Tuesday, March 11, 2008

I Love The Dead

I've recently become very interested in a record label out of Italy called Night of the Vinyl Dead. The mission of the record label is to re-issue Metal records that never got a proper vinyl release. Each record is released in limited quantities, and is hand numbered. I remember when they released their first record, the War is My Shepard 12 inch single from Exodus, back in 2006. A friend of mine had told me about the label, but at the time wasn't really into collecting Metal records, and since the price was around $35 for the single I quickly passed on buying it. A year and a half later, and here I am looking to expand my Heavy Metal collection. I checked out the Night of the Vinyl Dead site, and was surprised at how many awesome pieces of vinyl the label had released while I wasn't paying attention. All of a sudden I had a desperate need to own something from this label. I hit ebay and started to search. I was able to pick up two of their newer releases, both of them from overseas ebay sellers. Shipping cost was a bitch, but I did not want to miss out on getting these two records.
Both of these records were new to me, as they were both originally released when I was totally immersed in hardcore and had no interest in the Metal scene. Mercyful Fate, Into the Unknown, is a really cool record. Sure it is a step or two removed from the classics of Melissa and Don't Break the Oath, but it is still some great Fate. The vinyl is pressed on "sunset" vinyl, and just looks sick...matching the album cover nicely. My copy was numbered 367 out of 500. The King Diamond record is a "Collectors Edition" EP. Originally released on CD in 1999, it features songs off of a couple of King's latter day records. I'm really having a good time discovering these albums that I missed the first time around. Fun stuff. The King Diamond record is pressed on white vinyl and comes in a cool PVC cover. Mine is numbered 271 out of 500 made. I can't wait to get more from the Night of the Vinyl Dead catalog.

2 comments:

Matt Ahearn said...

Excellent review! That label is siiick! The limited nature of all of their releases and the great colors are amazing. Only choice thrash and death metal. There's no info on how to order from them though; I guess Ebay is the only way to go. BTW, I found out that the slayer vinyl, Blood before the Reign, is not an official release, so it is most likely a bootleg. It is on a red vinyl and is supposedly limited to 666 copies, so I'm torn. Cheers.

Mike said...

Yeah, it is a very cool label. It looks like they may deal directly with Nuclear Blast Germany in selling their stuff, but when I looked into buying the Mercyful Fate album, shipping was around $28! Therefore, I only find their stuff on eBay....and even then it is a rare find.