Vaults of Madness (Inside the world of the Metal merch collector)
Bucking the trend of modern music, the Metal genre continues to stick to the Left Hand Path of society, with bands and labels big and small creating a continuous supply of physical music, and a stash of super cool band merch, which is seemingly never out of demand.
Like those into the classic tape trading days of the 80s, there is still a fiercely dedicated section of the Metal community who supports the scene by passionately collecting all manner of physical merch, be it a high quality limited release splatter vinyl by a top tier metal band, all the way through to small run of hand numbered cassettes sold by an unsigned artist out of their bedroom.
These collectors are the lifeblood for many bands, offering unbelievable support to their artistic expressions through purchases and social media promotion, whilst also ensuring the longevity of the scene by collecting and showcasing physical items.
This series by Steve O’Brien from Aussie underground Death Thrash band Aeons Abyss, will feature interviews with Metal Merch collectors, who will tell the tales of their collection, highlighting prized items and recounting episodes of endurance and lunacy that enabled them to stock their very own Vault of Madness.
Metal Vaults Collection No 8 – Sigmar from Brazil (the biggest Sodom fan alive!)
It’s not often that you are given the title “biggest fan” by a band. But this was the case for Sigmar from Brazil, who was recognised by the mighty German Thrash legends, Sodom, for his undying loyalty over many years.Sigmar took some time to tell Steve from Aeons Abyss and Noob Heavy about his amazing…
Metal Vaults Collection No 7 – Ivan (thrashing_freak) from Spain
Introduce yourself and how you first got into Metal Hello Steve, what´s up? First off, I would like to thank you for this interview, I greatly appreciate it! My actual name is Ivan, I´m from Spain and I started collecting music at the very young age of twelve in the late nineties; a madness that…
Metal Vaults Collection No 6 – Kevin Casper, from North Carolina, United States
Introduce yourself and how you first got into Metal Hey! My name is Kevin Casper. I live in New Bern NC USA. I first got into metal at a young age, the first band i was into was Metallica because my older brother was a fan. Then my dad showed me bands like Black Sabbath,…
Metal Vaults Collection No 5 – George “Distort Collector”, from Colombia / Chile
Introduce yourself and how you first got into Metal Hey Steve*, thanks for the interview, my name is George also known as Distort Collector, I´m from Colombia, South America but I currently live in Chile. I started out listening to Classic Rock when I was a small child back in the 80’s. My family and…
Metal Vaults Collection No 4 – Marc G with a C, from the UK
Hello! My name is Marc & I am a heavy metal addict, for which there is no cure! I have been an addict for over 30 years now! I have my own YouTube channel ‘Marc G with a C’ where I talk about all things heavy metal! I also play guitar in the U.K. Death/Doom…
Metal Vaults Collection No 3 – Liam ‘The Death Doom Metalhead’ from Norfolk, UK
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…
Metal Vault Collection No 2 – Dylan Clark Arkansas, USA
I’m Dylan Clark from central Arkansas (Ark-an-saw), USA. I am a younger guy, as far as collectors go. I was born in ’92 so my first memory of collecting was begging my mom for AC/DC Back in Black, and Metallica Black album at a very young age. So maybe like 1998? I still have those…
Metal Vault Collection No 1 – Don from Minnesota, USA
My name is Don and I’m from Minnesota in the United States. I started collecting heavy metal memorabilia in the early 1980s.