Rumour is NWN has coin invested in AMM though. Would explain the sensitivity to the subject.

The allure of being part of more status seeking reissues was too much for old mate.

The whole Distant in Solitary Night bootleg vinyl fiasco is surreal. You just can't make that shit up.

Then again, I see a disturbing number of people there are *still* making excuses for all this circus, so it makes me wonder about who's on which side of the psych ward fence.

Oh well, at least the Paypal claim deadline is still a few months away so at least I've got my ass covered should my Twilight cds become, ahem, missing in action. And thankfully the only Judas Iscariot reissue I care for is the Ancient Starry Sky cd, which is handled by Elegy. Having those classic albums on wax would've been nifty, but between the sketchy AMM dealings and Konishi himself hinting in the new thread that they might be sourced from cd masters (and no one should care), I rest my case. It's just not worth it by this point.

What's been going on with AMM? I ordered one of the Leviathan CDs and it took a while to get delivered but I did receive it. I also missed the NWN thread that got deleted.

To get you up to speed:
- AMM announced that they had been approached by a German fan claiming to have dead stock of the original DiSN LP produced by Sombre Records. Their post claimed they were “skeptical” but bought 10, saw they were legit and bought the rest (38 or so they claim...) to sell through their distro.
- Upon receiving the LPs, they are obviously faked. The cover was altered to include a white border that did not previously exist on the original (but did look exactly like the Leviathan LPs that AMM released recently).
- The Matrix code on the vinyl had been scratched out on some copies, but was still a bit visible on some and read MONUMENT 000, as in the matrix that AMM uses for their releases.
- The plot thickens when some Instagram detective finds that Jeff Wilson (Wolvhammer, ex-Nachtmystium) had posted the exact photo AMM used to promote the release and takes credit for screen printing the covers.
- The plot thickens once more when another IG sleuth found a comment from Blake Judd on an IG post of the original pressing of DiSN and asked the user to send him a photo of the center label of the record... an interesting request for someone now accused of bootlegging the album in question.

Now that Judd/Wilson/AMM has been busted bootlegging a record, this calls into question the legitimacy of Judd claiming that he made a deal with Judas Iscariot and the labels involved to do vinyl reissues of the classic era JI material - something that already seemed odd, given that JI has previously asked labels not to reissue any of the music and let it disappear...

Judd has set his social media to private, Wilson deleted the original JI photos he posted and is deleting any comments asking about the release, AMM is flailing and not doing a great job covering their tracks and Discogs has banned the release from their trading boards, claiming they received a “legal notice” to remove the release.

Likely, the only person who may deliver some sort of explanation would be Yosuke of NWN but, given that this whole thing has to be a huge embarrassment (trusting Blake, that is), who knows if we’ll get any kind of explanation.

But certainly one of the more insane stories of the underground right now... Frankly, I’m just surprised anyone thought it would be wise to trust Judd again given all the bullshit of that past.

The new NWN thread (with screen caps of all the deleted/damning posts from Judd, et al) is here: http://nwnprod.com/forum/viewtopic.php? ... &start=300

The Discogs post (with photos of the vinyl in question) is here: https://www.discogs.com/Judas-Iscariot- ... e/12123723

And in the words of Paul Harvey.... “Now you know...the rest of the story.”

I have an original DiNS Sombre vinyl if it helps anyone, I can take pics or what have you.

While they haven't admitted to bootlegging, they are at least acknowledging they fucked up and are refunding everyone. I guess that's slightly better than past Blake (probably because others are involved in AMM), but I still wouldn't support this joke of a label.

Considering threads get deleted and users banned whenever uncomfortable questions are asked, I very much doubt it.
The only one who could set the record straight once and for all would be Akhenaten himself, but that's even more unlikely, of course.

Holy shit that's insane! Makes me feel a little sketched out having bought from AMM before.

