This is it.

Sort of.

With today's post - a Black Sunday, Transparent Vinyl and more all rolled into one - I'm going to shift this blog, already slower in its second year, to a largely archival state, focusing energies and devoting fleeting free time to a successful launch and promotion of the Fister record on the Gogmagogical Records site, where most of my future posting will exist on the front pages dedicated to the bands with which I am working.

they grow up so fast... godspeed, hundreds of records.

Violence is nearly complete and back on track for a Christmas Day release. One-hundred each of five color combinations are in hand and I just shipped a share of the vinyl to the band and Encapsulated Records, who have created the jackets and will distribute a portion of the pressing as well.

A respectable percentage of my share of the records has sold already via pre-order, with wax set to ship out across the US and also to fans in the UK, Germany, France and Russia. Once I have jackets in hand I'll distribute some review copies and expect some positive traction there.

I'm entirely biased in my assessment of the record's sound but I am thrilled with both our mastering and the pressing in terms of lack of surface noise. There's a lot of sound in this small platter and it's a damn dense album. As far as colors go, my favorite disc so far is the blue version as it looks almost marble with its deep shades. I don't have any jackets in hand yet as printing is finishing up now but my favorite design as a pure graphic, most emotionally evocative for me in terms of the record's theme, would have to be Coby Ellison's design for "I. Forced Extinction."

artwork by Coby Ellison

Getting the actual vinyl felt like a feat in itself. Three-hundred - three of the colors - were delivered very quickly after tests were approved, by November 16. Then we waited. And waited. With delays expected over the holidays, I was surprised to learn after a status check that there had been a miscommunication at the pressing plant and that stampers for the record had been either damaged, discarded or destroyed. With new stampers ordered from the mastering and plating facilities, we did rebound very quickly and the plant stayed true to their word that we would receive expedited priority, with our final 200 delivered last Friday. We ended up only a few days behind our most recently estimated schedule. In order to turn around an order for t-shirts offered as a promo with pre-orders we'll close that promotion at midnight Monday, send an order to Holy Mountain in the wee hours of Tuesday morning and hope their production estimate holds true as well.

This has been an immensely satisfying and rewarding experience. The excitement hasn't waned yet and, just last night, I got word that another project in the hopper was progressing and, if all goes well, I'll be starting all over again soon with what I hope is another in a line of killer metal releases. I cannot express how very grateful I am to Fister to offer this opportunity and I am more than proud to be associated with them, especially with a recording this powerful. Likewise, contacts and connections made via this blog have been essential in getting this thing off the ground.

I plan to return to this forum as time and opportunities permit, to share a few live show experiences and thoughts on releases unrelated to Gogmagogical Records but, as time progresses, look forward to working with more bands to make records like Violence. I started this entire exercise to write about music and it is beyond any wildest dreams to, twenty months later, have a hand in producing records that rival favorites in my bins. This is where I want to be.

Thanks, all.

FISTER's Violence on 10" Vinyl Available for Order

We're forging ahead. I'll break down all the dirt in another post when I can breathe later this week but, despite unforeseen setbacks (that, realistically, probably plague anyone messing with a vinyl format, let alone five different versions of one record), we're open for business and planning to ship a load of Christmas cheer to those who are otherwise all doomy.

The Gogmagogical Records store is activated and located at http://gogmagogicalrecords.bigcartel.com/.

The official announcement on the label site can be viewed here: http://gogmagogicalrecords.com/fisters-violence-now-available-for-pre-order/.

Thanks, as always, to friends and supporters for getting us this far.

Black Sunday: King Diamond - No Presents for Christmas (2012)

No Presents for Christmas? I disagree. Christmas is already complete. Black Friday was turning out to be a total loss as, out of town, I was limited to one mediocre record store (the type that stocks only faux-hipster vinyl, i.e., the complete White Stripes and little else) as my only possibility for the limited reissue of King Diamond's very first solo foray. I busted their doors at their 11:00 AM opening to find only a Reservoir Dogs soundtrack and, surprise, a White Stripes 7" stocked for Record Store Day's Black Friday release. By the time I had returned home the following day my beloved Omega Music had sold the two copies they had received. Mailorder still works, though, and it wasn't impossible to find this glorious picture disc at the $13.99 list price and, a few days later, the object of my desire sits snugly under the family tree.