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Wet Pussy
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 7:10 am 
 

Why do bands remaster their classic albums? Do they realize how pathetic the remasters sound? I listened to the remastered version of Peace Sells and Rust In Peace a week back and they SUCKED. I thought that if the KIMB remaster can be good, the others should be good too, right? But that wasn't the case.

My question is why do these artists remaster their albums instead of just re-issuing them. Do they realize that the remasters are complete crap? If you (the reader of this post) released an album now, would you remaster it 20 years down the line?
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morbert
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 7:30 am 
 

Just a marketing trick in most cases I'd say. But of course these new remastered discs actually have a louder volume of course....

It only gets my intention when I see "remixed" instead of "remastered".... and only in some cases. I thought the re-issue of Pungent Stench's For God Your Flesh was terrible...

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Lane
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 7:35 am 
 

Remasters can be totally money-grabbing tactics (like these Megadeth reissues: They are still available in millions original copies sold cheap in the stores, and Roadrunner Records' tactic: To reissue an album that is only a year old!!!), or then good treats for fans, who can't get the long sold-out original for under $200 (or some basically gone tapes or such).

Remastering albums is sometimes plus, sometimes not. Usually (I think by what I've heard on many a reissued album), remastering means louder sound, and more bass and treble. Remixing is much rarer. Sometimes, old stuff is partly replaced with new performance (which is bollock IMO, it just kills the old spirit). [More about the re-recordings later...]

In many cases, demo or rehearsal recordings are added. This is a nice treat for true fans of a band, but usually they sound bad, so nobody else really cares. In many cases, old demos and such are impossible to get in any other way.

Some reissues come with remastered AND the original version of the album. This is good. You get the both versions and listen to whichever you enjoy.

I certainly hate reissues that do not include the original artwork. I mean if the new cover is actually better than the original, I still like to have an album with its original look. No mater how bad it looks. Then I hate reissues, that doesn't include original texts (lyrics, thanks lists etc.). Some reissues have liner notes and photography from album's era, which are more or less nice to read and watch.

I like some of the re-recordings, such a Testament's fantastic 'First Strike still Deadly', but sometimes these, too, can be bollocks. None of that old energy anymore or something like that... Or then a band have traveled to different musical spheres already, "raping" their old classic with their new sound/style. But some albums I'd like to hear re-recorded (first that comes to my mind is Annihilator's 'Remains').


Last edited by Lane on Tue Nov 11, 2008 7:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Melmoth_the_Wanderer
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 7:35 am 
 

the three R's = Remastered, Reissued, Roadrunner.

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Expedience
Metal freak

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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 7:36 am 
 

I don't mind remasters, if they're done well. I think it's better to correct a few annoying mistakes in an album rather than giving the whole thing a makeover, which usually removes all the personality the thing had in the first place.

The worst thing, however, is re-recordings. Dimmu Borgir and Exodus should be shot for raping their classics like that.

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Wet Pussy
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 7:39 am 
 

MegaHassan wrote:
f you (the reader of this post) released an album now, would you remaster it 20 years down the line?


I'd like some opinions on this too. Would YOU remaster/re-record/remix your albums?
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Lane
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Joined: Sat Nov 09, 2002 11:54 am
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 7:51 am 
 

MegaHassan wrote:
MegaHassan wrote:
f you (the reader of this post) released an album now, would you remaster it 20 years down the line?


I'd like some opinions on this too. Would YOU remaster/re-record/remix your albums?

Depends!

If it had for example a drum machine, then I'd always like to heard it with real drums. But, if some band thinks otherwise, fine.

Same goes with the mixing. I think Metallica's '...And Justice for All' would be nice to hear with a bass on it! But then again, Lars probably doesn't...
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aaronmb666
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 7:51 am 
 

well, the megadeth albums were remixed too, which gave it the shitty sound(but i still like RIP). the only real differences ive noticed with remastered albums have been the extra content , but not the sound. roadrunner was doing good with the gold discs from 97 with king diamond/mercyful fate, and sepultura.

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Melmoth_the_Wanderer
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 7:53 am 
 

A really good reason to remaster your albums is the plain fact that it's very difficult to get rare/old releases via the normal shops, or even the labels when they're out of print.