It’s all pretty insane.... even for Blake. AMM posted early this morning saying that they were going to issue a “statement” today about what happened but still nothing - and they’re still deleting comments who ask about the bootleg or refunds for it.

In terms of having purchased from AMM before, if you got your stuff I wouldn’t be too concerned. However, purchasing from them moving ahead becomes the new question. Even on the non-bootleg issue, it seems many people on the NWN board and the AMM Facebook claim not to have received orders placed 60-90 days ago.

I am a big Leviathan fan and really wanted to get their reissues but, as it became how closely Blake Judd was involved, I decided to steer clear. It seems as if AMM is Blake and his new girlfriend’s label. Blake even signed the Leviathan pressing COAs as “Owner, Ascension Monuments Media”.

Good summary. I have just posted on NWN asking, inter alia, why a reputable label like NWN would want to do a joint release with a label that has been exposed for committing the poorly executed DISN fraud. Probably either get banned, get doughnuts or get the belligerent YK response he generally rolls out when he is questioned.

I made this quick account just to inform you that all the AMM material I've listened to is sourced from 128 kbps mp3. They don't even record the stuff with high resolution files (FLAC, WAV, etc). Even the new Twilight EP was sourced from shitty mp3 files in their Bandcamp. The Monument To Twilight End 2xCD compilation was mp3 too, both the download and the CDs. Even Youtube sounds better and it came in a weird digipack that only had space for 1CD instead of 2. I won't be buying anything from them ever again.

Jesus Fucking Christ, I was thinking of buying the rarities compilation on Bandcamp, but luckily I didn't throw any money at these scumbags. Sadly, many have done so.

How come Nachtmystium is signed to Prophecy Productions and not to Blake's AMM?

He's affraid of being ripped off by himself lol

Apparently there are now 60 "missing" LP's and people who ordered are scrambling to get a refund .

.

That is pretty funny

Ha! That’s great... I also think of Blake as someone who is always broke and looking for the next scheme. He signed away the back catalog to Earache to get a payday initially, signed to Prophecy to get a payday, now this is his next scheme. Take note that all of these reissues he’s promised came with 6-7 month pre-orders and PayPal only protects a purchase for 6 months. My guess is no one is getting those! Especially after all this...

It seems as though AMM has disappeared again too. Lots of comments about not receiving packages. Reports of getting blocked from their pages if you ask about your order. Jeff Wilson is supposedly blocking everyone who comments about it on his pages too.

If anything, YK finally has a good reason to do another run of Blakecrush shirts to recoup his investment!

Sort of hope it bites him tbh. He opened the door to this and many people are likely buying based on his name being associated with it (whilst I think he is a knob, he does run a reputable label and mailorder service). Just reeks of compromising beliefs in an attempt to get some status points in being involved in a JI release. Odd from some man in his mid 40s. As for Jeff Wilson, he must be one dumb fuck. Trolled him on insta and he didn't deal wih it too well. Haha.

Update: AMM has finally “addressed the issue” and have told everyone that their upcoming JI reissues are legitimately licensed from Red Stream and Elegy... Which was never the question in the first place.

Pretty hilarious stuff. Still not one explanation of why they bootlegged DiSN (and lied about it) or even an excuse as to how they didn’t. Just not addressing it at all is maybe the most insane twist of this story yet.

Someone needs to write ‘Lords of Chaos 2’ about this one day...




I’m pretty surprised YK would work with Blake again after being burned so badly before that he actually launched the “Blakecrush” movement.

The problem with all of these Nachtmystium guys is that they all lived the lives they sang about. Unforgiving junkies. I always liked their records but it’s insane that anyone still puts their trust in Blake Judd in 2018.

Son of a bitch, I had ordered both those Twilight cds from their bandcamp page without even knowing AMM was involved. Can't even punch myself for giving the benefit of doubt to someone who didn't deserve it as I had no clue. Never thought in this day and age you'd still have to sniff around Philip Marlowe style before placing an order anymore.

