heavyharmonies

New album coming later this year.

I had the need to go to Bloomington, IL, about an hour west of me, so this time instead of just thrift stores in that town, in the wake of the JL Records trip I figured I would check and see if there were still any dedicated "record stores" there. The last time I went CD-hunting in Bloomington was almost 25 years ago. Since pawn shops stopped carrying CDs, and I only got into thrifting since I retired, for the last 20 years or so almost everything I buy has been online in one form or another. I always forget that college towns *can* be good sources of CDs, but it's soo damned inconsistent. West Lafayette (where JL Records is located) is the home of Purdue University (39,000 students), and Bloomington, IL is the home of Illinois State University (21,000 students). Why do I always forget about this?... because I live in the town with the main campus of the University of Illinois (44,000 students... bigger than either of those)... and it has NOT A SINGLE FUCKING MUSIC STORE on campus. There's only one, way off campus, and it's absolutely pathetic. It's basically a 100,000 population community with ZERO music stores. So I've gotten away from thinking about those opportunities for CD hunting... which as it turns out, has been a major mistake on my part. There are two record/CD stores on the ISU campus in Bloomington, located 2 doors apart on the same street! They both opened 20 years ago this year (after I had stopped my regular CD hunting trips to Bloomington). I wondered if, given the timing, they were both owned by the same party, but no they are competition, but friendly competition. Each owner spoke positively of the other and recommended I visit their counterpart. The two stores are North Street Records and Waiting Room Records. They are very similar to one another, and yet extremely different from JL Records from my last trip. Whereas JL was 80% CDs and 20% vinyl, both of these stores are the exact opposite. JL stocked a lot of current releases in our euro-centric genres, whereas these two stores are more what you would expect: rock = "classic rock", with very little in the way of import releases from the labels we know. That said, both stores had dedicated "heavy metal" sections, although primarily focused on death metal and thrash, as opposed to melodic, power, or prog metal. There were some interesting items of note in their used sections. Where JL typically priced things closer to full retail (used CDs $10-15, new CDs $16-25), these stores made up for their lack of variety compared to JL, in lower price points: used CDs $4-10, new CDs ($10-16). I didn't have time to take pics of the stores themselves this time out, as I was a bit rushed, but I plan to make a return trip at a more leisurely pace (although it's always going to be a PITA, as the campus parking enforcement rigorously enforces the 1-hour parking time limit or you get a $20 ticket, so moving your car every hour sucks). So going over my store-specific impressions and acquisitions... outside of a few music blu-rays for my collection, everything I picked up was for resale on eBay; stuff that I thought had enough room to justify picking up. First Waiting Room Records. This store was the larger of the two, more brightly lit, spacious, and appeared to cater more to the artsy-fartsy clientele. More of an emphasis on jazz and world music. Vintage audio equipment for sale in various places. This store had several boxes of $1 CDs (6 for $5, 13 for $10) as well as a box on the sidewalk outside the door of free cds. I availed myself of both, this cheap stuff just more out of curiosity and experimentation than anything in my wheelhouse. Lots of CD singles and radio station promos. The vast majority of what I bought here were actually bootlegs. A local collector who was getting out of physical media had sold a spate of Russian 2-on-1 boots. These were very common on eBay in the 2000-2010 period, but have dried up since then. Only really of interest to diehard completists, but depending on the artist, they can sell for fairly big bucks. As I typically do, prior to purchase I asked "any discounts for larger purchases?" I learned early on that while discounting varies greatly from store to store, if you don't ask you don't always get... so I unashamedly always ask. In this case it amounted to 10% off, which basically covered the sales tax... better than nothing. Assassinator is a local metal band, found zero examples listed on eBay And the carton of $1 and free CDs. Now we move on to North Street Records. Smaller location, more dimly lit, but more my speed. Proprietor looked like he stepped out out of Duck Dynasty... a bit reserved initially, but opened up as the visit progressed. Stuff was stacked EVERYWHERE. I know I missed things, so I know I will go back to look at things more thoroughly. More rock-focused than the other store. Lots of Mobile Fidelity vinyl releases brand new, quite a large selection of CD box sets. No $1 CDs like the other place, but the pricing was better to begin with, and the discount he offered at the end was better. What caught my eye was a whole run of 13 Todd Rundgren and Utopia albums. Not inherently HH fodder per se, although certain songs definitely could fit... the material is all over the map stylistically, from pop to rock to experimental and DEVO-esque. Historically, the Utopia releases resonated with me more so than his solo efforts. These, however, were all Japanese vinyl-sleeve replica releases from 2008, part of the limited edition 80th anniversary reissue series. Looking them up online on both eBay and Discogs reveals that they are in very short supply and some of them can sell for above $50 each. They were stickered EXTREMELY reasonably to begin with at $10 each. When I checked out, he basically offered that if I bought those 13 as marked, he would knock off most of the sales tax and the other titles I had pulled would be free. I couldn't argue, as that worked out to approximately 25% off. Not to mention that his marked price on the still-sealed Dream Theater Luna Park 3CD + blu-ray set was dirt cheap to begin with. All in all, at was a great trip, and now a more semi-local source to shop at periodically.

