BIRTH OF VENGEANCE

you didn't really think I wouldn't post about the re-issue of GEHENNA's debut 12" NEGOTIUM PERAMBULANS IN TENEBRIS on A389 RECORDS, or did you? I'm aware that it's already out since February and therefore old news in these days but I have to post about it nevertheless. in 2000 I lived right next to Füxen who ran BAD INFLUENCE RECORDS and a distro. one afternoon Füxen came over to my place with a record and told me "I got 3 of these today and I know you want one of them!" I replied something like: "what makes you sure?" and Füxen said: "the fact that it's GEHENNA's 1st full length and the fact that it is a monster of a record!" GEHENNA already were one of my fave bands and I expected NEGOTIUM PERAMBULANS IN TENEBRIS to be a good record but I didn't expect what came out of my speakers when the needle hit the record. I was blown away! GEHENNA's music has always been ugly, violent, spiteful, mean and hateful but never as much as on this record. fast forward to 2013: 13 years later GEHENNA is not only one of my fave bands GEHENNA and CITIZENS ARREST are my fave bands and there's no other record I've played as often as GEHENNA's NEGOTIUM PERAMBULANS IN TENEBRIS 12". since I played this record for the first time till today it has been the record that has helped me fight my own demons the most. when I had to face my worst nightmares and struggled to keep my sanity this was the soundtrack to it. the re-issue on A389 RECORDS has remastered versions of the songs and comes with a slightly altered artwork. while the cover of the CRAWLSPACE pressing was all black with an embossed GEHENNA logo and the title NEGOTIUM PERAMBULANS IN TENEBRIS printed on it in white the re-issue comes in a gatefold cover that has the artwork of the CD version on the cover which was on the backside of the lyric sheet of the 1st press (although NEGOTIUM PERAMBULANS IN TENEBRIS is written in different fonts now) and the track list on the backcover has been moved to the bottom and the font color has been changed from white to red. the song SEVEN CROWNS is now listed as THE SEVEN CROWNS while THE CHOKING SANDS is now listed as CHOKING SANDS only. as you can see below the re-issue also has printed labels instead of the black labels of the 1st press. the included poster of the cover atrwort scores extra points! I already mentioned that the tracks have been remastered for the re-issue. that was done at AUDIOSIEGE by Brad Boatright the guitarist of FROM ASHES RISE who did a good job! the sound is much cleaner, you can hear the single instruments better while they still sound thight and Mike's vocals sound even more demonic. the only thing I'm not so fond of is that the cover of G.G. ALLIN's BITE IT YOU SCUM has been replaced by a cover of D.R.I.'s YES MA'AM previously released on their O.D.R.I.E.P. 7" flexi especially since putting both tracks on the 12" wouldn't have been a problem. anyway, as good as the cover tunes may be they're no match for gems like FIRST BLOOD, BAPTIZED IN FALLOUT, THE TABLES TURN, CRUSH OPPOSITION or WIN BY ATTRITION as each of those is misantrophy turned into music! 

the version of the 12" on white vinyl came with a bonus 7" on red vinyl which is limited to 300 copies and has the tracks COVET THY CROWN and OURS TO DEVOUR as they appeared on the DEFINITELY NOT THE MAJORS compilation on side A and a cover of G.G. ALLIN's BITE IT YOU SCUM on side B. for therecord: BITE IT YOU SCUM was the perfect pick as cover song for GEHENNA! actually the song fits them so perfectly that you most likely wouldn't guess it's a cover and not a track of their own even though there's a world of difference between G.G. ALLIN's music and GEHENNA's music.