Rob/Elegy and YK/NWN are both reputable and honest guys, in my experience.

Still don't know what to make of this whole debacle.

Oh yeah, YK is definitely reputable etc. The silence from Blake/AMM and all the weird stuff surrounding these releases is just awful for the people that were really excited for these releases. Would have been nice if a reputable label was responsibly handling the JI reissues if they were to ever come out. At this point it's all mystery and rehashed pontifications and hearsay until the next chapter begins. No matter what happens, people's hard earned money never deserves to be taken in an egregious manner.

YK may be "reliable" when it comes to send a package (or any other core competencies every distro/label has to fulfill), but he is definitively not "reputable" or "honest". I am sure many of those who bought a "Crush Blake" shirt would agree by now.

all the reputable labels realized the releases should never be reissued.

I checked out Nachtmystium well before all the junk about Blake came out, and honestly, I don't know why anyone's surprised that you can't trust a guy who names an album 'Black Meddle'.

TO be fair, the Meddle in that title is in reference to the Pink Floyd album of that name. He even put in a One of These Days parody.

Point taken, but that hardly excuses the abominable music. And it is still a stupid pun - and I like puns!

so apparently (3rd hand source) they are sending out automated order response emails now saying the bandcamp store is closed; despite the fact the bandcamp store is still online and taking orders.

gee, not shady at all.

the Black Meddle series are two amazing albums. just here to say that.

Right there with you man. Regardless of taste, Blake managed to do something unique with those albums. Pink Floyd influence seems to bode well for extreme metal (looking at you Nokturnal Mortum and Enslaved). Not only Pink Floyd influence is present, there is also some other cool influences like industrial and interesting use of synths.

I may not like all of the albums, but there are at least a couple tracks on each album that are pretty darn good.

Does anyone known when AMM deleted the First Sublevel of Suicide from bandcamp? Seems liked it was wiped off their store, even though some physical merch remains.

the bandcamp store is temporarily closed to "catch up on orders" itll be reopening at some point. but yeah, it seems like you can still place orders which is stupid.

Got an email today with tracking number today stating it’s on the way with extras.

How is the bandcamp store closed? It's up and running and you can buy things (not that you will ever receive them). Or was it just down temporarily?

Additionally, I just realised they are selling Mysticum's album on their bandcamp. Digital for $10. Is this like, a virtual bootleg? haha. They don't own that album and have not licensed it yet they are selling it along with their bootleg Mysticum shirt HAHAHA

Just got an error when trying to check out with a download. So the store is up, but not taking orders.

As someone who has been a customer and frequenter of his forum for over a decade now, I have lost a tremendous amount of respect for him over this ordeal. Legitimizing Judd's nonsense is bad enough, but the way he's handled the situation is simply indefensible. Locking/deleting threads and acting like people criticizing AMM's practices are the problem is enough to show me where his priorities are.

Also, I see a few people mention the metal tabloid sites and why they haven't picked up on this seemingly juicy click-gold mine. Well I believe this is likely because Carcosa PR/Nic Huber (because that's what black metal bands need, a PR company) ran the AMM facebook page and writes for metal sucks and metal injection. Also depending on which lie you believe, he may or may not be an actual employee at AMM.

Crikey, gets even better. Doesn't surprise me though, from my observation those tabloid sites are run by "special" types.

Hmm... That is an interesting point. Especially considering how MetalSucks has traditionally jumped on every Blake Judd scam story heavily. Perhaps they don’t want to bury one of their own in the process - but that’s still pretty lame if you ask me.

I for one am shocked that a reputable music journalism site like MetalSucks would ignore a story like this to protect one of their own.

Exactly. I'm shocked and appalled. Oh, where have their standards gone.

Discogs has also followed in appropriately categorizing AMM releases.

One might wonder if this selective form of moral standard also applies to the somehow neat and clean MA-profile of a convicted pedophile like Dagon from Inquisition - especially if you compare it to the completely overblown information on the profile of Blake Judd.

All Judas Iscariot releases by AMM have also been marked as unofficial on MA and the appropriate pages have notes includes. Appropriately enough, the precedent to add this type of objective note to this site was the same guy, a few years ago. That made it really easy.

Except in M-A's case, Dagon isn't "one of our own" and if his profile fails to mention any information you think should be listed, you're free to add it. It's literally that simple and doesn't warrant the ridiculous conspiracy-theory levels of suspicion that your post implies.

Got by AMM order today. It was for Glorior Belli lp ordered during their ‘sale’ for $17ppd in USA.