Is this already the end for AMM or simply the start of a new saga of uncharted fuckery for Blake?
I don't think there are many bands (active and inactive) that would want to work with those kind of unscrupulous characters.

Wrest seems more than happy to work with him, and that's all they really need to survive because of how obsessive Leviathan fans are. AMM and Devout can just churn out reissues and demo collections as their sole business model and they'll do just fine; that drippy moon logo is a money printing machine.

If that's the case I'll be happy to purchase Wrest-approved reissues, but never again from AMM directly, and only if they're not more mp3-sourced cds.

Well, Yosuke finally locked the JI thread so there goes the hope of him addressing the situation. I’m sure he’s embarrassed but I would’ve hoped he’d be the one to comment on it since he was the one who brought Blake and this whole circus back into the scene.

I’m also pretty surprised no metal news sites (MetalSucks, etc) picked up on this whole thing.

You have to wonder if, with no “real” voice in the scene addressing it, AMM feels like they “got away with it”. Blake and Jeff Wilson are just deleting commments about it now and NWN locked the thread. Just fans left ripped off and let down.

Scummy move imo. Should email it to Metal Sucks. Haha.

Locking and deleting threads instead of addressing more than legitimate questions is pretty damn pathetic, especially when you need to reassure customers about your legitimacy and professionalism after getting tangled in less than transparent dealings. I am not suggesting that NWN! is on the same level of AMM, mind you, since that would be as retarded as this whole circus act, but at least take some time to issue a statement or something instead of censorship - which, incidentally, is exactly how AMM handle questions on the social media platforms from what I understand.

What really sucks is that people were actually sharing useful info to prevent further customers from getting burned, and the issue of cds being sourced from shitty compressed files was just being addressed, with a few users posting graphic analyses of the songs, and now we won't be getting conclusive evidence (unless another thread gets opened, which I doubt) all because Konishi feels too high and mighty to even let users on his forum doubt that he backed the right horse with Blake / AMM. This won't affect NWN's reputation as a label in my book in any way, but on the PR side they're doing a far from stellar job.

He has always been a petulant sort of individual who cannot deal with legit criticism.

Sooks it up when Blasphemy licenses things to other labels. I made mention of some of the things Evil Dead are doing (legit) and just got a surly 'probably a bootleg'. Guess the retort to that now is 'how's that an issue for you given you are dealing with AMM?'.

Twilight - Monument to Time End looks like this, obviously a mp3 transcode. Their first LP looks worse.



This is the new Twilight EP, Trident Death Rattle.

Trolls = Customers we rip off then ignore when we get called out.

Gold.

anyone who purchased from blake knowing his past is crazy. you have no one to blame but yourselves.

Thanks for sharing!

I guess there's no way to open a paypal claim over something like that, is there? By this point I'm hoping the cds never get sent and I can get my cash back through a dispute before the 6 months deadline, 'cause I sure as fuck don't care about that garbage showing up in my mail anymore.

the ''trolls'' should invade their twitter and other accounts too, lol. See if they will close it like they close their facebook page. Is it ironic to crash and burn like that with the name ''ascension monuments.

Beyond interesting...

Someone has posted on AMM facebook that expect a video statement from Mr JI himself shortly and that'll he be advising that NONE of this is authorised.

Gee - if true, that'll really make things interesting.....

No shock the comments made by that poster have been removed too. He also named the plant where DISN was pressed (a local CA one).

So Blake is still a scumbag. As a Leviathan fan, it's a good thing I already own the Leviathan splits with Xasthur and Sapthuran and bought them used (they were released by Battle Kommand, Blake's old label) so I don't feel the need to invest in Unfailing Fall Into Naught.

But moreover...



Who's going to print this shirt? I'd probably get one because I'm getting more and more weary of how Yosuke runs his business. I don't have anything against most of NWN's lineup, but I really don't think I want to support this petulant, shady tool in the future.