CULT OF LUNA- Free 7inch?

Question: what is the story with the free single by CUl OF Luna? how do i get it?

from thomas

Answer: CULT OF LUNA Exclusive free 7 inch single

UK based fans of Sweden’s CULT OF LUNA are being offered a special treat
when they rush out to purchase the band’s fourth sonic outing ‘SOMEHERE
ALONG THE HIGHWAY’ on Monday 24th April.

At participating Indie stores across the UK any one who snaps up ‘SOMEHERE
ALONG THE HIGHWAY’ on any format will take home a free exclusive 7 inch by
Cult Of Luna containing 2 unreleased tracks which are unavailable anywhere
else:

CULT OF LUNA 2 track 7 inch limited 1000 copies

A) Bodies (Smashing Pumpkins cover)

B) Recluse (Unbroken cover)

Offer available while stocks last from the following participating UK Indie stores

copies are also available from the band on tour.

‘SOMEWHERE ALONG THE HIGHWAY’ will be released on Earache on April 24th.
Formats available: Digipak CD, Regular CD or Limited edition 2 x 12"Vinyl LP

MA 'Altars' pic disc

Question: How many copies will there be printed of the new \"Alters of Madness\" picture disc LP? From: minuutje@yahoo.com

Answer: 1500 copies of the new pic disc with extra vinyl track"Lord of All Fevers and Plague' added were made. 750 of which exported to USA. The orginal Pic disc came out in early 90's and had a colour pic of the band on the reverse.this new edition has a b/w pic of the band.see the editions on Earache's catalog page

Slaughterhouse Studios- the story

Question: is the \'slaughterhouse studios\' still in existance?
napalm death recorded the mentally murdered ep there and bolt thrower did war master there, i just love the sound on those albums.
cheers From: Unknown.

Answer:In the late 80's I booked Napalm Death into this unknown (for metal) studio in Driffield, a small town in East Yorkshire, UK -based on Mick Harris rating the clear cut sound/seperation on a recent album by The Sundays, a successful UK indie pop act of the time.A few other notable Northern Indie rock acts had used it too- Sisters Of Mercy etc.It was called Slaughterhouse Studios- built on the site of an old abbattoir- and it even offered bands the use of a house down the road where they could stay during the recording, it was the fist time Earache could afford any band such luxury.

When we showed up we met for the very first time the in-house studio engineer/producer Colin Richardson,who we all got on with right away.His friendly and unassuming manner and dedication to his craft was a refreshing change, as the only studios Napalm Death had been in before were pretty dismissive or downright hostile to the noise the band were making.Colin was different- he clicked with me when he casually mentioned he had engineered a record by a UK punk band some years previously while at another studio- Discharge's WHY? EP.Blimey! this fact alone made him a God to me and I knew I had the man for the job of creating Earache's brand of extreme metal, as the early Discharge sounds were and still are the earthshattering blueprints for extreme music, and Colin was instrumental in creating that sound.

Colin proved to be on the top of his game, and his expertise literally changed the labels fortunes as i booked a procession of bands up to Driffield- they would walk in average bands, taking the first toddler steps in their careers, and within weeks would emerge with World-Class productions to their name- he produced a good percentage of the first 50 or so mosh number albums, including Carcass, Bolt Thrower, Massacre, Fudge Tunnel, Brutal Truth- Hellbastard, Lawnmower Deth even( with fellow Slaughterhouse co-engineer Stephen Harris - who a decade later mixed U2's hit singles!) , and I made damn sure Colin was properly credited as Producer on those early albums even tho, with typical modesty, he didnt ask for such a credit.

By the mid 90's Colin was THE main man for extreme metal and he often chose to record at other locations- Chapel Studios in the village of South Thoresby,Lincolnshire was and still is his fave etc- Slaughterhouse kinda fell off our radar,bookings had dried up, and we heard the owner burnt it down one night as an insurance job.

The final album we had Colin produce was the Pulkas album "Greed" in 1998, but that was immediately marred by some shady business shenanigans between Earache and Colin's wife Lora (who became the acts manager) over the band's future.

THE NOW on Earache?

