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.  

WAR IS COMING

GEHENNA "They Begged For A War" 2013 Tour Dates:

May 12 Reno NV. @ Shea’s Tavern. w/ OTIS

May 14 Salt Lake City UT. @ Burt’s Tiki Lounge. w/ IX ZEALOT, BURN YOUR WORLD, PRIME OPPRESSOR

May 15 Denver CO. TBA

May 16 Kansas City MO. TBA

May 17 Chicago Il @ Cobra Lounge w/ HARMS WAY, LIKE RATS, THE OX KING, FALTER

May 18 TBA

May 18 Brooklyn NY @ Over The Eight. DJ Set 

May 19 TBA

May 20 Cambridge MA @ Elks Lodge w/ ROTTEN SOUND, PANZER BASTARD, HIVE SMASHER, SOUL REMNANTS, BOXCUTTER FACELIFT

May 21 TBA

May 22 Copiague NY @ The Zebra Club w/ FULL OF HELL, NEW LOWS, HOMEWRECKER, THE COMMUNION, SCOWL, JUKAI

May 23 Philadelphia PA, @ Kung Fu Neck Tie w/ FULL OF HELL

May 24 Baltimore MD @ Maryland Death Fest w/ TRAGEDY, ROTTON SOUND, HELLSHOCK, SETE STAR SEPT, FULL OF HELL, HEARTLESS, OLD LINES

May 27 Richmond VA @ Kingdom w/ INTEGRITY, FULL OF HELL, + more

May 28 Durham NC @ Motorco Music Hall W/ INTEGRITY, FULL OF HELL, GUT FEELING

May 29 Nashville TN @ The End. w/ INTEGRITY, FULL OF HELL, DEMEANOR, COVE

May 30 New Orleans LA @ Siberia w/ INTEGRITY, FULL OF HELL + more

May 31 Chaos In Tejas: Austin TX @ Hotel Vegas. W/ FULL OF HELL, GAG, REPLICA, RITUAL CONTROL

June 1 Chaos In Tejas: Austin TX @ INTEGRITY, LEFT FOR DEAD, PALM, CONCRETE, SHIT, STAGNANT YOUTH

June 1 San Antonio TX @ Korova w/ ABIGAIL, SPEEDWOLF, FULL OF HELL

June 2 Austin TX @ Hotel Vegas DJ Set w/ ANTWON, LIL UGLY MANE, HARD STRIPES

June 3 El Paso TX @ Epic. w/ FULL OF HELL, KONTRASEKT, BARBARIAN, SABERWULF, COMMUNION OF THIEVES, EUPHORIA

June 4 Tempe AZ @ Rocky Point Cantina w/ ANHEDONIST, FULL OF HELL, TOAD, TERRITORY

June 5 Long Beach CA @ Que Sera W/ FULL OF HELL

June 6 Pomona CA @ Aladdin JR W/ XAPHAN, CHILDREN OF GOD, SKINFATHER

June 7 Murrieta CA @ The Dial W/ FULL OF HELL, GHOSTLIMB, NASA SPACE UNIVERSE, THE COLTRANES, HEADWIND 

June 8 Santa Cruz CA @ FULL OF HELL, SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP, ACXDC, LIVING EYES

June 9 Oakland CA @ 1^st Church Of The Buzzard. W/ SATANS SATYRS, FULL OF HELL, SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP, BADR VOGU

June 10 Sacramento CA @  W/ FULL OF HELL, SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP + more

June 11 Reno NV @ W/ FULL OF HELL, SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP + more

 CANCELED!

THE ORIGINAL SIN

after waiting for ages the GEHENNA / VEGAS split 7" on VEDAVU REC. that is ltd. to 100 copies finally surfaced here. now, before we go on let me tell you that you have no idea how curious I was on this record or on it's packaging to be more precise. in case that you now think that being more curious on the packaging of a record than on the music sounds a little bit retarded let me also tell you that A) I already have the music on my laptop since months and B) it was released by Jeremy on VEDAVU (if you don't know what that means I suggest you do a blog search) which means the artwork, the packaging and the music fit together and make this a real piece of art! the 7" comes with an obi-strip and the cover is a folder that opens in the middle which is sealed by a thick cardboard obi-strip. if you remove the obi to take a look at the cover you should pay attention to the fact that unlike most folders that open in the middle both sides exactly fit together if closed! the 7" comes with an extra insert for each band which have been messed up by the printer so that the back of the GEHENNA insert has the lyrics of the VEGAS track and vice versa. the split came together with a GEHENNA shirt as you can see on the last pic. as you can also see on the last pic is that mine came with an extra VEDAVU shirt that according to Jeremy is not for sale but "only for the homeboys" - thanks for that sir! about the music: the split has one track of each band per side. the GEHENNA track is called WITHIN THE PEYOTE CULT and sounds as spiteful and sick as you expect GEHENNA to sound. the VEGAS track on the flipside called THE ORIGINAL SIN brings old INTEGRITY to mind especially when it comes down to the vocals which is totally fine with me as I really like the old INTEGRITY stuff. on a side note: VEDAVU has announced upcoming releases of HOT PURSUIT, GOD'S IRON TOOTH, DEVIL, VERMAPYRE, THE ARM AND SWORD OF A BASTARD GOD, PIGS and SLEEPWALKER so you better watch out!

