Most bootlegs suck, obviously, and the real deal is almost always preferable in terms of both quality and authenticity, not to mention the incentive of supporting the band.

Some bootlegs contain material that can't be found anywhere else, though, like Dawn of the Black Hearts, which is literally the only way most people will ever be able to hear Mayhem's most infamous lineup.

I've been fortunate enough to never get ripped off with a bootleg, but for those that have been, did any of them surprise you with their quality?

Some of the Russian presses of Liege Lord that I've own sound virtually the same as the original cds. I know Russian presses get a bad rep but for bands that are too kvlt to re-release their shit, they're more than likely the only alternative for a physical copy instead of paying some Ebay douchebag selling an original copy for 200$.

I've been burned a couple of times by bootlegs of Beherit - The Oath of Black Blood. It's a very simple layout and disc, but there are a few details that give it away as an obvious fake. The skeletons on the cover are supposed to be a very stark black and white, but on the bootleg they have a bluish tint, and you can see digital artifacts in the background, which is completely black on the real thing. They still seemed to have the un-remastered sound, so they at least had that going for them while I tracked down a real one. I was still pissed after waiting weeks for them to arrive only to see right away that I'd gotten a fake.

Another huge ripoff is Beherit - Unholy Blessings. It claimed to have demos on it, which after I got it home, I discovered it was just the same tracks from their other releases with shitty sound quality, as if someone recorded the songs playing on the stereo using a separate device. I can't remember why I didn't take that one straight back to the record store and demand a refund. The awful artwork should have given it away.

Keeping with the Beherit theme, a great bootleg that's not a fake of an original release is Beherit/Impaled Nazarene - Day of Darkness Festifall. Really cool live recordings of each band.

As for Mayhem, you can hear the classic lineup on Live in Leipzig. Pretty sure that was always an official release though.

Oh, I didn't know about that recording.

Liege Lord's entire catalogue is being re-released (again) by Metal Blade with some extras in the near future.