the first press of this bolt thrower album became my white whale in the bygone weeks. i am still out on the sea, standing in my boat with a harpoon in my hand and waiting for the great fish to appear out of the deep. to scratch the itch just a bit, this re-press copy fell into my lap. i order at nuclear blast records quite regularly. for every item i buy at nb i get some bonus points, those are called blasts. because i am a bronze customer by now i get the double amount of blasts for each item.
the bottom line of the story is that i had some bonus points to burn and ordered a copy of "realm of chaos" for the shipping costs. so i finally have the tunes on vinyl, this will make the waiting time for a first press copy more bearable. in most cases i don't have any problems with re-issues. they serve a great purpose by making music which is high in demand accessible without paying over the odds. things are different with this one here. i am not a fan of different artwork to the original pressing. i can live with changes on the cover, layout, bonus tracks or the amount of vinyl discs but a changed cover artwork is a killer.
earache had a problem when they wanted to re-press the album in 2012. the original release was a joint venture release with games workshop. the inventors of the warhammer tabletop game liscensed artwork for "realm of chaos" and sold copies directly through their stores. the liscence for the art run out in 2002 and wasn't prolonged. so earache was forced to come up with something new. it's ok for what it is but i definitely need an original press of this release. the music itself is great and i will dive further into the matter when i write about the first press. clear vinyl as a nuclear blast exclusive out of 500 copies. earache records. 1989/2017.
