Due to an increase of threads about the identification of cds/bootlegs, I'm creating this thread to help the users. So basically, ask your questions here instead of making a new thread. The new threads are gonna be locked and I'll link this one.

Doing a comprehensive thread is the goal here, it's gonna be a good tool for the collectors here on MA.



Tony is out.

these are my discoveries to date, i'll exclude the angelcorpse ones... they were obvious home-burns
Nebula - Peel Session
Once Dead - Vengeance Rising
Scorched-Earth - Mars

Discogs matrix info
http://www.discogs.com/help/submission-guidelines-release-format.html#CD_Matrix

SID Code Implementation Guide [.pdf file]
http://www.ifpi.org/content/library/sid-code-implementation-guide.pdf

identification of pirate and counterfeit discs [.pdf file]
http://www.reportmusicpiracy.co.nz/Identifing_Pirate_CD-DVD.pdf

I have one question and since I'm not an expert in these things, I need your help.
I have Uriah Heep's album The Magician's Birthday and based on discogs data it is first UK press from 1986: http://www.discogs.com/Uriah-Heep-The-M ... se/2990062

But I'm confused about something. On ebay I found something that looks like exactly same CD and you can see it on picture number one.
I don't have camera so I couldn't take picture of my cd, but I wanted to ask you about these things I encircled on second picture.



On my copy text in larger circles is put vice-versa. By that I mean where on first photo stands DISCTRONICS, on my copy says S CLAD 109 01 and where on first photo stands S CLAD 109 01, on my copy says DISCTRONICS. Also, this small circle has number 9 in it, but on my copy there is number 14. What does it mean?

Once again, I'm pretty new in these things and I don't know a lot about so I'm asking here because I want to be sure what exactly I have bought. I'm very sorry if you find this question naive or something like that, but I'd appreciate some help Thanks!

OK, here's my list if titles which I've found to have known bootlegs either by seeing them myself or hearing reports from others who've been stung. It's by no means exhaustive, but these titles have known to have been bootlegged for 100% certain, so take care if you're looking to purchase/bid on eBay. Always ask for a picture of the matrix code where applicable if the price seems low or it seems too good to be true (going by the code itself is no longer trustworthy as bootleggers are now copying matrix codes too - usually you can see clearly by the font used on the actual CD though so this is the best way of checking for sure). Bootleg copies tend to have very modern, clean fonts which stand out a mile - whereas originals can often have 'dot matrix' styled font styles. With that said, it's not always the case, and if you're still unsure by all means check it here for others to see..

Note: This does not mean titles legitimately re-pressed by another label, or by a Russian label for sale within Russia & the Baltic states etc, these are titles pretending to be something they're not (i.e rare first pressings, deleted titles, titles from tiny labels who're long obsolete etc). Anyway, you'll do well to check carefully when wanting to pick up original pressings of any of the following..

