the prices varied by a margin. I got the record for a bit over discogs prices which was okay.

Emperor - In the Nightside Eclipse

This is a purchase I regret a lot. I like Emperor, I am fan of Ihsahn but this 2008 reissue sounds very very bad. Seriously, Back on Black, the label behind the reissue, is known for bad sounding records. So there's the newest lesson I learned: Do some research before buying from unknown labels.

Review: At the Gates - Slaughter of the Soul (FDR)

Reviewing an album which came out in 95 may not be the best choice. There are hundreds of reviews already available and there is not much left to say about the music. Slaughter of the Soul is a true classic and a masterpiece of early Gothenburg sound. So why review this then? It's a reissue. And reissues, especially of older albums, tend to vary a lot in terms of sound quality. Reissues are sometimes rushed and use the CD master or even worse: lower quality MP3s. I have bought a bunch of bad reissues in the past with bad sound quality, warped records, badly cut spindles so I did a little research before buying this record.

Quick Facts: 

• Artist: At the Gates
• Album: Slaughter of the Soul
• Version: LP, black  - Discogs Link
• Label: Earache
• Found at: nuclearblast.de

This version is a great example why researching what you are buying will net you a great record. Had I found this version in a record store, I'd probably passed on it. There is only little information on the sleeve indicating that this a reissue. The only hint is the little 2014 in the bottom left corner on the back of the sleeve. I did a little research and according to discogs this is a full dynamic range, remastered, initially limited heavyweight black vinyl version of Slaughter of the Soul. This is mentioned nowhere on the whole record. So in the store would have passed on a potentially great record. Earache is well known for their FDR releases of classic albums in the past and they are well perceived.  Earache released a bunch of FDR CD reissues in the past and the consensus seems to be that the differences to the original pressings are big. Nearly all reviews I read praised the sound quality. On vinyl the differences are subtle as most of the original releases already had a very high sound quality. So upgrading to a FDR vinyl is not essential. If you want to read a bit about FDR and/or audiophile metal I strongly recommend the awesome page Metal-Fi (Link to their FDR rating system).

The origin of FDR is something you might have heard of before. The so called loudness-war which is the tendency of increased audio levels on records since the 90's. You can read about it on wikipedia but I strongly suggest the website of mastering engineer Ian Shepherd (dynamicrangeday.co.uk) for great example videos on why FDR is important in the music industry.

One of the main problems is, that FDR is no guarantee for high quality sound. There are many praised FDR reissues and many who sound nearly the same or even worse than the original release. Fortunately due to the awesome website http://dr.loudness-war.info/ you can finde a huge FDR album database online where you can check the Dynamic Range of records. Furthermore you can download a measuring tool and upload new albums to the database.

Fortunately this Slaughter of the Soul vinyl version was already included in the database (link). Compared to the three CDs already in the database the DR rating is way higher and it even beats the losless download version (although by a small margin). The release is not outstanding in terms DR but still sounds very good. I hope someone can upload the score for the other vinyl releases of this album. For my personal test I played the record against high quality streaming on spotify, the 2002 reissue on cd  and losless .flac from earaches bandcamp page. While the quality of the vinyl record was better on low, moderate and loud volume settings compared to the CD and the spotify stream, there was no audible difference compared to losless.

Quality:
I am not going to review the music as you can find hundreds of reviews out there but I am still interested in the quality of the material. This reissue comes in cardboard sleeve wich is a vinyl version of the CD front and back. The cardboard sleeve is okay, the quality is not exceptional and not bad. This definitely feels like a 90's vinyl version. Included is a printed inner sleeve with the lyrics on one side and thank you notes on the other side. The record itself is plain black heavyweight vinyl. The sticker resembles the CD with some writing added (source).

Conclusion:

This version is definitely an upgrade of the CD version of Slaughter of the Soul but might not beat the original vinyl and losless download versions. As it comes pretty cheap it is still a nice pickup for any heavy vinyl collection. If you care for music quality make sure to do some research as FDR does not mean you get the best version available.

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Review: Rotting Christ - Rituals

Rotting Christ has been in the business since 1987 and is an extreme metal institution. The greek band released a magnificent 6 LP live album with "Lucifer over Athens" last year so the expectations for Rituals are very high.

Quick Facts:

• Artist: Rotting Christ
• Album: Rituals
• Version: 2LP, black, 45rpm, limited to 750 copies - Discogs Link
• Label: Season of Mist
• Found at: jpc.de

Rotting Christ recorded Rituals as DevaSoundz Studios in Athens, a small studio specializing in extreme music. Rituals is their second album recorded at DevaSoundz after Κατά Τον Δαίμονα Εαυτού. Septic Flesh (Titan) and oriental black metal band Melechesch (Enki) are among the other bands who used this studio in the past for parts of their album releases. Mastering took place at Jens Bogren's Fascination Street Studios in Örebro, Sweden, an institution in the rock/metal world. Among their customers are greats like Dark Tranquillity, Arch Enemy, Paradise Lost, Opeth and many more. So it can be expected that the mastering is great. The vinyl was pressed by the usual suspect, Optimal Media Gmbh.

