King's X 2015 Upcoming Vinyl & CD Re-Issues

My vinyl reissues are scheduled to arrive today except Out Of The Silent Planet, which Amazon USA has now changed to an available date of 1/23/17 Which is a bummer because that's the one I wanted to hear the most.

Those of you who have these already - where did you purchase them from?

 

Listening to self titled right now. Sounds good and songs are way better than I remembered them (I was not a fan upon release..maybe I was having a bad hair day.) I will say this though - I purchased all the latest vinyl reissues and they are really scuffed up right out of the shrink. Just sayin'

 

^^^Ok....my Out Of The Silent Planet vinyl arrived a day after the rest of my order and same deal.... but worse. This LP is nothing shy of beat to hell. Scuffs and scratches all over the vinyl. I am really ticked off. I wouldn't care if it sounded good, but it's loaded with snap, crackle and pop. Certain areas even have dimples or impressions in the vinyl.

Shame...because the Gretchen and Faith vinyl reissues where fantastic. But the latest ones for me have been an exercise in lack of quality control. Sorry, I know some of you are happy with what you received but that has not been my experience.

 

Any clue in the dead wax who pressed them? United...GZ.... I was going to place an order but I am holding off now. Thanks.

 

I will check and report back when I get home from work. I don't want to create hysteria, because others seem to be happy with the pressings they received, but I felt it was worthwhile to mention my experience which has been consistently bad across all these new vinyl releases. The debut being the absolute worst.

 

United Record Pressing in Nashville is manufacturing the LPs. This is according to the band's website. One of the United press operators chimed in under the announcement for the records.

 

Well....that could explain it. A crapshoot at best.

 

Yep. I'm so torn. My (excellent) reissue vinyl of Gretchen Goes To Nebraska is just pleading for some company, but the whole crap shoot aspect of United vinyl is making me wary. I'm happy with my CD copies of Faith, Hope, Love and King's X, so I don't feel the need to get the LPs. But the debut and Ear Candy could use a better mastering, and I'm wondering if the vinyl will address the sonic shortcomings of those two albums.

I have an original pressing of Out Of The Silent Planet, but there is some sibilance problems with that one.

 

I got the two i ordered Dogman & Ear candy saturday from bullmoose , Played Dogman already , there is a few clicks & pops here & there but nothing terrible ............. Love the sound of it & i agree with the earlier review it just sounds like it was made for vinyl , nice stereo separation & some good warm punch in the low end , Really happy to have this as a double lp !!

 

Please give some feedback vis a vis Ear Candy once you've given it a spin. It would be much appreciated.

 

Interesting! I thought the same thing about the reissue that was released this past Friday. Dug's "essess" are really harsh - the worst example is the final track "Visions." I compared it to the original CD and it too has its share of hard "essess" but not as bad as the LP.

 

Anyone know what WG/NRP in the deadwax means? At least, I think that's what the inscription says.

 

Spun it last night , the actual mastering & sound is really nice , i like the stereo separation on these lps , that said the actual pressing is a bit noisy in spots & lp #1 has a decent warp but plays okay , i alos have to sand down the edges of the lp's ad they are jagged .............. seems to happen to me about every other lp i buy from metal blade , i wish they'd press their stuff somewhere else .....
So sound i'm happy with , pressing quality at least for me is middle of the road ....

 

In addition to other pressing issues, I too had the jagged edges on most of these new King X lps.

 

What a drag , i have had similar problems with mercyful fate & king diamond re-issues from Metal blade as well ......

 

I was listening to the S/T vinyl yesterday and thought Doug's sibilants were a bit more jarring than I recall. Particularly during the 3rd track, "The Big Picture." Found my original 1992 CD and lo and behold - same deal!

 

Last week, I took the plunge and ordered the Ear Candy LP set from amazon.com, and it arrived yesterday (along with Opeth/Orchid). Following a proper cleaning I gave the vinyl a first listen. It wasn't long until I had a smile--denoting my pleasant surprise--upon my face. Why?

First, the records were dead flat and suffered from no non-fill issues. Also, groove noise, ticks, pops and clicks were low in level and un-intrusive. Judging by my copy, United Record Pressing has possibly upped their game. (Or maybe I just got lucky.)

Second, the music of this album benefited from this new mastering. I've never been a fan of the mushy sound of the CD. Ear Candy has a dense mix, and the compression applied to the original CD didn't do the music any favors. But now, with these LPs, life has been restored and the music resurrected. Doug Pinnick's bass has some real low end heft, and it provides the fitting foundation this music requires. The drums have a bit more pop to them, and the soundstage has gained width and depth. Also, little details previously obscured in the sonic mush of the CD revealed themselves. All-in-all, I'm glad I bought this.