What a cock tease... premieres in 20 minutes...

A little heavy on the auto-tune, but otherwise solid.

Not much information on the video's page, other than it appears to be an AI creation. Once it gets into the verse and especially the chorus, it's actually not too bad IMO.

While I appreciate your interest in contributing to the site, most of the artists and albums you are submitting are either REALLLLLLY stretching the boundaries, or as in the case of this band, completely off the mark. No alternagrunge. No punk. No death metal/power metal (although those can be submitted to Brutal Metal). You can always start a thread asking about a particular artist before blindly submitting it for inclusion. Thanks! -Dan

Me likey.

A blu-ray would be nice... sounds very well recorded and mixed.

Ordered Saturday, arrived today. Wasn't expecting them that quickly. I especially like the stickered custom-fitted protective mailer that the Live at Budokan Tokyo 1983 set came in, protecting it from being banged against other merchandise in the carton. Very nicely priced (see my threads in the deals section).

Assuming it's 100 in each format for a total of 200, or even 200 of each, it's all but guaranteed to be a CD-R.

New album out June 28. Not my style per se, but well executed IMO.

I posted about this record store (well, CD store really... it has a fair amount of vinyl, but the focus is CDs) 2 years ago. I go there about once a year, and every single time I do I keep kicking myself to go there more often. Not only for the sheer enjoyment of being able to shop the music genres we love and view all these releases in hand, but because it's so damned overwhelming. There's never time to go through things at leisure, pulling out boxes under racks to rummage, because even flying through things and NOT exploring new artists, it's still 3-4 hours to go through the alphabet... let alone stopping and using their listening station (they'll let you listen to used/opened material, not still sealed merch). It's only an hour and a half drive for me each way, so there's really ZERO excuse for me not going over there more frequently. This time I remembered to take a bunch of pictures, pulling out releases from artists we enjoy just to show what they had in stock... a lot of material you'll never see at any mainstream store (even if there is any that carry CDs anymore). Sure, the prices are more expensive than what you'll pay at Amazon and other online stores, but they're not as bad as you would think, and there are bargains to be had amongst the used material when it comes to OOP discs. And to be fair, being able to view all this stuff in-hand is worth it IMO. (Although every now and then you'll see an OOP disc that is WAAAAAAAY overpriced, but at least they have the odd and unusual.) They have one of those old-school "buyer club" stamp cards, with 20 spaces. One stamp per disc purchased. Every other stamp you get a dollar off, and when you fill a card you get $16.99 off your purchase and then you get a new card. On your birthday, you get $1 off every CD and that's on top of the buyer club card discounts. First the pics from when I was going through the aisles, starting with some general pics. Every single artist has its own title card, so look at the variety and depth of the artists. Also, look at the overstock in boxes underneath all the racks! That's the shit I never have time to go through (except when there's a specific artist I'm focusing in on). You've got CDs in the racks, then ringing the entire room is a shelf of box sets and limited editions, then above that VHS tapes, and above that vintage audio equipment. Sections for DVDs and blu-rays (not just music, but movies as well, including a small section of 4K and 3D titles). There's a smaller upper room level that is nothing but vinyl. If you're going to go, plan at least a full day, not just a quick drive-by. They're open from 11AM - 7PM Eastern Time. Expensive at $249.99, but how many places have a still-sealed copy of the Vanden Plas Epic Works box set??? And now the stuff I picked up this trip. Most is completist fodder. There are a few artists where I literally want an example of every single pressing, even if I already have other label/year/country versions... call me OCD. I picked up this one for trade/resale even though I already have it, as it is the LOOOONG out of print original fan club edition. Hmmm... didn't know there was a solo effort, and it seems to be thematically related to the Threshold album "Legend of the Shires". More OCD completist fodder. I didn't know that Avalon Records (Japan) licensed releases for South Korea. Live albums aren't normally my thing, but this appears to be way out of print, and for $10 why not? A few OOP releases for my multichannel audio collection I'll be posting more about these once I get my shit together, but I'm WAAAAAAAAAY fucking late to the game when it comes to the Jethro Tull 40th anniversary CD + DVD special editions. They only reason I knew about them at all is that I saw a blurb about the 40th anniversary edition of "Broadsword and the Beast", which is my alltime favorite JT album, the first one I ever heard, and I love the album cover... which led me down the rabbithole of all these anniversary editions and their multichannel mixes. Unfortunately a few of them are now OOP and insanely in the $150-300 range. I ordered all of the ones that were still in print (or that had been reprinted), but there were still 4 that I needed... and they had one of them. And lastly, the most expensive purchase of the day, going back to previous box set discussions, this was one that wasn't on my radar at the time it came out. Based upon eBay listings, it's now a tough find... and they had one still sealed. No, it's not the Amazon exclusive that was signed by Biff Byford, but autographs aren't important enough for me to spend the $500-$1,000 that the signed version now brings. This one will do nicely at a fraction of the cost... a huge and hefty tome (literally). So when all was said and done, a great (and expensive!) shopping day, but a place I wholeheartedly recommend visiting should you find yourself out here in flyover country. JL Records 380 Brown St West Lafayette, IN 47906 https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100041894265953

