VVegas / Moutheater split 7" part III

Here I am with another VVegas record, albeit it only partially counts as a new record really. I have previously written about this particular 7" twice already know, but here I am back again with a third colour variant.

This particular variant is a little more special as it also features an alternate cover. The other two version were a grey/black swirl and clear red with some fantastic artwork designed by Dwid Hellion. This time around I've myself the pre-order version on clear yellow with (if I must be honest) somewhat less appealing artwork.

As far as I can tell 100 copies of this variant were pressed, although others I have seen were numbered on the cover and centre label.....
In terms of regular variants (not test-presses), that is all the colour variants this wee 7" came in. I can't see me ever really wanting to get this kind of set for a huge number of records, but for certain special ones it can be quite fun trying to hunt down all the versions. They do look pretty cool next to each other too.

As a bit of a follow up form last week, listen to how VVegas has progressed from their most recent 7" to this -

VVegas - Sagevisule 7"

Things had been relatively quite on the VVegas front for a wee while. Since their 2012 split release with Abraxis, there had been little rumours of new material being released but nothing seemed to really happen. Of course that changed earlier this year they released the RSD split with Integrity, and now they are back again with Sagevisule. This actually marks VVegas' first solo 7" release since the band's inception, as all other 7"s have been part of splits or compilations.

From what I was able to gather, they had a bit of trouble actually getting this record released. It was originally planned to be released by some small label months ago, but nothing seemed to eventuate. I then saw they were looking out for a label to release it, which finally got picked up by Last Anthem records a wee while ago. I don't know too much about this label, but they've done a fine job with this release.

Three versions were pressed all together; a lavender and red split, a pink and yellow, and a lavender and black. Mine is obviously the last of those three, with an interesting effect in the middle of the colours. 300 copies were pressed in total, which I'm assuming this means that mine is /100. As far as I'm aware, VVegas still have copies of the band version for sale (pink and yellow), which does look pretty cool.

The 7" contains four brand new tracks. Between listening to this and "Never", it is clear to see what a shift in style the band has made. This is especially evident with "All my Dreams are Lies", which is very much in vain of the tracks they have released over the last few years. The guitars are incredibly harsh, and the vocals sound distorted in a way that make them seem they are coming from a source very far away. For me, the highlight is "You Are Not Who You Think You Are". This is a considerably slower track than the last one, but is still incredibly heavy and is able to send shivers down my spine. The last track, "Irrealis" is not too dissimilar from a RNF track, with whispered vocals and (at least at first) a haunted acoustic guitar.

The reason I opted for the lavender and black version, was because it was part of a special package. Along with the standard record, Last Anthem also threw in a patch, a VVegas sticker and a new VVegas T-Shirt that has the same design as the record.

VVegas are streaming the whole thing via their bandcamp page, enjoy!

Integrity / VVegas split 7"

There are several bands that I personally think are big names in metallic hardcore of today. Of course that includes Integrity, but also bands like Gehenna, Rot in Hell etc. Over the last few years, several of these have been pairing up to release amazing split records. One record I have felt should exist but didn't was an Integrity / VVegas split, but this year they have finally teamed up. 

 This 7" features two tracks covering the music of Dudley Moore and Peter Cook. At first I thought this was rather peculiar, and was unsure how the Integ/VVegas spin on these tracks would work. It really does though, they sound just amazing. The inside of the cover mentions the tracks were actually recorded a few years ago now and it shows, at least for Integrity, it is definitely not the same Integrity that recorded Suicide Black Snake. It's quite amazing how much a band can progress in only a few short years.

 A389 handled the release of this record, and was part of their limited record store day releases. Nowhere close to me was actually selling this on the day, and finding an online merchant actually selling copies was rather tough. I did eventually find Interpunk selling copies, a store I have not bought from before, but one which I was pleasantly surprised with.

The record comes in a fold-out 7" jacket with some written words by VVegas' lead man, T. The artwork on this release is once again handled by Szymon Siech, and once again is amazing. This particular version of the release also ties in the best with the red and black colour scheme in the artwork, being pure red vinyl. I have also seen a bright green splatter version that are being sold by the bands, but I think this one looks that slightly bit better. The great artwork even continues onto the centre labels.

 While the rest of the packaging is great, by far the best part is the enormous poster included with it (apologies for the poor photo). At 24"x36" it is a real beast, and quite frankly looks terrifying. Of course mine will never see a wall, but it is still an awesome addition to have.

If downloads are more your thing, A389 are currently selling the entire split for a price that you decide. I'm not sure how long this will last, so get in quick while you can.

Classified Resistance - Thee Compilation 12"

This one is jumping the gun a bit. I've been excited about this record for quite a while now, and have been eagerly awaiting its arrival when I pre-ordered it what feels like a long time ago. It only came yesterday, and has taken priority over other records that have been patiently waiting for their own post. Thee compilation marks the third release from Classified Resistance, the relatively new record label from Hope Guzzo. This is the first record released by the label, but I think a couple of exciting things are planned so keep your eyes peeled. 