That said, I wanted a Death remaster/reissue the other week and it was £19! They justify that by having some demo shit and a video track on the end.

I'd rather they just re-released the damn original for the original 80's price!

edit: I did buy Dance of December Souls though, and it came with the fucking excellent Jhva Elohim Meth EP and liner notes, so its give and take...
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Wet Pussy
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 7:55 am 
 

Melmoth_the_Wanderer wrote:
A really good reason to remaster your albums is the plain fact that it's very difficult to get rare/old releases via the normal shops, or even the labels when they're out of print.


You could just reissue it instead of just remastering it completely
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the16th6toothson
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 9:52 am 
 

it's a bit long, but try to read anyway!



Merciless-The Treasures Within
the remaster is a vastly superior sound, everything is fuller, and the oversound is less "cheap" i thought the original release was easily the weakest sounding album to ever come out of Sunlight Studios, sounded very cold, flat and void of true dynamics. The reissue brings the bass to the foreground and gives the guitars a much more domineering sound, plus the drums sound more natural! everything about this remaster was done right

Thanatos-Angelic Encounters
the original sounded like Houwitser, i like Houwitser, but Thanatos does NOT need to sound like them. The remaster brought out the guitar tracks, toned down the drums and ever used a totally different trigger sound to give the rest of the instruments room to breath and be heard, the were some solos added, a few guitar harmonies added and ever a few vocal tracks reworked. the result is now the album feels much more complete and sounds like THANATOS, not Houwitser...


Patrick Bruss of CrypticuS remastered albums by Impetigo and Cianide for their Razorback reissues and did a great job of giving the albums a fuller, more robust sound without sacrificing the original versions' sound quality-good job on those!

i myself do some personal remasters with my home studio...well it's more like 3 different programs frankensteined to resemble something real but NONETHELESS
remastering PROPERLY is an art i think, i have been able to make NecroDeath-Fragments of Insanity, Malevolent Creation-StillBorn & Suffocation-Breeding the Spawn all sound vastly superior to their original sounds, i have been able to make albums like Mortal Decay-Cadaver Art & Deeds of Flesh-Trading Pieces MUCH more live and roomier sounding but for some albums... it's quite difficult to get blood from a turnip. Some albums are compressed and compressed TIGHT and then the volume is maxed out so hard that ALL of the levels are one-big-flat-fucking BOX.
this is what bigger labels do to classic albums, and it fucking SUCKS!!!!

FUCK lazy remasters!!!!!

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aaronmb666
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 9:58 am 
 

the16th6toothson wrote:
it's a bit long, but try to read anyway!

i myself do some personal remasters with my home studio...well it's more like 3 different programs frankensteined to resemble something real but NONETHELESS
remastering PROPERLY is an art i think, i have been able to make NecroDeath-Fragments of Insanity, Malevolent Creation-StillBorn & Suffocation-Breeding the Spawn all sound vastly superior to their original sounds, i have been able to make albums like Mortal Decay-Cadaver Art & Deeds of Flesh-Trading Pieces MUCH more live and roomier sounding but for some albums... it's quite difficult to get blood from a turnip. Some albums are compressed and compressed TIGHT and then the volume is maxed out so hard that ALL of the levels are one-big-flat-fucking BOX.
this is what bigger labels do to classic albums, and it fucking SUCKS!!!!

FUCK lazy remasters!!!!!


any chance of uploading some of those?

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dalecooper
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 10:08 am 
 

We're slinging around terms rather carelessly in this thread. Remastering and remixing and re-recording are not the same thing. The vast majority of remastering involves nothing more than the application of compression, normalization, and maybe hard limiting to bring up the volume of the original recording; there may also be some EQ, sound clean-up, and other bits of digital magic not worth describing in detail to improve the overall sound. Very few reissues are remixed or re-recorded.

For those that are, I generally hate the idea of re-recording, particularly years after the original was issued. My understanding with the Megadeth reissues specifically is that some of the original tracks were damaged or lost, and therefore unusable for a remix (which is what Mustaine wanted to release), so he re-recorded those parts. Might be bullshit, of course, but that was the official story. I've held on to my original "Peace Sells" but I do own the redone "Rust in Peace" because I wasn't familiar enough with the original to really care.

