Any Old Iron... Collecting Physical Metal Releases

Do any other members have a seemingly uncontrollable urge to possess a physical copy of albums they love when they hear them. I have got to the point where I only really buy vinyl copies of albums that impress me now. I will buy CDs if a vinyl release is unavailable, but haven't really bought many in recent months (only a second-hand copy of Venenum's Trance of Death and a digipak of Ruadh's Rock of the Clyde). I do subscribe to a few labels on Bandcamp, so own quite a few digital releases, but if I really like them I will buy a physical copy anyway.

Of this year's releases, so far I've purchased vinyl copies of:

Battle Dagorath - Abyss Horizons

Moribund Mantras - Golden Void

Convocation - Ashes Coalesce

Temple of Void - The World That Was

Death the Leveller - II

MSW - Obliviosus

Oranssi Pazuzu - Mestarin kynsi

Worm - Gloomlord

Saturnalia Temple - Gravity

Obsidian Tongue - Volume III

So do you have a compelling need to possess your favourite albums in physical format, or is my compulsion not a common problem among metalheads?

I'm absolutely a physical collector. I just find having racks and racks of CDs on my wall satisfying, plus it means I've always got a back-up (and I can rip them in whichever quality I want).

I did a lot of downloading back in the day, but for years I've been working to convert that into a physical collection, and I'm gradually getting there (I still usually try out albums digitally first, e.g. via youtube, but if I like it, it goes on the list). Currently I have 790 CDs physically and 282 still to track down physical copies of.

Every so often I'll visit local stores and browse the metal sections, seeing if I can find anything I need for that, and I love visiting CD stores in other cities whenever I travel.

I let my passion for physical media go many years ago now. For decades I spent ridiculous amounts on rare & limited edition releases & prided myself on having those albums that no one else could find but then the internet came along & ruined all my fun by making those things accessible to everyone else & I thought to myself "What's the point?". These days I'm happy enough to simply stream my music using Spotify whenever I can as space is at a premium since my second daughter was born. Even worrying about losing hard disks or having to take backups are stresses I no longer need in my life &, if I'm honest about it, I'm so enamored with hunting down new music all the time that I rarely return to the same thing enough to make my purchase worth the money.

While I understand why most folks no longer feel the need to actually own music anymore due to technology advances, I guess it depends where you're coming from. Getting in to metal and heavy rock back in the day meant just one thing - physical product and for me that physical contact with my music is something I've never been able to shake. I did sell a massive proportion of my collection of vinyl back in the late 90s when vinyl seemed dead and money was tight and I've regretted it ever since. I got rid of loads of 80s thrash and 70s hard rock LPs that would cost a bomb to replace now. Currently my collection is close to 1000 CDs, 400 LPs and a couple of hundred cassettes (mainly 70s and 80s bootlegs bought from record fairs years ago). Luckily I have a spare room I can store them all in and I justify the cost from having given up smoking -  something I finally managed nearly ten years ago! I usually buy from Bandcamp whenever I can or direct from the labels so that the bands get more of the cash, but if it's an out of print rarity I will sometimes use Discogs and buy second hand. Unfortunately high street stores usually just stock the usual Kerrang! darlings if they stock metal at all so I have pretty much given up on them. It's just a pity postal charges are so high. Sometimes postage costs as much as the album itself and importing to the UK from the US in particular is ridiculously expensive, especially now the pound has taken a nosedive. Anyway must go - got to reorder my collection again!!

I've been getting into vinyl now that I know that I'm not leaving the Metal community anytime soon, it's nice to know that you supported the artists you listen to in some sort of monetary way apart from going to concerts. I'm also a sucker for big album art, so vinyls were my preference over CD's. I still have everything digitally, but I dunno, it's just a nice feeling to have nicely packaged music with all kinds of art and inserts that might give you a better idea of what the guys who made it were trying to convey, if anything at all. 

The recent commercial success of vinyl has made places really double down on their insane amount of "limited edition" versions, with all the colors of the rainbow available, and it feels like it makes it a bit less limited than what they want you to believe. I don't blame them for wanting to push more units in a market where people like us are the minority, but it does feel like some of the charm is lost sometimes. My vinyl collection has some stuff I really love having and it's grown pretty fast now that Bandcamp was doing its "all proceeds go to artists", which definitely made me impulse buy some stuff that I wasn't extremely thrilled about but I'm still glad I have it looking back. 

