Thursday 14 August 2014

Gehenna - Land of Sodom 7"

About two years ago, A389 did a re-release of this record that came with a CD copy of "Upon the Gravehill". Back in 2008, a small label called Hit the Deck records released the initial version, and from what I've been able to see online, it looks like very few copies of this record every made it into the hands of those who purchased it. I tried looking for the label online, and was only to come across this (somehow I don't think that is the one....).

I have no idea what happened there, but I have been trying to track down a copy for a while. Every time I checked the net there seemed to be copies available, but for reasonably high prices. With the alleged rarity of the copies available, I felt this was probably going to be a record out of my collection for some time. Fortunately, a couple of weeks ago I felt like having another look and a member on Discogs happened to be selling a copy for a much more reasonable price. From time to time a price that is too good to be true is not a good sign, but this turned up in near mint condition!
 The cover artwork on this is the same red tinted wasteland as seen on the re-release, although this original has the band logo and "Land of Sodom" printed on the front.
As with other gehenna records, the physical vinyl is incredibly plain. There is no centre label and no etchings besides the standard ones issues by the pressing plant. I do like this about gehenna records, it is just their like music; straight up and without frills.
 The same four tracks are here as were on the reprint, although they do sound quite different. A389 labelled the reissue as a "few improvements" to the recordings, but I personally think the vocals have ended up sounding quite different. Although perhaps it is not yet safe to mention gehenna and A389 in the same sentence....

1 comment: