Discogs has more holes in the database than a swiss cheese. Probably at least half of my CDs are pressings that aren't listed, and they're all legit.

A few months ago, I bought 4 Falkenbach CDs (Magni, Ok Nefna, Heralding, Tiurida) from Amazon, as a complaint that I do not like the iTunes version. The iTunes version is filled with mistakes, and even the release date is wrong! The versions which I intended to buy are the original Napalm versions, and the Heralding album is a limited edition digipack (It even says in the version description!). The most inexpensive versions cost around $6, sans S&H. It took less than 2 weeks for my order to arrive home, but I am suspicious that it will be Argentine Icarus versions! All 4 are jewelcases, and Tiurida did not contain the 8th track!

I did not find Magni or Ok Nefna on HMV or Sonic Boom (I live in Toronto). I could find subtle differences between the Icarus and Napalm versions of Heralding's sleeve. The jewelcases broke immediately when I opened; I put the sleeve, booklet, and CD separately. I did not have the Napalm versions, but I do not particularly believe that there will be any quality differences between the 2, as both are official (according to MA).

I read other articles about Icarus Music, and its counterparts, such as Scarecrow and Irond, and many of these posts suggest that these regional, or licensed releases are of inferior quality compared to the original.

Post your experiences about your experiences of buying "licensed label" releases. If you consider them to be inferior, you can also verify by highlighting the differences through a software screenshot, a side-to-side visual comparison, an audo diagram (such as Audacity) screenshot, etc.

Icarus in particular is absolute garbage. I only own a few of their reissues and that's completely by accident, I would never purposefully buy something from them. I'm not really concerned with booklet or jewel case quality, obviously I don't want shitty or broken stuff sitting on my shelves but what I'm worried about when it comes down to it is audio quality. And Icarus fucking blows at that as well. Just avoid them man.

They definitely use lower quality materials than Central European labels. It's mostly an issue with the inserts and cases, though usually the print on the disc surface will also be grainier and lower resolution than an original label pressing. Sound-wise, the difference will often be negligible but generally these low-rent CD plants in South America probably don't take as much care creating glass masters as a plant in, say, Germany or the US would. Sometimes they do sound bad, like a high-bitrate mp3 or something. Generally I say avoid licensed CDs unless it's super-cheap and the original is simply impossible to find.

A way to avoid mistakenly getting the Licensed version is to ask the supplier.

From my experience, older Icarus pressings are decent. I have their pressing of the 2006 (I think?) Century Media release of Death's "Spiritual Healing" and it's decent, I also have their pressing of Peaceville's 2003 digipack reissue of Darkthrone's "Transylvanian Hunger", which is decent as well. Both are, I'm assuming, basically the same thing as you would find from the original edition, maybe slightly different but nothing offensive.

On the other hand, I have a release they did of Asphyx - "The Rack" a few years ago, and it's hard to explain exactly, but it always felt like a low-quality pressing to me. Just the feel of the paper and the overall look of the thing, it looks like a synthetic copy of something else (sort of like the low-quality snack cakes you can find in your local grocery store ). It mirrors Century Media's excellent mid-to-late 00's death metal reissues (with restored/improved artwork, foldout booklet - lyrics on one side, poster/band photos on the other, etc.), but the overall look of the thing, is kind of poor in my opinion. I have some other CM releases put out during this "series" of reissues, and they are excellent, so I know it's not their fault.

The one thing by them I know for sure I own is Anthems to the Welkin Dusk and the sound quality is atrocious.

What about the Falkenbach albums? I never get to compare Napalm and Icarus versions!

I have a couple of Icarus cds including Death - Spiritual Healing, the first Morgoth, and Possessed - Seven Churches, and possibly a few I'm not aware of. Like someone else mentioned, I got them all by accident ie the seller did not disclose they were Icarus or listed on ebay saying it was a non-Icarus label because some people and stores aren't careful.

The sound quality is fine to me but I'm not really an audiophile like some people here. The cd/booklets are OK. The booklets are so thin/nonexistent for the cds as far as I can remember (no pages with lyrics, etc, just a foldout) which kind of sucks but the music is most important I guess. I've been unexpectedly dissappointed by flimy cds and flimsy inserts on some cds before and none of them were Icarus so I think they're fine by repress standards which often omit a lot of stuff. The discs aren't thin or flimsy, either.

