For those not aware, Erikah is Blake’s girlfriend... While this email is hilariously bad, I do wish someone would ask her why the “bootlegs that they bought from Germany” have an Ascension matrix on them. If I ran a label and bought obviously bootlegged records that had my label’s matrix on them, I’d be pretty upset. Besides, Blake said in his first statement that they “were skeptical” so they “bought 10 and, by golly, they were real” and then they bought the rest. Now they act like they’ve been duped and can’t reach the person who sold them.

If I bought bootlegs and then it was proven that a friend (Jeff Wilson) had made the bootlegged covers, I’d be asking him.

I also love the “greedy Discogs” line - since Discogs announced immediately that they would not allow the records to be sold because they were bootlegged.

More lies, more coverups, more bullshit.



This is a great point and better stated than how I intended my message. I was simply responding to the confusion as to whether YK was involved in bootlegging the records. However, I completely agree that he did not act appropriately, especially given the Blake Judd experience he’s had before. A guy who ripped YOU off as well as so many fans that YOU printed Blakecrush t-shirts? And then he tells you that he’s got permission to reissue JI - when that goes against everything AJH said upon leaving the scene - and you believe him? Very poor judgement - probably why he continues to lock and delete threads. Still wish he would just address it since he opened the door to it.

Of course YK won’t address the situation it’s easier for him or his side kick Craig Conrad to lock threads or just banned people. I don’t know the truth has been more exposed now that YK is just simple embrassed he made a deal with a known con artist or he’s getting some type of upfront payment to release it and defend Blake now for any action is he doing. But we will never know the real truth behind lock threads and banning people just for asking questions but always the same “I banned that person because they’re gay”.

I don't think they'd respond to questioning of the matrix haha! they blocked me on facebook for less. someone commented that AMM sent out an email stating they oversold a CD and they didnt get the CD because of the oversell, but they never received the email until they spoke to AMM. i feel like they are only "sending out emails" when someone requests it.

Also the "greedy discogs" line. I was just thinking that they didn't sell it on there due to them knowing it was a bootleg. They sell their own records and TPs on there for $100+ why would they miss this opportunity to make money off DiSN? I'm thinking they sold through bandcamp so they wouldn't lose their seller account on Discogs once everyone realized that AMM bootlegged the releases.

The scratching out of the matrix just makes me laugh so much though as I just imagine some junkie barely scratching it out and then thinking "yeah no one can read that it says "MONUMENT"

hopefully my thoughts are coherent enough here as i have been drinking today.

dafuq? NWN! is co-releasing that release and that release only (at least on public admission and 'officially')

Yo$uke Koni$hi and his yes man. Gold.

You’re right — I was misremembering YK’s post on this page where he explained that AMM had already worked out the release of Heaven In Flames with Red Stream before he got involved.

but selling counterfeit or knowingly fraudulent goods is a violation of the paypal and bandcamp ToS (as well as felony federal racketeering if any 'wire transfers' crossed state or international lines).

and, of course, preorders paid through paypal are a violation if not delivered within 20 days

so, risking losing their discogs account seems pretty minor...

Yeah, most likely PayPal will likely just freeze their account once they have enough disputes filed against them. PayPal doesn't give a shit about explanations or delayed release dates. Even barring the bootleg stuff, pushing back release dates and taking more than 6 months to ship orders isn't something PayPal looks kindly on. If anyone here is into vaporwave, you've likely heard about the Floral Shoppe vinyl debacle. The label behind that ended up getting two PayPal accounts frozen and had to stop selling on Bandcamp entirely.

Sidebar unrelated to the thread, I actually was a participant to this, in that I ordered the record and had to file a PaylPal dispute. Went to my favor nearly instantaneously. A funny and weird story.

On topic: I'll always defend the music of Nachtmystium as top notch/high quality-I'll always enjoy Judd's creative output.

And while I do think there is a fair degree of hypocrisy on how Judd is handled compared to far more unsavory characters in the metal scene (e.g. Varg, Weirbach, etc.) vis-a-vis separating the art from the artist and whatnot, even I cannot defend Judd and this JI/AMM debacle. Really, terribly bad form from someone who was allegedly trying to make amends and turn his perception around.

