Holy Grail


Holy Grail, the Los Angeles metal scene's latest screamers for vengeance, are repressing their debut seven-inch, 'Improper Burial,' on white vinyl. The repressing is extremely limited to only 500 copies, which are bound to go faster than illegal substances in prison. The product is available from the band at shows and via the Prosthetic Records webshop. The original pressing was released in late 2009 and featured two originals and two covers.

Modern renaissance man John Strachan, who is the direct sales manager for Prosthetic Records as well as the vocalist for the Funeral Pyre and the owner of his own vinyl imprint, Forest Moon Special Products -- which has released music from Crom, Slough Feg and Despise You -- commented on this limited-edition collectible, telling Noisecreep, "We felt the repress was important to keep some light on the band while they're recording their new record. Getting the band out on the road with this EP will get people excited for their debut. So it just worked out to continue to reprint the wax on this. Plus it gives the fans of the band something to collect at such a young stage for this up and coming band."

White vinyl was chosen because it is optimal for getting "people stoked on adding to their collections. Strachan said, "That's why when we do any new LP release, we make sure to have a decent amount of different colors to get kids wanting to collect their favorite bands LPs. The Skeletonwitch 'Worship the Witch' 10-inch is available in five colors, one of them that you can only get from the band, so it makes people get out to the shows if they really want the limited version!"

Given that Strachan owns and operates his own vinyl imprint, he is an expert on why music fans keep this collector's medium viable, saying, "Vinyl is the best format. The artwork, the wax, the sound, everything about it just makes listening to music so much more enjoyable. You can have a million bands on your iPod, but when you have a nice diverse collection of records, then that's something to be very proud of. Collecting and putting out the wax version for Prosthetic bands just feels good and definitely introduces new audiences to this once-lost format. We're extremely excited about the resurgence of wax."

While some bands do move vinyl quicker than others based on fan demand, that doesn't diminish the label's desire to traffic in vinyl. "When we had our Testament reissues go up, the first 100 orders for both 'The Gathering' and 'Demonic' received the version that was limited to 100 copies. We'll continue to do limited colors so that way kids want to pre-order the record and maybe start checking out new bands that we have on the label as well," Strachan said. Limited colors are just that – limited -- and the label doesn't keep copies "just laying around," even though they get requests for such.

"We tell them, 'Next time you need to be quicker and constantly check the newsletter so that you're up to date,'" Strachan said. "It's always first come first served, and that's the best way to ensure that people will always act quickly on the new releases. Once it's sold out, it's sold out!" And that, kids, is why they call it a collectible/limited-edition item.

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