Track list:
01 - In Nomine Dei Nostri
02 - Ze Nigar
03 - Elthe Kyrie
04 - Apage Satana
05 - Les Litanies de Satan (Les Fleurs du mal)
06 - For a voice like Thunder
07 - Konx om pax
08 - Devadevam
09 - Tou Thanatou
10 - The four Horsemen
11 - Lok'tag Ogar

Gatefold/Cover Art/Record
The Cover was shot by photographer Ester Segarra who is known for her industrial/music photography. She has worked with Electric Wizard, Watain or Paradise Lost in the past. You can check out her work at e-segarra.com. The gatefold is pretty thick and the overall quality is again very good. The inner folding is raised a bit so it is pretty much impossible for the record sleeves to get stuck in there. On the inner gatefold you find the lyrics on the left side. Unfortunately the font is not perfect as some are quite hard to read. Furthermore they (obviously) included  the greek lyrics for songs like "Thou Thanatou". The right part of the inner gatefold consists of two thirds artwork and one third thank you notes. The back contains the tracklist. While the cover is exclusively using black and white colors and the inner gatefold only adds some sublte darker red, the tracklist on the back uses a very dark grey for the album sides (very hard to read) and shiny red for the tracks. The effect may be appealing to some, but it seems very misplaced. The record itself is plain black with a black/red sticker. Once again Rotting Christ manages to release a high quality gatefold.

The music:
The sound quality is once again amazing - nothing else to say about this.

It's no coincidence that the thank you notes take up so mach space on the gatefold on this 45rpm record. Rotting Christ worked with a lot of guest musicians on this album. Ranging from orchestral background to bagpipes, guitar solo and vocals by well known musicians Vorph (Samael) or Nick Holmes (Paradise Lost). The guest parts seem well placed and take nothing away from the usual Rotting Christ sound. Guest vocalists often provide only additional vocals (In nomine dei nostri, Elthe Kyrie, Devadevam) or recitations (For a voice like thunder). Only on Les litanies de satan Vorph of Samael takes over. The different songs are are rich in variety and thus create a fantastic listening experience. You might have to listen to this album a couple of times to finally discover and appreciate all the nuances. Despite all the variety, it does not feel like random songs strung together.

Conclusion - tl:dr:
Rotting Christ's 2LP version of Rituals stands out because of the high quality gatefold and amazing sound quality. A worthy successor for "Lucifer over Athens". 9/10 - Heavily recommended.

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Review: Conan - Revengeance

I have been listening to all kinds of doom metal lately and came across Conan when browsing for upcoming vinyl releases. Caveman battle doom. An interesting enough description to give them a try.

Quick Facts:

• Artist: Conan - www.hailconan.com/
• Album: Revengeance - released on January 29, 2016
• Version: Limited Edition, black vinyl - Discogs Link
• Label: Napalm Records
• Found at: amazon.de for 18,99 €

Revengeance was recorded at Skyhammer Studios in the south of Liverpool where "Electric Wizard" recorded their recent live album "Time to Die"and was pressed at Optimal Media in germany - one of the largest pressing plants in europe. Optimal Media has been in the business for 26 years. What made me very excited is their choice of James Plotkin for the mastering. Plotikin is specialized in more extreme metal and has workied with greats like Sunn O))) or Earth. Revengenace was released on 180 orange/black splatter vinyl (300 copies), 180g silver vinyl (200 copies) and black vinyl. The black vinyl version is also labeled as strictly limited but numbers were not made public, so this may just be due to marketing. 

Tracklist:

1.Throne of Fire - 04:31

2.Thunderhoof - 09:38

3.Wrath Gauntlet - 08:39

4.Revengeance - 06:10

5.Every Man Is an Enemy - 06:46

6.Earthenguard - 11:44

Gatefold/Cover Art/Record
Responsible for the amazing artwork is Anthony J. Roberts who did album art for Conan in the past. He is also responsible for the cover of Grand Magus - Triumph and Power. I strongly recommend to check out his work on his webpage www.blackmindseye.org. The gatefold material is standard quality. I have seen better quality but also worse. The record sleeve is plain black but anti-static. One of Roberts artworks is printed on both sides of the inner sleeves with the lyrics, additional information on the record and thank you notes on the right side. The back of the gatefold and the cover make up one picture when unfolded too. The record is plain black and pretty heavy with three songs on each side. I love the looks of the whole gatefold. It is definitely a standout in my collection. If I had to find a problem with this gatefold I'd say the font they used for the lyrics and the tracklist on the back looks a bit off.