Nonetheless, I'll check out any new Nachtmysitium albums if/when released, as this whole thing does not change my viewpoint in regards to the music itself. But I know better than to order directly from him, that's for damn sure.

maybe they felt too guilty about selling bootlegs at discogs prices. they arent such bad guys after all.

there's quite a difference between killing some stranger you'll never know vs stealing $20 to $200 out of YOUR pockets

There's also the fact that many musicians who did worse shit did serve their respective sentences; obviously it doesn't magically erase the crime they've committed (particularly when murder is involved), but legally they've paid their price and come out even.

On the other hand, this shitstain has not only consistently failed to own up to his past shenanigans, but he keeps fucking people over again and again, getting exponentially more and more brazen on top of it.
Don't forget we're here today after over a whole solid decade of dishonest behavior from his side, and this time around he's resurfaced and re-built a contact network with the express purpose of working hard to clean his reputation, only to scam everyone once more, taking advantage in the process of other people's hard work, including the owner of a once well known and respected label who's been dead for over 10 years.

No matter how petty your miscounducts may be compared to unquestionably far more serious crimes; when you're this grotesquely shameless in your wrongdoings, people *will* end up hating your guts, and they have every right to do so.

I gave these guys the benefit of the doubt, here’s my experience: I preordered The First Sub Level of Suicide on cd back in November and it arrived a couple days after the release date. I wasn’t impressed with the packaging but figured whatever. In April, I preordered the deluxe cd version of Unfailing Fall into Naught and it was supposed to ship in early May. I received it at the end of May. I didn’t think it was a big deal but thought they could have at least sent an email stating they were behind as a courtesy. Once again, not impressed with the packaging. My third and final purchase was the Trident Death Rattle cd preorder. Today is 7/6 and this cd was supposed to have been shipped on 5/1 I believe. I have sent three Bandcamp messages and three emails. Erikah answered one email on 6/28 stating the cd would be mailed the next day and to check my email for a tracking number. It’s been a week now, and no tracking number and no cd in the mail. I opened a dispute on PayPal today to get my eleven dollars back.

THIS is the point...

The fact remains that Blake Judd and all of the strung out junkies he surrounds himself with (Jeff Wilson, et al) continue this behavior over and over again. Claim to be back in the scene to make amends and continue to lie, steal and rip people off. It’s amazing how many chances he’s had, yet here we are again.

In terms of comparing to the other shady people in this scene. I do not listen to Inquisition any longer. I can’t divorce the music from knowing that guy is a pedophile. I still listen to Nachtmystium or Burzum - but I refuse to spend any money to support either artist. In fact, I find myself uninterested in checking out newer material from either artist. Really just the old records that I liked before each artist turned into circus carnies.

anyone with any updates on (non)refunds, etc lately? been a quiet week. is the exit scam already complete?

I done a PayPal dispute on 7/6 for my $11.00 and no response yet.

Please don't say shit like this. Whataboutisms are non productive and off topic. Just because somebody else did something that might have been morally worse doesn't make what Judd did fine.

I contacted the Ascension directly and Blake contacted me directly through email. He sent me a picture disc after promising a test pressing which i have absolutely no use for as well as a bonus 7 inch and Leviathan patch.

I originally ordered the First Sub Level LP back in January and after still no updates come June, I contacted them. A lot of people appear to have the same problem, but glad I eventually got something although it be the wrong product. Just gonna sell this shit and ask for a paypal refund. Hope this label falls apart and people get their refunds or replacements...

I know Travis Ryan from Cattle Decapitation ordered some Lurker/leviathan stuff from Ascension and is furious about not receiving it still. Seems like a lot of people had no idea Blake was involved. Would not be surprised to see the big metal sites start calling Ascension/Blake out soon.

If only there was some neo nazi angle Metal Sucks could exploit.

It's just a retarded way of thinking.

Travis should be the one to make it public then... Why hasn’t anyone publicisized this whole thing? It’s crazy to me. Anyone hoping to make it an example should request their refunds and make a public statement.

No one cares for that though, it seems...

I've sent two more e-mails asking for my refund last week but they are met with deafening silence so far. I filed a paypal claim last friday and i'll let them handle it from here on out. No need to get worked up about the whole situation since Paypal almost always sides with the buyer and certainly in such a clear cut case as this one.
Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me i guess.