As far as pure remastering, most remastered releases sound fine - and most reissues are remastered to some extent, so don't kid yourself there. Even taking the source audio and normalizing it to zero db counts as a form of remastering. Usually they do more than that, and usually it's not that noticable except that the new CD is several decibels louder than the old one. Some remasters are fucked up though, and if so it tends to be from over-compression or too much EQ.
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the16th6toothson
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 10:22 am 
 

i don't mind if the "remaster" is just that bit louder, that's to be expected since some older albums were mastered at a rather low volume. I just hate when they do what we both mentioned, and compress everything and up the volume to the maximum, you lose too many dynamics that way

as far as just tweaking some eq's here, and some others there, thats one thing ---that's how Patrick Bruss did his remasters, and that's for the most part how i (have to) do it.
But some bands took the time to re-eq each track (bass, guitar drum tracks etc not just "track one of the CD" haha!) Another album that did this was Deceased-The Blueprints for Madness, the remaster there is verrrry well done!



a remastering i think some people might not realize is Repulsion-Horrified's double disc ultimate set, the blank space at the end and beginning of every track was removed, making it that much more relentless hehehe!!!

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juicebitch
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 10:30 am 
 

dalecooper wrote:
Some remasters are fucked up though, and if so it tends to be from over-compression


Part of the good ol' Loudness War.
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TadGhostal
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 10:52 am 
 

MegaHassan wrote:
Why do bands remaster their classic albums? Do they realize how pathetic the remasters sound? I listened to the remastered version of Peace Sells and Rust In Peace a week back and they SUCKED. I thought that if the KIMB remaster can be good, the others should be good too, right? But that wasn't the case.

My question is why do these artists remaster their albums instead of just re-issuing them. Do they realize that the remasters are complete crap? If you (the reader of this post) released an album now, would you remaster it 20 years down the line?


The issue you really have is remixing, not remastering. Dave remixed (and in some cases, re-recorded parts for) the Megadeth remasters.

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yg7s7
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 10:52 am 
 

Kinda off-topic but I wish they remaster Cryptopsy's debut album...
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Wet Pussy
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 11:12 am 
 

TadGhostal wrote:
MegaHassan wrote:
Why do bands remaster their classic albums? Do they realize how pathetic the remasters sound? I listened to the remastered version of Peace Sells and Rust In Peace a week back and they SUCKED. I thought that if the KIMB remaster can be good, the others should be good too, right? But that wasn't the case.

My question is why do these artists remaster their albums instead of just re-issuing them. Do they realize that the remasters are complete crap? If you (the reader of this post) released an album now, would you remaster it 20 years down the line?


The issue you really have is remixing, not remastering. Dave remixed (and in some cases, re-recorded parts for) the Megadeth remasters.


Well, it says on wikipedia that its a remaster and not a remix or rerecording
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deathcorpse
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 11:17 am 
 

I think in the cases of analog remastering, most of it is done well and most of those analog recordings when originally issued and were just transferred sounded like ass. They main problem besides lack of punch in many cases is the leveling of where the midrange sits with the vocals and guitars. I'm talking rock remastering only.

This is almost all across the board. Pink Floyd Animals, Black Sabbath Heaven And Hell, the Metallica early albums, Slayer's Reign In Blood, Bathory's first few albums, etc; all these remasters are no contest up against the original transfers to CD. I guess it's personal taste, but I like when the CD transfer offers a bit more of what the vinyl press sounded like, and in most cases that's the correct mix to A/B.

What you need to be wary of in many cases is these remastering of digital. Once digital distortion comes into play and all the levels are totally in the red, that's a major sound issue. Some people think that sounds better and it's now so-called industry standard, but I think in most cases it sounds like shit.

