Iced Earth - Dark Genesis [Boxed set] (2001)

The original name of the band formed in 1985 was Purgatory but was later changed to Iced Earth before they released their last demo.

Gene Adam was originally going to perform on "Night of the Stormrider". Jon Schaffer was concerned that Adam wouldn't be able to handle the vocal melodies for the new material and asked him to take singing lessons. Adam refused and as a result he was replaced by John Greely. Greely was later ejected from the band too.

Shortly after the release of "Night of the Stormrider", Jon Schaffer went on strike against Century Media Records, refusing to provide them with new recordings (as expected based on their contract), as allegedly they had not paid him any royalties from the first two albums.

The situation was eventually resolved and after a three-year hiatus the band returned with Matthew Barlow as the new vocalist. Schaffer and Barlow are brothers-in-law. Matt is married to Jon's sister.

Although Keith Menser is listed as having played bass on "The Dark Saga", he did not actually record a note on the album. When Dave Abell left the band and Mark Prator's friend Menser was recruited, the album had already been recorded and so Menser was to play bass on the tour. When it came time to shoot the photos in the liner notes Century Media wanted the touring line-up to be featured on the back cover, so Menser appeared instead of Abell. While rehearsing for the tour, it became apparent that Menser did not know any of the songs and had to be fired. Abell then quickly returned to the band.

Steve DiGiorgio is listed as a guest musician on "Horror Show". He had actually agreed to join the band permanently and tour the album, but cut off communications after the album was finished and later informed Schaffer (through his management) that he would be unable to do the tour. He was fired and edited out of the photoshoot for the album, and bumped to the bottom of the list of guest musicians.

His predecessor James MacDonough had left for publicly unknown reasons after "Alive in Athens" but returned after DiGiorgio's departure. He left again after "The Glorious Burden" to join Megadeth as a touring musician.

Deluxe slipcase, Remastered.

-Tracklist:

             01. Enter the Realm (Demo)     21:43 

    1. Enter the Realm
2. Colors
3. Nightmares
4. Curse the Sky
5. Solitude
6. Iced Earth 

         02. Iced Earth     44:01 

    1. Iced Earth
2. Written on the Walls
3. Colors
4. Curse the Sky
5. Life and Death
6. Solitude
7. Funeral
8. When the Night Falls

03. Night of the Stormrider     45:46 
1. Angels Holocaust
2. Stormrider
3. The Path I Choose
4. Before the Vision
5. Mystical End
6. Desert Rain
7. Pure Evil
8. Reaching the End
9. Travel in Stygian

         04. Burnt Offerings     52:44    
1. Burn Offerings
2. Last December
3. Diary
4. Brainwashed
5. Burning Oasis
6. Creator Failure
7. The Pierced Spirit
8. Dante's Inferno

05. Tribute to the Gods     51:59
1. Creatures of the Night (Kiss cover)
2. Number of the Beast (Iron Maiden cover)
3. Highway to Hell (AC/DC cover)
4. Burnin' for You (Blue Öyster Cult cover)
5. God of Thunder (Kiss cover)
6. Screaming for Vengeance (Judas Priest cover)
7. Dead Babies (Alice Cooper cover)
8. Cities on Flame (Blue Öyster Cult cover)
9. It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock n' Roll) (AC/DC cover)
10. Black Sabbath (Black Sabbath cover)
11. Hallowed Be Thy Name (Iron Maiden cover)

Label: Century Media Records.

Limited to 3000 copies.

Issued in a tall digipak with a slipcase.
First editions of the release contain some printing errors:
- The CD with the "Night of the Stormrider" artwork plays "Enter the Realm".
- The CD with the "Burnt Offerings" artwork plays "Iced Earth".
- The CD with the "Enter the Realm" artwork plays "Night of the Stormrider".
- The CD with the "Iced Earth" artwork plays "Burnt Offerings".
- The "Tribute to the Gods" CD is the only one with the correct artwork printed on the disc.
Contains remixed/remastered versions of their first 3 albums, the cover album "Tribute to the Gods", and their old demo for the first time on CD.

