How can you ignore that cover?! Haha I love it so much. The calling card of this weird wave of nebulous hard-to-define death metal seems to be awesome album covers of faces with muted colors (Sweven, The Formulas of Death, Nothing but the Whole). I think it's pretty cool.

That bandcamp stream won't play for some reason so I'm youtubing it...
I would love this if it was faster, a little bit of speed at the end of track 3 isn't enough, It is good though
It reminds me of the first [and only good!] Paradise Lost album

I'll be posting what I got yesterday in here soon, threw some cash at Deathgasm Records earlier too, feels good man

A friend of mine sent me this, I'll have to think of something to send them in return

Coffins / The Arm And Sword Of A Bastard God - split [US, annoying packaging but ultra heavy music and even a Pungent Stench cover, HUUUUEEAAAARRGGHHH!!!!]




My mysterious table of secrecy and deception...


And because I tweeted these from my phone then used the image urls in my blog all this will appear twice everywhere... I don't want any rage-unsubscriptions though ha ha

Todays haul:

Putrid Pile - Live at Obscene Extreme 2011 DVD
Marduk - Dark Endless LP (CM 2012 reissue)
Nekromantheon - Rise, Vulcan Spectre LP (Red BoB version)
Demilich - 20th Adversary of Emptiness (Green vinyl box set)

Hahah that table looks fully normal to me! Maybe that's where the deception and secrecy comes in...whatchu hidin' under there?

I've never checked em out because I don't think their style is for me but I've always loved the name The Arm and Sword of a Bastard God. I usually can't stand band names that are a fucking mile long but that one is so cool for some reason.

Got Sigh - In Somniphobia and a Solstice pin from Acrobat, thanks mate.

Latest arrivals:

A couple HMV Japan orders and one from CD Japan:

Ningen-Isu, Ganglion, 激情★めたりっちぇ, Akane Liv, Cyntia, GYZE, My-Butterfly, Elendira, SPiRiTRiAL, 犬神サーカス団, CHECK×MATE, Alstro Merry

From ebay (Grooves Inc):

Grave Digger - Return of the Reaper [2CD digibook]
Machinae Supremacy - Phantom Shadow

Tomahawk - Tomahawk CD Digipak
Tomahawk - Mit Gas CD Digipak
Tomahawk - Anonymous CDd Digipak
SOD - Bigger Than The Devil CD Promo Cardboard
Grip Inc. - Griefless CD Single Promo

The Right Wing Conspiracy/Eternal Mystery

I usually hate grindcore, but I guess when you mix it with death metal it's pretty good. The Right Wing Conspiracy writes such great lyrics, it's amazing.

Intriguing is the right word. I previewed about ten minutes of the album before ordering it (just got it in the mail today) and I was struck by how simple and musical it sounded. I expected something far more abstract. Instead it was riff-based and there were one or two other things always going on in the background to keep you on your toes. Also, the main riff in the second song conjures this image in my head of a titan trudging through the ocean. I had that stuck in my head for days after first listening to it. I wasn't necessarily blown away by what I heard, but I wanted to keep hearing more. It's kind of like reading a short horror story. There's this sense of foreboding that drew me in. Unfortunately I had to stop listening because I didn't want to spoil myself before getting the CD, but now I've got it in my hands!

Wow now that is interesting. I can't bring myself to call it riff-based at all but I've only played it a few times. There ARE interesting riffs happening there but the majority of them don't really jump out at me or steal my attention, and a lot of the faster ones feel kinda backgroundish. They do break out with some bigger grooves every now and then. I think the whole thing feels crafted toward creating that foreboding vibe you were talking about though. Looking forward to seeing how you feel once you've heard it the whole way through. It is going to take repeated listens for me to get a handle on, that's for sure. Curious album.

Haha yeah that's correct, sorry for that. I'll reply now!

The store is www.ginza.se.

Quite possibly my greatest haul ever! Here's the amazing stuff that came in today.



From left to right:
Gargoyle - 倭
Gargoyle - Super Battle Gargoyle
Gargoyle - 黒密典
Gargoyle - 虹融合
Gargoyle - 奇獣
Gargoyle - 解識
X Japan - Blue Blood
X Japan - Jealousy
Light Bringer - noah
Light Bringer - Scenes of Infinity (Limited Edition; managed to grab it right before it went out of stock on HMV. Replaces my Korean pressing.)
陰陽座 - 金剛九尾 (Replaces my NA edition)

My copy of Relapse's reissue of Num Skull's Ritually Abused arrived today along with the t-shirt I ordered as well. This is one of my all-time favorite thrash records, so I'm forever grateful that Relapse had the sense to reissue it and I'm beyond pumped to pop this sucker in my CD player!

Picked up these today:

Pale Divine - Thunder Perfect Mind DLP
Brocas Helm - Demonstration of Might DLP
Brocas Helm - Black Death CD
Brocas Helm - Into Battle CD
Beherit - Drawing Down the Moon CD

Got another order from HMV Japan. God damnit I haven't even fully digested my last 2!


