Sacramentum - Far Away From The Sun

Sacramentum - Far Away From The Sun

I remember when my friend Daniel played this record to me back when we were living and studying in Hultsfred. I was really into death metal back then and had only briefly listened to bands like Dissection. He played a lot of this stuff to me and this record is one of the best from that time.

It is Sacramentum's debut originally released in 1995 just when Swedish death and black metal reached it's peak (if it just hasn't already). It was recorded by the infamous Dan Swanö who was responsible for a lot of great records at the time.

The music is best described as a blend of death and black metal with a melodic touch. The comparisons with Dissection is inevitable.

This record stands out as one of the best in Swedish extreme metal, but unfortunately it hasn't got the attention it deserves. Maybe now with this re-issue finally seen a release?

My Bloody Valentine - M B V

This morning My Bloody Valentine released their new album, entitled "M B V".

It was released digitally and to stream on Youtube. I pre-ordered the vinyl which also comes with the CD and an imidiate digital download. This is the first album they release since"Loveless" which was released in 1991(!). I've only had the chance to listen to the album once, but it sounds promising! This album sounds more "Loveless" than "Isn't Anything", I was maybe hoping for some more "IA"-stuff...

The closing song "Wonder 2" was the song that made the most impression on me on the first listen.

Swedish punk compilation needs your support!

One of the scenes that are closest to my heart is the Swedish punk scene and the sub scenes connected to it. I did collect some punk stuff earlier when I was living home in Sweden. I got in touch with a lot of cool people and when I was living close to Stockholm it was easy to go to concerts as well, good times!

As of late it's been easier to "re-connect" with the Swedish punk scene due to some small labels that have poped up lately.

Recently I heard about a project that Mikael Sörling is running. I know him as a punk writer in the Swedish metal/punk magazine Close-up Magazine, and he has his own blog at sirling.blogspot.com. He's compiled a list of songs from Swedish punk bands that he's looking to release as a double vinyl. He needs some support a head of this release. I've "donated" for two copies, one for The Garden and one for myself. So if you like the Swedish punk scene, please support! I'm really looking forward to this release.

2013

It's time for an update!

We're well into the new year and I have some stuff to update you on. This post will just be a few different "shorts", and I'll hopefully have more posts in the coming days. A "best-of-2012-list" is a must as well, so expect that soon!

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Graveyard's "Lights Out" was the first album I played in 2013, on new year's day. It really is a great album and it will probably end up on that 2012-list...

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These two are probably the ones to end up on the top spots.... Swans - The Seer and Converge - All We Love We Leave Behind

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I've bought myself a new record player. It's a Pro-Ject Debut E. I'm very pleased with the Pro-Ject player I've had for a few years so I decided to get one more as I need to have record players on each floor in the appartment.

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It's been a slow month so far "record-buyin-wise". I'm trying to have a month without buying any records, and I've succeeded so far. I can't remember the last time that happened, must be some years ago. Let's see if I actually can wait until February to pick up the latest vinyls in the picture disc series from Iron Maiden for example...

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And last, but far from least... What a year we have a head of us! David Bowie AND Black Sabbath... Need I say more!?

I really love the first song of Bowie's upcoming album:

That's it for now!

Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness

One of the greatest albums of all time has finally been re-issued on vinyl!

Billy Corgan is a busy man these days... Not only is he, as Smashing Pumpkins, releasing his 44 song project "Teargarden By Kaleidoscope", he has also released Smashing Pumpkins' best album in 14 years this year, "Oceania", but he is also re-releasing the back-catalog. Both "Gish" and "Siamese Dreams" has seen really cool releases and now it's time for the band's masterpiece, "Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness".

The album is spread out over four vinyls, each housed in a separate sleeve. The box set is completed with two books. One book includes all the lyrics and the other one includes a forword and a very interesting track by track commentary by Billy Corgan on every song on the album, extremely pleasant reading!

Like I said, this is one of my favourite albums ever and this release just makes it even better!

Converge - All We Love We Leave Behind is finally here

Now this little piece of paper, I've been waiting to receive for a very long time! It's an "avi" from the post office, to get my copies of the Converge record All We Love We Leave Behind. I pre-ordered it sometime in August, if I'm not mistaking, and it had a release date early October. 

However the vinyls have been delayed. From what I can understand the Converge records were next in line to be printed after the Beatles vinyls that was released in November and this took more time than expected or something... Strange that The Beatles are prioritized over Converge, huh?

Anyways, tomorrow I'll go to the post office to trade it in, so that I'll finally hold in my hand, the vinyl record containing probably the best collection of music released this year!

Expect a post tomorrow!

My Nasum collection pt. 1.

I've mentioned a couple of times, my Nasum collection. It is the band that I had most intensely collected, to the point that I have a near complete vinyl collection. I still miss a few CDs and such but they are often quite cheap so I'll probably get them as well.

So, in a few posts I'll present to you my collection of the Swedish grindcore band Nasum.

Nasum started 20 years ago, but was forced to call it quits in 2004/2005 as the singer/guitarist/one of the main songwriters Mieszko Talarczyk tragically was one of the many casualties in the tsunami disaster.

They came back this year for a farewell tou which took them around the world and ending in a magical night in Stockholm in October.

Anyways, here's my collection:
I'll start with the 7" singles and EPs:


From top left:
Blind World (Poserslaughter Records) 
split with Agathocles and the first ever release of Nasum.

Smile When You're Dead (Ax/ction Records)
Split with Psycho.

World In Turmoil (Blurred Records)
The first EP without founding member Rickard Alriksson and this is where they started to find "their" sound. One of the coolest releases for me.

The Black Illusions (Yellow Dog Records)
Split with Abstain. Contains the song "No Paradise For The Damned", that was later re-recorded for their last studio album "Shift".

The Nasum Campaign (Relapse Records)
A split with Warhate. A part of Relapse's singles serie. It was released in three different colours, white, black and (as always with Relapse releases) transparent (in 100 copies). This EP contains one of my favourite songs "Losing Faith", it shows the strength and brilliance of Nasum in just 36 seconds!

Untitled (Black Mask Collective/Busted Head Records/Putrid Filth Conspiracy)
Split with Asterisk. This as well contains some of my favourite Nasum tracks. "Krossa" and "Falska Tankar" are both brilliant songs and stand out even when they are featured in the compilation "Grind Finale".

The Bloodbath Is Coming (Sound Of Betrayal)
Nasum had one song on this 2X7" compilation called "A Bloodbath Displayed".

Untitled (No Tolerance Records)
Split with Skitsystem. This was one of the last non-album releases Nasum did. It was limited and numbered to 1 100 copies.



The record in the bottom right corner is a test press of the Skitsystem-split. I got this one directly from the record company that released the split. There was only five copies of this printed.