on another side note: during the last weeks various people have asked me for GEHENNA mp3s via e-mail. in case you are playing around with the thought to ask me if I could upload GEHENNA's fill-in-record-title for you let me safe you some time: NO! Mike Apocalypse a.k.a. Mike Cheese doesn't want GEHENNA's music to be available on blogs for download and I respect that therefore no one will get any mp3s from me! period! I somehow also doubt that all people that promised they'd not share the mp3s with anybody else in their e-mails would keep their promise!

GET FUCKED UP!

finally the long awaited CALIFORNIA LOVE / GEHENNA split 7" surfaced here just in time to sweeten my "fuck-everything-mood"! very kind really! as you can see on the pics there are 2 versions of it around - the regular one on black wax and the one ltd. to 250 copies with the red cover on red wax that came with a GEHENNA live 12" and a copy of THE LOVE BELOW's REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS 7" on colored wax. I know that a lot of people aren't really into this split 7" or even think it's weak... not that I would care about other people's opinions but I don't really understand why someone would think this split is weak cause the only negative thing I could say is that it has just one track from each band and therefore is rather short. besides that it is more or less what I expected it to be if not even a little better! CALIFORNIA LOVE's vocalist Aaron had told me before that their recordings would be shit but still OK as they'd be shit in a kind of early DEATH METAL demo way. well, I agree that there is a touch of DEATH METAL in their track called FEUERSTURM but I wouldn't say that the recording is shit or that they sound unbelievably different to their 2 12"es and I'm really looking forward to their farewell 7" with the other 8 tracks from that recording session that their guitarist will release (the 1st test presses were all fucked up). lyric-wise CALIFORNIA LOVE stick to the "we despise the human race" theme which is also nothing new in their case. sad but true Aaron also told me that CALIFORNIA LOVE split up. the GEHENNA track on the flip-side is called GET FUCKED UP and as it already had been available for download from Mr. Apocalypse's blog for a short time a while ago you might know the song anyway. as a matter of fact GEHENNA can do no wrong in my ears and therefore you might have assumed that this track is no exception and that I'm as much into it as I'm into all their stuff if you are frequently reading this blog or just have read what I wrote about GEHENNA in the past. in case you've made that assumption... guess what - it's 100% correct! that shouldn't really make you wonder as GEHENNA sound spiteful, vicious and ugly in their own unique way even though you can hear which bands have influenced them quite clearly.

actually the pic on the left doesn't show the real cover of the GEHENNA live 12" that came with the pre-order version of their split with CALIFORNIA LOVE, is ltd. to 250 copies and is called THE HOPE GUZZO BOOTLEG. sorry for that but the cover doesn't fit my scanner and as it's a photography it would have been too tricky to make multiple scans and cut & paste it together if I wouldn't have had the time to do that anyway plus you can also see the actual cover on the pic at the bottom. now, you get a regular live set recorded at Gilman St. on one side and a KXLU radio live show on the flip-side which is the better one in my opinion. truth be told I think that 99,99% of all live recordings suck so much that no one needs them and consider releasing them on any format a waste of resources! among the very rare exceptions would be the CITIZENS ARREST live 8" and their radio show, some of the LIFE'S BLOOD stuff that's around, POISON IDEA's DUTCH COURAGE, the GEHENNA / CATHARSIS split 12" and a few more including this one. someone once told me the the voice of GEHENNA's vocalist on the earlier mentioned split live 12" would sound like a demon from yelling at you and he doesn't sound so much different here. this is some of the rawest, ugliest and hostile music I've heard till now. if you can't get into GEHENNA or also if you just can't get into their live recordings - don't worry cause it might not be your fault. it most likely just might be the case that you lack the experience of crawling through the stench of urine and vomit in the darkest pits of human existence fighting tooth and claw to keep your sanity. anyway, let's move on to the artwork and packaging of the record. I admit that I felt a little disappointed for a moment when I held the physical copy in my hands for the 1st time. the cover a 12" x 24" sheet of thick paper folded in the middle and not a bag and comes with a small booklet that gives you a track-list and an interview but no lyrics but when I looked on the inside artwork I suddenly realized that the pic on the inside was the photography from the cover only inverted which they did on the split 7" artwork too - I guess that's called continuation and is considered to be a style of art. now, while I've already told you that the record is called THE HOPE GUZZO BOOTLEG I haven't told you why yet. in case you don't already know who Hope Guzzo is let me tell you that she's the photographer who took the pic that was used for the cover of this 12" plus she's the person interviewed in the booklet by GEHENNA. I should add that the introduction to the interview briefly explains why her art was used on the cover. as the ltd. pre-order packs are sold out by now I scanned the interview in case you missed it!