Sincerity Green - The Ocean of Dreams
Aldious - Deep Exceed [regular edition]
Afterzero - Dawn of Doom
Roman So Words - Emilia -The Last Chapter- [remastered]
I:D - With
Red Emperor Project - Made Of Maiden
Mechanical Teddy - Mecharopolis
ラーフ - Re・birth
ラーフ - 海賊盤

Got these in today:

Attack - The Secret Place (CD)
Cloven Hoof - A Sultan's Ransom (High Roller LP reissue w/ DVD)
Lords of the Crimson Alliance - s/t (FTF CD reissue)
Sacred Oath - A Crystal Vision (Metalizer LP reissue)

I finally got an official copy of A Sultan's Ransom to replace my bootleg! It's one of my favorite NWOBHM/power metal albums.

I'm still waiting for my copy of this to arrive (t-shirt as well). I've never heard it, but I have to imagine it lives up to its reputation. Your words definitely make me more excited

Just ordered the new Darkspace III I from Avantgarde music. It's finally available and if you jump on it straight away the limited 500 is what's being sold. Pricey though I just got III I and -I and it cost me $45 that includes shipping.

Morbus Chron - Sweven on vinyl. Great music and beautiful artwork, especially because of the huge size of the booklet. I really like it when a band puts that much effort in making a nice package of music and visual entertainment.

Small score this week:


Mournful Congregation - Concrescence of the Sophia


Forest Grave - MMXIV
Forest Grave - MMXIV
Forest Grave - MMXIV

Midnight - No Mercy for Mayhem Pic Disc and Chinese Edition.

New stuff from the local used music shoppes:



Testament - The Ritual
Ares Kingdom - Return to Dust
Sepultura - Chaos A.D.
Ares Kingdom - Incendiary
Cauldron Black Ram - Slubberdegullion
Emperor - In the Nightside Eclipse (I've been putting off getting a proper copy of this for some time but I found it for $4 so yay)
Ihsahn - After
Raventhrone - Endless Conflict Theorem
Ne Obliviscaris - Portal of I
Lengsel - Solace (not pictured)
Ditheist - sticker, given to me for free from the always dapper and gentleman extraordinaire singer

Frosttide - Awakening
Flaskavsae - Full Discography

This is my first shot at ambient black metal. We'll see how it goes, I suppose.

Dawn - Naer Solen Gar Niper Evogher
Dawn - Sorgh pa Svarte Vingar Flogh
Dawn - Slaughtersun
Sacramentum - Far Away from the Sun

Some fine melodic black reissues. In the immortal words of Inigo Montoya, "There will be blood tonight!"

Nice stuff, Ares Kingdom are killer! I bet you banged that Ditheist singer!

Just came back from a gig, guess the band.

Thanks! I'm pretty stoked for those Ares Kingdom cds myself. And no I haven't gotten down and dirty with him yet, but it's coming! Just gotta wait for the third and final member of the ambiguous trio but he's pretty reclusive so it may take a while.

I am still waiting on the Willowtip and Prosthetic grab bags to come in along with a few other orders, but in the meantime I can post some of my most recent Bandcamp, eBay, and record store purchases.


Children of Bodom - Relentless Reckless Forever hardback book edition
Loathsome - Born From Rot
Overkill - White Devil Armory
The Autumn Project - A Burning Light
Fallujah - The Flesh Prevails
Nativity in Black: A Tribute to Black Sabbath
Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun


Sleeping Giant - Finished People
3 Inches of Blood - Long Live Heavy Metal
Snovonne - The Nightmare Bride
Hoth - Oathbreaker
All Shall Perish - Hate.Malice.Revenge
Epica - The Quantum Enigma
Summoning - Minas Morgul
Slow - Unsleep
Lord Agheros - As a Sin
Opeth - Pale Communion
In Flames- Siren Charms



(Not metal, but I got a Wii U!)
Revocation - Revocation
Lacuna Coil - Broken Crown Halo (came with a signed picture)
Cannibal Corpse - A Skeletal Domain
Saor - Aura
Haemic - Fields of Sanguine
Agalloch - Marrow of the Spirit

Latest haul:



I had already heard 5 of the albums displayed above before but I'm really glad to finally own them. My next 2-3 weeks are sorted!

Part of my latest haul, all found locally

Some really nice first presses there (and a cool G7!).

Haha
My G7 is a little beat up. (Long time Company of Heroes player)

My G5 doesn't even have rubbers anymore mate!

oh, pardon mine is also G5..I have it for so long, that I forgot the #.

Ah crap, you're right! The G7 was the wireless one. I've got the other version with only one action button for the thumb though, that's why I got confused.

recently picked up
Conan: Blood Eagle
Weedeater: ...And Justice for Ya'll
All Pigs Must Die: Nothing Violates this Nature

Fucking weird mate. I found that exact Mortuary album at the local record shop yesterday too. I passed on it cause it was pretty damned pricey. Are you local to me or is that just a crazy coincidence?

Just started collecting again after an extended period of not buying anything.



Airdash - Hospital Hallucinations Take One
Asphyx - Last One on Earth
Decapitated - Winds of Creation
Devastation - Idolatry
Immortal - Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism
Immortal - At the Heart of Winter
Type O Negative - World Coming Down
Voivod - War and Pain

Was quite annoyed that Devastation - Idolatry didn't have the original yellow artwork as pictured on the site I ordered from, but a killer album nonetheless. Must pay close attention to album version/ re-issue specifications in future!

No, I'm over in New Jersey. How much were they asking for that Mortuary? I got mine for $ 10.00

Ahhh that's cool, I'm always looking for new people in the area. They were asking like $45 for it which is a shit ton but the exact same version is listed on discogs for around $38. So I'm pretty sure you just got that for a freaking steal mate.