The music:

The name is not a gimmick. Conan is angry, Conan is furious and definitely my go-to soundtrack for being chased by a horde of angry barbarians swinging their warhammers. The opener "Throne of Fire" sets a nice pace for the album before "Thunderhoof" crushes your bones in a groundshaking stampede. This is classic Conan only improved by the addition of Rich Lewis on the drums. All the little changes like adding the rather contrasting backing vocals of Chris Fielding really pay off. And with "Thunderhoof" and "Revengeance" they finally managed to create some songs recognition value. The lyrics are what you'd expect of a caveman/barbarian... rather basic. That's no problem at all as it fits perfectly in the whole theme of the band, their music and this album. More than three words in a verse are the exception, not the rule. "Revengeance" is a great album and Conan a great band and they definitely did a big step forward to stand out of the nearly endless pool of doom/sludge bands but are not quite there yet. Definitely not a mistake if you give this band a chance. 7.5/10.

Up next: Review of Rotting Christ - Rituals, a new design and some tips on vinyl related websites.

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Review: Negură Bunget - Tău

First of all: In my last review I said that Bloody Hammers cover art reminded me of 70s horror movies. As it turned out they used the poster of the 1957 horror movie the Undead. (IMDB Link).

Negură Bunget - Tău
It took me 10 years and an awesome concert to fully appreciate Negură Bunget and their music. I first came across them in the early 2000s, forgot about them and rediscovered them every few years. After an awesome gig at Paganfest in 2011 their material has made it into my playlist.  As soon as "Tău" popped up on my recommendations I had buy a copy just to see how they sound on a good setup.


















Quick Facts:

• Artist: Negură Bunget - www.negurabunget.com
• Album: Tău - released on February 27, 2015
• Version: Limited Edition, 180g Vinyl - Discogs Link 
• Label: Lupus Lounge (a sublabel of Prophecy Records)
• Found at: amazon.de for 22,99 €

Quality/artwork:
I am impressed by the quality of the whole record. The gatefold is pretty thick with a slightly glossy finish. It definitely feels better in my hands than other gatefolds. And they got the crease line right so there's no way for the record sleeves to get stuck which is a big plus. The record comes with a generic record sleeve and optionally a printed sleeve with lyrics. It's up to you which one you use. As the generic sleeve is plain white paper and not anti-static it does not matter. Included is also a glossy poster of the band which seems a bit off compared to the rest of the album art.
The artwork is in line with Negură Bunget's themes and videos: Nature. It's quite minimalistic. A full picture on the front with just the album title disguised in runelike writing, a panorama picture in the inner gatefold and a full picture on the back with just little information like tracklist, band, label etc. on it. The design of the gatefold definitely stands out between my more colorful records.

The sound/music:
The sound quality is great. The record I own is being advertised as incl. special vinyl mastering. While I am not keen on those adwords this usually means that they used a high quality master. You are able to distinguish the various instruments they used. This is great for music which easily may create a wall of sound.
Fitting Negură Bunget into a specific genre is nearly impossible. This is apparent on Discogs as every release is labeled differently. They are clearly influenced by black metal but use pagan, folk avantgarde and ambient elements too. Some wag even categorized Tău as easy listening. Well, it's not. The album is definitely more appealing to the masses than their past releases which I find great. Negură Bunget perfects their usual contrast rich play on Tău. Atmospheric tunes, harsh black metal and folk parts seemlessly string together. There are however differences to the past albums. First of all, Tău is more experimental in the choice of instruments in the folk parts and surprisingly keyboard heavy (for Negură Bunget standards). This is a blessing in disguise. The experimental parts work great sometimes and feels a bit forced and overused the other time. With music relying so much on atmosphere this can really ruin a song. When I heard the track "Tarim Vilhovnicesc" I was very surprised to hear a familiar voice. Sakis Tolis of Rotting Christ (vocals on "Tarim Vilhovnicesc") and Rune Eriksen (ex-Mayhem, guitar on "Impodobeala Timpului) appear as guest musicians on the album. This album is not a masterpiece like "Om" and it's different compared to their older releases. Not surprising with all the lineup changes in the past. It seems as if the band is trying out various new elements and while some work great some fail. Does this make Tău a bad album? No, the music is still Negură Bunget, they still manage to create that special atmosphere and it is still an album I listen to regularly. Die hard fans of the old stuff may be disappointed but with the changes made they surely manage to reach a wider audience. I am really looking forward to any new material as I am really curious about the direction the band is heading with their next albums.