Album out May 31 on Metalopolis Records. The last album was stellar.

Not a band that gets much coverage here, as historically their material has been sung entirely in German (20 years worth!), but their upcoming album "Warriors" (May 3 on Napalm) is going to be done entirely in English, as they attempt to break into the international market. I'm looking forward to it!

This is the calendar I use: https://loudwire.com/2024-hard-rock-metal-album-release-calendar/ Covers all manner of hard rock and heavy metal releases. Upcoming releases are at the top, with past releases cycled to the bottom of the page each week.

If they add extra content to these reissues that wasn't in the initial release, I'm gunna be fucking pissed.

Album out today.

It's on the way...

I've been spending time working on my multichannel audio collection and boxed sets, going back through and filling in gaps of things I've missed along the way. One of the items that may be of interest to those here, that while it's been out for almost 2 years, I don't see mentioned in a forum search: a 4-CD deluxe edition of Dio's Holy Diver, on Rhino Records. It contains a remixed version of the album done by Joe Barresi (producer and mixer for Tool, Slipknot, Queens of the Stone Age, Soundgarden and others), a 2022 remaster of the original CD, a live CD, and a CD of outtakes, singles, and B-sides. Available on Amazon for $43.28: https://www.amazon.com/Diver-Barresi-Remix-Super-Deluxe/dp/B0B1QVBDSK TRACK LISTING CD1: Holy Diver (2022 Joe Barresi Mix) 01. Stand Up and Shout (3:18) 02. Holy Diver (6:10) 03. Gypsy (3:52) 04. Caught in the Middle (4:51) 05. Don’t Talk to Strangers (4:54) 06. Straight Through the Heart (4:47) 07. Invisible (6:15) 08. Rainbow in the Dark (4:32) 09. Shame On the Night (5:41) Time – 44:20 CD2: Holy Diver (2022 Remaster) 10. Stand Up and Shout (3:18) 11. Holy Diver (5:54) 12. Gypsy (3:40) 13. Caught in the Middle (4:15) 14. Don’t Talk to Strangers (4:54) 15. Straight Through the Heart (4:45) 16. Invisible (5:25) 17. Rainbow in the Dark (4:14) 18. Shame on the Night (5:18) Time – 42:23 CD3: Live at Selland Arena, Fresno, CA, 1983 19. Intro (2:20) 20. Stand Up and Shout (3:18) 21. Straight Through the Heart (4:45) 22. Shame on the Night (5:05) 23. Children of the Sea (7:03) 24. Holy Diver (9:41) 25. Heaven and Hell (including guitar solo) (20:11) 26. Rainbow in the Dark (5:25) 27. Man on the Silver Mountain (4:03) 28. Starstruck (0:48) 29. Man on the Silver Mountain (reprise) (4:29) 30. Don’t Talk to Strangers (6:01) Time – 73:09 CD4: Outtakes, Singles & B-Sides 31. Evil Eyes (Wyn Davis remix) (4:24) 32. Don’t Talk to Strangers (2022 Joe Barresi Remix, Take 1) (5:04) 33. Invisible (2022 Joe Barresi Remix, Take 1) (4:14) 34. Invisible (2022 Joe Barresi Remix, Take 3) (5:26) 35. Rainbow in the Dark (2022 Joe Barresi Remix, Alternative Guitar Solo Version) (4:32) 36. Straight Through the Heart (2022 Joe Barresi Remix, Take 2) (4:59) 37. Straight Through the Heart (2022 Joe Barresi Remix, Take 3) (4:58) 38. Rainbow in the Dark (7″ Mono Edit 2022 Remaster) (3:24) 39. Evil Eyes (1983 Version, B-Side of Holy Diver, 2022 Remaster) (3:44) 40. Rainbow in the Dark (7″ Stereo Edit, 2022 Remaster) (3:22) Time – 44:07 Total Time – 183:59