Question: did you ever have a band called the now signed to you at all. i really want there cd but i cant find it anywere From: myeyesaremycamera@hotmail.co.uk

Answer: No they are not on Earache but they sound quite decent for an Indie band, they will be massive when A&R guys catch up with them, thats for sure. Hear em On Myspace

At The gates logo?

Question: I have been hunting for a perfect pic of the at the gates logo. the one with the three bullets. The reason why is so I can get it tattooted. could you please send me one or refer a web site? thank you for taking the time to read this. From: zero_hour_is_here@hotmail.com



Answer: you could try the bands own mini website here

Mortiis' book- where to buy?

Question: I am looking for Mortiis\'s book \"Secrets of my Kingdom\". Do you sell this item and if not where would I be able to find it. From: shari3schneider@hotmail.com


MORTIIS's book, "Secrets of My Kingdom," was available for sale beginning July 2nd 2001 in Europe and July 10th 2001 in the U.S. Contained therein was Mortiis' prose and lyrics, spanning the last decade and illustrations from such artists as Mark Riddick, Juha Vuorma, and Kerry Bartlet, depicting the fantasy world of Mortiis's visions. The book was a 144-page leather-bound tome in a severely limited edition of 850 copies, each signed personally by Mortiis, and the book came packaged with a special 'gold disc' version of the Mortiis CD, "The Stargate."
Many fans are unaware it even exists, its by far the rarest and most collectable of Mortiis' official releases on Earache.Try ebay and expect to pay $150+.

Morbid Angel -24 bit remaster CD?

Question: Can you explain the entire remastering of the first two Morbid Angel albums \"Altars of Madness\" and \"Blessed Are The Sick\"? The sticker says 24 bit remaster, what is that? Also, can you personally tell a difference symphonically from the original cd issue? From: usmc2621@hotmail.com


Answer:Both albums were re-issued a few years ago and were indeed remastered digitally to boost the sound levels -we thought the albums were showing their age and could use a modern upgrade so they sounded like more contemporary albums which are usually louder compared to stuff released 16-17 years ago.We used the now commonplace digital mastering software operating at 24 bit resolution whereas the original CDs of both were originally mastered from tape, in analogue environment, during late 80's early 90's.

For the new remastering we actually made a 24 bit remaster from the very original mixdown tapes but it sounded scarily different from the already released CDs fans are used to,instruments came out sounding much different, so for this re-issue,we resorted to remastering from the originally released cds.

We think the results are - a better,clearer, louder sound. The irony in all this is that Cds themselves are 16 bit technology, so the 24 bit mastering process is a bit of a misnomer.The main improvment is a louder sounding CD.

Intense degree- where to buy it?

Question: is there any way i can purchase a copy of intense degree war in my head on cd other then ebay,if i can buy direct from you that would be amazing?!!please let me know!!!thanks From: hortz@blueyonder.co.uk


Answer: Intense degree on CD is available ONLY at Disk Union in japan.

Sending a demo to earache (Part 3,128)

Question: HI I KNOW YOU PROBERBLY GET THIS A LOT, BUT CAN I SEND A COPY OF MY BANDS CD TO YOU ?
(INSIDE ARCHAM/PRELUDE TO A MASSACRE) From: CATHERFOSTER@XTRA.CO.NZ


Answer: sure- fill out the form on the contacts page!

Earache Realtones- in UK only?

Question: Hello earache! i\"m swedish and wondering how i can order your mobile stuff to my mobil?? for ex. a realtone with Decapitated... must i be in USA/England land or something? Jimmy From: jimpa_8@hotmail.com

Answer: The mobile phone graphics and realtones and ringtones we currently offer are only for sale to UK phones at the moment. Our mobile service provider- Mobiq, based in Birmingham , UK - do intent to spread the reach of the service to more European countries and USA soon, but have to secure more deals with the European mobile networks.If that happens there will be a select your country option added to the ringtone/realtone subsite.We also plan to offer full track mp3 downloads to mobiles in the near future.

At The Gates- Slaughter Of The Soul dualdisk edition.