Up next: Review of Conan - Revengeance

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Review: Bloody Hammers - Under Satan's Sun

Im my last post I said that I will do some changes on how I am going to reviews. As some of you suggested (and I'm still amazed that people I don't know read this blog) I will organize my posts a little more. I'll keep the introduction and the quick facts (this time including webpage of the band and discogs link to the version I am going to review). I dropped the track lists as it was completely unnecessary. If possible I will add a sentence or two about the mastering of the record if I am able to get some reliable information. Furthermore, I am going to review the quality of the gatefold/sleeves/records, the extras (if any), the artwork and finally the music. I am going to embed a youtube video or bandcamp link from official sources so you guys can listen to a song or two without leaving the page. Still not sure if I want to embed the music on the top so you can listen to it while reading or at the bottom so you can listen to the stuff afterwards. Any suggestions are very welcome. So enough of that - let's talk about music.

There's something to Bloody Hammers music I cannot pinpoint exactly. I came across Bloody Hammers on Spotify a couple of years ago. I think I played the song "Say goodbye to the Sun" on repeat on some occasions. There's something to Anders Magna's voice I really like. Combined with the slow, doomy elements the sound creates a rather soothing mood for me. Even more impressive is, that Bloody Hammers consist of only two people. They have released an album a year since they formed in 2012. Their Self Titled debut has been on my vinyl target list for quite some while and I think I'll get it in the next few weeks. I haven't bought into their following release Spiritual Relics. It could not recreate that special mood the first album was able to inflict in me. So I found it especially intriguing to reveiew Under Satan's Sun just to see what kind of direction Bloody Hammers are going.

Quick Facts:

• Artist: Bloody Hammers - www.bloodyhammers.com/
• Album: Under Satan's Sun - released on May 30, 2014
• Version: Limited Edition, 180g Vinyl - Discogs Link
• Label: Napalm Records
• Found: at www.nuclearblast.de for only 12,90 € (Winter Sale)

Quality/artwork:

The skull, the cape, the coffin, the girl, the writing - everything on the cover basically screams 70s horror movie. If you google 70s horror movie posters you will see what I mean. The material of the gatefold is simple, no gloss or any extra. The left sleeve is glued shut, and I dislike it. Whoever produced this messed up quite a bit. There are a few openings, which is no biggie but the sleeve is quite wobbly due to being glued together badly. The back is nothing special, just prominently featuring the tracks on each side. I like what they did with the inner gatefold. On the left you find the lyrics. This is something I dislike a lot on many many records. They either leave out the lyrics entirely or include them as a one page inlay which is prone to get damaged (I am looking at you Mastodon!). The right side features Anders Magna (vocals/bass/guitar/drums) and Devallia (organ/keyboards), some b/w promo pics and the thank you notes. The actual sleeve holding the record is an anti-static paper sleeve. Nothing special but way better than other sleeves used in newer pressings. The record itself is 180g vinyl. It makes no difference in quality - it only feels better when holding the record in your hands. The print on the record is a picture of a woman in a goat/devils mask in front of some landscape with a typrical filter effect applied. Reminds me a lot of the cover of their debut album and I'm pretty sure that is no coincidence. This actually reminds me of the prints on older records I own. The color scheme is a deciation from the all the other colors used which seems a bit odd. Included in this edition is a very small poster of a a live gig in black and white.

 The music:
I could not find any info on the mastering on my usual source (stevehoffman.tv). Since the band is offering losless .flac files via bandcamp it can be assumed that they did use a high quality master. Furthermore, I rarely read anything negative about Napalm Records releases. To my untrained ear this is definitely an album you can listen to at lower volume without loosing any of it's groove. Now the good thing first. Under Satan's Sun is back to the style on their debut album. It's catchy and a pleasure to listen to but not on the same level as the self titled debut. It is still a great album though. The opener "The town that dreaded sundown" is surprisingly straightforward rock with less occult/doom elements but sets the mood for what is about to come. I caught myself quite often nodding my head to the music. "Death does us part" - the second video release of the album, is quite a tricky song to me. It manages to catch the spirit of the first album but on the other hand some parts remind me of bloody HIM. This is maybe my only issue with the album. While most songs are great, I got the feeling I've listened to this before. "Welcome to the horror show" - the first video they released on youtube - could be covered by Marilyn Manson and noone would notice it's not his work. Again, this does not make the song a bad one, it just shows the obvious influences on the album.

Under Satan's Sun is the perfect record to listen to without paying much attention. The songs do not require much attention. The song structures are pretty straightforward with catchy refrains and well constructed bridges. The lyrics are as straightforward as the song structures. Nothing much left for your imagination here and nothing to read between the lines. This is what makes this abum so enjoyable, you can turn off your brain and pretty much enjoy it. Definitely the tunes I'd drunkenly dance to with my eyes closed at 4 a.m. in a metal club. My favorite song is definitely the namegiving "Under Satan's Sun". It reminds me a lot of their very first album. To me, the B side of the record is way better than the first one. While "Spearfinger" is the only track from Side A I'd put in a playlist I would put everyone on the other side in there.