My Twilight cds still haven't showed up. The longer this goes on, the more convinced I become to take the paypal claim route myself. This would be the second time I've ever done it (the other time was with Witching Hour from Poland - tells you something), but by this point they're just asking for it.

By the way, how are they making money from this scam when so many customers are bombarding them with refunds requests (that will probably get through)?
Am I missing something or was the AMM's plan actually deficient and poorly thought from the very beginning?

I don't think everyone is going to open a paypal claim against them. I saw some people on their facebook saying to ban the trolls and stuff. I can only imagine there are people who believe their BS and also are completely unaware of their BS. At some point I imagine paypal will be disabling their account if everyone is opening disputes along with bandcamp if enough people send them messages also. I sent bandcamp multiple very long emails detailing everything and provided links to here, discogs and NWN threads. They were aware of the problem and have been watching AMM apparently for awhile.

I opened up 4 disputes with AMM and got all my money back. I suggest everyone else do so and hopefully paypal will disable them and their business will die.

Is there any evidence AMM are still pressing records?

They were pretty swift to sell test presses of forthcoming releases on Discogs but no new test presses uploaded there since end of April - we’ll before the JI mega preorder.

Glorior Belli f/ex had test press uploaded to Discogs April 18th. LP was due out June 1st but no sign they have actually been pressed. This was a simple job - single pocket jacket and boxes were already in hand as per photos on their Facebook.

Yeah, there are lots of folk who have NFI about it. Guess you have to remember that two to three years in "underground" metal is a long time. A lot of newcomers each year who don't know the history of some things, can be naive or are unable to see things for what they are. Having NWN "back them" also murks the water.

"An Ancient Starry Sky" appeared on NewAlbumReleases. I don't think AMM is going anywhere, and they'll continue to put out mixed quality product.

An Ancient Starry Sky was re-released by Elegy wasn’t it? That’s not AMM.

I believe Ixtab said that only one person has been banned. Is this false, or perhaps are other people being shadowbanned (but not fully banned) or something?

No, definitively a lie. I mean, if threads get DELETED instead of getting just locked, you can do whatever you want as a moderator, unless the users are fast enough to make screenshots as a proof.

Craig J. Conrad alias IXTAB is a lying piece of shit that abuses his power on that forum for years. He has deleted threads of non-NWN bands out of personal bias, has hacked into private message boxes from users when he feels like doing so and banned people for simply asking things that aren't comfortable.

They changed the tactic after it become apparent people were getting scammed (again). Went from a climate of offence (people getting told how to post, threads being locked, thread about 'not being an asshole', tone of YK posting etc) to eerily quiet on the issue. Yes man went on a spree in the initial thread quoting people who weren't running with the party line - you can't argue with him as it is an unequal platform and will end with a banning every time. I know of one banning and think more were likely if the DISN disaster wasn't publically aired like it was. That was the dam bursting moment.

so they've gone about 10 days without posting anything to social media (as a company).
I'd put in your refund requests if you haven't already.

Not for nothing, but this debacle has prompted me to dust off the old JI material and it has been fantastic rediscovering this music. Definitely warrants the legendary status.

I think it is absolutely despicable that Konishi is not speaking up on this. I personally hope this knocks his ego down a few pegs.

So does anyone know if the Ancient Starry Sky CD from Elegy is legit? I assume it's not part of Judd's ripoff scheme, but, given the shadiness of the whole affair, it looks to me like it's still up in the air whether it's sanctioned by Akhenaten or not.

Elegy has always had a pretty tight relationship with Akhenaten. They put out the Weltmacht material and what not. I think it’s probably legit.

I believe this release was originally compiled circa 2002 when the band was being laid to rest, along with the March/Midnight/Moonlight releases getting all of the band's finished recordings out there. Other versions have been floating around for years. I don't know about the current situation.

Please keep posts on-topic about these re-releases and don't soapbox about other forums. If you have something directly on-topic related to these Judas Iscariot re-releases, please try to keep your posts within the realm of objective and encyclopedic interest. No personal attacks.

Essentially, don't post here like it is the NWN forum.

I would hazard a guess that the Elegy release is 100% legit. Rob is a solid guy and as mentioned, the compilation was planned.