Sunday 30 November 2014

Dark Empire

So those of you who read this regularly may have realised that my post rate has increased lately. That's mainly because I received a shipment from my friend in the States containing approximately 70 records back in October. I took photos of the whole lot in one day and ended up with over 600 photos. I then realised that I would need to do a post a day for over a month in order to clear the backlog by the end of the year. So that's what I did. And with today being the last day of the month, this will be post 30 in 30 days. And in all of those days, I didn't make a single Integrity post. So to end the month, here are some Integrity 7"s...

The first Integrity record I ever heard (and owned) was this white vinyl copy of the first 7". This is the second press on Dark Empire records. I bought one of these back in 1993, but sold it a year or two later when I picked up a Victory pressing, because back then one copy of any record seemed enough. Over twenty years later and I've finally picked up a replacement. This one, however, is a bit different as it includes an insert. I'd never seen one with an insert before, so when this one came up for sale I knew it was the excuse I had been looking for to add one of these back into my collection.

The insert itself is a little weird. I mean, tt's just a one sided colour photocopy that has the record title on one side and the song titles on the other. Kinda feels more like an alternate cover to me rather than an insert. But it came inside the sleeve, so in theory it's an insert.

Anyone else have one of these, ever seen one or even know what it is?

Next is another second pressing of an older release. The split 7" with Mayday came out back in about 1990 on Endgame Records. It was a black vinyl only affair. Then a few years later a label called Game Two Records reissued it on several colours of vinyl. Once again, because I had the first press I never bothered with any of the repress copies, but recently someone offered me one in a trade, so I went for it. And here it is...

A couple of years ago, A389 Records released a 7" containing three songs recorded twenty years prior that included drummer David Araca before he passed away. This 7" contains both songs from the Mayday split 7", and also the song 'Eighteen'. When this came out I missed it completely.

And finally for today, another variant of the split 7" with Gehenna. This one is on pink vinyl.

The depressing thing is thinking about how many variants of these 7"s that I don't have. Ugh.

2 comments:

Jeff said...

I have never seen or heard of an insert for the Dark Empire version of the 7". As a collector, I've always enjoyed insert and sleeve variations so I find this interesting. This will definitely be on my radar from now on...

reason said...

I just recently decided to start a Systems Overload collection, and sometimes have second thoughts cause there's SO many of them.
I understand exactly how you feel when you feel you're at the start of collecting ALL Integrity ep's hahaha. I'd start by counting how many variants there are, if all releases are considered.
But I will gladly read your bold adventure when you've crossed the line of no return.

Surprises me that no bands have written a song about this yet :-)