Mere Phantoms “Famine For A Slow Death” 12" The Mere Phantoms record release show is next Saturday night (Feb. 6), and the final touch before sending them off is screen-printing the B-sides. This LP is seven tracks of grinding metallic punk analyzing want, desperation, and blight in the face of hoarded and exploited abundance. “Music for the pillars and workers of the gears.” Mere Phantoms play hardcore with politically and socially conscious lyrics, and on "Famine For a Slow Death" are conceptually in line with the best elements of 90's hardcore, but through a sonic filter akin to Orchid, Catharsis, or Thou. Featuring Aaron Vilk (Nyodene D) and other secret commies from the Rustbelt. I love putting out records for bands I respect and enjoy, and I love making sure those records aren’t some run of the mill, forgettable thing mass-produced for the vinyl revival crowd. But I also try to make sure my releases aren’t needlessly rare (obscure for the sake of being obscure), or over-complicated “diehard” editions with superficial shit added. They’re records (and sometimes tapes, considering the current plant turnaround times). They’re for listening to, and maybe, if you’re an obsessive moron like me, buying multiple copies of and posting of those different copies next to eachother for some reason I still don’t understand. So, basically, Mere Phantoms are a great fucking band, and I hope you enjoy this album as much as I do. They worked really hard on it, and then I took a long time to get physical copies of it to them, which sometimes felt like hard work, but was mostly just me being stubborn and wanting to hand-make covers and screen LPs at home. Do it yourself. Always. @merephantoms @nyodened