This release was scheduled to come out June 1st and was shipped July 14th. However, I ordered maybe 2nd July and opened a Paypal dispute immediately when the 5 days to ship shown on Bandcamp had elapsed.

Vinyl looks around 160g. Can’t comment on sound yet. They threw in a free patch which was nice.

Packaging job was like a well-intentioned amateur. White folder mailer with 3 stiffeners and folded over a bit too high and no tape on corner - thus the whole package was ‘squishy.’ However the package arrived intact and contents undamaged.

from Discogs on the 17th:

Edit Release: REMOVED: "Unofficial Release" designation. i am aware of the controversy around these releases, but there are still rules at discogs. As of 7/17 there is NO OFFICIAL statement from Akhenaten saying that any of these releases. Only rumors on message boards. Until that happens we need to assume these are official. If an official statement is released, then by all means add the designation back.

Happy Collecting,
Discogs

Look's like Blake's life is falling apart now. They posted on Instagram stating they were closing their shop on bandcamp temporarily to catch up on orders. Earlier they sent out an email stating bandcamp temporarily shut them down until they catch up on their orders and asked people to stop opening paypal disputes. Then an hour later they sent out a bandcamp message stating they decided to no longer sell physical releases on bandcamp because the prices were too high! I will try to post each message in full.

Email:
Hi everyone!

The Ascension Monuments Media limited edition (100 hand numbered units) A5 digipak CD version of 'The First Sub-Level of Suicide" (featuring bonus track 'Withered Upon Her Kingdom of Was' from the one-sided 7" they also released and was included in the deluxe edition picture LP of this album) has been officially released as of today - see a photo of two units (front / back) below. The preorders for these begin shipping today.

SPEAKING OF SHIPPING: Ascension Monuments Media is currently scrambling to get all the existing preorders for the deluxe & standard edition picture LPs (+7" in the case of the deluxe editions) of 'The First Sub-Level of Suicide' shipped out, along with the very recently released 'Unfailing Fall Into Naught' deluxe edition LP box sets, along with numerous other new releases from Suicide Forest (**check this band out! New demos compilation LP 'Descend Into Despair' available as of this last Monday, digipak CD has been available for a while now. Debut s/t LP / tape / digipak CD / digital release coming in early October on AMM! Extremely promising USBM band. Catch them on tour on the U.S. west coadt now! See their FB / IG for dates!), Nachtmystium and Judas Iscariot that have all hit at the same time. They've taken the Bandcamp stores physical sales ability offline until further notice when all outstanding orders that are able to be ship ped have been shipped. Its been brought to our attention that many of you have opened PayPal disputes due to not receiving quick email replies about your order(s) - there aren't enough hours in the day to get all these orders packed & shipped AND reply to emails from everyone wondering where their item(s) is. Every 2-3 minutes spent emailing one person back is 2-3 minutes not spent packing orders. This just creates more delays. AMM does not have a reputation for screwing anyone over. Its not fair to assume they'd suddenly start now...as thats not the case, nor will it ever be.
If you are simply awaiting a preorder for an item that has been released - PLEASE be patient and realize there are (now only) 2 people working their asses off to get literally over a thousand preorders shipped out. ***Also - if you received a shipping notification and a tracking # that says 'Pre-shipment' when you check it at USPS.com with your tracking number - this means they have purchased your postage and that it will be in the mail shortly! They have a system of printing sometimes over 100 pieces of postage at a time, to process the orders in Bandcamps system and get one step of order fulfillment taken care of - sometimes it then can take a few days (depending on the volume of work that week) for them to actually get your order into the mail. PLEASE STOP OPENING DISPUTES WHEN YOU HAVE RECEIVED A TRACKING #! This makes things extremely confusing, takes up tons of time trying to figure out what is going on, and in the case of pe ople who have ordered from AMM in the past and received their items especially, its really uncalled for as this company has a track record of filling their orders. Its a small operation with a big sales load from hundreds of preorders being made and the releases all coming back from press simultaneously. If you open a dispute, your dispute will be closed with a refund when there is time to deal with it and you will not be able to repurchase the item as all the items in question are sold out. Please be patient - this is not Amazon. This is a small underground operation being run by a tiny group of individuals out of an apartment. Please relax - you WILL receive your order. If these terms are not acceptable to you, then please buy your music elsewhere. No one is forcing you to order here. However, AMM releases are sold almost exclusively by AMM directly, as they choose not to sell / trade their titles much as they dont need to. So, this is the situation and I ask all of you - please - be patient and realize what the situation is here. Your records are coming. Just relax and let these guys do their job.