Why I don't like Icarus: they sell brand new cds for a flat $5 a piece, and they're licenses. The bands can't be making much money off of that. It can be tempting to buy a cheapo $5 cd but I rather hold out for a used copy or from another store selling a non-Icarus for more than $5. And they have a listing pop up for half the things I search on ebay. The label seems too shysty for its own good even though I know they're not bootlegs. For this reason I avoid Icarus and was dissappointed each of the times I discovered I unknowingly got an Icarus cd. I also avoid the other label - Del Imaginario Discos? - I've read their discs are flimsy etc.

Edit - I just checked all three cds and the booklets are fine, I must have been thinking of something else, although the Death booklet seems to have blotchy ink but nothing serious. The Death disc artwork is a little grainy but I don't have a non-Icarus version to compare so idk.

I had the weirdest ever experience with Icarus. I ordered Gorgoroth's 'Ad majorem Sathanas gloriam' from Priceminister and the Argentinean Icarus CD arrived, perfectly sealed and with all the booklet, packaging and CD apparently correct... but when I put it on the music was some kind of South American pop crap!
I then looked closer at the CD and saw that the reflectant side had like fingerprints underneath the surface, as well as other marks. I made a complaint and they refunded me no question, so seemingly it happens often...

I used to own that Seven Churches cd myself, but I sent it back because the asshole who sold it on Amazon advertised it as the deluxe cross-shaped digipack I was looking for at the time.

I have an Anathema Alternative 4 digipack cd which looks and sounds about the same reissue from Peaceville, and three Meshuggah cds from Nuclear Blast's "reloaded" series which seem equally fine to me, the only difference in this case being that they came in regular jewel cases as opposed to the super jewel cases NB was using for the reloaded reiussues at the time (not a problem for me since I hate those things).

All of these records are a few years old, though, so no idea how they're handling business as of late.

I believe I have a russian/Icarus press of Voivod's debut. The sound is probably a bit shittier than it should be but that happens to gel perfectly with the dystopian wasteland vibe. Other than that the cover artwork has a weird blueish hue.

I bought Vintersorg's The Focusing Blur slipcase (Icarus) and the quality is pretty good., to the point to not sell it even if I got the proper Napalm version later. I got by error Covenant's Nexus Polaris licensed by Grond (rus), it was well printed both cd and booklet.

I've seen A LOT of licensed albums from 'Del Imaginario Discos'. I don't know their quality yet and I often avoid licensed albums unless there's no way of having the original one.

Have anyone compared an Icarus or other licensed label with the original version?

How would you even know if that album was mastered badly?

I accidentally got the Icarus press of Summoning - Old Morning's Dawn. Then I ordered the proper Napalm pressing. Compared to Napalm's nice glossy thick paper and top quality Sonopress CD, the Icarus one had flimsy paper with blurry artwork and a grainy texture, and the CD was much lighter and very easily bent. I even showed my friend who has literally no clue about such things and she could immediately spot the difference in quality. So yeah, Icarus sucks. Also they slap their ugly fucking logo on everything and it's always twice as big as it needs to be.

is there any difference in sound quality between original and those counterfeits you can buy from ebay/discogs?

My first Monstrosity album is rotting away and I highly doubt there will be a reissue anytime soon.

This is what the Icarus jewelcases are described as...
I may buy the Napalm version soon...

That label is often described as being even worse than Icarus. The only CD I have from them is Entombed - Left Hand Path, and it's honestly not as bad as the Icarus ones I've seen, but still a bit shit. The front cover is too dark and has a weird pixelated grid look to it, like if you look at it too hard it's like it's made of tiny tiles instead of being a smooth image like it should be. I accidentally brought that one from a store and obviously wasn't looking at the label info, and didn't even notice until a couple of days later that it wasn't a proper Earache release.

Do you often see licensed labels sold in retail stores? In my HMV, I did not see any licensed-label discs. The Falkenbach discs are all supplied by Napalm.

What about Irond? I just ordered two albums by them and they should arrive probably next week.

