This is the coloured vinyl version of a legendary compilation. The first H8000 compilation made by Sober Mind Recordings and Genet Records in the year 1998. It features many bands that played at the moment in time. It starts of with a demo track of Spineless, that was previously unreleased. Is followed by Congress, Lifecycle, Vitality, ODK Crew, Liar, Sektor, Blindfold, Deformity, Spirit Of Youth, Instinct, Firestone, Fake, Hitch and Regression.

As you can see at the links above, I already featured many of these band here on this site. Maybe time to elaborate those other three bands who weren’t already featured; Instinct, Fake and Regression in some future posts…

As you see, the compilation has a very beautiful layout. There is a mosh pit photo on the front cover and on the back cover as well. I already elaborated the artwork of the front cover in another post. There is an insert that has a foreword by Hans from Liar and Sober Mind. Telling us that the scene was big at the moment and that they could have only wished for that in the beginning of the 90’s.

The vinyl is mint green coloured and has a stamp numbering on the A-side label, this copy is number 60. They are numbered out of 118 copies. Which makes them pretty rare. But so are almost all titles from the Belgian Hardcore scene. When you have a coloured version or otherwise limited record, you must really realize what you have and how rare these are.

The VA H8000 compilation volume 1 has been on my wants list for a long time. Can you believe that I’ve only had two opportunities to buy one since I started collecting music intensely? The first opportunity I had was a second chance offer on eBay. The seller had another copy but was in a lesser condition than the one sold, so I skipped it. This one fell in my lap more or less. It was someone contacting me to ask if I wanted it. So I needed to formulate an offer and it was accepted. Glad to own this baby!

There is currently a test pressing for sale on Discogs, time to wake up and take action!