Records With History And Future

Inspired by the Animal Truth benefit sampler of Sober Mind Records I started searching after vinyl from the bands featured on this compilation. The list of records I will be showing and describing is not exhaustive. There are probably bands who only have CD releases, unfortunately.

But first of all I’d like to say something on this CD only compilation on it’s own. When it came out it was an immediate hit. Because there were several songs on it who had been previously unreleased. Up to now there are still some songs that can only be found on this sampler. Also a hit because it had some legendary bands like Statement and Liar amongst others. I have already made a post more ethical oriented about this sampler. The post I made about it can be found here and was in contrary to this post more philosophical and focusing on the morals.

Vitality starts it of with the song ‘Equal’. Very interesting point of view on the equality of animals and humans. This track was rerecorded for their last CD ‘Crucial Wires’. To my knowledge the band members have never been vegan but some are still vegetarian until this very moment. Their mCD on Sober Mind (‘Bloodline’)is still a classic to me and I will never sell it. They have never had songs on vinyl except for the the split between Sektor and Vitality, which is pictured here.

So this brings us to the band Sektor. A very dedicated band with a larger vinyl output. You can see all their releases in this picture. I think this song stayed exclusive to this sampler. All their releases were done by Sober Mind Records also. Just type in “Sektor” into the search box of this blog and you will find previous entry’s on this band. And if you want pressing info or other facts, definitely check H8000 Central.

This is the Vessel Of Wrath 7″ form Purification. It is on Italy’s Surrounded Records. Also one of the most well-known Italian Vegan Straight-Edge bands. I got this one on eBay US for a $11. Definitely a gem because it sounds not unlike Unbroken, and because this is the limited cover edition. And still in splendid condition.

This is the Statement ‘Prepare For Battle’ 7″ on Hardline Records. Hailing from the UK this is one of the first Straight-Edge bands of Europe. Add to this an uprising hardline veganism attitude around the year 1990 and you get one of the most influential bands in the Vegan Straight-Edge scene. This together with Vegan Reich and Raid.

I have this record in mint condition, not so many are left over in this condition I guess.

Another Statement record I have obtained on eBay US is the Statement / Dim-Mak split 7″. Definitely an honour for Dim-Mak to split up with Statement. This 7″ on Surrounded Records comes with a nice little booklet. This booklet has an extensive article about one Dim-Mak song called ‘Disturbing Beauty’. The bassist, Jen, tells us a story about her pregnancy at the age of 18, and the reason why the band does not support abortion. Statement is definitely still the most militant band of this split.

There is also a note that I wrote on the plastic protection sleeve that says “EU-press, 1998”. Not sure where I got that information from though, totally forgot.

This brings us to a full 7″ of songs by Dim-Mak. Also on Italy’s dedicated label Surrounded Records.

This is downtempo and harsh vegan Straight-Edge metal. And the lyrics again explicitly deal with the rights of the unborn and the mothers who carry the children inside of them. Two of the four band members have children and this hasn’t made them stop with the fight against the destruction of innocent life. Because they realize that more by actually having children.

I have never seen a band this focused on the problem around involuntary pregnancies and abortion. Definitely a unique seven inch we have here. But this band stands for the defence of all innocent life, which can be heard in the lyrics of the song on the Animal Truth compilation.

The band Kindred from Belgium is highly underrated by the out-crowd. I got this LP straight from Good Life mail order way back in the late nineties. My friends and I used to philosophize on the lyrics of this band all the time. Also the music is very progressive; they control the metallic hardcore genre as no one else. Truly musical and lyrical geniuses of their time. They hail from Limburg, to be more precise. So they aren’t a H8000 band. Although the music can be labelled as edge-metal, they do not have a H8000 sound. But a sound all of their own. Impossible to duplicate by others.

This LP I have is on black vinyl but also exists on white vinyl, very hard to find as every insider is aware of the genialness of this band and not willing to sell this. Add to this that there are only 500 on black and 100 on white and you realize that this one is impossible to find. This one is one my want list for sure. I recently obtained the long sold out CD version at Good Life. They had 1 back in stock. I never acted so fast in buying a CD. The CD comes with different cover art.

Birthright is a band that I got to know by this compilation and by searching after the Culture ‘Deforestation’ 7″. The first Deforestation 7″ copy I found was on eBay and had been compared to Birthright by the seller. So I took notice of this and later found out that Good Life has released a 7″ by the band. It was still available and so I picked it up.

Definitely Culture-alike hardcore, very Culture-alike even. The lyrics on the Good Life Recordings 7″ of Birthright are explained as well on the lyric-sheet. But I think they mustn’t sound so much as Culture. Culture is indeed a good and legendary band but the listeners needs some originality also.

Later I also obtained this 7″ by birthright which features on of their best songs ‘Purge’. I scanned it but it looks like orange vinyl, while it is definitely gold vinyl. This seven inch is on Catalyst Records. The label that also released the above mentioned Culture 7″. This must be a very rare release on gold vinyl and with a different cover. I also paid quiet a lot for it. This one came before the ‘Out Of Darkness’ 7″. And has an interesting 7″ size booklet with the lyrics and about how Kurt sees hardcore.

Last but not least is the classic H8000 band Liar. They also contributed with a song on this compilation. Although I haven’t started out with collecting Liar stuff by this compilation. But I still wanted to mention the band here. It is the band of the person who released this compilation, namely Hans Liar. He isn’t the only person who made this possible, it were also Bruno and Kathy Genet who distributed this CD and a lot more contributors.

The song they bring is ‘Circle Of Blood’ from their second full length Invictus. This is definitely fitting in the concept of this CD, even more, they still fit in the concept of this CD. They are true mainstays and persistent warriors of the animal liberation philosophy. Thanks for being there Liar!!

Next up will be a conversation between the founding member of Rise Above and myself, more in particular about the ultra limited second 7″ called ‘B Is For Boston’ (you’ll be amazed) and a post about the two Kindred LP’s amongst other stuff.

That’s all folks, I hope you all enjoyed part II of this 90’s vegan straight-edge record out-take. And thanks for the massive response on 90’s Vegan Straight-Edge Records Outtake part I.