Question: Are you re-releasing At the Gates - Slaughter of the soul again in 2006-04-28?
Which extra tracks and/or other bonus material will be on it?
Sorry to say I missed this great album when the limited slip-case was out in 2002. From: shamaatae@gmail.com

Answer:This weekend 5th march, Earache has arranged for the old members of ATG to gather together at Fredman Studio in Gothenberg to be filmed for a Documentary style DVD, by acclaimed video director Patrick Ullaeus. This will form the DVD side of the Slaughter Of The Soul Dualdisk we have down to release late april/may.

The band are not scheduled to actually 'play' anything( sadly)- but instead will talk on camera about the making of the legendary album and the bands history.Original producer of the album Fredrik Nordström will be playing back songs from the multitracks masters for the fans to hear and band to reminisce about .It should be essential viewing for any fan, and a history lesson in the making of a groundbreaking cd which set the Gothenberg scene alight on its original release in 1995.

The Cd side is the original album.

Elitist- what happened?

Question: What happened to Elitist Records and all of their bands? And what was Necrosis all about years ago? From: Unknown.


Answer: Elitist was founded as a Sub-label of Earache due to a chance meeting in 2001 between Lee (ex Candlelight founder) and myself (Dig, Earache founder). Lee was looking to try again with a label and needed financial backing as he was eyeing up some cool new bands.I thought, given Lee's pedigree in signings in the past ( the only thing bigger than signing Emperor and Opeth, is- arguably- signing Napalm, Morbid and Carcass etc ha ha ;-)), his undoubted A&R skills would bring some much-needed new acts of a different style in-house to the Earache roster.A deal was struck between us, and then Earache did not get too involved with the label ,beyond the actual signingof acts and stumping up the dosh-it suited us to leave the day to day contact with the bands, the Elitist website, and overall Elitist A&R planning mostly to Lee, working independently of us.

Sub-labels are by their very nature limited in lifespan.The sole aim from the outset was to unearth some new big selling prospects for my label, not fund Lee's A&R talents for evermore.This is an important distinction. Earache has done a similar thing in the past many times: In early 90's Necrosis was a similar setup with Bill and Jeff from Carcass doing the A&R- lasted 3 releases but released Mike Amott's Carnage tho.Also, I funded a 7" vinyl label called New Chapter in mid 90's, spearheaded by then UK A&R co-ordinator Mitch Dickinson, but that lasted about 4 releases but did unearth the mighty Coalesce, err and Resinate anyone?

As well as inhouse labels we also license a couple of established 3rd party labels -The USA Willowtip label is currently licensed to us, as is Uk's Codebreaker, tho that also ended recently too as Duncan chose to fold the Codebreaker to go work for Prosthetic.More longer term, Wicked World is the sole A&R of Dan Tobin, the UK Earache label manager( who signs the greatest proportion of the new acts on Earache anyways).Wicked World is 100% worked by Earache staff, and is Earache in all but name, specialising in the more Underground metal sounds.

In late-2005, circumstances meant that Earache chose to concentrate its resources on its main label acts as opposed to the sub labels.When we shake the tree, the dead wood tends to falls out.Most of the Elitist acts had never performed more than a handlful of live concerts,some had more albums out than actual gigs,overall sales were poor, and so my faith in the label had undoubtedly waned.After operating for about 3 years, the closure was messy- one was given the money for an album but never delivered, and some bands felt left high and dry because their plans were indefinately postponed or outright cancelled, meanwhile the two biggest selling Elitist acts- Biomechanical and Ephel Duath -moved up to Earache 'proper' and they appear quite content with that.Lee stood firm for the rest of his stable of acts-amid wild accusations,messageboards lit up with the outpourings of thwarted ambitions and crushed egos, but the writing was on the wall, my support for Lee and the rest of the acts had evaporated,Elitist was over, and that was that.

In time, I think fans will appreciate the eclectic cutting edge nature of the label from 2002-2005 (Rakoth's 'Tiny Deaths', anyone?)- it has left a great legacy of 14 or so highly innovative albums which was the original intention accomplished, I'm sure you'll agree. Now in 2006 we are gearing up for the task of making sure Biomechanical and Ephel Duath create a long term successful career for themselves.Of the others- some like Wolverine will sign to a new label (Candlelight) which can give them attention, and should do well, Carnival In Coal have quickly signed to an Osmose records offshoot, Equilibre.The rest will carry on furthering their 'career' to their adoring 'fans' via the medium of the messageboards, same as they always did.