The Corroseum forum (new design under construction)

as far as I know (maybe i'm wrong) it is true that the letters can be used to identify release date in a way that "later" letter means later release date. BUT I am not sure if the letters are tied to years in such a trivial way.

For Example Death Symbolic 1995 has "K", and should be "J". House Of Spirits - "Psychosphere" has X (1999).

They probabily sometimes had to switch the letter faster than at the turn of the year because they run out of digits in a [LETTER]-#### format. Just a theory.

Yes, my Deicide "Once Upon The Cross" also has K instead of J on matrix and many more examples with previous letter or next letter, but not match exact release date. This is the only unanswered question for me. But, anyway, version that whole Price Killers series was printed in 1990 all together looks not true now.

Well there are some price killers CDs with IFPI codes as well, right?

You are right, but they are definitely later re-presses. Exact the same releases as both Carnivore albums were pressed first time without any IFPI on matrix and with usual clear centre ring.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 1194616313

"only 150 copies were pressed"

This is complete bulls**t, right ?

Helstar wrote:http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 1194616313

"only 150 copies were pressed"

This is complete bulls**t, right ?

It's very difficult pressing 150 copies vs 500, so my best guess is that he omitted a 0 to get more bids.

Back then, this was the usual underground CD that costed below 10 Euros that the band struggled to sell to as many fans it could in order to become more known, and never mentioned or cared about "limited versions" and shit. I don't see any reason this statement to be true. If a band didn't have the money to press at least 500 copies, it would have never even bothered to release a cd album. Words like "cult", "rare collector's item" etc, were quite unknown in the underground heavy/power metal scene of the 90s.
This one specifically was quite easy to buy from the band itself (if I remember well from some distros as well) for quite some time.

PS. It's not part of the question, but i.m.o. the music content itself is from average to fairly good.

an somebody help me with this one and give me any information about this pressing? First of all, is it legit haha?

Ok, the more I dig, the more I get confused.
I have a fair amount of Roadrunner/ Roadracers cd's and would like to verify some things.

First of all I would like to know the difference between the pressing factories.
There's Sonopress, Disctronics (H) and Pilz.
Sonopress- Gütersloh/ Bielefeld
Disctronics (H)- Huntsville/ Alabama
Pilz- Kranzberg/ Munich

I would like to know if this information is correct.
Next I would like to know if these pressingplants were meant to serve different markets. For example; Pilz- Eastern Europe/ Sonopress- Western Europe/ Distronics-US? Is this correct?

Now let's move on to this pic:



The upper matrix is from my Roadrunner 1987 Toxik- World Circus copy.
The matrix below is from my Roadracer 1988 Realm- Endless War copy.
Realm is a genuine copy, simply because I bought it when it was released.

I guess looking at the shape of the letters, the Toxik cd (upper) is counterfeit?
Does anybody know when Sonopress moved from the "digital" type of letters to the more round shaped ones? I have a Michael Lee Firkins 1990 original Roadrunner cd with different looking Sonopress shape.

All input welcome and much appreciated.
Please don't be harsh on me, I'm learning

Yes that World Circus matrix does not look genuine. If I remember well it the cd should have also the code RR 95722 in the upper side, while the original has a space between the two 2, check it.

I don't think I understood well your question about the pressing plants... there is no connection between them and a specific area distribution.

Thank you for replying.
Yes, my World Circus carries this code : RR 95722/ not RR 9572 2.
So this would be the second proof of being a bootleg?

Concerning the pressing plants, I would indeed like to know if the different pressing plants had their own distribution areas.

So a Disctronic pressed Roadrunner cd could initially have been distributed in Western Europe, while a Sonopress copy could have been distributed in the US?

MetalDelight wrote:Thank you for replying.
Yes, my World Circus carries this code : RR 95722/ not RR 9572 2.
So this would be the second proof of being a bootleg?

The matrix area was enough on it's own, this was probably more of a hint when looking to replace the bootleg with the original. Easier to check that detail than asking to see a matrix photo.

MetalDelight wrote:Concerning the pressing plants, I would indeed like to know if the different pressing plants had their own distribution areas.

The ones made in the US were probably sold in America, and the ones made in Europe were probably sold in Europe. There would hardly have been a distinction over Western and Eastern Europe, they probably used the plant that gave them the best deal for that specific press.

Don't know the pattern behind their distribution and pressings, but most of my Roadrunner/roadracer releases from that era are either Sonopress (most) or Pilz. I live in Denmark, and as far as I remember, I bought all of them locally.

Warepire wrote: The ones made in the US were probably sold in America, and the ones made in Europe were probably sold in Europe. There would hardly have been a distinction over Western and Eastern Europe, they probably used the plant that gave them the best deal for that specific press.

You say probably so this is a guess?
I would really like to know for sure because it answers questions.

rooster wrote:an somebody help me with this one and give me any information about this pressing? First of all, is it legit haha?

Yes it is legit, pressed by the Sonopress US branch. Not the first press probably though, as this factory started pressing CDs in 1991 AFAIK.