here's a pic of the THE LOVE BELOW's REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS 7" I mentioned earlier. I'd give that 7" a 2nd try for the rad cover alone I guess...

WISH I COULD HAVE BEEN THERE

Gehenna (Full Set) from hate5six productions on Vimeo.

fuck, yes!

IN OUR TIME (the 2nd)

I've re-upped the IN OUR TIME comp. 12", rewritten the whole post and added some new pics! click on the pic!

DEAD SHELL

ONCE AGAIN THE 10"

click the picture below for all things concerning the GEHENNA 10"!

if you've contacted me cause of a GEHENNA 10"
through e-mail and haven't received an answer yet:
I'm sorry but there are too many people asking
and I'm a little short with time!

please also follow the link!

HELL IS THIS (the 2nd)

the brilliant GEHENNA / APARTMENT 213 split 7" was re-upped here!

NEGOTIUM PERAMBULANS IN TENEBRIS (the 2nd)

and again something that has been posted here quite some time ago GEHENNA´s 1st 12"! a short time ago somebody wrote me an e-mail and asked me for the correct tracklist of NEGOTIUM PERAMBULANS IN TENEBRIS and that was when I found out that I had forgotten to tag the files and that I had ripped them with just 128 k/Bits. so here it is in better quality, with correct tags and scans of the lyrics! an interview with GEHENNA´s singer Mike Cheese can be found here!

NOT DOWNLOADED YET?

* THEN YOU'VE MISSED YOUR CHANCE! *

BUY THE RECORDS!

WOLVES OF ARMAGEDDON (the 2nd)

yup, I know this one has been posted here already quite some time ago. but as I´ve just seen this on one other blog (which used my rip anyway) and I still think this is a great record I ripped it again in better quality, cut it into single tracks and tagged them properly! and in case you don´t know: SANGRAAL was the BLACK METAL side-project of some GEHENNA guys (rumors say that there is new SANGRAAL stuff to be released after years of inactivity)! note that I said BLACK METAL! yup, that´s what WOLVES OF ARMAGEDDON is, a BLACK METAL record including a cover of CELTIC FROST´s MORBID TALES (played at something like twice the normal speed!)! released on WICKED WITCH records in 2000 and came in a gatefold cover. on the right and below you see pics of the limited edition cover. could anyone upload their GEMINI WARS demo please?

NOT DOWNLOADED YET?

* THEN YOU'VE MISSED YOUR CHANCE! *

[A]LIVE IN THE LAND OF THE DEAD

sometimes it takes a little while till I get to do what I say but here you finally got the CATHARSIS split with GEHENNA and as that split was released in South America as a split with NEWSPEAK you´ll find the NEWSPEAK songs here too! all done in 256 k/Bits and I split the CATHARSIS and GEHENNA stuff up in songs this time! the pics are GEHENNA pics as you might have guessed! I´m still waiting for GEHENNA´s early discography 2 x 12" which will be glued to one of my turntables as soon as I get it!

NOT DOWNLOADED YET?

* THEN YOU'VE MISSED YOUR CHANCE! *

IN OUR TIME

the IN OUR TIME comp. 12" was released by the CrimethINC. people. it's a 12" running on 45 rpm and has 8 songs from 7 bands namely CONGRESS, TIMEBOMB, SYSTRAL, FINAL EXIT, DAMAD, JESUIT and GEHENNA. while I know that the CONGRESS and SYSTRAL songs were taken from earlier releases of both bands I've no clue if the TIMEBOMB, FINAL EXIT, DAMAD and JESUIT tracks appeared on previous releases of those bands too. the GEHENNA stuff is a raw and gritty live-cut that sounds as bitter and grim as possible by any means. the comp. was released in 2 different colors - grey marbled and purple marbled and both versions came without labels as you can see on the pics. along with the comp. came 2 booklets of which I just included the lyric booklet! click on the cover to d/l!