Rot in Hell - Studies In Emerald 7"

What I have here is probably the most exciting record I have received to date. As soon as I heard about it I knew I had to have it, but I wasn't quite prepared for just how fantastic this would be. Have I sparked your interest yet?

 From the logo (and well the title of the post) you have probably figured what band has put out this record. That's right, Rot in Hell are at it again with their super crazy, super limited releases. This time though they have decided to finally give some of their acoustic tracks the vinyl treatment, which has needed to happen for some time now.

I'm not sure what the best place to start is, but I guess starting with the packaging is as good a place as any. Everything comes inside the green paper sleeve with the band logo sprayed on. Inside is an emerald hard cover which looks great on my record shelf.

 Inside the hard cover is a hand made slip cover, which again is all in emerald (get it?). The front of this has a more detailed version of the band logo. I'm not quite sure of the significance of the left side of the image being black rather than green, but I'm sure there is one. This houses all the goodies inside of it, but I'll get to those in a minute.
A small booklet is part of the cover, with images and information about the recordings on orange paper. I'm almost certain that that is a picture of Dwid behind the fence...

 Continuing with the orange, the record comes in a bright orange dust sleeve with the band logo stamped on it. It's another really great touch.

By now you are probably thinking that there is no way for this to get any better. Of course everything I've shown so far has been great, it doesn't quite compare to the best part about the whole package, the record. The 7" is a transparent one sided lathe cut with an X-ray image of a fly. I haven't seen anything quite like this before, and I am completely blown away by it. It almost doesn't even seem like a record at all.

 Of course there are some pretty wicked extras too. Keeping with the X-ray theme is this x-ray of a foot. Surprisingly this fells as though it is on real x-ray image material. Perhaps it is one of the band member's.

 Then there are also a few paper based extras. There is a stencil of the band logo, a sticker and a much appreciated hand-written thanks note.

 In terms of the actual music the record is pretty great as well. It is an amalgamation of two previously released CDs. Aria of the Devil is a Theater of Hate cover which was originally on the mini CD on the left. Sixteen and Come Back are Johnny Cash and Misfits covers which were originally on the Studies in Emerald CD in the middle.
The record is limited to only 31 copies, which I think is now sold out. It's almost a pity that more people won't get to here these tracks.

So there we are, a truly amazing package that was just full of amazing surprises. RIH have really set the bar high for great packaging, if only more bands would follow suit...