That brings to mind my Plague Angel vietnamese counterfeit, or whatever that was.

photos of the original (not mine, but Ragnar's from Iceland)

Thanks for the site, it proved my Grinder-Dead End is a friggin bootleg. Color Scheme is all wrong, matrix is too small. I bought it from a private site for 20 euros. Now i know why i do not buy much online. My stupidity i guess, its going into the garbage now.

Check Out My Ebay

http://www.ebay.com/sch/m.html?item=290779263199&ViewItem=&ssPageName=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&_ssn=roseygirl16&_ipg=100&rt=nc

So you're selling your "non bootlegs"?

Quite an interesting set of titles!

Yep, will have a bunch more as well clearing out 1000s of cds. most bought back in the day.

don't chuck it out mate, add it to discogs so if anyone is looking for info online again they'll find it and know it's a bootleg.
http://www.discogs.com/Grinder-Dead-End/release/878188
or at least put photos and scans etc in here, it'll still be found.

It's already over 1.000 dollars. I've reported the auction too (the more the merrier), but I doubt ebay will do anything about it. Now, how is that for 'buyer protection'?

that's shit is what that is

Next thing to do is to alert the buyer after the action when the deal is settled, when his ID hopefully reveals in the ebay feedback. I've helped someone before in that way.

the buyer is d1focus. Notify him if you want. A polish speaker might be handy.

I second this, it really baffles me!

Hmm...according to his feedback, he already dealt with the Icelandic seller Ragnarben before, and Ragnerben is the one who had it for sale the most times (the original copy, that is).

He bought the deathless MCD from ragnarben. Not the Entity.

Allright, I contacted him over ebay messages. Hopefully, he'll come around to cancel the deal.

Any have a copy of Paul Chain - Alkahest they can look at for me? I have no idea if Paul was ever bootlegged or not, but I figured I'd looks since I got this CD cheap and sealed.

My copy has OMS 991950128896 1544-B

I have the same Dark Millennium cd. Also, same matrix code. My copy is several years old and I can't imagine there was any interest in doing cd bootlegs when I got it. It's not even rare.
I also have their second cd and that one has a more normal looking matrix code.

I contacted him also and he already replied saying he canceled it.

go team, go team go

Well as I said before at the time of this post the seller isn't from Lithuania but Latvia, honest mistake. Anyway, both CDs arrived today. Ghoul and Sepsism debut albums for a really low price, around 5€ and 8€ respectively. A friend of mine has both original editions of them so that was enough to reassure me as I could do a comparison on arrival.

The Ghoul CD is an obvious boot as the matrix is "L385 8954 GHOUL DUPLICATION SPECIALISTS C320701-01 A". If the "duplication specialists" wasn't enough there are also a few errors on it like the inner ring on the printing side of the CD being transparent as opposed to having the print "WE ARE GHOUL". And then there's a noticeable difference in contrast to the original.

The Sepsism CD I'm not entirely sure because it's pretty much a near perfect copy. There's a slight difference in contrast on the print but one that is barely seen on the naked eye. However that difference extends to the booklet, tray insert and CD print. The only noticeable difference is the placement of the matrix, which is equal on both as are the IPFI codes, so I wanted to know if the placement of the matrix is always the same on CDs. When you have the CD in the right position (where the print matches the cover) and you turn around to see the surface, will the matrix placement be exactly the same on all copies of that CD? Because as I said the only noticeable difference is that the matrix is inverted by 180 degrees.

As I can't post pictures I'll say that when the print on the CD is matching the cover the DACD, IPFI and matrix are on the top and the bar codes on the bottom. On the other copy it's inverted, with the bar codes on the top and remaining identifiers on the bottom. This Sepsism CD is actually giving me a headache, can someone check his/her copy and see what's the correct placement? I fear I can no longer distinguish between the two and I'd like to hand my friend the right copy.

Yep, that's cool. Unfortunately the seller can still let it go to the secod highest bidder. Hopefully D1focus will give the seller negative feedback, so others will be warned.

Had the same doubt looking at a Deathcrush photo on ebay the other day where the CD print was rotated compared to mine. But your situation is funny Oh, while you're with both compare the TOC, peak levels and CRC (EAC dumps all that to the log file).


Yes, the only acceptable solution was for ebay to do something about the reports.

How exactly do I do this?

An addendum to my mini-drama. My Sepsism CD is identical to my friend's, my eyes were playing tricks on me. Sleep deprivation can do that, my apologies.

As for the Ghoul CD I actually contacted Bill Nocera from Razorback and he told me that this version is a repress they did later on, and that it's official. I've already updated the information on the Discogs page of the release with the repress matrix and lack of inner ring printing.

So all is well in the world and Latvian sellers are trustworthy so far.

this is the wicked piece of kit japc is referring to [for windows users...]
http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/

mac os and 'linux' etc probably have similar tools

Well, I use EAC in Linux, it runs just fine in wine (windows emulator).