Remastering something that was originally on vinyl for vinyl I think in most cases is sort of dumb, and many times all it does is smooth everything over.
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strongbad
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 11:19 am 
 

Usually I think adding bonus tracks on Remasters is stupid and annoying. For example on the 1998 Remaster of 'Reign In Blood', the addition of the two (very mediocre) bonus tracks 'Aggressive Perfector' (nowhere near as good as the original version which appears on the 'Haunting The Chapel' EP) and some silly remix of 'Criminally Insane' in my opinion just totally ruin the flow of the album. Raining Blood, and specifically its long eerie outro, is the perfect way to bookend the album and then all of a sudden some stupid bonus tracks start playing that you don't even care about. Anyway my point is I think bonus tracks on Remasters are silly because the order in which the track list appears on an album is usually that way for a reason and is very important and shouldn't be fucked with
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Wra1th1s
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 11:28 am 
 

I have mixed feelings about remasters. Deep Purple's back catalog has been fantastically remastered and re-released and the bonus tracks actually ad something of value. On the other hand we have companies like Roadrunner that release remasters every two weeks or something.

I'm a fan of big-ass re-releases. You know the ones with about 24+ bonus tracks (or thereabouts) and a bonus DVD thrown in :D Flots' Doomsday is another fantastic re-release and it also contains the original mixes.

I agree on Reign in Blood, the bonus tracks detract from the album's feel.
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Catachthonian
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 11:29 am 
 

Just push the Stop button before the bonus tracks begin.
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deathcorpse
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 11:32 am 
 

strongbad wrote:
Usually I think adding bonus tracks on Remasters is stupid and annoying. For example on the 1998 Remaster of 'Reign In Blood', the addition of the two (very mediocre) bonus tracks 'Aggressive Perfector' (nowhere near as good as the original version which appears on the 'Haunting The Chapel' EP) and some silly remix of 'Criminally Insane' in my opinion just totally ruin the flow of the album. Raining Blood, and specifically its long eerie outro, is the perfect way to bookend the album and then all of a sudden some stupid bonus tracks start playing that you don't even care about. Anyway my point is I think bonus tracks on Remasters are silly because the order in which the track list appears on an album is usually that way for a reason and is very important and shouldn't be fucked with


Although I agree, I agree less now that there are IPODs around, and you can make your own playlists and include or in this case disclude tracks. At this point I'd much rather have extra tracks if available although I agree about these horrible 2 last tracks on RIB which were totally un-necessary. If you don't do IPOD and want it to CD, just disclude the tracks you hate and make the album like it originally was.

On the flipside though, speaking of Roadrunner, when I worked at UMG a few years back, I got all the RR remasters for all their old death metal artists and they are all IMO excellent reissues. Obituary's SLOWLY WE ROT includes 2 Xecutioner demos which I liked having, The Deicide AMON remaster with both demos is great, and Disincarnate's DREAMS OF A CARRION KIND includes their demo as well which I enjoy. Their remasters also of Mercyful Fate and King Diamond albums are also excellent.
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TadGhostal
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 12:23 pm 
 

MegaHassan wrote:
TadGhostal wrote:
MegaHassan wrote:
Why do bands remaster their classic albums? Do they realize how pathetic the remasters sound? I listened to the remastered version of Peace Sells and Rust In Peace a week back and they SUCKED. I thought that if the KIMB remaster can be good, the others should be good too, right? But that wasn't the case.

My question is why do these artists remaster their albums instead of just re-issuing them. Do they realize that the remasters are complete crap? If you (the reader of this post) released an album now, would you remaster it 20 years down the line?


The issue you really have is remixing, not remastering. Dave remixed (and in some cases, re-recorded parts for) the Megadeth remasters.


Well, it says on wikipedia that its a remaster and not a remix or rerecording


Wikipedia says that "Peace Sells..." was remixed here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Sell ... _Buying%3F

and that "So Far..." was remixed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_Far,_So_Good..._So_What!

I know that Dave re-recorded some solos and vocals on the "Rust In Peace" remaster.

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wolvie90
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 12:52 pm 
 

I think remasters are good if the originals are rare or/and expensive. I mean if you're gonna re-release an album you might as well try to improve the sound a bit.

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Evil_Johnny_666
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 1:07 pm 
 

I'd like to know what you guys think about displeased(?) remasters. You know the digipacks limited to 2 000 copies on gold discs with bonus tracks? I'm interested in buying some tank, toxik and pestilence albums and the remaster are easier to get. Are they worth it?