To summarize: Bloody Hammers have gone back to the sound of the first album and created a very good but not great third album. I is definitely way better than "Spiritual Relics". If you're a fan of occult/psychadelic/doom metal give it a try.

Up next: Review: Negură Bunget - Tău

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Going vintage part II: The arrival

Now I was in the posession of a vintage Dual 1219 turntable and I did not even  know if it worked or not. The seller claimed it was in working, still pretty fishy considering the low price. Since I was not able to get the turntable myself it was not possible to test it in advance. Considering how little I paid for it, it was well worth the risk. On first inspection the turntable seemed in okay condition. No dents on the body, a working, though not original dust cover, a body mod to fit the dust cover and surprisingly two din cables to attach to the amplifier. To finally be able to listen to my records on this beauty I needed a couple of things: test the turntable, buy an amp and some din to cinch adapters.

When I plugged the power cord into the outlet and switched the turntable on I could hear the motor working but the platter did not move. Coincidently, I had read about this issue a week ago on the dual board. To fix this, I had to remove the platter. There are a lot of instructions to be found online on how to do these things. Fortunatley, I only had to clean the idler and roughen up the edges a little bit to make it work. Furthermore, the speed control was stuck. Trying to force it to move may actually damage the turntable even though it's built like a tank. I had to remove the turntable from the body to be able to access the inner mechanics. Removing the resinified oil and applying some lubricant fixed the issue instantly. The armilft was non-functional. Fixing this would be possible but had no priority. The automatic was working horizontally but due to the broken armlift not vertically. So I had to operate the turntable manually. I removed the cartridge and the needle to clean the contacts and tried to remove as much resin as possible from the inner mechanics. This would allow me to at least test this beauty, but I still needed an amp.

I found a used Denon PMR-925 amplifier from a local seller for 70 bucks. I did not do much research on other models, it was cheap, has a phono input, was in good condition and had favorable reviews. All I had to do was to buy the din to cinch adapters. Since there are two din cables attached to the turntable I bought to. And in the end it was the right choice, Went to my local electronics store to buy the din to cinch adapters to be ready to go. With everything attached, I put on a random record and there it was... a muffled sound... no bass even with the bass turned to max. So back to the internet I was, looking for information on this issue. If you want to call me an idiot - please do so. Seems I only forgot to attach the grounding to the amp. As soon as I did I got blown away.

The difference between my old stereo and this turntable plus amp was huge. Even with the same lousy speakers I was able to get much better sound. And surprisingly, even on low volume it still sounded great in stereo. I decided to attach my old tweeters as well. On the denon amp you are able to turn on/off the speaker pairs seperately. On some records it was great enhancement and on some the quality suffered. Still... I was as happy as I could be. I decided to test the Dual 1219 for a month or two before deciding if I wanted to repair (or in this case: let repair) the turntable.

Thanks to www.vinylengine.com and www.dual-board.de I was able to get the Dual 1219 to working conditions. So If you don't know these websites - go check them out.

And If you fancy, give us a like on facebook with the bloody annoying like button below. Still working to find another way to do so.

Up next:
A review of Bloody Hammer's - Under the Satan's Sun including some hopefully pleasant changes to how I conduct my highly subjective reviews.

Going vintage part I: Where to look?

After my first experience with vinyl I was hooked. I like many aspects about it. The deviation from digital media had a very positive effect on me. I felt less stressed and I was finally able to enjoy a whole album and not only some tracks. And so it was set, I chose to buy me a good turntable. So here I was, and I did not know where to start. I know that research is the key when you are looking for something good, but I did not know where to start looking. I was no member of any vinyl community or knew any places to look for. So I did what pretty much many people will do - search the usual suspects like Amazon or eBay for some models and google the hell out of them. So here's my experience so far:

1st step - Amazon:

A wise man once told me to look at the three star reviews to determine whether the item I look at is worth it. And this helped me a lot when browsing for a turntable on amazon. You see all those nearly 5 star turntables selling for 150-200 € and the first thing that goes through your head is: "Hey, not that expensive at all". But when you take a closer look at the 3 star reviews you usually find reviews of people who know a bit about the product. So I learned about why counterweights are important, got my first clues on what anti-skating is and found out why you never ever never ever should buy a Crosley or similar cheap turntable. (PSA: Skipping issues, may ruin your records). One review on a new Dual turntable mentioned the differences between the old and new models and how you can get a vintage one for less. That was the deciding factor to look for a vintage turntable.