Great point about Bandcamp Fridays where 100% of the proceeds go to the bands, Xephyr. Now that most bands are unable to play live gigs it's more important than ever that fans support them by actually buying their music. Many times buying from Bandcamp I have had a short note or even on odd occasions a full letter from the band expressing their appreciation - it really means a lot to these guys. Very often they send extra stuff, too - stickers, badges, posters, even promo CDs they have lying around.

Also, the art is absolutely one of the main pulls of vinyl over CD and their are some gorgeous packages available nowadays. Last year's Esoteric album, A Pyrrhic Existence, for example, was a triple gatefold that no CD booklet could ever do justice to.

I spend a lot of time on the road when it isn’t lockdown so the digital format worked well enough.  I started buying CDs seriously again a couple of years back after a brief flirtation with vinyl which I intend to pick up on once again when I get round to getting a better record player.  I sold a load of CDs and vinyl back in the 90s and like Sonny regret this.  What it means now is that only tend to go after the classics or stuff that is really important to me.  I still have the majority of my collection on stream and probably always will have and since my sound card on my PC died (if honest need a whole new PC) I don’t venture onto Bandcamp as much as I used to.  

I got some cool stuff off BC, like when I ordered the Heads for the Dead deluxe CD set and got the vinyl instead.  Nowadays I do buy direct from labels and distros and intend to carry on doing so.  I no longer pursue new releases with the fervour that I used to.  There’s a handful of decent releases this year that I heard but doubt any of them will make physical copies as (like Daniel describes) I may not listen beyond a couple of times as I don’t have loads of time for music anymore and cannot listen to it when working from home as working means I can’t give the music the full attention as my brain can’t function beyond a basic level of attention.

I think there's a number of reasons that I'm more open to a non-physical musical solution:

1. I come from the tape trading generation & spent years & years listening to poor-quality dubbed copies of underground releases & demos. I think the streaming & downloading model is an extension of this really. I also spent a decade in the techno scene & the exchanging of digital files was part of parcel of being a DJ.

2. I don't think cover art has ever meant as much to me as it has to some of you. I've been a musician all my life & focus almost entirely on the sound coming from my speakers. Even lyrics mean substantially less to me than they do to most other metalheads so I don't have any tendency to want to investigate them unless they're already at hand. Gimme great metal music that's wrapped in a dirty napkin & has lyrics about scratching your arse & I'll be happy as Larry.

3. I have absolutely fuck-all disposable income. We're a single income family living in one of the most expensive cities in the world & most months we finish in the negative. It's been that way ever since my first child was born four years ago & this gives me no avenue to spend money on physical music even if I wanted to. I'm an obsessive completist when it comes to music too. If I started collecting CDs & vinyl again you'd find me living in a bus shelter full of rare & limited edition vinyl in a year's time.

4. Living in a two bedroom unit with my wife & two young daughters means that the only time I get a chance to listen to music is while driving to & from work & through headphones between 5:00-6:30 AM. Physical media isn't as conducive to just sticking something on whenever you get a spare minute. Sound quality has always meant a lot to me but I've been forced to sacrifice it in the name of efficiency.

Those are great points you make Daniel. As an older metalhead I now have less demands on my finances and time, but I completely understand where you're coming from and have certainly been there myself as I've referenced previously.

Another problem I do find myself mulling over from time to time with collecting is from the environmental point of view. I justify this to myself by the fact that I aren't much of a consumerist in any other way and surely we're all allowed a little vice, aren't we. I mean, were not all bloody saints are we? I know I'm not!

Don't misunderstand, I still listen to a lot of music in digital format (my wife isn't much of a black metal fan!) a lot of it on tablet and earphones whilst out with my dog or in the car to and from work. But I do really enjoy those times when I have a bit of time to myself and can settle down with a cup of coffee and a Darkthrone LP and really soak that shit up. Helps me deal with all the other crap that goes on in life.

So, I went and got me a proper turntable and speakers set up and also a new PC to boot which means that as well as having a soundcard again that works I also have a vinyl player to play all the wonderful records I hear on Bandcamp again.  I opted for Bluetooth on my speakers though so I can stream from my PC on one side of my lair and still connect up to the turntable easily and save space on my desk.

It's an expensive hobby vinyl collecting though and takes a lot of patience to balance the turntable perfectly as well as level the cartridge.  So far though blasting my vinyl collection has made me smile muchly.