Accuser - The Conviction + Experimental Errors
Accuser - Who Dominates Who?
Accuser - Double Talk
Agony - The First Defiance
Agressor - Neverending Destiny
Agressor - By Any Means Necessary
Agressor - Towards Beyond
Airdash - Thank God It's Monday
Airdash - Hospital Hallucinations
Anacrusis - Suffering Hour
Anihilated - Created in Hate
Angel Dust - Into the Dark Past
Angel Dust - To Dust You Will Decay
Apocalypse - Apocalypse
Apocalypse - Faithless
Apocrypha - The Forgotten Scroll
Apocrypha - The Eyes Of Time
Apocrypha - Area 54
Assassin - The Upcoming Terror
Assassin - Interstellar Experience
Asphyx - The Rack
Atrophy - Violent By Nature
Atrophy - Socialized Hate
Battleaxe - Power from the Universe
Blind Illusion - The Sane Asylum
Brainfever - Capture The Night
Brainfever - Face To Face
Burzum - Burzum
Burzum - Aske
Burzum - Det Som Engang Var
Celtic Frost - Cold Lake
Centinex - Subsconscious Lobotomy
Chastain - Mystery Of Illusion
Chastain - Ruler Of The Wasteland
Coroner - R.I.P.
Coroner - No More Color
Coroner - Mental Vortex
Coroner - Grin
Coven - Bless in Black
Cyclone - Inferior To None
Death Angel - The Ultra-Violence
Death Angel - Frolic Through the Park
Deathrow - Deception Ignored
Deathrow - Life Beyond
Demigod - Slumber of Sullen Eyes
Despair - Decay Of Humanity
Despair - History Of Hate
Destiny - Atomic Winter
Destiny - Nothing Left to Fear
Dimmu Borgir - For All Tid
D.R.I - Four of a Kind
D.R.I - Thrash Zone
End Amen - Your Last Orison
Equinox - Auf Wiedersehen
Equinox - The Way To Go
Equinox - Xerox Success
Equinox - Labyrinth
Excruciate - Passage of Life
Faith Or Fear - Punishment Area
Gargoyle - Nothing Is Sacred
Grave Digger - Witch Hunter
Griffin - Flight of the Griffin
Griffin - Protectors of the Lair
Grinder - The First EP
Hexenhaus - Tribute to Insanity
Hexenhaus - The Edge of Eternity
Holy Terror - Mind Wars
Illdisposed - Four Depressive Seasons
Incubus - Serpent Temptation
Incubus - Beyond The Unknown
Iron Angel - Hellish Crossfire
Iron Angel - Winds of War
Kublai Khan - Annihilation
Lethal - Programmed
Liege Lord - Freedom's Rise
Mania - Changing Times
Massacre - From Beyond
Midas Touch - Presage of Disaster
Midnight Darkness - Holding The Night
Mordred - Fool's Game
Mortal Sin - Mayhemic Destruction
Mortal Sin - Face Of Despair
Mortal Sin - Every Dog Has It's Day
Mutiilation - Vampires of Black Imperial Blood
Mutiilation - Remains of a Ruined, Dead, Cursed Soul
Napalm - Cruel Tranquility
Napalm - Zero to Black
Nasty Savage - Indulgence / Abstract Reality
Nasty Savage - Penetration Point
Nuclear Assault - Fight To Be Free
Nuclear Assault - Survive
Omen - Warning Of Danger
Overkill - Taking Over
Pantera - Metal Magic
Pantera - Projects In The Jungle
Pantera - I Am the Night
Pantera - Power Metal
Pariah - The Kindred
Pariah - Blaze of Obscurity
Poltergeist - Depression
Poltergeist - Nothing Lasts Forever
Protector - Golem
Protector - Urm The Mad
Protector - Leviathan's Desire
Protector - A Shedding of Skin
Protector - The Heritage
Purgatory - Tied To The Trax
Pyracanda - Two Sides Of A Coin
Razor - Armed & Dangerous
Razor - Evil Invaders
Razor - Malicious Intent
Razor - Custom Killing
Razor - Violent Restitution
Razor - Shotgun Justice
Razor - Open Hostility
Reaper - Beyond All Time
Reaper - The Years Within
Risk - The Daily Horror News
Risk - Hell's Animals
Risk - Dirty Surfaces
Risk - The Reborn
Running Wild - Under Jolly Roger
Running Wild - Blazon Stone
Running Wild - Branded & Exiled
Running Wild - Gates to Purgatory
Sabbat - Mourning Has Broken
Sacrament - Testimony of Apocalypse
Sacred Oath - A Crystal Vision
Sacrifice - Forward To Termination
Sadus - Illusions (Chemical Exposure)
Saint Vitus - C.O.D
Saint Vitus - Die Healing
Sarcofago - INRI
Sarcofago - Rotting
Sarcofago - The Laws Of Scourge
Sarcofago - Hate
Scanner - Hypertrace
Screamer - Target Earth
Shah - Escape From Mind
Shah - Beware
Skyclad - A Burnt Offering For The Bone Idol
Skyclad - Wayward Sons of Mother Earth
Solstice (USA) - Solstice
Stone - Stone
Stone - No Anaesthesia!
Stone - Colours
Stone - Emotional Playground
Talon - Neutralized
Talon - Never Look Back
Talon - Vicious Game
Toxik - World Circus
Toxik - Think This
Vendetta - Brain Damage
Vio-Lence - Eternal Nightmare
Vio-Lence - Oppressing The Masses
Vio-Lence - Nothing To Gain
Virus - Lunacy
Voivod - Angel Rat
Wombbath - Internal Caustic Torments
Znowhite - Act of God

Sad thing is, I just know there's a fuckload that I've forgotten which aren't in circulation so much anymore but still exist. But this is what I can come up with for now...

Nice Daemonlord.

Hopefully it can go a little way to making people open their eyes to this - I've already added another few titles since I posted just from memory(!). Crazy amounts of stuff that has been bootlegged over the years...

That's weird! Are the CAT# (label code on the spine) and EAN (barcode) the correct ones? Because if the matrix is wrong then it might me another version, maybe a later reissue licensed to other region/distro or just a bootleg. The place where you bought it and the price for which you bought may also be indicative of this.

I bought it at the second hand shop, so I have no idea where they got it.
CAT and barcode are correct, same as those on discogs link i provided in first post.

Disctronics is the name of a group of well known pressing plants
sometimes when people enter matrix info at discogs they say things like "mirroly reversed" or just enter it so it reads left to right.
matrix variants [or variations] are common too

try to compare the fonts used if you can

Spotted another seller on Amazon selling bootlegs, Kingdom of Evil - seen here selling a bootleg of Demigod's Slumber of Sullen eyes on Drowned for £17, among other things.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listin ... dition=all

DO NOT SUPPORT! Wipe these assholes out.

I'm sure that's against the Amazon rules.

I don't know if this copy of Slumber of Sullen Eyes is also a bootleg, but:
matrix does not match with Discogs, a starting price at $9.99, like new CD, all of this is really suspicious...

Is this the right place to ask for cassettes as well?

That guy has been selling those Demigod bootlegs for what, a couple of months now? I remember we discussed it on another thread here in the boards. Be extra careful of Demigod bootlegs guys!