So where to begin? It's a pretty big release, but the best place to start is probably with the artwork. If any of you have been following the Oede tumblr you may have noticed some artwork of similar style to this. You'd be right in thinking there was some connection, the artwork was designed by Thomas; the brain-child of the one-man black metal blues band. 

 On the back the artwork is continued and you get a glimpse of the bands contributing to the release.

 The version of the LP I purchased is clear blue, which I chose for several reasons. Firstly, I don't have any clear blue LPs yet, so it's nice to have one to look at (Blue is probably my favourite colour). There was also a clear red and plain clear version available which I don't have LPs like either, but that;s where the other points come in. This is limited to 100, while the clear red is out of 300. I know, I'm a sucker for thinking it matters but when you've got the choice you may as well. But what about the plain clear version? Well that was also limited to 100 copies, so I had to make the tough decision between blue and clear. I do like the clear vinyl, but clear blue just has that extra edge.

 

It may have been difficult to read the back of the cover, and it's probably no easier to read those centre labels. So here is who is on the LP; Thee High Priestess (Of course, right?), Oede, Strigoi, Vermapyre, VVegas, Cape of Bats, Broken Cross, Hedorah and Shane Speal. This ends up being quite a diverse compilation once you've listened to it all. The first side is almost entirely instrumental, starting with THP, who plays an eerie instrumental track. This is probably the best thing she's released to date. Oede provides a harsh black metal noise track, not dissimilar to "Stygge Faen" from One Man's Trash. Strigoi break the pattern on this side of the record and provide three and a half minutes of blasting fury. Vermapyre start out with a very harsh sounding guitar and play their signature style of black metal noise.

 On the flip side we start out with VVegas. Honestly I wasn't sure what way the band would go with this LP. Half of me was expecting something instrumental like the split with RIH or Moutheater, while the other half thought they'd bring out their unique style of metallic hardcore. Turns out the second half of me was right, the track is brilliant and sounds like the song from the recent Abraxis split. 

Next is Cape of Bats who play another classic black metal punk track. Broken Cross continue the hardcore theme of the side with 'Poison Blood'. I've said it before, but considering this is a one man band the songs are very solid. Hedorah is a band I've not heard of before, but a band that definitely offers something interesting. It's by far the heaviest track on the LP. Lastly there is Shane Speal; the 'King of the Cigar Box Guitar'. I've seen some videos of this guy on the internet and I was surprised by the track he played. It does fit in well with the rest of the compilation though.

As an extra with this release I also received a 20-page zine with artwork from each band. WOW!

 The cover is one of the pieces from Hope's Bones collection, which is really something else. I'd say the first page is part of 'Layers" but it looks like a newer photo than what's on the website.

 It'll take too long to discuss each piece of art, so you can just have a look at them for yourselves. It should be pretty obvious which piece belongs to who.

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 All in all it's a great record that was well worth the wait to get. It hasn't disappointed in the slightest. Some of the bands have even been kind enough to put their songs online. I've embedded the player just below.

VVegas / Moutheater split 7" part II

Rather recently I posted about a magnificent split between Moutheater and the almighty VVegas. If you read it (or read it now) you may recall I mentioned how great a red copy would look. Well, shortly after said post I received an email from Aaron of Moutheater. I'm assuming he read the post and flicked me an email offering me one of his spare copies. Even better he offered me this for basically free (all he asked was that I payed for shipping), how great is that? Of course I jumped at this chance and agreed to his offer right away. Anyway, here we are:

What did I tell you, the red does look great. I must have amazing abilities to have guessed that one. There is not much to add here really, you can have a look at the original post if you want a more detailed description.

VVegas / Abraxis Split 7"

I pre-ordered this a wee while ago now, and I'm so glad it finally finally came! It truly was a great day when I came home to this on the bench. Although for some reason I didn't notice the distinct print on the top-right corner, seeing this was from Oz I could tell exactly what was lurking inside.

Upon opening the box I was greeted by this FANtastic piece of artwork. Pictures of this had been floating around the internet, but I stopped myself from giving into the temptation of spoiling the surprise. Usually I wouldn't bother, but VVegas stuff has such a reputation for going the extra mile with packaging and the likes that I decided to wait until it arrived. I'm glad I made the decision, I was blown away when I finally saw what the design was. On the VVegas side we have a who's who of pop culture in the style of a certain Beatles album cover. So many faces are present here, so there isn't time to go over them all. Some of the more prominent ones are Sigmund Freud, Anton Lavey, Steve Jobs and even Nick Fiction. I have Picasa on my computer, and as you can imagine this picture was an absolute nightmare for it. It did a good job of picking up all the faces in the end though.

It seems Dwid from Integrity has been getting on board with designing cover artwork as of late, and once again has dabbled in both the sides you see here. The use of different purples and blues looks really great on this side, especially contrasted to the grey-scale character.