2nd step - Google:
So after my trip through the depths of Amazon I got a few brand names. Namely Dual, Audio-Technica, Thorens, Pioneer, Kenwood, Rega and a couple more. So the next step obviously was to google what models they made back in the days and find reviews and other information about the models they made. I was really surprised to find tons of information and very active and helpful communities. I will write about some webpages which stood out in the future. If you want to check them out beforehand: r/vinyl - www.vinylengine.com - www.dual-board.de. These websites helped me a lot to narrow down my choices to a few brands and models: Dual 1219 or 1229, Thorens TD-180 and a Rega Planar 3. I made my choice based on quality of the original turntable, availability of spare parts and looks. Because hey, If I'd want to spent my hard earned money on a turntable and vinyl I might want it to look good.

3rd Step: ebay
To get a feeling on the costs I went to eBay to see how much a serviced one would cost. The prices varied so much that I was more confused than ever. Every seller claimed to have a perfectly serviced turntable and a special body. Fortunately, thanks to the communities mentioned above I was able to get an idea on how much a serviced turntable and non serviced turntables should cost. And I was warned to buy online with shipping from private sellers (as the turntable might get destroyed/bent or whatever due to bad packaging) I chose to buy from my local craigslist equivalent www.willhaben.at.

4th Step: Willhaben.at
Willhaben is basically the craigslist here in Austria. People sell all kinds of stuff here and it might be my only chance to find a vintage turntable near me. So I fed the search agent with the models I was looking for and a couple of hours later it yieled the first search results. The only problem: These models where either broken or not serviced as children where selling their parents/grandparents stuff after they passed away. The prices were intriguing to say the least. So the question which arose was: Buy a serviced and spend hundreds of Euros or buy a used one for 30 bucks. I knew the Dual turntables are not that hard to repair due to my previous research. So I pulled the trigger on a very nice Dual 1219 turntable with a Shure M91 MG-D cartridge and original needle. Luckily my in-laws live near the sellers location so I was able to get the turntable without shipping. And in retrospect it was the right choice.















Doing some reasearch is the key to find a  turntable. And starting with obviously bad choices like Amazon or eBay you get a grasp on what's garbage and what's not. I really recommend all the great websites dedicated to turntables and vinyl out there - just make sure it's a community and not one of those top 10 turntables to buy or Crosley related garbage websites claiming to be audiophiles. Make sure you understand what to look for when buying used. And be aware that you might have to replace some parts which cost extra (Needle, cartridge).
















Up next: Going vintage part II: Dual 1219 - the arrival.

Review: Paradise Lost - Symphony for the Lost

Review: Paradise Lost - Symphony for the Lost

Today, I'm going to review a record of a band which accompanied me through my teenage years. Paradise Lost was one of the very first bands I listened too when I was 16 years old. Not necessarily because I saw the excellece in their music but because of the song "As I die". Pretty perfect song for my "everything is bad and I must hate the world" period. But that is how it starts very often. You like one song, play it over and over again and suddenly you are into a band and start to enjoy their other songs too. So I was pleasantly surprised when I spotted "Symphony for the Lost" in the shelves on the very same shopping tour I purchased Between the Buried and Me's Coma Ecliptic record. Before I go into more detail - let's check out the record.

Paradise Lost - Symphony for the Lost

Label: Century Media

Format: 2 x Black Vinyl, Gatefold, Limited Edition + DVD
Country: Germany

Released: Nov 20, 2015

Price: 19,90 € @Saturn

Side A:
01. Tragic Idol
02. Last Regret
03. Your own Reality
04. Over the Madness

Side B:
05. Joys of Emptiness
06. Victim of the Past
07. Soul Courageous
08. Gothic

Side C:
09. The Enemy
10. Erased
11. Isolate
12. Fatih divides us, Death unites us
13. As I die

Side D:
14. One Second
15. True Belief
16. Say just Words
17. The last Time

DVD:
- First Half (with orchestra)
- Second Half (without orchestra)
- Documentary

The album was recorded live at the Ancient Roman Theatre of Philipppopolis in Plodiv, Bulgaria on the 20th of September 2014 featuring the Orchestra of State Opera Plovdiv and Rodna Pesen Choir. So far so good. The gatefold is very thick. The cover is quite interesting. At first I saw only some surreal painting. When I looked closer it is actually people dancing. The whole gatefold depicts maybe something from greek mythology. Quite interesting to look at as you find more and more details like the severed arm. Nevertheless, what you see is up to your imagination.

The 16 page booklet contains pictures of the show - mostly closeups of the band. Again the quality is really great, nothing compared to the CD booklets I was used to. I feel there could have been done more. There are no lyrics or any other informations inside. Still nice to browse when listening. 

So, Symphony for the Lost is basically a Paradise Lost Best of Live record. What struck me as odd is the decision to issue the first part of the album with orchestra (LP one) and the second part (LP two) without the orchestra. I feel a lot of potential to make this a great record got wasted because of this decision. Interpreting classics like As I Die or the slow Faith Divides us, Death Unites us with an orchestra could have been epic.

