The Corroseum forum (new design under construction)

I gave my CD copy of Tiamat's Sumerian Cry a spin the other day, and sadly I only own the horrendous 2005 Blackend reissue. It lacks the killer original art, has no lyrics, and apparently they didn't even get the tracklisting right.

There must be other examples of offensively bad reissues like this, which do no justice to the band's original artistic vision and treat classic albums like shoddy merchandise.

So what other re-releases (not including bootlegs, obviously), should be avoided for these reasons?

Great topic! Too bad I cannot participate in it.

So many to mention! But let's show some clemency in the beginning (at least)..

So, I will start with a self-evident demand that I have as a listener: INCLUDE the fu**ing lyrics in the booklet!!! Do we ask something absurd??? I want to read the lyrics of the Sanctuary "Die for My Sins" track and I cannot! I 'm talking of course about the recent re-release of both of the albums of the Seattle metallers by Ironbird. In every aspect except for the aforementioned this re-issue is flawless. Such a pity..

Exactly the same happens in the recent digi re-issue of Savatage "Sirens/Dungeons Are Calling": It's devoid of lyrics (and of a booklet).


In general, I have noticed that very few people that are keen on classic metal, actually read lyrics.. Personally speaking, I cannot imagine the "Awaken the Guardian" album seperated from its lyrics!

Totally agree Ra Pariah - and it's often a sad fact whether re-release or otherwise. I'd love to read some lyrics in the Brocas Helm 'Defender of the Crown' digipak for example, and especially Warning's 'Watching From a Distance' - what an inexplicable absence!

Especially as lyric booklets offer an extra canvas for visuals. To take your example, I love the Awaken the Guardian booklet layout, and it would be a much less enchanting package if the lyrics pages were absent.

But back on topic, luckily examples are rare in my collection as there are so many titles re-released with love and dedication these days. One that's jumped out in terms of horrible layout though is GMR Music's reissue of 'Day of Retribution' by Nemesis - the CD is just white with a logo on it, and the inlay looks spartan and rushed. HOWEVER, this is luckily remedied by a quite awesome fold out insert, which features liner notes from Leif Edling and various vintage photos and cuttings. My point stands though, visually the layout is a joke.

Good topic indeed.

While I appreciate the labels that re-released those classic gems - without them I couldn’t possibly have the chance to hear some greatest Metal of the past, I just hope they could do it with a bit more professionalism.

For example, on Tyrant (UK) “Anthology” 2CD from Steel Legacy, the audio is totally fucked up. You will notice a couple songs the sound just go disappeared / diminished on either left/right channels (lasting about 10~20 seconds if I remember correctly). Even the audio tracks on youtube do not have that problem. It’s so bad that I’m actually thinking if I’ve gotten a defective CD?

By the way, I do hate reissues that come with different cover artworks.

mega_lodon wrote:For example, on Tyrant (UK) “Anthology” 2CD from Steel Legacy, the audio is totally fucked up. You will notice a couple songs the sound just go disappeared / diminished on either left/right channels (lasting about 10~20 seconds if I remember correctly). Even the audio tracks on youtube do not have that problem. It’s so bad that I’m actually thinking if I’ve gotten a defective CD?

I have this and I always assumed they must have been taken from some ageing master tapes. Now that you say it's fine on Youtube, that seems very strange indeed. Apart from that factor I would say it's an excellent re-issue though.

Whiplash 2x1 reissue by Displeased. I bought it immediately when it was published ("oh finally I can get rid of the Price Killers !") ... the mastering is AWFUL with lots of clicks and blops (pretty much like damaged mp3 files !). I kept the PK pressings...

Almost all Old Metal releases (even the 'legit' ones) are really cheap and poorly done (ok I've said it so you're free now to reply/talk, Stormspell )

Metal Mind`s reissues come to my mind first, but it may be only me being biased against digipacks in general. Either way, I`m going to replace Dragon, Trojan and Violent Force CDs with the original records in the future.
Old Metal CDs are poorly made indeed, the Bloodlust CD sounds as if ripped off the vinyl.
And then there are those reissues of some better known bands (Razor and Exciter off the top of my hat) with 4 page 'booklet', no lyrics whatsoever...

I was thinking of different label than OMR

Anyhow, I hate those awful "Eco packs" slipcase type of releases which are pretty much equal to promotional slipcases to me. Unfortunately they are getting popular

The whole Price Killers catalogue.

ION BRITTON wrote:The whole Price Killers catalogue.

They layouts suck, but at least they're properly mastered unlike a lot of modern reissues.

My main pet peeve is when they alter the original tracklisting (Emerald, Accuser, etc). I have a long list of gripes when it comes to recent vinyl releases/reissues, mainly pertaining to mastering.

There are many things that count when we are talking about reissues. Sound and mastering are two of them for sure. Problem with those Price killers CDs is that I find the 'super market' kind of layout very annoying, it makes the whole thing very ugly to my eyes, to the point of making me not to want them in my collection no matter how many other pros they have when compared to other reissues.

mega_lodon wrote:reissues that come with different cover artworks. :evil:

The original Graceful Inheritance artwork is astonishing. Can't believe they did away with it for the CD.

stormspell wrote:Anyhow, I hate those awful "Eco packs" slipcase type of releases which are pretty much equal to promotional slipcases to me. Unfortunately they are getting popular

Too right! Two examples that I've unwittingly bought are Sacred Oath - A Crystal Vision and Blind Fury - Out of Reach. Both are in rubbish cardboard cases. The former has a nice booklet at least, but the latter has nothing, and essentially looks like a promo.

Cult Metal Classics
in the beginning their releases were awesome but later, when Sonic Age took over, it started to get bad.

Shark Records
their own re-releases like Atlain etc. suck big time. These awful covers of half naked amazons are just awful.

Wounded Bird Records
They even manage to take away tracks instead of adding any bonusses (More). Poor layouts and simply awful reissues of some classic albums (Malice, Rough Cutt...).

No Remorse Records (the new greek label, not the old german one)
Unfortunately I was dumb enough to buy some of their reissues. Fact for example, these cd's sound like the old mp3 files I have since years. Crap.

Steel Legacy Records
another poor reissue label. Almost all of their reissues suck. I bought Steel Prophets "Shallows Of Forever" and Salem Spade. Both got back to the label. Unbelieveable bad sound quality, cd media very bad.

Banshee (the US Band) reissues
they offered their albums as reissues some years ago and all you got were badly made CD-R's, which they claimed are professionally made. I heard that they have changed this on later editions but still I have paid for shit.

M.