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206
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 1:15 pm 
 

Repulsion's Horrified was remastered/reissued and it still slays. Scott Hull has dedicated many years of his life remastering and reissuing some really good grindcore and power violence. Maybe Megadeth remasters sound like shit but that is no reason to trash then entire process.

If you have access to the original, individual instruments recorded in the studio then I am all for remastering/remixing. It is when you sacrifice the dynamics for 10% more volume that I start getting upset.

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mentalselfmutilation
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 1:30 pm 
 

The issue at hand here is that sometimes things are misleading.

The thing about the megadeth re-masters is they're really re-mixed, not re-mastered. Most of the time re-masters are exactly that, usually means they're digitally mastered, they become more compressed, and bear the fruits of the modern day loudness war. The re-mix is that Megadeth went and re-mixed certain parts of the album, so they sound siginificantly different from the original according to my girlfriend. She and a friend of ours who are both major fans of megadeth recommended to stay away from them, passing on the advice.

I don't find anything wrong with reissue's on albums that are out of print and generally hard to find. Dark Angel's Darkness Descends for example is long overdo for a reissue. As long as nothing's fucked with. The problem with some reissues is the case where an album is reissued that isn't significantly hard to find and usually already easily obtainable. Everything from black sabbath to judas priest to iron maiden for example. Why do I want a $16 reissue of these albums when I know a guy who will sell me original LPs pressed in the 80's of all those bands for 5 bucks a piece? For the price of one of those money grabbing reissues i can grab 3 used versions of their lp's, thus have more material from the band. However I don't mind if say Morbid Saint reissued spectrum of death, Demigod reissued slumber of sullen eyes, or Sororicide reissued even a small batch of The Entity so those of us who are big fans of the material don't have to drop $100-1,000 just to own a copy of the music we enjoy in a physical form.

Another reissue that bugs me is the two from the vault series. I remember considering to buy roadrunner's two from the vault on both obituary's Slowly We Rot/Cause of Death, as well as Suffocation's Effigy of the Forgotten/Pierced From Within so i'd have those albums from the bands. However the packaging looks like shit, and despite being able to get both albums for roughly $14 i'd rather fork over $20-30 on the price of them both individually just to have the intended packaging of both albums. I also dislike reissues like the back on black vinyl reissues which despite being nice (since i would love to own many of those albums on record) piss me off. I'd rather just try to save up for an original than piss poor quality reissue. I've never seen a Death vinyl reissue for less than $25, or Darkthrone's under a funeral moon and transilvanian hunger pic lp for less than $22.

Re-masters, and re-mixes tend to stray away from. Usually they're more expensive. The Death reissues tend to go for about $14-15 in my area, I bought all of the original combat/relativity editions of death albums from the early 90's for under $10 (some still brand new and sealed at the time). It's how I have always heard the albums. I'm still missing spiritual healing, but I'm going to refuse buying it unless I can find an original version as opposed to what may be a poor remaster.

Re-recording is the worst however. I couldn't stomach to listen to Exodus' Let there be blood, and Dimmu Borgir's Stormblast re-recording is upsetting, more so because the original stormblast is out of print itself.

Cover adjustments also bug me. The reason I don't own bonded by blood is because i'm trying to track down a version on any format with an original cover, i've passed up the CD version a few times because the cover is shit. I'd rather find the original cover if i'm going to get the album. The only album I think I wouldn't mind owning with a new cover would probably be Metal Church's Hanging in the Balance, because the original cover is fucking lame
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deathcorpse
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 1:36 pm 
 

mentalselfmutilation wrote:

Another reissue that bugs me is the two from the vault series. I remember considering to buy roadrunner's two from the vault on both obituary's Slowly We Rot/Cause of Death, as well as Suffocation's Effigy of the Forgotten/Pierced From Within so i'd have those albums from the bands. However the packaging looks like shit, and despite being able to get both albums for roughly $14 i'd rather fork over $20-30 on the price of them both individually just to have the intended packaging of both albums.



I have some of those vault series albums when I worked over there at UMG got them for free, and correct me if I'm wrong but; those vault series the albums are NOT remastered and that's why they are a cheap package.

