Integrity - In Contrast of Sin 7"

God I was originally going to post about this over 2 months ago! It's a shame that I've looked over such a  seminal Integrity record for so long, but I have finally got myself a copy of ICOS.

In Contrast of Sin was the band's very first 7". This was originally released by the now infamous (for all the wrong reasons) victory records. Over the 22 years since its initial release there have been many versions and represses made, but two years ago Organized Crime records released an official updated repress of the record. Earlier versions seem to fetch quite a high price, so for the sake of just owning a copy of ICOS I decided to opt for a nice new copy of the OCR repress.

Including test presses, I've counted a total of 10 different versions with this repress. There's been everything from clear purple, to glow in the dark, to clear blue with special "In Contrast of Dom" covers. Being very late to the game I've actually got a copy of the second press of the repress. (Is that a re-repress?). This colour is called grey putty and is limited to 400 copies.

As per usual, OCR has done an excellent job on releasing this record, all the little details really do make all the difference. Of course I don't have a copy of the original version to compare to, but luckily Marcus at The Endless Quest has and has done an excellent comparative post. The above picture is from the inside of the sleeve, and it certainly looks impressive.

Inside the sleeve we have this insert featuring the now classic photo of the band and ICOS artwork. The inside contains all the lyrics, but you know all the words already right? They've really managed to keep the old-style of the inside, it looks exactly like it's been cut and stuck together.

Finally is the back of the cover with this truly great photo. Overall it's a great package, but then when has OCR ever steered me wrong?

Pale Creation / Hessian split 12"

It's hard to believe it was a whole month ago that I reviewed the tracks for this split, where has that time gone? Anyway, after hearing the MP3's I couldn't wait to get a physical copy of this split. Digital music is fine and easy to listen to, but it just doesn't compare to having something tangible in your hands.

I previously only saw one side of the artwork, the Hessian side. One lovely commenter posted about disliking the artwork because of the 'stupid white stripes'. I actually rather like it, if you look well enough you can see the lines can be used to spell Hessian. It is however nice to see that there is also a Paler side to the split artwork. This is courtesy of DH, and has now been printed as a limited t-shirt.

It seems the norm that Magic Bullet presses their records on three different colours, and this release is no exception. Blood, purple/red and red/black variants were pressed and I opted for the blood version. The colour has really turned out great too. I've a feeling I remember reading the total press is out of 500 copies with undisclosed numbers of each colour. I'll just say this is out of 166.667.

Of course there are other goodies along with the record. First and foremost is the sleeve insert. Each band has one side, while only thee Pale side any lyrics.

I love when record labels throw in freebies along with orders, and Magic Bullet is one that seems to consistently give me something extra. This time I received a copy of the CD "I Have Supped Full of Horrors", by Romance of Young Tigers, which consists of 4 instrumental tracks. The artwork on the CD is also really great. The four songs are available to listen to online, so I'll embed them down the bottom.

I was also hoping to have the Kill Life record along with this, but sadly Magic Bullet has had a problem with receiving their copies from the pressing plant. Hopefully the wait won't be too much longer...