Overall this is a 3 track split 7", 1 track from VVegas and two from Abraxis. I've always said VVegas really shines when they bring out there more experimental and acoustic tracks, but that is not to say their own brand of metallic hardcore isn't welcome, in fact it is quite the opposite. The song they play on this record is a prime example of just how fantastic VVegas are at this style of music as well. Starting off with incredibly abrasive guitars and howling vocals, the song takes a while to build up. But it is certainly a good thing, you almost need that time to get prepared for the blistering speed that ensues.

To be honest I don't know an awful lot about Abraxis, I've only heard a few songs other than the song contributed to the split with Pale Creation. Regardless, I was blown away by the tracks played on this split. "Among Deep Waters" is metallic hardcore like it should be, with drums that blast like bullets into your brain. "My Friend" continues in the same direction, but has a slightly more punk feel than the previous track. And that solo towards the end, perfect.

If you head over to Midnight Funeral's webstore, you'll see many versions of this one are up for sale. What you won't see however is this version. As part of a secret pre-pre-order version, Craigos created a special "GOTU" version of this record. This was limited to as many as were ordered, which was subsequently only 59. The only main difference is the red inner sleeve that is hand stamped and numbered (I've also just noticed the box was stamped with the version details also). I'm pretty sure the colour variant was limited to this version too.

We can see just in the bottom corner that mine is lucky 30/59.

I just had a look on the website myself, and this is an exclusive colour to this version. In fact all of the colour variants look really great this time around, especially the regular pre-order on pink wax. This green really does a great job too though, especially against the red inner sleeve.
The centre labels pretty much continue the themes from their respective artwork sides.

A couple of extras were included along with the record. The first is this great patch featuring both band logos and the all too familiar Process logo.

The next is this insert detailing T's theory about a Pale conspiracy regarding Nifi, Neefee and Lucy. This is definitely worth a few reads.

As I had expected, this is one great record. Thanks to Craigos for making it all happen. Head over to Midnight Funeral and get your own copy while they still last. Gavin has also written a surprisingly similar write up on his blog (and a more in-depth review of the tracks here as well). And what do you know, so has Ezekiel now too. 

7.17 HT compilation 7"

Relatively recently the VVegas vvault was opened for a brief period. Many exclusive items were up for sale, but my wallet could only stretch so far. I spotted two items that particularly took my fancy, and was quick to nab them. The second of these will appear soon, but this phenomenal record was the first I chose, and am I ever glad that it was.

This record commemorates an HT event that occurred almost two years ago, the date of which is the record title (although the date is backwards as it's american!). This particular version comes with a silk-screened cover of various characters surrounded  by piles of snakes, with 7.17 just visible in the top right hand corner.  I also noticed there is a small finger print on the right side of the back cover. I actually reckon that's pretty neat, I doubt anybody else has a copy that has this on it.

Once we open the cover we can see what lurks inside. First of all is the great little insert. This seems to be one of those deals where you can't see the picture when it's close to you, but which reveals itself when it is further away. The left hand side is obviously a face, although the right hand side is still a bit obscure. My best guess is a picture of a snake. I was even lucky enough to get this personalised with my name signed on the side.

The inner sleeve has two number stampings this time. On the first side it is stamped 25 and is out of 100 copies. Three versions were made overall, with this version being distributed amongst the members of the bands.

But this is where the second stamp comes in. This particular version was the VVegas band version, and such is actually only out 10, mine being lucky number 6.

You've probably also noticed that obscure writing next to the stamp. This is another great personalisation done for me. I'm probably correct in assuming that hardly anybody else is going to know what that translates to, or even what language this is meant to be. I'll let you have the fun of figuring it out.

The record is pressed on beautiful green vinyl that looks just about perfect. Side A has a camouflage pattern centre label with the track listings on top. Side B has a picture of a Vampire Bat, courtesy of Motley Crue.

Finally, we also have this VVegas sticker. I never really know what to do with stickers, but they are always a welcomed bonus.

Even if the packaging wasn't as superb, this would still be a fantastic record; the four tracks are really great. Each band plays one song, the first being Verklingen by VVegas. This is a cover of the Integrity classic "Fading Away", so you know it's great. The guitar work sounds even more abrasive than the original. Gehenna play the track "I'll Always Say Forever"; a slow instrumental track with a speech from Charles layed on top. Unreal City is a band I'm rather unfamiliar with, but I have found that this is a band containing +Orr. It is not much of a surprise really, the guitar work in "Oath" has that signature Orr sound. Lastly, Integrity play the fantastic +Orrchida, which actually sounds different from the mix in VVorld's Plague Detonate, Dwid's vocals seem to be emphasised more.

Once again, Ezekiel over at RWHAF has also written an excellent post on this record, be sure to head over there and show him some love.

I also realised there was no good picture of the artwork for iTunes use out there. If you are like me, having really crappy resolution album artwork just won't do, so here is a nice high resolution scan for you.