As we try to kill each other off
All that remains of us is dust
Who really laughs last?
Because I know it can't be us
First of all, "Scared To Death" is one of the better albums that came out last year. It's not perfect, the sound is pretty bad in my opinion, but hey, the music is hard, the lyrics about the streets and just coping with existence, and it just has a general flow through the album that makes it so good. From time to time it reminds me of Everybody Gets Hurt, one of the most underrated NYHC bands out there. Next to that it could be compared with Backtrack and (older) Trapped Under Ice, but it's rawer, less sophisticated, and more negative, certainly compared to Backtrack. The vocals are raw, shouted, and sound sincere in every word he screams. Technically not the most impressive, but I just love it when you hear the singer pushing his voice to the limits... (On a side note; this is probably my biggest problem with Madball, the first few albums were straight up hard, and that had a lot to do with Freddy's voice being this fed up, while the later albums display his vocal talents better, it's sang perfectly, but to me it misses the feeling it had back in the days where he just went loose. But hey, this was supposed to be about King Nine right!)
Now, this album got released on Mass Movement Records, a new label based in Baltimore. I could be wrong, but I believe King Nine is the first release they did. Not a bad way to kickstart your label. The first press sold out in the blink of an eye. I managed to get my hands on two version, namely the Orange and Blue vinyl, both out of 100 copies. If memory serves me correctly, there were 300 black ones, which seems to be confirmed by the Discogs page of the album (but hey, those are not always as accurate as they claim). My orange vinyl also came with some black and red strokes.
Some time later Mass Movement Records came up with a second press, also pictured above. This time only two colors, Yellow and Black, with the yellow being out of 300 and the black out of 200 copies. The yellow has some black and white/light yellow strokes on it on my copy. The label also changed the labels, as pictured underneath. Side A now has the label info on it, while they changed the picture on side B too. I could be mistaken but I believe the new one has been taken on the release show of the record on November 24th 2013.
The first press also had a small sticker on the paper sleeve, stating the artwork had been done by Lauren Moran. The second press hasn't got this sticker, and has no other mentioning of it either. To me it seems they forgot to put it on the sleeve/inlay and had to put a sticker on the paper sleeve to at least mention it. Somehow sad for the artist they didn't mention him again on the 2nd press, or even better rectified their mistake by adapting the inlay. I must say that I don't like the artwork that much though. Both presses also came with a sticker of Mass Movement Records and a download code. Since I have a few, the download code on this picture hasn't been used yet, feel free to use it (first come first serve!)
To make things more interesting for European vinyl nerds, Ratel Records also put out Scared To Death. They did 150 copies, of which the first 90 came with a pre-order sleeve. The records are all black, and with the labels being just the same as the Mass Movement Records 1st press, it's safe to say that they just mailed 150 copies and Ratel made up different sleeves. While I already mentioned I didn't like the American artwork, the European one is something totally different. Both the regular (live picture) and pre-order sleeve (Lady Liberty & Graffiti) came out great, so Ratel Records did a great job on this one!
On the picture of the labels underneath you can clearly see they're the same as the American 1st press, only difference is that Ratel Records put their logo stamp on top of the A side label.
They also did a different inlay for the records, and this time the Mass Movement version wins in my opinion, with the American version being the white one and the European version the black one underneath.
So, that's the round-up on the vinyl, now go check out this album yourself, buy it on Itunes or whatever, go to the Mass Movement Records Store or the Ratel Records Store, they both have got some copies left, or ask your local distro, if they haven't gotten this album yet, they're missing out! If you're low on cash, than check out the footage from their record release, looks like one hell of a party there! Catch you next time...
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