In closing, just a brief update concerning pending releases: standard edition / black vinyl versions of 'Unfailing Fall Into Naught' LPs and the repressing / black vinyl edition of 'The First Sub-Level of Suicide' are both due to be back from press here very shortly - thinking in the next week or so. Will post here when that's the case. Thanks for your support!!
Anyone looking for the new A5 digipak of 'The First Sub-Level of Suicide' or other new & older AMM releases are encouraged to check Ascension Monuments Media's store at discogs.com while the Bandcamp store is down. AMM will relaunch their main store when caught up on preorders & existing available items orders and we will post a link to that store here, as AMM will no longer be selling their physical stock on Bandcamp. Too expensive. Digital releases will be available here still, however, and we will use this app to continue to communicate with you guys. Thank you and hails!


Bandcamp:
While our Bandcamp store is down (as to make time to get caught up on orders, as we are drowning in them and have had 6 releases come back from press in 3 weeks...need to get caught up!)Y
If you'd like to get one of the 100 or so remaining copies, you can buy them at our Discogs.com store as of later this evening, and on eBay. We will launch our new store here in the next week or so and a link to it will be posted here, as AMM is choosing to no longer sell our physical releases & merchandise through Bandcamp for a number of reasons. Digital releases will still be posted and available here, along with updates sent to you all here via the app.

Thanks for your support and if youve preordered a Suicide Forest "Descent Into Despair" LP, it will be shipping tomorrow or Saturday! You will receive tracking #'s shortly.

Ah yes, the old "hey guys c'mon, this is overwhelming and confusing for us. please be patient".

Not sure what else would be anticipated by a label when they run 50 simultaneous pre-orders! Kind of funny, the part that says AMM doesn't have a reputation for ripping people off when that is precisely the reputation synonymous with this label.

This had to be from Blake himself... And it's hilarious!

"There aren't enough hours in the day to reply to emails and ship packages. Every 2-3mins answering an email could be 2-3mins packing packages" - then how do all of the other underground labels do it? 1,500 orders is not that much, all things considered.

"AMM does not have a reputation for screwing people over." - There are hundreds of claims from people who haven't received their packages and AMM was proven to be bootlegging a JI album. But don't accuse them of screwing anyone over, pal!

"AMM is choosing to no longer sell our physical releases & merchandise through Bandcamp for a number of reasons." - Bandcamp shut down your ability to do so because of all the claims levied against your account.


It's kind of amazing that their emails and updates are so pompous. Blake seems enraged that he has, once again, been caught red handed doing shady business. Each twist to the plot gets more interesting than the last...

Ol' Yiddish Koni$hi is still stone silent. How embarrassing.

See how long the latest thread lasts. He won't be responding to Bingewolf. Haha.

This whole thing has turned out to be quite the conspiracy thriller. Someone needs to compile all of this into a novel!

At least I did not get banned... I think the weirdest thing about the whole situation is how no one is responding to what has happened. YK is usually aggressive when something like this has happened. For everyone to go silent seems weird to me... Then again, if this happened to me, I'd be embarrassed and probably not want to talk about it either.

Saw that Red Stream told Bones at NWN that the alternate version of 'Heaven in Flames' has been shelved but, other than that, no one is talking.

Just looks worse for him to ban people who ask questions like you did. Funny how he and IXTAB speak to people on there - I like to think I communicate online in the same manner I would in person. Those two would be wearing a few slaps if they followed suit.

Indeed!

They probably check the IPs first and look how far away the users live before insulting them.

The HIF no-keyboard version is being sold by AMM on eBay right now as part of a weird test press box set they are selling.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 3334629706

Saw this too! It looks as though, once Bandcamp banned them, they’ve decided to have Jeff Wilson build special packaging and try to sell everything on Ebay for higher prices. Nothing to worry about there!

''Feel free to send a message here via eBay with any questions. All proceeds from the sale of these test pressings here on eBay are going back into the label to finish paying for numerous vinyl pressings we have in production currently and the costs associated with a new website / online store we are having built after the decision was made to leave Bandcamp due to the high %'s they take from artists & labels, coupled with (in our experience anyways) awful customer service for labels. '' In their view, if they have high prices, it's not because they want to rip people off, it's because of bandcamp. lol

someone on the reddit thread commented this:

Some info I'm privy to: Blake is absolutely HURTING after all of the chargebacks and the bandcamp getting axed. He feels very mistreated too :,( very likely that he will have some legal troubles coming up...




good thing he spent all the money before he actually had it.

Also, if Blake hadn't spent the pre-order money on furniture and Dimmu Borgir vinyl, he would've been able to pay for the albums to be manufactured...