As for the Amazon guy doing the same it's actually a distribution company registered here in Portugal, shame on them. Two things can happen here, either the guy running it knows it's a boot and doesn't care or he may not even know. It has happened in the past that good distros carry some boots that when inquired are said to be Greek/Russian editions. They don't hide that fact and all you need is a brain to get there. Now if the guy knows and doesn't give a shit he should be booted from business.

Anyone know if Frostscald Records' releases are official? I'm interested in a Taake tape by them and I can't find the label on discogs which smells kinda fishy.

I knew the name rang a bell. They've reissued Midvinter's sole album so they seem like the real deal. Check it out.

Thanks for showing me that band. I thought they might be bootleggers, but I see they have quite an extensive list of releases.

Yeah they have. Midvinter is pretty cool indeed!

Got curious and sent a message (via Amazon) asking if it's the original Drowned release, or a bootleg, or a Russian release or a later release. And if it's sealed. Not that I'll conclude anything from the answer but I like being annoying.

Got a reply: "Thank you for your inquiry. Our edition is the 2006 reissue «Slumber... + Unholy Domain» done by Xtreem Music. It's factory sealed."

A similar situation happened to me with another seller who had a CD listed as one edition but revealed to be another when inquired. Sometimes they have the dates wrong and post it as if it was the original when it's a reissue. It happens.

Yes, happened to me recently when I got a "Unquestionable Presence" Icarus release when the listing was for the Relapse release. Both are crappy remasters, pretty much similar, and it was cheap so I let it go, but one can never be too careful.

i'm sure people intentionally misunderstand the term "original"
to me it means first pressing, first issue etc not that it isn't counterfeit/bootlegged etc

Hmm, that's interesting - my friend swore he got the dodgy Drowned bootleg which is doing the rounds from this guy - I will speak to him again to confirm. However, I know this guy has definitely supplied me with a couple of Agressor bootlegs a while back which I returned for a refund as they were around the same price as the originals go for on eBay - perhaps he is buying from a 3rd party wholesaler which has a mixture of bootleg and fake stuff, unknown to him? Could well be the case.

Someone here most know..

Ive got the Metalblade 1992 CD first press of "Tomb of the Mutilated" 3984-14003-2
Few questions:

* The inner cade tray.. is it Black or transperant?
* Whats the image on the CD itself? its it a B&W skull with red writings?

Thanks..

given its age i'd say it would have a *black tray insert/spindle, but these are easily replaced so it could have a clear one
i have a different version so my disc likely looks different too, but it is basically black artwork with some red writing on mine.
can you scan and upload your disc for us to see?



*actually i was told they don't even make the black ones any more?!

Well, first to say there are 2 different firstpresses, the EU and the US Version. Both definitely have a black tray. The EU Version has the gore artwork inside the foldout booklet and doesn't contain lyrics, also the backcover doesn't mention all song titles.
The CD itself is this (matrix number CDZORRO-49 11 A1 DADC Austria) :



The US Version has the gore artwork on the front with the "parental advisory" logo, which isn't on the gore cover in the EU. The US edition has full lyrics, also the back cover shows all song titles.
Didn't find a picture of the CD itself or the matrix number but I'll try to remember to look it up when I'm home from work as I have both firstpresses.


Edit:
matrix number of the US Version is "3984-14003-2" in mirror writing. Here a picture of the disc.

ok here's my copy, it has both censored and uncensored covers too.
click for larger image [top only]

that Burzum Hvis Lyset Tar Oss bootleg/counterfeit is horrifyingly realistic

Thats the same CD I posted above as the EU Version (same Matrix number), the disc shows "Made in Austria". The US Version only has the gore artwork.

i actually didn't realise mine had both! i've been missing out for months ha ha


Autopsy - Mental funeral
was this ever originally released as a digipak? i thought they didn't exist in 1991?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/120972290945

our page here says: Released in 1991 as a digipak without Retribution for the Dead.

Weird...

I found out this while doing a Google search, and it matches the info on Musik-sammler.

Coincidently anyone knows when the digipak format was introduced?

I'd have guessed digipaks were only introduced in the mid-90s - I really couldn't tell you the oldest digipak I own though, can't say the thought has crossed my mind before - haha. Surely something like a digipak pressing of something would be a lot tougher (but not impossible) to bootleg than something in a jewel case. I can't think of any digipak pressings of things that are bootlegs off the top of my head anyhow.

Yes, firstpress was a digipack which was available only a few days before the jewel case version. I got mine from a friend who bought it on release day.

fark, really? that's out of it, i just assumed stuff was jewel-case-only back then.

Sepultura's Arise was also released as digipack back then. That's probably the oldest digipack cd I have.

The oldest I can remember in metal is Sacred Reich - The American Way which was available in 1990.

Correct, i got that digi too

Does anyone know if Razorback and Repulse Records stuff has been bootlegged? I'm checking some interesting stuff from those labels but with the source being Lithuania I tend to be suspicious.