I know they remastered all the Obituary records though. Also when I was over there, the only remaster I remember from Deicide was the first album and Legion and the later catalogue was not.

Those Pestilence two from the vault reissues are not remastered either.
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Ribos
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 1:36 pm 
 

Wra1th1s wrote:
I have mixed feelings about remasters. Deep Purple's back catalog has been fantastically remastered and re-released and the bonus tracks actually ad something of value. On the other hand we have companies like Roadrunner that release remasters every two weeks or something.

I'm a fan of big-ass re-releases. You know the ones with about 24+ bonus tracks (or thereabouts) and a bonus DVD thrown in :D Flots' Doomsday is another fantastic re-release and it also contains the original mixes.

I agree on Reign in Blood, the bonus tracks detract from the album's feel.


Machine Head (the album) had an absolutely perfect remastering job with the 30th anniversary edition. Not to mention the Roger Glover mixes... are actually SUPERIOR to the original album. Now those versions are the definitive Machine Head for me.

Also, while the bonus tracks are next to worthless, Sigh's Gallows Gallery getting remastered and reissued just a few years after the initial release was very much justified. The new issue is a huge step up.

Those exceptions aside, though, I generally agree that remasters are usually worthless. LET'S JUST MAKE IT LOUDER OH GOD COMPRESSION BZZZKTKTKZKZKTKTZZZZTK
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dalecooper
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Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2006 9:19 am
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 1:45 pm 
 

mentalselfmutilation wrote:
Cover adjustments also bug me. The reason I don't own bonded by blood is because i'm trying to track down a version on any format with an original cover, i've passed up the CD version a few times because the cover is shit. I'd rather find the original cover if i'm going to get the album.


Interesting point. I've thought about this pretty often with reissues - it seems to be more and more common to use new artwork, and most of the time the new artwork is inferior to the old. In some cases it's probably a rights issue, and in others it may be that the original piece of art is no longer available in a format that would allow it to be cleanly transferred (especially if something that was on CD is now being put out on vinyl - blowing up CD art to LP size looks like crap). But sometimes I think it's just arrogance on the part of the label. They want to put their own stamp on the reissue, and that's not what the fans really want.

One example is the recent Morbid Saint reissue by Power Play. It's a very good-sounding reissue (a solid example, actually, of someone doing a good job with the remaster). But the cover is an all-new, kind of generic picture of skulls with "Spectrum of Death" written on them. This album had two previous covers, both of which beat the new one. The only good thing about the new one, really, is that it nods to the original artwork. But ultimately I would have preferred they use either of the previous covers again, rather than throwing yet another one into the mix.

A counter-example, though, is what Ars Magna is doing with "Blod-Draum" by Molested. The original cover art was primitive and odd almost to a fault; they commissioned a new version that pays obvious homage to the original, while improving on it overall. But that's the exception to the rule.

One case of the original art not being sufficient is the recent double LP release of Hail's "Inheritance of Evilness." Apparently the original art used for the CD was unavailable, and the CD art was too small to blow up to LP size, so they re-did the art with almost the same design. Here's a side-by-side:

Image
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mentalselfmutilation
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Joined: Tue Jun 20, 2006 8:39 pm
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 2:28 pm 
 

deathcorpse wrote:
mentalselfmutilation wrote:

Another reissue that bugs me is the two from the vault series. I remember considering to buy roadrunner's two from the vault on both obituary's Slowly We Rot/Cause of Death, as well as Suffocation's Effigy of the Forgotten/Pierced From Within so i'd have those albums from the bands. However the packaging looks like shit, and despite being able to get both albums for roughly $14 i'd rather fork over $20-30 on the price of them both individually just to have the intended packaging of both albums.



I have some of those vault series albums when I worked over there at UMG got them for free, and correct me if I'm wrong but; those vault series the albums are NOT remastered and that's why they are a cheap package.

I know they remastered all the Obituary records though. Also when I was over there, the only remaster I remember from Deicide was the first album and Legion and the later catalogue was not.

Those Pestilence two from the vault reissues are not remastered either.


Yeah, I don't believe I referred to them as remasters, just poor looking reissues, possibly a money making gimmick (get two for the price of one!)

