Sometimes you crave for a certain pre order so much that it just won’t seem to come to your doorstep.
Then you leave town for a couple of days abroad and forget all about it for a while. Only to be thrilled on arriving home again and seeing your mailbox stuffed with some intriguing shapes sticking out. Square, check, cardboard, check, Process logo, double check.

Hail Abraxas, from all across the globe my next holy grail has arrived, all the way from the land of Oz. I’m talking about the highly awaited split 7″ by none other than VVEGAS and ABRAXIS ofcourse. Forged into eternity by Craig and his australian spinoff of the Holy Terror church, record label deluxe MIDNIGHT FUNERAL.

They know where i live!

The Holy Terror 4P spirit dwells deep in this release. The cardboard mailer is adorned with 4P signs and the bandnames, record label and edition are marked here in gothic lettering proclaiming the GOTU exclusive.
What lies deep beneath is the whole mystery of this release, next to the magnificent artwork done by the hand of the supreme highpriest of the Holy Terror church, Dwid delivers some disturbing eyecandy to his troops.

GOTU MMXII

Inside this amazing cover a hellish red sleeve awaits us, again stamped with the GOTU edition marks. Numbered at the bottom, mine being 27 out of 59 pressed in clear green vinyl.

Next to a bilegreen 7″ some added bonusses pop up, being a VVEGAS, ABRAXIS, 4P patch and a small note telling the saga of T’ from VVEGAS’ theory of the evil NEEFEE. More on this subject later, first it’s time for the sonic terrorism by both contributors to pass the judge, jury and exucutioner, being me the FAN.

The VVEGAS side features ‘Idus Martiae (please don’t be free)’, a furious track recorded for this release only by our favorite german dwellers of the unholy alliance. Et tu Brute?
Almost blacker than the night itself metal is mangled through the grinder with thrashing guitarrifs and sinister vocals by vocalist T. The whole production is infused with lo-fi mixing to add another layer of sonic mayhem.

Helter Skelter

The coverart for the VVEGAS side is out of this world, a parody on the world renowned BEATLES cover of Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band and it also holds a sort of encrypted message to it’s viewers. Helter Skelter allover again. Arty Nicky’s Lonely Arts Club Fan is the name of the game and the rules are told on a little 4P stamped and approved card narrated by T. himself. For a dark and mysterious secret has been unleashed upon our pale world. This haunting tale will be told later on during this review since it’s too sensitive matter to burden you with yet.

MysT.erious

Amidst the dwellers of the Arty Nicky’s Lonely Arts Club Fan we see familiar faces of popular and more arcane people. From Katy Perry to Kaiser Willhelm, to Anton LaVey and from Henry Rollins to Steve Jobs, even Michael Jordan is present. But most shocking of all is the evil NEEFEE, topic of controversy and conspiracy later on in this tale of deceit.

365

On the flipside we find the australian antipode in the form of one man militia ABRAXIS, a mysterious man from down under also known under his human shape of Andy Wounds. One mind, one voice, many instruments and some Garageband can deliver two  new hymns to the apocalypse.
Among Deep Waters kicks off with some atmospheric sounds by multi-instrumentalist ABRAXIS to explode into a Holy Terror approved exploit. Speedy guitarriffs and a more up front hardcore beat guide you through the second song My Friend. Nice one mate!
This one man project has been working hard on this and i for one i’m glad to experience the fruits of his labour and mind. For creating all this with only the help of a drummer is indeed a noble task.

The artwork side of ABRAXIS is created by Dwid once again and consists of a more typical aesthetic look to Dwid’s previous works. Skeletons always do the trick for metal influenced releases. Inside you can find the lyrics to the ABRAXIS tracks and on the other side, as expected, a mysterious picture of T. and some german sentences.

4P patch

With this special GOTU edition some extras saw the daylight, a black patch holding three screenprints, VVEGAS, ABRAXIS and the 4P symbol. A nice extra for the coven. But the most shocking part to this entire release is no bigger than a small leaflet. But one that contains a dangerous message that will shake the
foundations of Holy Terror.

Shocking facts

T. developed a theory concerning PALE CREATION’ very own spokesman Nick Fiction, also known as NIFI aka Thee Artiste. A sensitive, talented artist that after releasing his magnum opus Twilight Haunt, was betrayed by the evil and brutal NEEFEE orchestrated by the jealous Matt Lucy. Soon after Matt Shack was suddenly fired and replaced by, coincidence or not, Matt Lucy himself. This terrible act of treason has been brought to attention by T. to remind us all of how delicate the mind of an artist can be. RIP NIFI (1971-1999).

Arty Nicky’s hideous secret has been unleashed

So as you may have read this release is quite a shocker to many that may call themselves FAN.
Next to the cruel and merciless tale of NIFI and NEEFEE there’s the amazing artwork and many references to different influences concerning Holy Terror. As said, this is the GOTU edition and that means long gone by now since it was a limited release for those who know where to look for it. You know vvho you are.
Next to the 59 clear green GOTU edition, there was also a regular version bearing the same artwork but in different vinylcolors. 374 copies are going global as we speak, 89 on solid orange, 109 on solid Purple, 54 on black for the band copies, 27 solid pink as part of the regular pre orders, comes with numbered stamp and 36 on solid camo green. If you feel like obtaining your very own part of this then go visit MIDNIGHT FUNERAL and help Craig spread these all over this wretched world.

Australian annilihation

At the time of the release, and as a way to thank the fans of this fine piece of art, all buyers received an e-mail from MIDNIGHT FUNERAL that contained the featured songs in digital format. A much appreciated technique for keeping all us punters calm during the long wait for the physical version to arrive. This combined with the added extras to the whole record make it all worth the waiting and anticipating the arrival.
I was very glad to experience the ride provided by Craig with the release of this perfect piece of pale art.
The teachings of Jack Abernathy ooze all through the artwork and music. He may be proud of his disciples, and he sure has proven to be a huge influence to both contributors of this release.

Ezekiel02:24:81