At the request of some other memebers and spurned on by the idea of carnaldistprod, I present the "official" Good/Bad Distro thread.

In this thread, you may post a metal distro that you have dealt with and detail any of your thoughts on them. They will be collected by myself and compiled in a list that will be updated and displayed in this original post once or twice a month.

Here are the rules, people (you didn't expect there to not be any, did you?):

Post the official name of the disto. Post whether your feedback is negative or positive. Then, and this is the absolute most important thing to consider and follow, you will explain why you are giving X distro feedback. Shit like "this distro is good" and "this distro sucks" is absolutely unhelpful, lacking insight and will be completely ignored when I compile this list. So please, put some effort into your posts!

I personally would like this thread to be useful and beneficial and I can keep up with it no problem. Let's not see it abused by people arguing over other people's posts back and forth, only post content relevent to the thread.

Southern Lord (Doom and more "well known" Black Metal)- Nothing but good things from this label. I have purchased items from them on more then one occasion and they have always come through fast and items always in good conditions. Couple of negative things. There have been instances of other people receiving damaged goods or missing an item, but usually they will fix that. Also, postage is expensive and can be slow, otherwise a fine distro.

www.southernlord.com


Winterreich (Black Metal tapes)- I had not heard much about this distro when I came across them. I bit the bullet and purchased some of their DTL tapes(which were going for a mint on Ebay) and they came through. Great price and fast shipping, I was highly pleased when I received the items.

www.winterreich.com

Great, thank you for the input! This is how posts in here should be made. I appreciate your efforts. As I mentioned I'll compile everything in here once or twice a month, so if everyone is waiting for the list to appear (and subsequently be updated) on the original post, it will be a couple of weeks.

Reliable distros I have dealt with:

Sevared Records (see explanations at bottom of this post)

Brutal Bands (see explanations at bottom of this post)

Goregiastic Records - The selection is a bit small, but shipping is fast and free. Death and grind based.

Open Grave Records - Has extremely fast shipping, even when I paid with cash through the mail. The distro has a great selection of CDs at sale prices (for $6) (plus a lot at regular store prices as well).

Epitomite Productions - All CDs are $10. As far as I know, despite what the distro page says, shipping is currently free in the US; that's what happened when I purchased back in January: I paid with cash and included shipping costs, but received 2 extra CDs (from my alternates) and a message stating shipping is no longer charged in the US. You might want to contact Von himself to confirm the free shipping.

Nokturnal Transmissions Records - From M-A's own Noktorn. Only thing holding it back is a small selection at the moment, but that's only because it's fairly new. Regardless, shipping is pretty quick.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sevared Records, Goregiastic Records, and Brutal Bands all pretty much are death metal and grind based, with the occasional black metal album; I'd say Sevared is the best for death metal in the US.

Sevared, Goregiastic, and Epitomite all have a buy 3 CDs (at $10 each), get 1 at equal or lesser value free deal.

Sevared, Goregiastic, Epitomite, and NTR all have free shipping.

my experience:

IRON TYRANT: www.irontyrant.net. cheap prices, fast service. quite large catalogue and lots of rare stuff
FORGOTTEN WISDOM PRODUCTIONS: special for black metal. ordered twice and always got the stuff perfect and fast.
CARNAL RECORDS: www.carnalrecords.se not that fast but a good trader, only ordered once, though.
DEBEMUR MORTI: ordered twice. great communication, fast service cheap prices. lots of black metal and vinyl.
SOUND CAVE: i always go to the shop but many people told me that also mailorder is very good, anyway it has cheap prices (cheaper shiop in Milan, in my experience) fast service and catalogue good for rarities.
PSYCHEDOOMELIC: perfect label for doom. not so cheap prices, but grat catalogue for doom metal and fast service and good trades.
STYGIAN CRYPT: i traded more than 10 times with him. great label/distro full of doom, death, black metal and gothic. also you can find lots of russian stuff.

Epic fail.

Brutal Bands. I've ordered from them twice or three times and have found them to be quite capable. Shipping to Australia isn't too expensive, and it actually takes less time than I always expect. Definitely a recommended distro for brutal death/grind.