 

Judas Iscariot - Heaven In Flames (1999)

 

Judas Iscariot was an American black metal band. It began in 1992 as the solo-project of Andrew Harris (sociologist and philosophe), who performed under the pseudonym Akhenaten (after the Egyptian Pharaoh of the same name).

With the release of Heaven in Flames (1999), Duane Timlin (aka Cryptic Winter) joined the band as a session drummer. During 1999 and 2000, Akhenaten twice performed live with a line-up featuring members from Nargaroth, Krieg, Absu and Maniac Butcher. 

The band's last show took place at the Under the Black Sun festival in Germany in July 2000. At this last show, "Spill the Blood of the Lamb" was dedicated to "the destruction of the capitalist scum who tried to destroy black metal." All of the band's releases were given to the labels who originally released them, and Akhenaten took no money, as he owned his own recording equipment, instead asking that the money be put back into the underground.

On August 25, 2002, Akhenaten announced that he had ended Judas Iscariot. "Midnight Frost (To Rest With Eternity)" was the band's last official release.

In 2018, Ascension Monuments Media began selling pre-orders for numerous re-releases from Judas Iscariot's discography, falsely claiming they were authorized by the band. Akhenaten has described these records as "disgraceful unauthorized bootlegs."

RSR-0136   Reissue 2000

 

 

-Tracklist:

1. An Eternal Kingdom of Fire     07:56
2. Gaze upon Heaven in Flames     06:20
3. Eternal Bliss... Eternal Death     06:55
4. Before a Circle of Darkness     05:26
5. From Hateful Visions     05:03
6. Spill the Blood of the Lamb     03:58
7. An Ancient Starry Sky     03:28

 

-Line up:

• Akhenaten: all instruments, vocals.

 

 

 

Label: Red Stream, Inc.

 

All music and lyrics written by Akhenaten.
Track 1's title is misspelled as "An Eternal Kindom of Fire" on one of the back covers. 

Heaven in Flames
From the Ashes of Extermination to the Ruins of a Fallen Kingdom.

Recorded December 1998 in pure hatred and visions of subhuman genocide…

 

 

 

Absurd Universe - Habeas Corpus (2011)

Absurd Universe started as a project just for fun but in 2011 after a massive line-up shake up in Sinister which left Aad Kloosterwaard as the only remaining member, the project abruptly ceased and became the full time line-up of Sinister.

 Freedom Less

 An inferior race is changed
Nevermore being free
Ships overflowing with slaves
Dutch crusaders rule the sea.

A journey to a new world
Maltreatment and hard work is waiting
Punishment, by torture with lashes,
is what executioner is stating.

There is war on the seas,
to dominate and raise the flag.
Pre-dominating other people,
who for their life must beg.

Freedom less, bow for them on your knees
Sickness, domination overseas
Inferior, so worthless and abused
Freedom less, condemned to new diseases.

-Tracklist:

1. History of a New Hell     01:12    
2. Freedom Less     03:32    
3. Blood Collector     03:20      
4. Ships of Enslavement     04:53    
5. A Stone for Your Skull     02:52    
6. Red Water     03:55      
7. Boiled by Dead Water     03:16      
8. Under Command     03:35    
9. New World Domination / The Endless Quest     08:33

-Line up:

• Mathijs Brussaard: Bass
• Toep Duin: Drums
• Dennis Hartog: Guitars
• Bastiaan Brussaard: Guitars
• Adrie Kloosterwaard: Vocals

Label: Punishment 18 Records.

Officially distributed by Sevared Records in the USA.

The tray card lists 10 tracks however the actual album is only nine tracks (tracks 9 and 10 are combined into a single track).
Recorded at Flighing Visch studio in Zaandam, Holland by Gertjan Vis.

 Cover: Andrey Kroms from Belarus.

 

 

 

 

Bleeder - Ensayos con la Raza Humana (2016)

 

Bleeder is a veteran Death Metal / Groove Death Metal band from Ponferrada (Spa). Began their musical career in 1989 playing a bloody Death Grind. In 1993 released their unique demo “The Face of Disgrace”. The world didn’t see new albums of the combo until the year 2000, when published their first L.P “El Cuarto Mono”. They showed a change of address music, opting for a Old School Thrashcore, but without forgetting their estate. After a long hiatus of five years which made it thinking the worst, finally returning to the scene with their E.P. selfedited “Eleonor” returning to the “Death Metal”, with touches of Groove. This assault made that Art Gates Records is hearing of their clear potential, recruiting them immediately. Finally, December 30, 2016, displayed their long duration “Ensayos con la raza humana” this album is obviously the star of these terrifying obituaries.

