In Contrast Of Sin

In case you didn't guess by now, I kinda like Integrity. There aren't many bands that have been going for anywhere near as long who haven't turned into a total embarrassment. OK, so Integrity today may be a completely different collection of dudes from their first record, but at least the band still sounds the same today as twenty years ago and they haven't moved on to making prog rock records or some other crap. They also seem to still be knocking out great music (after a bit of a dodgy period in the late 90s that everyone seems to conveniently forget about), and it is becoming clearer and clearer to me that this is one band that I should focus on collecting. More Integrity, less flash in the pan hardcore bands with no originality and nothing to offer.

And with that, I bring you the latest installment... a reissue of their first 7", 'In Contrast Of Sin'. This was originally put out by the once good now shite Victory Records waaaaaaaaay back in 1990... a time when I was 15 years old, had been skateboarding for about one year, and owned only about three records, one of which was an Elton John 'I'm Still Standing' 7" which I got free when I (or rather, my parents) bought me some school shoes. This reissue has been put together by Organized Crime Records, which is owned & run by a dude who used to work at Victory and who I once traded something with to get an Integrity 'Closure' LP. And yes, Clint has done a good job here. This reissue is really well put together. And obviously, despite owning two copies of the original pressing of this 7", I still had to get the reissues because, well... I'm an idiot I guess. But at least I did it right and got some good variations of this thing.

First up, the rejected test press. I don't know why this got rejected though. I listened to it & couldn't notice anything wrong. This is numbered out of 25 and comes in a folded paper sleeve, and consequently it's going straight into my 'at risk' box!

Next, the accepted test press. This one has an acetate cover over silver card and is also numbered out of 25 copies:

Next, the release show version, which features a picture of Dom (aka Lord Dom, of Pulling Teeth / A389 Records fame) instead of the usual witch. Yup, this is the 'In Contrast Of Dom' sleeve... very clever eh? These were numbered out of 50 for the release show, but there are probably a few more than 50 in existence seeing as mine features a rather strange "number" that probably wasn't available at the show.

The final version I picked up is the clear/black vinyl with Stephen Kasner sleeve. There were 300 of these things made. This is very, very nice. Black card cover with silver print. Even better, the first 30 copies of this thing have a hand-drawn Kasner sketch on the inside of the sleeve. Well, wouldn't you know it, I was lucky enough to get one of these 30 uber limited versions. Lucky me huh? And what an awesome piece of ass this is. Without doubt the best version of the four.

I was also lucky enough to get the flyer pack, which was included as a bonus to the first 100 people that pre-ordered. This is basically an envelope containing copies of some old show flyers from back in the day.

Despite all these cool records though, there was one thing in the package that I did not like - a flyer that came in one of the 7"s, shown here:

The reason I don't like it is that it says that four more Integrity records that I already own are going to be reissued by Organized Crime in the near future. Why is this bad news? Well, because I already own these things, but with packaging this good, I am clearly going to have to buy them all again... and probably multiple copies of each. I guess I should probably arrange for a meeting with my bank manager to make sure I can cover it ;o)

I also got a couple of little extras thrown into my package. First up, one that I already have - the VValpurgisnacht 7" on white vinyl. If you need this, get in touch, since this is a spare copy that I can let go:

And finally, as a second 'extra', I also got given this cool little record with a shiny underside. Unfortunately though, it doesn't play on my record player. Weird. I think it might be some new fangled technology, although I highly doubt something this small will ever catch on.

I might do another post tomorrow to show the subtle differences between the 'In Contrast Of Sin' original insert and reissued insert. They're kinda interesting, especially if you're a bit of a nerd (which, let's face it, you must be to be reading this nonsense in the first place). But for now... good night!