CD Baby is another good one. Ordered from them 3 times so far and they have been very, very friendly and courteous, and all their packages have arrived quickly. I would recommend this one even more than Brutal Bands, actually.

hope now helps a bit, sorry.

Much better.

NWN! productions - http://www.nwnprod.com/ - He releases and reissues GREAT stuff. I've never had a damaged vinyl from him, this man knows how to ship stuff. Almost all of his CDs are $5 so it's cool to browse and buy random stuff every now and then. The only downfall is he only ships priority, which can be pretty costly if you have a 7lb package.

world terror committee/blut & eisen - http://w-t-c.org/ - This is a great german label. They release quality stuff. All of my packages from them were expertly packed and arrived in 4 business days. The worst part is that after you place an order, they'll email the total back to you. That usually takes around 10 days for some reason. I guess they're busy people.

Found lots of good stuffs on Moribund Records. Are they reliable?

I ordered from Moribund a few months ago. One of the items wasn't in stock, so the order filler personally called me to let me know (even though my email was listed as well). He asked if I wanted a replacement, and told me what was in stock when I asked. Very, very helpful and very nice people too!

HELLSHEADBANGERS - Great Distro with a great selection of items [music and band merch], specializing in black and death metal. CDs are around 10 or 11 bucks a piece, tapes are 6 and records vary, with new items coming in every week. They also carry the entire NUNSLAUGHTER discography, for anyone who's interested.

Fast shipping, it's reasonably priced and you'll receive your item quickly. I have ordered and received several items from these guys, and from my mailorder experience they're one of [if not the] best mailorder distro I've dealt with to date.

EDIT: link http://www.hellsheadbangers.com

The Cave (Positive): Small Australian distro that doesn't have that wide selection, but pretty much everything stocked is high-quality. Have made multiple orders from there that have all arrived no problems. Recommended for Australians in particular.

Asphyxiate Records (Positive): Fairly large Australian distro that specialise in extreme metal. Very good prices for Australia that are even better if you take advantage of the deals for multiple albums. Prompt shipping

Paragon Records (Positive): North American distro that has a very large range of stock dealing mainly in extreme metal. Cheap prices as well. Made one order that was shipped very quickly (quickest overseas shipping I've experienced) and included a couple of free CDs thrown in.

Black Hate (Positive): German distro that has a decent range, consisting mainly of black metal. Prices are okay and shipping was qiuck for the two orders I've made.

Good job, rexxz. I appreciate someone picking up on this.

POSITIVE REVIEWS
---------------------

Winter Solace Productions(USA)
http://wintersolaceproductions.cjb.net

Vega runs a killer underground tape label. I conducted a trade with him recently and his side was sent very promptly. If you are looking for a good underground tape selection, check WSP out.
--------------------------------------------

C.U.M. Records (Crush Until Madness)
http://www.crushuntilmadness.com

I've ordered from Marie on a personal level and from a distro level. Her delivery times are impeccable. She is a packaging madwoman. If you are ordering vinyl, order from her. She does an excellent job ensuring that no vinyls get damaged in shipping.
---------------------------------------------

Tour de Garde
http://www.t-d-g.net

Excellent label and distro. I ordered 10 copies of Akitsa "La Grande Infamie" from them and I received them in less than a week. I sincerely suggest checking out their stock.

Asgard Musik (Black Metal with bands like Nuclear Winter, DTL, Striborg)- After scouring the internet for DTL's Through the Noose of Existence CD, I came across the label that put it out(sure have checked there first I guess) Purchased the cd, which was easy because they had prices listed in AUD,Euros,and USD, and waited only about a week before it arrived in the mail safely as securely. Great label and good communication skyrocket this to one of my favorites.

www.asgardmusik.com

Zyklon-B Productions(Hellenic Black Metal+)- This label may not be the best of labels in morals, but they still put out quality music and are a good distro. I purchased the new DTL stuff from them and it arrived here very fast and in amazing condition. The postage was a little high, but it was sent registered so I didn't have a problem with that. Their prices are good and they put out good music, but the postage, and the occasional screw up(it didn't happen to me but I know someone got the wrong vinyl then they ordered, along with the tape sides being flipped and a track missing from the listing on the cd, very trivial things) this is an amazing distro.

www.zyklonbproductions.com

Will have some more soon

I had that occur to me before if one of the items I wanted was out of stock but it wasn't a man but a woman. Very courteous regardless.