The line up is: Mongo (voice), Thor (guitar), Javier (guitar), ex-Mortem member Fresco (bass) and Romulus (drums).

-Discography:

  • The Face of Disgrace (Demo 1993)    
   • El Cuarto Mono (EP 2000)    
  • Eleonor (EP 2015)    
  • Ensayos con la Raza Humana (2016)

 

 

-Tracklist:

1. Sin Retorno     04:10
2. Pesadilla en las Profundidades     05:22
3. Extraños y Locos     04:08
4. De los Muertos tú Consumes     04:05
5. Eleonor     05:17
6. Instinto Asesino     04:13
7. Usurpación Cerebral     04:08
8. Condenado     05:32

 

-Line up:

• Fresco: Bass
• Romulo: Drums
• Thor: Guitars
• Javi: Guitars
• Mongo: Vocals.

 

 

Label: Tinatorio Records.

 

Recorded & mixed: El Tinatorio.

Music & lyrics: Bleeder (2014-2016)

 

Graphic art and design: Javi (2016)

 

 

 

      

Morbid Goat Fornicator - Nuclear Vaticano (Compilation) (2010)

Morbid Goat Fornicator is a one-man band and plays with session musicians.
Tarroth is the owner of Atomik Nuclear Desolation Productions.

                                                                               OCR 26

-Tracklist:

1. Intro - Goat Invasion     01:31    
2. Nuclear Vaticano     04:07      
3. Intro - Rites of Invocation     01:09    
4. Invocators of the Nuclear Goat     03:53    
5. Intro - Flesh for the Goat     00:26    
6. Cabron Destructor Antieclesiastico     02:56     7. Outro - The Last Hour of God     01:14    
8. Devil Pig (Cult to VON)     02:29    
09. Intro - Nuclear Invasion from Hell     01:02    10. Morbid Goat Fornicator     04:59    
11. Christ I Desecrate Your Grave     06:09    
12. Atomic Nuclear Desolation (Blasphemy Tribute) 00:34    
13. For the Total Destruction     03:59    
14. Outro - The End Atomic Megabombs Impact  in the Heaven 00:26

-Line up:

Tarroth: Vocals, Bass, Guitars.

 Label: Old Cemetery Records.

 First CD release of MGF including Nuclear Vaticano demo 2008 (recorded in 2006), Infernal Orgy with the Virgin demo 2004.

Limited to 999 copies.

Nuclear Vaticano (Demo 2008) tracks 1 to 8.

 Infernal Orgy With The Virgin (Demo 2004) tracks 9 to 15.

Amalantra - From The Depths... Medieval Ritual Magick [demo] (1993)

Amalantra was founded in 1991 by brothers Hugo (drums) and Allan Solares (guitar & vocals), both musicians are motivated by antireligion as a form of rebellion to the system. They evolve to a more spiritual level and return with the album "The Return" (2016) where they are philosophizing about the origin and destruction of the Kosmos.

 

-Discography:

• From the Depths... Medieval Ritual Magick  (Demo 1993)     

• The Return (2016)

-Additional Discography:

• "Capitulo II - Ensayo 1994" (Demo 1994)

• "Capitulo III - Invocación" (Demo year unknown)

• "Demo 2016" (Demo 2016)

• "Compilado" Tape (2015, including Capitulo I-II-III)

• "Mayhem Live" Live Tape (2016)

• 3-way split 

 

 

-Tracklist:

1. Intro (Invocation)     01:58
2. Moonspell     05:17
3. The Key     02:07
4. Medieval Rites     05:36
5. Outro (Evocation)     01:22

 

-Line up:

- Orpheus: Bass
- Diatharma Thoron: Drums
- Amalantra: Guitars.

 

 

 

Amalantra interview