Red Sparowes - At The Soundless Dawn [12", 2LP]

AT THE SOUNDLESS DAWN is the debut album by RED SPAROWES. Instrumental post-metal at its best; slow-paced and epic. Their second, Every Red Heart Shines Toward The Red Sun is still my favourite, but this one's great too. The underlying theme to this album is the so-called sixth extinction: the extinction of species caused by humans. Heavy stuff. The version i have of this album is the third pressing (500 made) on white/blue "cloudy sky" vinyl. Looks gorgeous.

Label: Robotic Empire
Cat.nr.: ROBO-043
Year of release: 2005

SIDE A:
01. Alone And Unaware, The Landscape Was Transformed In Front Of Our Eyes
02. Buildings Began To Stretch Wide Across The Sky, And The Air Filled With A Reddish Glow

SIDE B:
01. The Soundless Dawn Came Alive As Cities Began To Mark The Horizon
02. Mechanical Sounds Cascaded Through The City Walls And Everyone Reveled In Their Ignorance

SIDE C:
01. A Brief Moment Of Clarity Broke Through The Deafening Hum, But It Was Too Late
02. Our Happiest Days Slowly Began To Turn Into Dust

SIDE D:
01. The Sixth Extinction Crept Up Slowly, Like Sunlight Through The Shutters, As We Looked Back In Regret   

Red Sparowes ‎– Every Red Heart Shines Toward The Red Sun [12", 2LP]

EVERY RED HEART SHINES TOWARD THE RED SUN is the second album by RED SPAROWES, a post-metal band with members of (a.o.) Isis. I only have a few albums of them, but this is definitely my favourite. It's not as heavy as Isis or Neurosis, but just as epic. And completely instrumental. Judging from the (extremely lengthy) song titles, the album is themed around the Great Leap Forward during Mao's reign over China, during which there was a campaign to kill all sparowes in the country because they were considered a pest. But this disturbance of the ecological balance was resulting in locust eating the harvest, and causing a major famine in which at least 20 million people died. Impressive story. The album was released in 2006 and pressed in various colours. My copy is from the second pressing in 2007, when there were 500 made in "clear with gold smoke". It looks great. And sounds great too!

Label: Robotic Empire
Cat.nr.: RBE-065
Year of release: 2006

SIDE A:
01. The Great Leap Forward Poured Down Upon Us One Day Like A Mighty Storm, Suddenly And Furiously Blinding Our Senses
02. We Stood Transfixed In Blank Devotion As Our Leader Spoke To Us, Looking Down On Our Mute Faces With A Great, Raging, And Unseeing Eye

SIDE B:
01. Like The Howling Glory Of The Darkest Winds, This Voice Was Thunderous And The Words Holy, Tangling Their Way Around Our Hearts And Clutching Our Innocent Awe
02. A Message Of Avarice Rained Down And Carried Us Away Into False Dreams Of Endless Riches

SIDE C:
01. "Annihilate The Sparrow, That Stealer Of Seed, And Our Harvests Will Abound; We Will Watch Our Wealth Flood In."
02. And By Our Own Hand Did Every Last Bird Lie Silent In Their Puddles, The Air Barren Of Song As The Clouds Drifted Away. For Killing Their Greatest Enemy, The Locusts Noisily Thanked Us And Turned Their Jaws Toward Our Crops, Swallowing Our Greed Whole

SIDE D:
01. Millions Starved And We Became Skinnier And Skinnier, While Our Leaders Became Fatter And Fatter
02. Finally, As That Blazing Sun Shone Down Upon Us, Did We Know That True Enemy Was The Voice Of Blind Idolatry; And Only Then Did We Begin To Think For Ourselves   

Isis - Panopticon [12", 2LP]

PANOPTICON is to my opinion the best album by the mighty ISIS. On vinyl, it came out both on Trust No One Recordings with the same artwork as the Ipecac CD in the fall of 2004, and on Robotic Empire with alternative artwork a few months later. I have a copy of that version; of the 4th press / 400 on blue, from 2007 to be exact. I could listen to this album for hours in a row without getting bored. Excellent stuff.

Label: Robotic Empire
Cat.nr.: Robo-041
Year of release: 2007 (originally released 2005)

SIDE A:
01. So Did We
02. Backlit

SIDE B:
01. In Fiction
02. Wills Dissolve

SIDE C:
01. Syndic Calls
02. Altered Course

SIDE D:
01. Grinning Mouths

Torche - Meanderthal [12", LP]

I just love this TORCHE album. Not just because the songs are great (Healer being my favourite), but also because of the artwork. MEANDERTHAL comes in a foldout cover. Once you've flipped the clouds on the front to the sides, the following unfolds:

Now that's what i call Artwork with a capital A.
I have two copies of this album; both of the first pressing, but different versions. The first one is clear yellow; 400 copies were made of this.

The second one is the picture disc version. Normally i'm no big fan of picture discs, but this one is simply awesome to look at and fits perfectly with the rest of the package. Of this version they pressed 1000 copies.
The pics below just show the disc, but the picture disc version comes in a cover as well, just like the other versions.

Label: Robotic Empire
Cat.nr.: Robo 072
Year of release: 2008

SIDE A:
01. Triumph Of Venus
02. Grenades
03. Piranha
04. Sandstorm
05. Speed Of The Nail
06. Healer
07. Across The Shields
08. Sundown

SIDE B:
01. Little Champion
02. Without A Sound
03. Fat Waves
04. Amnesian
05. Meanderthal