My only criticism is the artwork is obviously blown up from the CD. Hence, the cover art has an out-of-focus look to it that comes off cheap despite the vibrant color. Oh well, I guess the original elements used back in the 90s are M.I.A.

In any case, I now find myself tempted to take another dip in the King's X new vinyl pool. Both Out Of The Silent Planet and Dogman are calling my name. Hmmm.

 

After a thorough cleaning, I listened to my copy of Dogman today. As with Ear Candy, the LPs were dead flat and almost dead silent, and the music sounded huge. What an immense living, breathing beast this Dogman be. Ty Tabor's guitars have that blend of body and bite which melds quite well with the thunderous sound of Doug Pinnick's bass. All of this is conveyed to wonderful effect via these records. Love it.

 

Holy Crap! Dogman is 43 Eur on amazon and 56 Eur on jpc...... I'M OUT.

 

On Sunday, I picked up another one of the King's X vinyl reissues at Amoeba. I went with Out Of The Silent Planet this time. I own both the original CD and original vinyl. That LP has a fair amount of sibilance on several of the tracks, and I was hoping the new record would improve on that and on the threadbare sound of the compact disc.

Well, as far as the sound of the music goes this new reissue is a winner. Doug Pinnick's bass has some actual presence and heft, and the soundstage is opened up in both width and depth. The sound balance is warm and organic--something I cannot say about my other copies of this album. As for the sibilance, it became obvious to me while I was listening to this new vinyl version that the mastering engineer did his best to try and tame Doug's hot Ssss. He was mostly successful in that this double vinyl set suffers far less from this phenomena than the original LP. So overall, I'm pleased with the sound of the music via these 180 gram slabs.

However, unlike my three other King's X vinyl reissues (Gretchen Goes To Nebraska, Dogman and Ear Candy), my copy of Out Of The Silent Planet was a bit too noisy. There weren't any non-fill spots, and the records were flat as a board. But the noise was a bit intrusive at times despite a thorough washing in my Audio Desk Pro. Hopefully, the noise level will lessen with more exposures to the stylus.

 

Crappy pressing alright. I gave up after returning two copies of Gretchen. FHL was just about ok (2nd copy) but I was so sick of the crap United pressings I didn`t bother sending it back. (Oddbanana from whom I bought stuff before with no issues were more than useless when I tried to return the lp`s. I had to get eBay to step in and even after that they did not refund my postage - gits). I really want the recent releases, Dogman etc. but the fear of buying from the US only to get another recylcled bin liner from United does not appeal to me :-(. Perhaps they will get an EU release pressed at Optimal/Record Industry etc. You know, from folks who can make records properly!!!

 

Yeah - same experience as me unfortunately. Oddly enough, there are some on this thread that reported receiving great pressings of the latest Kings X vinyl, so they must be out there somewhere. Problem is, there does not seem to be any rhyme or reason - simply luck of the draw. I settled on OOTSP but in hindsight I should not have - I doubt I will ever listen to it again, the flaws do not make for an enjoyable listening experience and these new LPs are too pricey to accept that.

 

I posted on Metal Blade`s Arsebook page earlier re: bad quality pressings - and can we have EU versions pressed at Record Industry etc. but the post didn`t appear as it was "awaiting approval from admins" or summit. The original self-titled, despite being shoehorned on to one disc sounds great and I have minty originals for the others (which are also superb - German issues/Alsdorf in the deadwax - always a sign of quality in my experience) but, Dogman I really want but I don`t think I`m going to chance it :-(.

 

Bolded comments are mine, to add some context.

It really is a shame because I agree with you about the sound quality in regards to OOTSP - it really does sound nice and to your point - much warmer with a wider soundstage than the original. Like you, my pressing sounds like a used record from 35 years ago - it really is that noisy. I am not one to complain about the anomalies of vinyl, but this one is really distracting.

I am glad you mentioned the sibilance. I hadn't listened to this recording in a long, long time and when I heard Dug's "ssssss" on "Visions", let's just say it was the type of thing that makes you futz with your tracking force all night! Luckily, cooler heads prevailed and I compared it to the CD and discovered it is the way it was recorded and not a tracking or pressing issue.

JQ

 

So I bit the bullet and chanced buying Dogman, S/T & Ear Candy. Worked out at just over £60stg for the three as postage was free from the US to the UK (proxy to Ireland from there for about £3). Not a bad price so here`s hoping I don`t recieve typical United pressings!!! From this seller: all_your_music on eBay