Hello everybody!
This is the time to make one of my favourite posts regarding my collection of music, either that is a vinyl record or a cd or a cassette tape. I'm always in search of music to grow my collection and if my available money allows to add music that I'd really like to have in collection. It's been quite a few months since my last post about this subject and in this time I've had the pleasure to get a few more things as well as I'm still expecting some others to arrive. In this post I'll present only some of what I've already received, I'm a bit lazy at this time to present all things but eventually I'll post all new that I have and haven't presented here.
I'm going to start with a 12'' EP vinyl record from the band Tiamat called Gaia
This version got released late November - early December 2018 but the EP was originally released in 1994. The songs here are part of the tracklist which were in a full album released that same year (1994) called Wildhoney. Additionally the EP here also includes a cover of Pink Floyd's instrumental track called When You're In. The self-titled track Gaia I had heard only a few years back and it caught my attention for being a beautiful dark song and while following a spanish label in fb I saw that they would release this EP along with a live album from Tiamat which as well was originally released in 1994, with the difference that both these releases would be released in vinyl format for the first time. I really got excited because I knew that it was an excellent chance for me to purchase it and I did, going for the Red/Black Splatter vinyl colour instead of the classic black colour. It has to have a collector's value as well if possible.
Songs like Gaia & Whatever That Hurts are really classics among of course many others from Tiamat. I've left the record in its original plastic wrap since I haven't bought yet the plastic sleeve to get rid of the wrap and put it inside the sleeve.
Moving on, the next item presented is from the band Anathema and the album is called Internal Landscapes.
As you can see on the wrap's sticker, this is a compilation album including songs from the band's era in their current label Kscope. Towards the end of the summer, late August, I was away with my family in our summer house and one day as I was using my phone's internet data to browse my fb feed, I saw an ad about the scheduled release of this album. Again, I got excited because Anathema have crafted such unbelievable beautiful songs and since I have wanted for a long time to add to my collection even the songs they've released in their late albums, this was calling my name. Songs like Untouchable or Ariel or Thin Air or Dreaming Light are truly great.
I thought to purchase this album in vinyl format because it was stated that this album has been curated by the band themselves and it was worth it to go for it in a more collectable format. I went for the clear red vinyl colour edition.
I still haven't removed the cellophane wrap for the same reason as above, I must go and get some plastic sleeves before I get rid of the wrap.
Next album to present is from the homeland of Anathema, the band is Antimatter and the album is called Black Market Enlightenment.
This is the anticipated latest album of Antimatter. It's a cd+dvd release, the cd being the album and the dvd including a documentary the band's mastermind Mick Moss has filmed and produced himself along with one song's videoclip - see below Youtube and another video of a song's live acoustic performance. Antimatter's music is very much sensuous and the documentary Mick has filmed displays the entire procedure it took him to compose and record this album along with his everyday struggles, not to mention the concept of this album being his experiences with drugs in his younger age and everything that he lays out in the open for the viewer to listen, a procedure that he admits it has been very hard and you really can't but feel for him and his struggles.
I'm not going to miss his appearance over here in March next year, I've already missed some live appearances from bands I'd like to see live lately, but this one there's no way. He's a great person, he has released previous albums too in 2-cd releases, one cd being the album and the second cd being a narration of his life's experience and concept behind each song.
Next I'm going to present cassette tape albums. It's worth it to mention that just like the vinyl record market has started to become quite popular in the last years, with vinyl records being purchased again after the dominance of the compact disc, equally the cassette tape market has started to rise again after the dominance of the compact disc. The point here is not the numbers in terms of profits compared to other music formats, the point is that even nowadays bands choose to release their albums in cassette tape format among the cd release and the vinyl release, whereas it's also a cheap way for any underground band to release an album in such format instead of a home recorded tape. By the way, nowadays, the cassette tape release of an album is not even necessarily the desire of the bands, now smaller labels get a license from the original label that released an album and the smaller labels re-release it in a cassette tape format, often for the first time, but not always. It's too a collectable item to have and I'm happy to have cassettes. I've also purchased a cassette walkman to listen to my cassettes.
The band featured here is Mgła and the album is called Exercises in Futility
I have presented this album before in a previous post, since I already have it on cd format, but I had to have on cassette as well. I loved this album from the first time that I listened to it and I'm really happy to have this gem on cassette. Sensuous music too here, the entire album is a great listen.
The good thing with this purchase is that I found it in a small underground distro online in a normal price, because in big online platforms the price can be double the money or even a bit more and that's always an issue with buying the albums that you want regarding the asking prices that each seller puts on them.
Coming up next are two albums from the band Hypocrisy, the two latest studio albums in the band's discography so far - End Of Disclosure & A Taste Of Extreme Divinity
I discovered the first album in a pre-order status in a greek label's website while browsing their products and immediately I again got excited. I couldn't help myself to place an order straight away. The good thing with cassettes is that they're the cheaper music format to buy an album and therefore it won't hurt so much the money budget. The second album I decided to buy after a few months of the original release date of the first album which was delayed upon delay, so the guys from the label finally emailed me to tell me that the cassettes had finally arrived and ask me whether I was still interested to buy the album I was originally interested in. Of course I said yes and by the way, I asked them to ship the other album too, the payment method selected was cash upon delivery. They came to me brand new, like all the items I've presented and the albums have been released for the first time in cassette format I believe as official releases under the license of Nuclear Blast Records that originally released them.
Last but not least, the last album to present is by the almighty Metallica and the album ...And Justice For All
This release, although originally released in 1988, has been re-released during this current year marking the 30th year anniversary of its original release. The truth is that this album has been-re-released a few times before, but it's a classic album and a very commercial band anyway, but the songs stand strong in time and these classic albums really deserve the praise that they get, no matter whether Metallica have made millions over millions through their music and merch throughout all these years. This release is a Remastered version. To celebrate this anniversary, Metallica released the album through their label called Blackened Recordings in various releases, deluxe box sets, vinyl records, 3 cds expanded edition as well as single cd edition or vinyl record or cassette tape. For me, the humble single cassette tape is just fine, although the other editions are great too.
We've finally reached the end of this post, thank you for reading, please leave me a comment if you want and/or upvote this post if you liked it.
Thank you!