(1) Literally everyone is a record collector now;
(2) Most new vinyl releases these days are reissues of records that sucked the first time, cynically repressed by those hoping to cash in on the bubble before it bursts; and most importantly,
(3) I am a contrarian asshole.
That said, I was blown away by the insanely lavish new Blue Sabbath Black Cheer release, The Boundary Between the Living and the Deceased Dissolved, on Equation Records. This is the fanciest physical release I've seen since the Floor box set, and frankly it makes that fine product look like a 10th generation mix tape caked in vomit.
But shitty pictures are worth the proverbial thousand words:
Here's the cover, complete with glare obscuring the awesome artwork. That neat sticker lets you know all about the cornucopia of goodies you're about to crack open, like a sugar-addled child busting up a piñata.
The two LP sleeves are held together with MAGNETS! (Hold your ICP jokes please.) I thought this was pretty ingenious. I hate gatefold sleeves though.
Okay, so here's what's on tap in the first sleeve. You get a one-sided etched 7 inch which is dedicated to The Cherry Point, and--surprise!--features crunchy, HNW style rumble. Honestly I probably won't ever listen to it again (7 inches, especially one-sided ones, really aren't the ideal HNW format if you ask me), but it does come with a bunch of neat little art cards. And you also get a boatload of stickers (featuring uplifting messages like "FUCK YOUR SCENE" and "IT DOESN'T MATTER WHEN YOU ARE DEAD"), plus a giant, '80s-style 2" button with a little piece of the cover artwork! And wait, is that a fucking slipmat in there?
Yep. Pretty sick! (Also, the 7" is red, a fact sure to please all the dorks who still think colored vinyl is the most revolutionary invention since movable type. You also get the label from the etched side, so that you can glue it onto some other 7 inch and confuse yourself later.)
So what's in sleeve number two? Well, you get the album itself, which is also one-sided and features a beautiful silkscreen on the flip side (see below). There's more gorgeous inserts, a numbered certificate (out of 235) and even a kind of BSBC sampler CD with rare and unreleased stuff! I really appreciated this last, as most labels would've been content to throw in a download code or just neglect digital altogether--but I still love CDs, and it's cool to get extra songs on top of the LP.
Here's the gnarly silkscreen. The LP itself shreds too: it's more in the vein of "classic" BSBC than the 7 inch, starting off with ominous chiming cymbals and gradually snowballing into a blizzard of graveyard noise.
There's also a special message ("READ ME FIRST" at the top) detailing an unfortunate printing/shipping mishap where the ink was still wet when it got put in the white inner sleeve.
"We apologize for this faux pas. But, on the plus side, extricating this record will involve a little wanton vandalism: ripping, tearing, and injury to the sleeve - which is condoned by the band and heartily encouraged; especially while listening to the other audio contents of this package."
The message says nearly every copy was affected, but actually I don't think mine was, as the 12" slid out of the sleeve with no problems. I like to think some collector nerd out there is stewing in anguish over this, while I feel a little cheated that I didn't get to rip my record out of its sleeve like a Kali-worshipping witch doctor tearing out some Christian missionary's heart.
What's inside the CD sleeve? More stickers! Again, with most releases you'd count yourself lucky to get a single sticker, but Equation and BSBC throw enough at you to wallpaper your mini-fridge with grim propaganda.
I forgot to mention you also get a sweet 12" x 24" poster of the cover art! Here's a better worse different picture, taken after I threw it into a spare frame I had lying around for that letterboxed effect:
So, all in all, pretty awesome. I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that this is one of the coolest releases I've ever seen. It costs $36 and is apparently being sold at cost, a claim which I totally believe. I think it's definitely worth the scratch if you're even a casual fan of BSBC; if Corrupted releases were packed with this much cool stuff I'd feel a lot better about paying $30+ for them. (Of course, if Corrupted ever makes the complete archival box set I've dreamed of, it will probably make this look like an RRRecords release and cost approximately $10,000.)
Like I said, it's limited to 235 copies and I don't know how many are left, but check it out at http://www.chronoglide.com/Equation_releases.html.
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