I'd rather just hunt down the originals, or reissues of them separately. Roadrunner stuff shouldn't be that ridiculously hard to obtain either. I've managed to get a few cassettes from the early roadracer/roadrunner days for a few bucks...the king diamond, early suffocation, etc stuff. I've seen a few buddies of mine with the original vinyls for slowly we rot and such, and a quick check on ebay shows you can get most early pestilence stuff at around $10 on tape or cd. I'd much rather go with these than get a two from the vault series of out of print older releases. The packaging just isn't as appealing as just having the original albums.
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Dark_Gnat
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 2:28 pm 
 

I get irritated when two different companies re-issue the same CD with different bonus tracks, etc.

This happened with Sadus' first 3 albums:

Metal Mind re-issued remastered versions, each with two or three bonus tracks from the D.T.P. demo. They are in digipack format, but the packaging is nearly identicle to the original.

Displeased also re-issued them. They are also remastered, and contain much more bonus material. The packaging is a bit different, but done better. For example, Illusions/Chemical Exposure has both covers on the book, so you can just flip it over if you prefer the Chemical Exposure version. My only complaint is the band logo, which is slightly different than the originals. I'm willing to let that slide, because it is an official logo, and I remember T-shirts with the same logo way back when. I just like the angular logo better.


I generally dislike it when a company puts two full lengths on one CD. The Benediction back catalogue is getting this treatment. That's nice, but I don't want to have to buy Grand Leveller (which I already own) in order to get Subconcious Terror, which I have on Cassette (but want on CD).


As far as remastering goes, it depends. When CD's first appeared, many people claimed that vinyl sounder better. This was because the mastering was not really specifically done for the CD. I believe Bolt Thrower usually uses two masters, one for CD, and one for Vinyl, which are meant to get the best sound for each format.


I just wish someone would re-issue the forst three Cancer albums. 'To the Gory End' usually goeas for $100 on ebay, and my cassettes are getting worn out!
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TadGhostal
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 2:29 pm 
 

deathcorpse wrote:
mentalselfmutilation wrote:

Another reissue that bugs me is the two from the vault series. I remember considering to buy roadrunner's two from the vault on both obituary's Slowly We Rot/Cause of Death, as well as Suffocation's Effigy of the Forgotten/Pierced From Within so i'd have those albums from the bands. However the packaging looks like shit, and despite being able to get both albums for roughly $14 i'd rather fork over $20-30 on the price of them both individually just to have the intended packaging of both albums.



I have some of those vault series albums when I worked over there at UMG got them for free, and correct me if I'm wrong but; those vault series the albums are NOT remastered and that's why they are a cheap package.

I know they remastered all the Obituary records though. Also when I was over there, the only remaster I remember from Deicide was the first album and Legion and the later catalogue was not.

Those Pestilence two from the vault reissues are not remastered either.


I think those 2 from the vault releases are remastered. I have 2 of the King Diamond ones and they have all the bonus tracks that appear on the remastered versions of the individual KD CDs. The packaging is really cheap, though, which I think is why they cost less.

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Pestbesmittad
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Joined: Sat Oct 21, 2006 12:19 pm
Posts: 283
PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 2:33 pm 
 

mentalselfmutilation wrote:
The reason I don't own bonded by blood is because i'm trying to track down a version on any format with an original cover, i've passed up the CD version a few times because the cover is shit. I'd rather find the original cover if i'm going to get the album. The only album I think I wouldn't mind owning with a new cover would probably be Metal Church's Hanging in the Balance, because the original cover is fucking stupid.


The 1999 Century Media reissue has the original artwork. Shouldn't be too hard to find.

I myself dislike the remastering (or perhaps they've been remixed) jobs of Abhorer's "Zygotical Sabbatory Anabapt" part of the "Unholy Blasphemer" compilation CD and Morpheus Descends' "Ritual of Infinity" (both reissued as part of Xtreem Music's Xtreem Cult Series). On both the aforementioned reissues the guitars are a bit louder (which is OK) but the general sound is a bit mustier somehow than on the originals. There is a clear difference and I think the orginals sounded better.

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Dark_Gnat
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 2:38 pm 
 

While I'm at it; what's up with Earache reissues?