If you have been to a Paradise Lost show the Live album is no surprise. Cut the talking and play music. And the music sounds amazing. The quality of the record is good. The audience is loud, the music is clear and the mastering was done perfectly. However this does not compensate for the obvious flaws of the album. To me, the orchestra part failed. As much as I tried to like tracks like Gothic or Tragic Idol I failed. Don't get me wrong, the orchestra is good but the reinterpretation of the songs is weak. It's definitely not on the same level as Metallica's S&M. If I'd been able to see this concert I would propably been blown away by the performance but it simply does not work on this record. It's not bad but I feel the potential was wasted.

The second part of the album on the other hand is epic. Pure Paradise Lost live. There's nothing else to say. So as you can see, I am quite torn here. The album is miles away from being good and miles away from being bad. I might update this review when I get a chance to upgrade my setup but for now I can only recommend this for die hard Paradise Lost fans.

Up next: My search for a vintage turntable.

Review: Between the Buried and Me - Coma Ecliptic

With my first setup in place the only thing missing were some records. As I could not wait to finally play some nice music I went to the nearest store which sold vinyl. It's one of the bigger chains here in Austria so I did not expect to find anything good. But boy was I wrong. They had a pretty decent stock of mostly metal records. And I was even more surprised to find many bands besides the usucal suspects like AC/DC, Black Sabbath and Metallica. I had not listened to the album before, so this could be regarded as a rather impulsive decision. I got the Parallax: Hypersleep Dialoges and Parallax II: Future Sequence on CD so I knew the chances to like this release were pretty high. Did a quick check on my phone to see if the price is okay. I always do this. Not because I'm a scrooge - I'm okay with paying a few bucks more for buying local if the price is not that off. I'm often surprised that retail prices are sometimes cheaper or the same as online prices. Enough said - let me give you some quick facts about the version I bought.

Between the Buried and Me - Coma Ecliptic

Label: Metal Blade Records GmbH

Format: 2 x Vinyl, Gatefold, Limited Edition (500 Copies), 180g
Lenght: 68:31

Country: Germany

Released: July 10, 2015

Price: 22,90 € @Saturn

Side A:
01. Node
02. The Coma Machine
03. Dim Ignition
04. Famine Wolf

Side B:
05. King Redeem/Queen SErene
06. Turn to Darkness

Side C:
07. The Ectopic Stroll
08. Rapid Calm

Side D:
09. Memory Palace
10. Option Oblivion
11. Life in Velvet

 

I like the cover they have chosen for the album, quite minimalistic and and least to me peaceful. The whole concept of the album is about a man in a coma journeying through his past lifes. As serene and beautiful as the cover is, the backside of the sleeve is quite different. 

I like the constrast here, depicting the dreamstate and maybe the harsh reality on the other side. When I opened the gatefold it revealed two printed inner sleeves holding the records. There are images on the front and lyrics on the back of each sleeve. I am pretty much aware that the album is about a man journeying through his past lifes, but the pictures seem quite random. You get some feet in the sands and next to them the red cables running into/or out of the ground. The other picture is quite odd. Four people in dark robes holding torches in front of a man hanged by his feet. The inner gatefold is printed as well - depicting a hooded figure kneeling on grass in purple mist. Again compared to the front and back this kinda looks it does not belong here. As odd as they seem, the pictures are explained via the lyrics of the different songs, otherwise they seem quite random. The records themselves are pure 180g black vinyl.

So enough for the looks - time to give these records a spin. Please not that I'm writing this review based on my third setup. I replaced my cheap hifi with a vintage turntable and amp and my generic speakers with some high quality stuff. More details on the setup coming soon. The advantage is, that I can compare how it sounds on a crappy turntable with low-end speakers and a vintage model with higher-end speakers.

When talking about how the album sounds one thing stands out. It's less heavy and more prog compared to the previous releases. The clean vocals are great as ever, subtle and fit the overall theme of the album. The music seems to flow from dreamy, slow and soft parts to heavier parts. What stands out to me is how they make good use of all the variety they have in their music. The various styles and vocals are placed perfectly. Really heavy parts often surprised me as I did not expect them at this stage of the songs. Yet, that's what makes listening to Coma Ecliptic a great experience. I'm still not sold on the vocals though. Don't get me wrong, Tommy Rogers is a gifted vocalist. What bugs me on this album is that I feel like there is that the vocals vary too much. On some songs like "The Coma Machine" it feels like there's one style change too much. I get the impression they tried to hard to fit everything in. Does this make the album a bad one? Not at all.

The biggest strength of Between the Buried and me is definitely how they are able to link every song together. I listened to the whole album maybe a dozen times and if I had not have to turn the record over I would not have noticed any song ending. The songs flow in each other and overall they feel like only one song. A great story told via the means of music. And that's maybe the biggest problem of the two disc vinyl release. Turning the record often destroys what the songs where able to build in your mind. So high-quality audio files may be the better choice if you don't need anything physical in your hands and are all about high quality.