Abyss Records

http://www.officialabyssrecords.com

Just ordered 80 dollars worth of patches, received them 4 days after my purchase. Good label.

$80...are you trying to cover a pair of pants?

Glad someone actually gives a shit about my little label, Support CSP & his zine, one of the few good new labels out there. I also second tdg & C.U.M recs

Other Good Labels/Distros

Werewolf Promotion - One of the few long running tape labels that isn't run by a shithead. Always is prompt when sending his trades, and always is smart enough to ship them registered out of poland.

Shadow Kingdom Records - This guy is your friend, his prices may be high but it's worth every penny. Prompt shipping and always packs vinyls securely. Support!

BattleHymn - I have gotten a HUGE portion of my tape collection from this man, always gets his stuff out on time and never gives you a load of shit like some.

Teutonic Satan - Another new label run by a good friend of mine. Probably has the best selection of hard to get tapes out there. He doesn't have a site yet, but I think his list is somewhere on this board.

Paragon Records - Insane selection, and shipping is always good. Includes bonus items for largers orders too, and is very helpful if you have an issue.

Recommended and really good distros:

WERWOLF, NORTHERN HERITAGE, GRIEVANTEE, W.T.C., INSIDIOUS POISONING, MYSTIC ARTS, O.ABHORENCE, MIRIQUIDI ...

Care to explain why these distros are good? I mean, that is the main point of the thread.

Anyways, I'd like to provide a bad distro: Primitive Recordings.

I made an order of $30 (and 10 cents) back in October, and have never received it. Granted, I did pay for my order in cash, and granted, I did put a loose dime in the envelope, but I'd still be aware of this distro. It doesn't look like the site has been updated in a long while, maybe early 2007. I also made an order out to a band with cash the way I normally do the exact same day, and while it did take almost two months to arrive at my house, it still arrived, so I'm assuming the cash didn't get lost in the mail (or then again, the dime still might have screwed it up). If anyone has had a successful purchase in the last year or so from them, please let me know.

Read the first post.

Most of the ones I have dealt with have already been mentioned (Hells Headbangers, NWN, Paragon, etc.). Here's a few I haven't seen so far.

The Good:

Ajna - Excellent service, and very helpful when his website wouldn't let me complete an order.

Akhera - The post office lost the package he sent me. When I told him this, he not only replaced what I had purchased (at no additional charge), he also included some extras and expedited shipping with tracking.

Basar North America - Fast, reliable and cheap.

Drakkar - Very fast shipping, and good customer service. The only complaint I have is that the CDs and inserts were just thrown into the envelope with no protection other then the flyers and catalog. Luckily, they didn't suffer any damage.

Full Moon Productions - Have been ordering from them on and off since the early 90's, and only had 1 problem (which was the fault of the post office, not them).

Ground Zero Entertainment - Very fast and extremely easy to deal with. Has some rare stuff at decent prices as well.

Ibex Moon Records - Only minor complaint I have is that they told me my order was shipped the day after I made it. In reality, it wasn't shipped until about 2 weeks later. Other then that, they are reliable in my experience.

Ledo Takas - Extremely fast and reliable. Had a rare 7" I was looking for in his list for a decent price.

Red Stream - One time I ordered from them, and there was a problem with my credit card. They called me not 5 minutes after I ordered to warn me of the problem, and save me a huge headache of having problems with the card later on.

Salvation Distro - Excellent service and very fast shipping.


The Bad:
Blut & Eisen - Ordered from them once, and I doubt I'd do it again. They charged me $45 shipping (registered airmail) for 1 LP. I waited 2 months before contacting them to ask about my package. They never replied to any email I sent them. 4 months after I ordered the LP, it showed up. They sent it economy instead of airmail, and the package wasn't registered. So, I paid almost $70 to wait 4 months for a package that looked like it had been through a warzone, and was sent without the extra postage I paid for.