For example - At The Gates' "Slaughter of the Soul" has been released FOUR times on CD; original, with bonus tracks, with bonus tracks and CD-ROM material, and now with bonus tracks, and a DVD, which features some of the same stuff as the previous CD-ROM material.

Entombed's Clandestine also now has a DVD, but it's basically just "Monky Pus -Live"

Bolt Thower's Realm of Chaos has been re-issued, but with different artwork (and the band is pissed about it). The artwork for that CD is classic, and is an important part of the experience, in my opinion.
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Ribos
Radioactive Man

Joined: Wed Nov 15, 2006 10:10 pm
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Location: United States of America
PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 2:38 pm 
 

Dark_Gnat wrote:
I generally dislike it when a company puts two full lengths on one CD. The Benediction back catalogue is getting this treatment. That's nice, but I don't want to have to buy Grand Leveller (which I already own) in order to get Subconcious Terror, which I have on Cassette (but want on CD).

I too hate this.

Or how about the Demolition Hammer anthology, where Epidemic of Violence is SPLIT BETWEEN THE TWO DISCS?

Seriously, this pisses me off even more than 2albums/1disc. EoV is a great album, but this release prevents me from listening to it from start to finish without interruption. I've got to rip the tracks from both discs then burn them to a separate CD. Just another reason to hate Century Media, I guess.
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Primemattimus
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 3:32 pm 
 

Mega Dave's Remix of Killing is My Business was AWESOME. Actually it was Bill Kennedy and some other NIN related dude as far as I recall.

The other ones weren't complete crap but killed a lot of the original feel. And yeah they were too compressed at times as well.

I havent even bothered picking up the new Peace Sells remix/remaster but I'm kinda scared to considering Rust.

So Far So Good killed some of the buckets of reverb on the original album but other parts ironically sound too dry. Well you can't win with everything. But Killing was fucking ace.

Emperor's "remasters" dont sound too different than original. I own both, bought Anthems when it came out, and bought the remaster. I'd love to see a REMIX of Emperor's old albums, as long as they dont compress them to total shit fuck town.

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juicebitch
Juice Bitch

Joined: Fri Apr 11, 2008 11:57 am
Posts: 1523
PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 3:40 pm 
 

Primemattimus wrote:

I'd love to see a REMIX of Emperor's old albums, as long as they dont compress them to total shit fuck town.


To me they sound perfect as they are.
"Anthems", now that sounds like an album nearly in compressed-to-shit territory. Nearly.
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FuneralFog
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 4:06 pm 
 

I hate most of the reissues. Especially when they change the cover and add stupid bonus tracks. If it isn't broken, don't fix it! Or something like that.

A few years ago I ordered De Misteriis Dom Sathanas from eBay (Or maybe it was Amazon?), and I didn't know it was ever reissued. When I opened the package I wanted to kill someone. First of all I noticed that something is strange about the cover - it's blue, it's supposed to be more purple... Then I opened the case and saw Mayhem's logo on the CD! What the fuck?! Then I opened the booklet and guess what - no lyrics!!! It looked like they intended to ruin the CD in every possible way. Playing this album no longer feels the same. Feels almost like playing a CD-R.

I once browsed in a music store and came across this CD and thought to myself "Hey, I didn't know Necromantia has a new album out. Damn what an ugly cover!" then I read the title - Scarlet Evil Witching Black. Their debut which used to have an awesome cover now has stupid computerized naked vampires or whatever on it.

And these bonus tracks! I fucking hate them. Most of the time they're totally out of place and has nothing to do with the album.
Sometimes I like to play a nice thrash album before going to sleep.
One time I picked Whiplash's Insult to Injury. Most of you probably know that each and every song on this album kicks ass, no weak points!
So I'm relaxing after a long day of work, enjoying every second of the album, then this "Live in (probably some abandoned warehouse/shelter in) New York '86" kicks in and destroys my entire mood.
One of my most regretted purchases, especially when a few days after I gave up and bought the reissue I found the original for a pretty low price and didn't buy it! :durr:

And I don't want to get started about Dark Recollections, which now has 18 tracks... well you get the idea :)
When will the record labels stop butchering classics?!

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