Metal Vaults Collection, where metalheads share their physical media collections. Submissions go to aeonsabyss@gmail.com
Introduce yourself and how you first got into Metal
Hello everyone, to most I’m known as Liam or if you follow me on social media most refer to me as ‘The Death Doom Metalhead’. I live in the UK in the county of Norfolk which is located on the east coast of England. My journey into the metal world of music started around the year 2000 with the rise of the nu metal movement. Bands like Korn & Rammstein were big staples of me growing into a metal head and it’s just got heavier and heavier as the years have gone by!
Tell Noob Heavy about your collection
My collection is mainly made up of death metal, doom metal and everything else in between. As you might have guessed with my social media name, I’m a big fan of death/doom and it’s a sub-genre that has really clicked with me for a very long time. I collect anything if I can have a physical copy of the album be it tape, vinyl & CD. I was a digital streamer/mp3 user, so I’ve been playing catch up on what I’ve listened to in some cases for years. Space wise I have my humble man cave in the middle of the family house. This is my place to hide away and be me, the walls are covered in posters, notes from bands/friends as well as my place to write music when inspiration hits.
What was your trigger to start collecting?
Music has always been apart of me since I was a young child, my parents ‘mainly my mother’ would always play the latest pop albums and ones from her youth. Birthdays I would usually receive some CDs of bands I liked and as I got older, I started seeking out certain albums myself or ones recommended to me from friends from school. When mp3 became a thing that was my gateway to finding bands I would never have found physically and helped with the lack of space and lack of money. Fast forward and I’m now buying everything I listened to digitally for years in any physical format I can find.
How do you manage your collection?
My collection is separated into sections, one side of the room is CD’s, records are on the main wall and cassettes are littered around my desk. I have a lot of music DVD’s as well as books about certain musicians/styles of metal as well. Everything is alphabetical and I use Discogs to keep track of everything I have in their own sub folders of format.
What is your most valued item, and does it have a story?
I have the first album from Solitude Aeturnus ‘Into the Depths of Sorrow’ on the original Roadracer Records LP from 91. That’s my most valuable item in terms of cost but I have cd’s that were gifted to me by some of my musical heroes. I have the latest album from the band ‘Godthrymm’ which is masterminded by Hamish Glencross who was a guitarist for My Dying Bride for a number of years. Having played a few shows as support for his band I was able to strike up a friendship with him and being given that album by him was a proud moment for me. My Dying Bride were a big influence on me and the albums he featured
on/wrote on were the reason I’m such a big fan of doom and death metal today.
Which item in your collection has your favourite artwork?
I like albums that go to town on the artwork, anything Mark Riddick wise usually gets my attention or something that makes use of the space. My mind changes from week to week but for this interview I’ve gone with Afsky ‘Ofte Jeg Drommer Mig Dod’. This cover without hearing a single note will tell you it’s going to be dark/miserable and full of emotion.
What item has the craziest backstory and how did it come to be in your possession?
I have a CD which I came into possession for simply knowing of the band. I was at a Blood Red Throne show in a very quiet town called ‘Peterborough’. This isn’t a well gigged area, nor a place you see many ‘if any’ international touring bands. It’s about an hour drive from me and when I saw they were playing I was surprised but couldn’t resist going. The show had hardly anyone there and it was on a Sunday night, so nothing was going to happen afterwards. I was talking to the band after their set as the place was so small and I happened to mention to Dod ‘the main songwriter and only original member’ that I was a fan of his side project ‘ZeroZonic’. Without hesitating he jumped up and found a copy of their latest album and handed it to me free of charge. Not an easy one to find as I don’t believe it ever got a label behind it.
What is your Holy Grail?
There are always albums I want, and I guess any collector will have a list as long as his/her arm for this question. For me it has and sadly still is trying to obtain a copy of Solitude Aeturnus ‘Beyond the Crimson Horizon’ on LP. This has evaded me for some time and even the CD copy goes for silly money. I hear some people find it randomly very cheaply but usually if one comes up online it goes into the 3-figure mark very quickly.
Why do you think it’s important to collect physical media and metal merch?
I see collecting physical media as a way of archiving all the great music I listen to so in the future my children understand the importance of supporting artists and the arts in general. Music is such a massive part of my life and if I’m at a gig I always want some merch and with bands churning out so much underground music it’s a great way to keep them afloat if they haven’t got the help of a major label.
How can people follow you on Social Media, and see your collection?
I’m a regular user of Instagram under the name ‘the_death_doom_metalhead‘ and usually post the albums I’m spinning or the odd guitar video if I’ve been in the mood to share some riffs. Facebook you can also find me as @thedeathdoommetalhead and I have the YouTube channel name *you guessed it* ‘The Death Doom MetalHead’.
What inspired you to start your own YouTube channel for your Metal collection?
With working from home, a lot, I found that I was watching YouTube a lot to keep me from getting bored as I was sat in front of a computer for 7 hours a day. I started to notice the Vinyl/Music community more and more and found I really enjoyed the personal touch of people showing albums and how honest it felt. This made me want to seek out new music and seeing the albums in their hands made it feel that I should have them to. After a while I found that a lot of channels were not showing the doomier death stuff I like, especially from lesser known bands. That in turn gave me the idea to start my own channel as well as use it as a space to promote my bands name. I enjoy all genres of metal ‘mostly’ and I have found a wealth of knowledge from others and it’s helped me grow musically opening doors to genres I never gave much time to.
Tell us a little about your band Consecration, and where can people check out your tunes?
Consecration was formed around 2010 in the hope of bringing doom/death to the city of Norwich where we were all from. The scene back then consisted mostly of thrash and groove-based death metal bands and we saw an opportunity to bring something different to the scene. In our time together we have put out 1 ep and 2 full lengths. In 2020 we finished recording our 3rd full length and at the time of writing this it’s out to labels to hopefully be released sometime this year. If you’re a fan of early My Dying Bride, Morbid Angel & Decomposed then you’ll get what it’s all about. Links can be found for everything using the following website: http://www.consecrationdoom.com/
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