are there any tried and true ways to spot fake stuff?
maybe others with possible suspect cds could use this thread to help identify them, this thread could get a few helpful links.

immolation - majesty and decay
it came from ebay via the ukraine yesterday
the disc itself looks kind of 'budget' like cheap ink and quite dotty like a home printed one, or maybe it's meant to look like that.
the centre of the disc looks to have some bleeding [?] and the first ring on the printed side looks like the ink hasn't stuck properly, the edge of the disc the ink looks a bit thin or maybe just off centre.
the booklet and tray insert look fine it's just the disc i'm concerned about
the ifpi and didx numbers/matrix info matches with some known-to-be-good copies.
what do you guys think? does anyone else have this album handy to check?
this site doesn't list the matrix info: http://www.musik-sammler.de/album/331255
the discogs page also doesn't have this info [yet]

[click for much larger image, scan to the left, photo to the right]

If it was a locally licensed legal copy, wouldn't it have a heap of cyrillic text everywhere?

i don't know mate, do you think it should? that sounds logical.
maybe the cd came from the label [in the USA?] directly?

Not a heap, could have some. It would say that it is licensed and not to be sold outside of the Ukraine (or the OSS or whatever region it is licensed to) though.

there is no 'non english' anywhere on the disc or packaging

Im looking at my copy right now, yours appears to have some sort of texture to it, also there is a ring around the center hole which mine does not have. Mine is completely smooth.

yes! it does have a texture, like a home made disc would [ripped off dvd or kiosk photo disc etc]
and yeah the ink goes right in to almost the centre there is like a 'trough' all the way round and it looks like the ink just hasn't 'stuck' to it.
do your matrix codes match mine?
also the colour of the disc is more green than blue, yours?
and where did yours come from [you don't have to answer that ha ha]

thanks

edit: while i have my scanner running i'll do an uber high resolution scan and upload it.

The matrix is the exact same as my copy. The top disc print of yours is a bit cheaper looking though. If it is a Ukranian copy it should say so on the tray card.

same matrix aye? cool
i just compared some other nuclear blast discs i have here, they seem to have this 'ring' or 'trough' too, and the quality is less that some metal blade or listenable releases.
i'll dig out all my nuclear blast stuff and see if it's a common thing.
what do you guys think? could just be a bad batch?

i'm doing the high res scan now...

The numbers are the same, but mine are very small fine print. Its completely different looking. Maybe the american cd's are made differently. Thats my only explanation.

You might contact Nuclear Blast and inquire with them. I'm sure they'd like to be informed if it is indeed a bootleg.

my ifpi is barely visible with the naked eye, the didx is easily read.
the disc itself has no other text on it like made in USA or EU etc so i don't know where it's made, the booklet/tray etc does say made in USA though.

i had considered this but after looking at a few more NB releases here half of them [so far] have some kind of 'defect, bleeding ink, not centred, blurry text etc
i'll compare the NB USA discs to the NB GER/EU discs

see it's quite green looking, the artwork elsewhere looks more blue
edit: see the difference blue/green

ok dudes i don't have much NB EU stuff here but of all the ones i do have they all look pretty budget compared to the NB USA stuff!
these are all NB EU and look cheap as, again it's the discs that look low quality not the packaging.

pungent stench - masters of moral [digi]
pungent stench - ampeauty
gorefest - rise to ruin
hypocrisy - penetralia [digi]

Looks legit to me the didx indicates its made at the disc makers plant, I doubt anyone would try to bootleg the matrix for such a common cd like that one, what would be the point.

i could just be chasing shadows, interesting about the differing quality between the two NB camps though aye.
from what i've read it's very difficult to replicate the matrix info but not impossible...

i emailed nuclear blast [de] just now, lets see what happens...
hopefully they take me seriously

no response from them or the ebay seller, as it happens i have a bit more 'spare time' now so may just pursue this.
if the ebay seller [as they say] has multiple copies, why are there none for sale?
my local music shop doesn't have this cd in stock for me to compare it unfortunately, i might just take it along and ask them to cast an experienced eye over it.