Even when the music creates a nice flow, some songs stand out as they differ a bit from the whole concept. "King Redeem, Queen Serene" is a surprisingly heavy song placed perfectly. When I turned the first record to side B I expected the album to continue as "Famine Wolf" ended. This helps a bit with the break created by changing and turning records. Somehow the album reminds me of an opera. Certain elements just throw me back to the times of Aina or old Avantasia. Here I get the impression I'm not listening to a prog concept album about a man in a coma anymore. It feels more like a fairytale. When you expect Between the Bured and Me like on the Parallax release or Colors you may be disappointed. First I disliked this change but it grows on to you.

"Coma Ecliptic" is certainly no album to listen to as background music or when doing something else. I'm listening to it as I write this and I have a hard time to concentrate on the music. This is an album which should be enjoyed without any disturbance. You have to focus on the music to grasp everything which is hidden. And it's certainly no album you like on the first playthrough. This one needs to be played a couple of times before it unfolds it's whole potential. Still, I'm not convinced that they were able to transport the concept of the album entirely.















I'd still recommend the album to any fan of progressive rock/metal. If you find this record for an acceptable price - go for it. When I compare this record played on my first setup and now there's a huge difference in quality and I always discovered tones hidden to me before. But the most important part is: You have to turn the volume up when you listen to "Coma Ecliptic". Otherwise It may sound dull at times. It defnitely needs some power to unfold.

Just a little reminder. I'm no music critic. I don't know anything about reviewing albums. I just want to write down my own impressions and thoughts as music is an integral part of my life. It's more like some therapeutic approach for me. So take everything you read with a grain of salt. You may have a totally different experience with the records I review. Oh and as you might have guessed, english is not my first language - so please excuse some minor (or major) mistakes.

Next up:
A review of Paradise Lost's Symphony of the Lost. A live album of a band I've listened to since my teenage years. And after the review I plan to write a little about my search for a vintage turntable and how I ended up with a Dual 1219.

Every journey has it's beginning...

... and the beginning may be considered straight out of the textbook. On one of my recent visits  I stumbled upon my 90s hifi in my parents cellar. It was in pretty bad shape - missing button to open the disc drive, broken speaker connection, dusty as hell. I wondered why my parents never threw it away. Nevertheless, what caught my attention was the record player on top of the setup. Some of my friends are into vinyl but I never paid much attention to it as I was happy with my humble CD collection. This time I was curious and I decided to test if it was still running. The model is a Samsung/Noblex SCM-6500.

 The only information I found on this model was from websites in spanish so unfortunately I can't give you more information on this specific model. Teenager me must have been pretty happy with this setup. Cassette decks, cd-player, equializer along with some big speakers. I can't remember ever making use of the record player on top. But before I could try this one out I had to fix the broken speaker connection. As you can see in the pic below there was no way to fix the speaker cable in place for the leaft speakers. I used some tinfoil and tape get the speakers to work. Nothing to last for ages but this would suffice for a first test.

   

Fortunately my parents have quite a vinyl collection so I had my testing material ready. Unfortunately my parents record collection consists of 90% Neil Diamond records. Among the other 10% I found an old Creedence Clearwater revival compilation album from the 70's which was probably the only album I could listen to without getting annoyed. The whole player has a very plastic look and feeling. The tonearm is entirely made out of plastic, has no counterweight and even the needle looks like one of those things you find as a gimmick in cereal boxes or kinder surprise. The platter is made out of plastic too with some rubbery patches. There is no I/O button, no tonearm lift - everything is manual. Moving the tonearm to the middle set the platter in motion. So everything was working and ready for a first run. 

It's a pretty special feeling to manually place the tonearm on the record - very different from tapping with your fingers on your smartphone to start a song or pushing a button. And it was the first time since several years I consciously listened to an entire album. I'm pretty much a victim of my own habits here. My CD collection I exclusively used in my car as I can not stand my local radio stations and even then I caught myself skipping songs to the one I like and changing the CD afterwards. With streaming It actually got worse. I found myself creating playlist after playlist, categorizing all songs I like and redo this ever other week. I actually stopped listening to music - I had my masterpieces playlist and I never listened to anything else despite of me having about 5000 songs in my library. This continued up to the point where I could not even play my favourite songs from the beginning to the end. But this time it was different. You can't skip a song this easily on a vinyl and there's no screen telling you which song is which. You have to look at the back of the outer sleeve, find the song you want to skip to, count the grooves on the record and place the needle there. Long story short - I enjoyed music for the first time in years. And I enjoyed a record I would otherwise not have listened to. I got hooked - and this was the beginning of a wonderful journey which should cost me a small fortune.

Up next - Review of my very first record
Between the Buried and Me - Coma Ecliptic