The Blood of Thine Enemies

In modern hardcore circles, where labels are constantly being judged on their output, reliability and general effort; I think it's time we give a big hand to Deathwishinc.
Jacob Bannon and co. just seem to have this thing nailed down to a tee, and today i'm going to talk about a stand alone piece from the Deathwish vault; damn this record is so cool...

J. Bannon's The Blood of Thine Enemies came out sometime in 2008 I believe as a predecessor to the Wear Your Wounds project; of which physical material surfaced last year. Anything that Jacob Bannon puts his hand to tends to be nothing short of genius, and here nothing changes. Although most fondly heralded for his work in Converge, this 7'' is more reminiscent of his work with Supermachiner and Wear Your Wounds. This particular track is 6 minutes of bleak noise, definitely an emotional affair, if not a little creepy. Either way it's well worth the time of day, it's fantastic. But less of my opinion, more on the record itself:

First things first; before you even get into the record you want it. Jacob Bannon offering a masterclass here in how to make the most of your packaging. Both sides of the jacket are screened, and no detail is spared. Even the spines are printed; and the artwork is fantastic as always. 

The record is housed in this Arigato style packaging, further allowing the aesthetics of the record to take over. And again, more screened art on the inside of the fold. At this point it's worth mentioning that this song/ project was a stand alone solo deal outside of any other Jacob Bannon related project and this track only appeared here. This release was certainly a special one, and although not particularly limited; it sold out and to my knowledge it hasn't been repressed either. Also, as you can see; I ended up with the 'Bone' variant. Pressing info was as follows: Black-200/Bone-600/Silver-600/Gold-600. I like the fact that this came without a label, it just wouldn't have looked right. So, 6 minute single-sided 7-inch; what's going on with the other side? Well...

Possibly the most intricate and impressive etching to appear on a 7''. Again, this kind of thing just attests to how great a label Deathwish really is. Relentlessly releasing great music; and combining that music with a visual package to complete the experience. For those with good eyes/ better zoom, the lyrics are etched here, along with the cover art. All of the variants came with this etching, and all came in this packaging. I scored mine long after it sold out (cheers Darren!), and at 2000 available there should be no reason why this isn't in your collection. Musically, although a little left field of the typical Deathwish roster, it's still great. With packaging and design from the one and only Jacob Bannon too, there's plenty that makes this a desirable record. I love it; I love the whole idea behind it. May Deathwish carry on to treat us like this. 

Thanks for reading, cheers!

Marched

Damn this last post took some gearing up to do. I feel so lazy, hopefully over the winter I'll make a good effort here. There's some great stuff i've picked up, Touche Amore related and otherwise. Anyway, on to the good stuff!
Here' i'm going through the special presses of this album. There's three available, all through different pressing. All of them have cool stuff going on, all of them pressed in different amounts, all of them a hassle to find. Let's go:
From the first press is the Sound and Fury '09 press of To the Beat of a Dead Horse. These were made for Sound and Fury fest a while back, the year before that they had a tape version of their demo available (don't have it, really want it!). Either way, this fest is often the product of some awesome exclusives. I'm sure Doug over at We Will Bury You has some awesome stuff you could learn from, starting here: http://doug-wewillburyyou.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/have-heart-songs-to-scream-at-sun-sound.html. Enough digressing, on to the vinyl:

Two things to note here at first. Number 1. The most horrifically awful shade of yellow is what this variant comes on (looking closer, there's some brown and white mixed in there too), and the 'theme' of this one is aptly titled 'Sun'. Number 2. The cover is a tad different. No clouds of rain, no child biking. Here we have a menacing chap on a camel and a sun complete with shades and tasche. You can also see the arrow to Sound and Fury '09 too, nice touch. I'm not sure who did the art here if i'm honest, either way it's great. Nothing better than a fest press with a new cover... These were numbered out of 100, and from the first press that makes the numbers up to 1000 (100-yellow/200-black/300-brown/400-grey). I ended up with number 74: 

For those of you with sharp eyes, you'll see that the new cover is a kind of insert; with a quarter fold under cover, holding the LP inside the original jacket under the new cover. Two covers, one LP, winner. There was also a cd included in my copy, although no one needs to see that I assume. There's not really more that needs to be said I suppose. This was great for collectors and everything you want from a fest press. New cover, exclusive variant, hand numbering. Solid effort. On to the next one. 

From the second press came the very elusive and sought after Spring Tour variant: 

I honestly had so much trouble finding this one. I managed to find it eventually last year when a guy was parting with some stuff for christmas cash. This makes up the pressing numbers as such: (500-blue/420-clear green/ 80- seafoam green). That's right, 80. I believe this makes it the rarest pressing of this LP, aside from transitional presses (they don't count, lets be honest). The main selling point here is the great looking hand-numbered obi strip, and another exclusive variant just makes everything really appealing. I'm not that up on my knowledge about this one; for example, I don't know if all of them had the dashes of black in them that mine has. I don't even know who was on the line-up on this tour. I do know that it wasn't in England though! All in all it was a great find and i'm more than happy to have it in my collection. I ended up with number 61/80: 

Finally, from the third press and possibly the most intriguing of all; the Record Store Day press. From what I know, these were made with the intention of being an indie store exclusive for RSD 2011. However, they were not made in time and ended up being sold online instead through the 6131 store. Either way, I got mine from a super nice guy called Petter. 

And here we are! The numbers are made up (750-white 180gram/250- white 180gram). These look incredible. The 'blind' or letter-pressed cover is really effective and suits the variant perfectly. This variant doesn't have an insert, no gatefold (in fact it has a book style sleeve that opens) and the cover is all indented; the tracklisting and even the spine are all letter-pressed to have an embossed cover. Not only is this aesthetically different, but it kind of makes a statement; allowing the music speak for itself. Even the labels on the record are blank (unlike the 750 in standard covers). 

Complete with Record Store Day stickers and an alternative clear sticker (unlike the standard white stickers with black writing found with the first two presses - no numbering on this exclusive press though!); this variant is everything that represents why more independent labels should have the opportunity to take place in RSD. Honestly, did you Back to Black Rainbow LP have this much time and dedication involved? 

And that's it folks. Five posts and we're finally there. Well, that's a lie. In this time To the Beat has had it's 6th press. A rather cool looking Orange 180gram/1000 as all pressings are to follow I assume. And yes I do have it, and you will see it at some point i'm sure; but for now I'm going to have a look through my collection and see what I really want to write about. Some stuff has a great story to tell, others are off the 'never in my life will I ever afford this' list. Some stuff you could probably pick up easy enough. Either way, it's going to be fun. Thanks for reading!