The Cobra Bites... Again

Some more pick ups from Cobra Records. Finally, I got the last variants of Pessimistic Line's LP Overcome in. Kind of funny that I had all the rare versions before the more common ones. 

Crew Shot

Pessimistic Lines - Overcome - Cobra Records - orange /100
Pessimistic Lines - Overcome - Cobra Records - clear/blue splatter /300
Pessimistic Lines - Overcome - Cobra Records - orange with pre-order sleeve /50
Pessimistic Lines - Overcome - Cobra Records - orange with record release sleeve -/50

I got turned onto Death Is Not Glamorous kind of late. Too late to catch them live, but they're pretty good on vinyl too, so at least I have that. Cobra Records released three versions of Spring Forward. This is the least rare version on black vinyl out of 500. Great music in the vein of Lifetime and the like. Great music for the summer, too. All I need now is for the summer to come back. 

The Cobra Bites

One of my favourite German record labels is Cobra Records. The label has been putting out quality releases for years, mainly focusing on German and European bands. Plus the Cobra tries to keep down the prices for the records, which can't be taken for granted in 2014 anymore.

I've been waiting for new material by Barren ever since I first listened to their demo tape, which came out in 2012. Barren put you in a time machine and bring you back to the depths of 90s hardcore. Vegan Edge Mosh at its fucking best. Seriously, this is plain awesome. As can be expected from a band playing this style of hardcore, the texts are highly political but far from cliché. It's rather they talk about old issues, but give it a new modern spin offering something new. Don't judge this record by its cover. It looks modern, but it'll take you back to your youth (if your old enough). Hopefully you kept some of those baggy pants and XL shirts...
As I understand it, the band asked for a black vinyl only release, which is fine by me, seeing that it works really well with the cover and layout overall. There's supposedly another version of this, put out by a Russian label called Hidden Rainbows, but I have no idea if there are any differences between the two labels' versions. Anyway, this will definitely end up ranking highly on my 2014 list. The only hair in the soup for me is that there are only eight songs on this LP, three of which were already released on the demo, albeit in slightly different versions. Would have liked it if there had been a couple of more songs. Still, this record is really, really good. Can't wait to see them live again, because they're killing it on a stage, too.

Daniel of Cobra Records went through great pains to put out a compilation. Now, I love compilations, because they're a great way of checking out new bands. I only knew like three bands that were advertised once the line-up was finalized, which I like to see as an opportunity rather than thinking I'm out of the loop here. Obviously there are only SXE bands featured on this compilation. Only European ones to be precise. I really dig this idea. I have listened to it a few times by now and there is not a single bad song on it. A lot of different styles, but that's what makes it so interesting. I really like the overall concept of this as well as the artwork. The booklet is done very nicely too.
This comes on white vinyl with black/greyish marble and is out of 100. There are two other versions out there, one on black vinyl with white marble out of 100 and one on white vinyl out of 300. Your chance to check out a lot of (new) bands and support a label definitely worth supporting.

P.S. I didn't take a picture of the back cover on purpose cause I didn't want to spoil the surprise for you if you find out who the sexy legs on the front cover belong to.

Judgement Day

I was finally able to get my hands on one of those dark yellow copies of Burn's Shall Be Judged 7" that came out for RSD 2011. There were 1090 made with mainly two main variants, dark yellow and light yellow, as you can see in the pictures, but who knows how many slightly different shades there really are. I'm definitely satisfied with the two yellow copies I have. No need for transition colours or slightly different shades of yellow for me. I still 'need' a first press and third on black, but I won't loose any sleep over this one. Probably.

Here's what I have so far (starting top left).

Burn - …Shall Be Judged - Revelation - 2nd press on black /????

Burn - …Shall Be Judged - Revelation - 1st press pink /1000

Burn - …Shall Be Judged - Revelation - 4th press on black /300

Burn - …Shall Be Judged - Revelation - 4th press on light yellow /1090 total

Burn - …Shall Be Judged - Revelation - 5th press on blue /487

Burn - …Shall Be Judged - Revelation - 4th press on dark yellow /1090 total

Same old story. I didn't want to pick up just one record from the guy selling the Burn 7", so I also bought the Brotherhood LP Words Run… As Thick As Blood. I wanted to get a copy of this for a long time, so it was just as well. This 2nd press version comes on nice pink vinyl with some black smudges/streaks. There are 375 copies of this particular variant.

Ten Years After

Re-issues have the sad side-effect that you realize how much time has passed since the original release. I can't believe it's been ten years that Have Heart released the What Counts EP, and already five years that they broke up for that matter. Triple B Records honoured the ten year anniversary of this 7" with a rerelease on a one-sided 12". Seems a little bit like a waste of material to put six songs on a 12", but whatever. What I like most about this release is the little text that Pat Flynn wrote about the 'mistakes' they made with the original release and their rather naive outlook back then. I always liked the honesty and integrity aspect about Have Heart a lot. I wouldn't mind a reunion tour in this case though, haha.

There is a total of 4,000 (!) copies of this, which says a lot about the influence Have Heart still have today. There are 500 on yellow-white marble, which you can see here, 1,500 on white and 2,000 on clear orange. Triple B and Have Heart have put in a lot of effort to make this package look awesome and they truly did a great job. I also like what Sam Triple B wrote as a comment on (ebay) flippers on the Triple B webshop. Fuck those people.

Courtesy to Triple B's policy for all foreign orders to order at least two records, I also picked up Barge's No Gain 7". Quite different from what Have Heart do, but good different. If you like Infest and early Boston Hardcore, you should give this 7" a listen or two. 

Don't Wait Up aka The Neverending Story

Just coming back from some travelling/roadtripping to see my favourite band. If you ever have the chance to go to a show in Budapest, do it. I've never seen a crazier audience. That show was wild! Even if there are no shows, you should go there and check out the city. It's beautiful there.

In the meantime I got quite a few records and it will take some time to catch up with the backlog. Hopefully not too long because the second part of travelling this summer is going to come up soon.

A couple of weeks ago I got my pre-order for the final Bane record from Equal Vision/MerchNow, but they'd forgotten to pack the copy on blue vinyl. After writing a few e-mails back and forth I was assured that they were going to send out the record right away. I was a little skeptical because this variant wasn't listed in the webshop any longer aka sold out. In hindsight there was no reason to be worried since this time I got exactly what I'd ordered. Plus the gatefold sleeve wasn't warped either. I also really dig this colour and everything that is going on with it here: different shades of blue and some nice white veins.

In case you were wondering about the title for this post, well, just when you think you're done with all the variants, a new one pops up and you have no clue as how to find it and get it.