I tried to look for some Linux alternative to it, a couple of years ago, and the only thing that existed was cdparanoia, pretty decent but not on par on error correction, accuraterip integration and tutorials to make bit exact copies to multiple FLACs + .cue (that's what I use it for: CDs -> FLAC -> store for backups in case of bitrot + encode to mp3 for portability).

I notice the guy who was selling the Sororicide CD has relisted it, with amended information (i.e - now stating it's not an original pressing, "this is a repress" etc). Obviously, we all know there is no-repress, but always bear in mind that the seller themselves might not be aware that what they're selling is a bootleg. Sellers can get caught out too, and with lack of information (or just general laziness) can seem like they're purposely trying to dupe people when in reality they genuinely believe they're selling an original (until told otherwise - like in this case).

Also, just to re-iterate due to an experience I have just had - if a specific pressing isn't on discogs or any other site, it doesn't mean it is immediately a bootleg. I have a Voivod re-issue of Rrröööaaarrr which came out as part of Sanctuary Records re-issues of part of the Noise catalogue which I can find no info of at all online, and I'm trying to sell it on eBay. Some guy sends me an e-mail telling me it's a bootleg, how dare I rip people off and that he's reporting me to eBay blah blah blah. The CD was bought in Virgin Megastores in the early 2000s, and has a Noise Records/Sanctuary mail order flyer inside, so it clearly isn't a bootleg - but because it isn't mentioned anywhere on the web, people immediately jump to conclusions and fly off the handle. Again, the previously mentioned critical thinking is required!! haha.

So true! In all honesty I've had some bad news yesterday right before receiving the order in the mail, plus I have been sleep deprived for some time now, so I basically threw a shit fit. Dubious source, noticeable differences on naked eye, different matrix. If Bill hadn't answered the poor seller would've basically been buttfucked by me without any blame. I sent him an apology PM explaining the whole thing and left positive feedback. But this can indeed happen with all the fear of bootlegs that is nowadays all too present.

i added my 'made in thailand' immolation majesty and decay cd to discogs if anyone is interested
it's important to add things there i reckon

Hi all,

I recently bought from ebay a copy of Heretic's Breaking Point reissue on Lost and Found records, but It has no IFPI code (matrix is:cd 72552). Could anyone confirm it? Is it regular for small labels to press cds without IFPI codes? Isn't it mandatory now? Thanks in advance

it's not mandatory no, my two hirax cds [new age of terror and el rostro de la muetre] have none and are legit, but they own their own label.
matrix: cd 72552 would have alarm bells ringing, but we can't see what it looks like, hint hint, put up some photos
that doesn't even look like the catalogue number according to: http://www.musik-sammler.de/media/381274
it wouldn't be the first bootleg/counterfeit of a non-rare cd though...
neither discogs or musik-sammler have any matrix info listed [disogs doesn't have the reissue at all]

Isn't the Lost And Found reissue legit? If you bought it on Ebay from a trusted source there's no fear of it being a boot. Does it have the right CAT# and EAN? Does it have the bonus track and is it remastered? In last resort you can always email Lost And Found directly.

Thank you guys, I'm trying to upload the picture of the matrix but I can't do it.. Why?? Maybe I'm not allowed to post attachments.. Anyway, except for the missing ifpi and the strange matrix I have no clue my copy could be a boot: cd is perfect, booklet is good quality paper, the EAN matches and the seller was reliable. Maybe I'm getting a little bit paranoid...

We all are nowadays... especially me!

You can't upload photos directly, you have to use an outside website and then link to it.

Here is the photo. It would be interesting to compare it with other Lost and Found releases...

I looked at a Lost & Found CD I have from 1995 (by a band called "Feed") and there is an IFPI code and other numbers and things printed around the center. Don't know if that bit of info helps at all.

indeed, does it have ifpi codes?

http://www.discogs.com/help/submission-guidelines-release-format.html#CD_Matrix

I recently got one too that was sealed, with the same matrix and correct UPC (according to discogs). Aside from such a rare CD being sealed, and seeing that others are grabbing it lately, the only thing about it that makes me suspicious is that the printing on top of the disc is somewhat mis-registered and fuzzy. I've seen this on otherwise perfect boots/represses of Necromantia/Osmose stuff, where everything appears to be legit, but you can tell that the colors are misaligned just a little bit compared to them being sharp on a real original. I'm still loving the hell out of the music though, and I'd rather have this than nothing.

Thanks Korgull, but this is probably another label with same name (from Germany, maybe). Anyway, I have some other recent cds without any kind of ifpi (on Divebomb Records and Shadow Kingdom records), so it is probably not so rare for certain labels. What is strange is when ifpi is missing on very common cds, for example I recently found out that my copies of Cannibal Corpse "Bloodthirst" and "The Wretched Spawn" don't have any ifpi... quite strange...

relapse and metal blade stuff often doesn't have them for some reason.