Occasionally I do, there was an Icarus pressing of Behemoth - The Satanist in JB HiFi recently. Wasn't even cheap either, the fuckers! Problem is, Icarus also releases their own music - they signed Anal Vomit recently - so stores probably see them as a legitimate label and often the people who work in these stores are clueless about metal in general.

Well, the Icarus ones are the ones I owned. I am extending this concept to all licensed rereleases, that pervades many of the metal releases.

Is it fucked to the point where you can't rip it? If not, just make a CDr.

Just avoid anything from Argentina and you'll be fine. That country just seems to have really shitty factories for some reason. In general, licensed reissues are a decent way to pad out your collection without breaking the bank for a first press, but those Argentina and Russian ones are really only meant to be sold in their local territories. Problem is, those labels don't seem to give a shit and will sell CDs to anyone they can make a quick buck from, even if it means selling them at a heavily reduced bulk rate.

Yep. MUSICSHOP is one of the most well-reputed sellers in the Amazon and Ebay world.

Licensed doesn't always mean crap though. I have a lot of licensed Australian CDs from labels like Modern Invasion and Shock, and they're top notch in terms of product and sound quality. Those labels don't bulk-dump stock though, as it seems Icarus do, because you don't find any of their releases selling in distros for a fraction of the price of an original label copy.

By rotting do you mean disc rot?

I ordered Nile´s In their Darkened Shrines and the sound quality is decent and the booklet seem to be the same but I am not sure. The only annoying thing is the cover which represents the figure in a horizontal position instead of the vertical one. Plus the stamp of Icarus appears on the cover on the right-superior side. It sucks.

I'm assuming the gold print on the booklet looks all dull and more dark yellow than gold?

Yup, Icarus is pretty lame. I very distinctly remember having Fleshgod Apocalypse - Labyrinth, everything about it is kind of shitty, the CD and booklet are the worst though. I did eventually purchase a non-licensed copy and the difference is very clear. I do know I have at least one more album from them, but I can't recall what else I have.

I own a few Icarus releases and i did notice that some of the booklets and prints on the CD look somewhat fuzzy. But that's no big deal to me personally considering how cheap you can get them. But i also keep reading that the sound quality of the Icarus releases is inferior compared to the original releases. Is there any real proof of this? Because the few Icarus releases i have sound perfectly fine to my ears and i presume that Icarus uses the same master as the original release?

They're a bit dull sounding I've found. Sourcing from identical masters won't compensate for lesser quality control in the CD manufacturing process.

viewtopic.php?p=2560890#p2560890
I'll probably merge this lot into that thread soon...

Have some with disc rot, just a piece of transparent plastic. Sucks.

To prove this, use Audacity and Itunes. Use Itunes for both versions to convert to digital format, then use Audacity to analyze the differences between the versions.

You shouldn't be buying stuff from Icarus Music under any circumstances if you're not from South America. It's the biggest metal "label" here and it kind of monopolizes CD and music industry in a way but I don't really like them, they bother with all these re-issue and mega booklets stuff but whenever you get the actual material you can plainly see their rather bad quality and they're constantly putting prices up, but well, that's because of our fucked up, third-world economy. However, we Argentines don't get many other choices aside from Icarus. There's only two other "major labels" like Del Imaginario Discos and Pacheco Records that are quite good actually but they only operate at a national level. The thing with Icarus is that it's really expensive for us to buy music from the US or Europe because of the constant inflation, so these guys are at least doing something and I dare say that 80/85% of the metal gigs here are organized by Icarus.

Summing up, yes, they plain suck and they're a mediocre label when compared internationally, but at a national level, they're actually decent. If you can pass over their high prices and shitty re-issues, they kind of do their job around here. So, try to stay away rom Icarus if you're not from South America.

I am from Canada. Therefore I am surprised that I bought something supplied by Icarus. I am keeping the Icarus Falkenbachs anyways due to "licensed label" significance!\
I never get Scarecrow or Irond versions. What are your experiences with Scarecrow and Irond compared to Icarus?

Trust me, no one goes out of their way to buy those shitty CDs. I avoid them like the plague, in fact I even boycotted an entire distro just to avoid the fucking things.

Yeah, they'd better restric themselves to Argentina and that should be it.