And there's others I'm forgetting at the moment.

Its my first time to order at FMP666 store. I paid through cash which was sent in a letter ( well hidden). On July 18, 08 (Friday) he said that he got my money and would send my orders next week. Now July 22,08 Tuesday, I still haven't heard anything from him. I am still unaware about my orders being already sent or not.
Here's my question. Does it really take 1 week for FMP666 to send the orders after receiving the payment? Please share your experiences.

GOOD DISTRO:

Deathgasm Records -24 hours after receiving my payment my orders was sent immediately.

I ordered 2 weeks ago from WTC/Blut & Eisen.
long time in answering e-mail, but shipping costs were fine and stuff showed up in 4 days after the delivery confirmation.
maybe something has changed, finally.

uh, another one good was the WOTANSTAHL KLANGSCHMEIDE
fast communication, fast delivery and reasonable prices.

In the 90's when I used to send them cash, I got most orders quickly. I don't remember waiting more then 2 or 3 weeks for something to arrive. Recently, the only "delay" I had was pre-ordering the Arckanum CDs, which I waited about 3 or 4 months for (not their fault). They've never sent me any confirmation to let me know my stuff was shipped, and unless it's something they just started doing, you probably won't hear from him. Your stuff is most likely on the way to you already.




I was just over at their site, and noticed it was a lot different. I may give them another shot if I see something I need.


A few more good distros I just remembered:

Diabolist Services Cult - Local distro. Very fast and easy to communicate with.

Elegy Records - Another local one. 1 order I got almost immediately. Another time, it took almost 6 weeks for 1 CD to arrive.

Mercenary Musik - Got my order 3 days after I placed it.

Metal War Productions - They were also rather slow to deliver (5 weeks for 1 CD and they are only about an hour from me). It arrived in the end, so that's good enough for me.

Sanctus Traum - Not sure if he's still running his distro, but I know he sells on ebay a lot. Always got my stuff fast from him.

Can anyone recommend some good distros in GBP? We don't have dollars where we come from...

Supernal Music is really good.
http://www.supernalmusic.com/acatalog/catalogbody.html

Read the first post.

I second this nomination as a good (great) distro. Very professional attitude and well packaged delivery!! Highly recommended

http://www.battlehymnrecords.com/main.html

I do hope that FMP 666 would change that kind of strategy. Informing the buyer about whether the stuff was already shipped or not is a good thing to do to keep buyers from worrying about their orders. I kept emailing him asking whether my orders were shipped already but I didn't get a word from him yet.

I agree. It would be nice if more distros would take this approach, but for one reason or another they don't. You shouldn't be worried though. I'm sure your stuff will get to you soon.

I was ordered before from FMP666 after a little bit of waiting about my order it was arrive safely and in perfect condition.

Bad Experience:

GOATOWAREX - I ordered from this label before but I dont received my order till now.

... and how long did it take? That doesn't say anything, to be honest.

After all these years and people still have the either ill-informed nature or stupidity to order from Dani. People can make all the rumors and excuses up for that bastard, but what it all comes down to is he is a rip off. He's not on vacation in China, he's not busy, he's just taking your money to release more Drowning the Light garbage.

I seriously suggest that everyone read my words carefully: If you value your money, don't send Dani Li any of it. Get any Goatowar products from other distros if you have to have them.

You should leave Drowning the Light out of it, because he really has nothing to do with it.

can anyone recommend a good (great) distro that sells demo CDRs of bands? better yet, a distro that sells good copies of demo CDRs, meaning the covers don't look all fucked up and poorly printed.

I just received an order from RustyAxe Distro; the pro CD was fine, but the other demo CDRs were horrible....the xerox copy of the covers were just...BAD!! it's like someone gave the new retarded print guy the job to make copies of the covers and cut them to size...ALL FUCKED UP!!

Good labels for shit like that are Northern Sky (tapes mostly) and NWN!

I was not insinuating that DTL has anything to do with the rip off. I am well aware he is not. That was a reference to what Dani is doing with your money...

SFM has a lot of good material on cd-r...and at fair prices too...more than fair, even.

http://www.geocities.com/skullfnmetal