Pulse of the Maggots

Man, sometimes life gets in the way of doing stuff you really like doing. I barely have time to listen to records these days, let alone find the right lighting to photograph 'em and then write around the topic for a little while. But thankfully on this Sunday morning I've avoided sleeping in and found some time that isn't quite social enough to play records, but it's damn okay enough to write about them.

From this hype sticker I assume you know what you're in for here. This is the UK/Euro press of Slipknot's Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) on Clear 2XLP available on Record Store Day 2014. It also comes with a nice little RSD hype sticker too. 

Now this had been stuck on my want list for a little while now; but at the £80-100 going rate on Discogs currently, I was willing to push it to the background a little. Plus the fact that I bought both previous full lengths for a steal back in the day made this one a little harder to swallow. 

I'm not sure how common this is with this press but mine seems to have a black splodge or two mixed in with this clear wax. I quite like these little anomalies within pressings that just make for a marginally more interesting variant. All of the centre labels are different colours too which is pretty cool. 

Going from the harsh aesthetic or Iowa, it seemed like the band weren't quite as fucked this time around or at least quite as burned out. Although the record itself is a little less harsh on the ears, it seems to be the one I return to most often nowadays. Maybe it's just pretty fresh to my ears again for owning a copy on vinyl now, who knows? 

A lot of people also seemed to find a few issues with the sound quality on this pressing. To my ears it sounds fine; not spectacular or overly dynamic in any way, shape or form. But there are no huge popping or skipping issues? People on Discogs get on a rant about stuff sometimes right? 

Front and back cover. 

I've always preferred the reverse image here. The picture disc press has this as the C or D side and it fits well with the all black die cut sleeve too.

Insert photos are always a bonus as far as I'm concerned, and even more so here as they're super fun to look at. Almost nostalgic in a way. The inserts on Iowa are definitely something memorable too. 

The photo of the band together here is the most obvious image attached to this record. Up until this year, my only copy of this record was the deluxe 2XCD that comes with this image as a slipcase.

Oh, back to my original point on this point. I never wanted to pull the trigger on this while the price kept on going up and up. I actually found this copy in my local record store whilst having a little dig around behind the counter. It was offered up to me for less than the original asking price; and there's no way I wasn't walking out with it. 

Cheers!