A389 Friday 13th Tote Mystery Bag

A little while ago, A389 came up with a rather novel idea. Along with a new tote bag design they were releasing, you could choose to buy a surprise package. For just $13 (US) the tote bag would come with an LP, a 7" and a CD chosen at random, which was too good an offer to resist, even if you weren't sure just what you would get. As an added bonus, they also did a Charlie and the Chocolate factory style prize, with one lucky bag receiving the golden ticket, a free pass to the A389 anniversary bash!

The 12" I received was the self released title by Cyanrae. The vinyl looks quite interesting, and according to the store is bark/bone vinyl, part of the first press. The LP is ridiculously heavy, and even features a track in reverse. It came with a black and white insert, with photos of the band resembling something fomr Francis Bacon.

Although only one 7" was promised upon purchase, my bag actually came with two. The first is this entirely unknown EP by a band called Diablero. I haven't heard of this band before, and the only information I could find online is that it was released by a label known as Dysphoria distro back in 2010.

The vinyl is mostly black, but does have a hint of red splattered around the centre label. The EP isn't even on the distro part of the web-store, so I'm not sure just exactly where this came from..

Next up is the CD, Guillotine from Frightener. I did receive this as a free LP a while back, but never really got that into it. I should really give this one another listen when I find the time.
The CD has the artwork printed on the top, but overall I don't find CD packaging particularly interesting..

My second 7" was was Vigilante Saint from Wisdom in Chains. This is quite an old 7" in the scheme of things, originally being released back in 2006. To be honest it doesn't blow me away, and doesn't seem to be anything particularly different from a lot of the hardcore out there. It does have some cool artwork, and came on a marbled purple vinyl, so it isn't all bad.

There is then of course the matter of the golden ticket. Sadly I wasn't a chosen winner, but I still did receive this print of a certain FAN declaring I did not receive my free pass.

But that still isn't all. Alongside the 12", 2 7"s and CD I also received a handful of stickers and a flyer for the upcoming show. All that for $13? Not bad....