The return of the mighty instigators Nations On Fire, after more than twenty years since it’s release one of the most influential early H8000 records has been reissued for the masses to discover.
The 1991 release ‘Strike The Match’ has undergone a complete remake from artwork to mastering and is ready to extend the legacy with another twenty years at least.
‘Strike The Match’ was originally released in 1991 and came in three different versions, a black vinyl version first press, a yellow vinyl out of 500 numbered repress pieces and a Spanish version entitled ‘Enciende La Mecha.’
The German label Strive Records released the first two versions while the Spanish version was released through Fobia Duros Sentimientos and guitarist’s own Warehouse Records.
The original recordings took place in 1991 in The Netherlands but a part of the mixing and additional recordings happened during Judge No One (aka Edward Good Life) his stay in Los Angeles where he got the opportunity to do the final mix in Westbeach Recorders with the assistance of Donnell Cameron.
This reissue is cooperation between a few European labels such as Good Life Recordings (Judge No One/ Edward’s label), Kidnap Music and a network of European fans that made this rerelease possible. As an extra to the revamped artwork a booklet featuring an interview with Edward is added to give the fan a deeper insight on Nations On Fire.
Next to the booklet that also holds the lyric sheets comes a big sized A2 poster that is part of the complete package.
The overall sound of the album has been remastered in 2013 by Nicolas Devlève to bring out the best of the recordings for the future. When playing the two versions side to side you can hear a clearer sound on the remastered recording that leaves more space for the vocals and guitars to really come out. The previous recording had more rumble and overall noise that seems to block certain higher frequencies. It’s not that it sounds a complete new recording but you can hear the tiny differences if attentive to them and they add up to the overall feeling of a sharper and clearer sound.
For this release the artwork has been styled into a quite familiar artwork look for the hardcore fan. The resemblance to Youth Of Today’s Break Down The Walls is no coincidence. As a homage to this influential band the same colourways are used for the artwork and vinyl of the original Wishingwell pressings (red and blue vinyl).
Red and blue are the main colours here and the vinyl also appears to be in these colours.
- clear red version of 100 pieces made
- clear blue version of 400 pieces made
At the bottom of the post are some images of the previous version on Strive Records.
With this reissue Nations On Fire is still displaying their influence on the European scene after almost twenty years as a non active band. Even in 2013 they still stand for the three keywords that sum it all up. Positive, Political, Powerful.
Ezekiel02:24:81