I honestly can’t believe it. Sometimes things just break your way and you end up working on something way out of your league. If you told me this was getting done on like Relapse or something, I’d believe it. Unreal that this rinky-dink lil label get to literally put out BODIES IN THE GEARS OF THE APPARATUS! You know the vibes!
I’ll pretend that this one needs an introduction. BITGOTA were like, the band that your friends older brother listened to that were just way too cool and kind of intimidating. I literally never felt cool enough to listen to BITGOTA, and I was in Florida at the time haha. Just absolute FL royalty. The coolest aesthetic, and air of mystery. Just fucked up grinds of inquisitive minds.
There have always been death/grind bands in a similar vein (Maruta, TYAG, etc) but BITGOTA just had that “edge” – just over the top in every way. This album is a mis of their demo material, a few new songs, a cover and like, 5 minutes of samples. Its peak MySpace style grind. It checks every box. It’s cheesy in the best way. Talking with Josh about it a decade later, he (understandably) thinks its kind of corny, but the whole thing as an ode to the puberty-addled minds of young boys. It’s a coming-of-age grind album, and the lyrics are representative of that. DO you remember all the naked ladies in the OG layout? Who doesn’t like their grind a little ham-fisted!
But it was the perfect album at the perfect time. And then in true badass fashion they threw in the towel, and basically remade the band as Success Will Write Apocalypse Across The Sky (who you might be familiar with, haha).
Simian Hybrid Prototype is just such a culture classic. It’s short, abrasive, terribly recorded, filled with samples, and EVERYONE knows it. It was a bright flame that burned hot enough to get them some notoriety and a split with Despised Icon on Relapse. I mean SWWAATS ended up on Nuclear Blast if that says anyting to the BITGOTA project.
I love how disjointed and unrelenting this album is. Its all the best parts of grind with amazingly dynamic vocals that put it over the top. It’s everything I like to do here at WV because it is CRIMINAL that this doesn’t have a vinyl release. And speaking of, here’s what went into that! Buckle up!
Audio was the biggest sticking point on this. If you’ve ever listened to this album, you can tell it was two sessions/bodies of material stitched together. It’s *disjointed*. Zach really had his work cut out for him. And I think short of like, re-tracking everything, it can’t be any better., I’m thrilled with how clean and balanced this sounds now. It’s really taken a lot of the edge off. This release wouldn’t be possible without the hours zach put into this, you’re going to dig it. And yes, all the samples have been preserved and cleared!
The audio, inserts, content, everything on this release I’m so happy with. But the big this is this HUGE art piece by THEEliran Kantor. You might recognize his work from the likes of Testament, Venom Prison, Thy Art is Murder and so so so many more. It’s 100% the most expensive piece I’ve ever commissioned, and I think BITGOTA needed something like this. IN typical WV fashion, I wanted to go with opulence and some dramatic irony. I think there is nothing funnier than taking one of the most digital works or art ever (I mean, OG art is so early 200s it hurts) and transposing that in to something regal and hand painted. I think the juxtaposition really works – it matures it, and makes it seem more serious in the 2020s here. A lot of the digital elements have been reimagined throughout the layout as well. It was months in the making, and I think Kantor did such an insane job of keeping the vibe and recognizability of the original. Like, it immediately evokes BITGOTA but then you kind of get lost in the details and realize its something completely different. Obsessed.
It's my goal to always try and push the presentation and art boundaries on these. I think having literally Kantor take a break from doing paintings for Hatebreed and Incantation and the like to do a sprawling layout for a 300 piece vinyl run is just so insane to me. I think this and like, KOTA/MAHCIU/etc really just embody the WV ethos. I love having WV at a point where I can spend this much on art and records because I figure there are at least 300 people who won’t mind a $55 single sided, 18 minute LP haha. Its just so ridiculous.
Speaking of, yes, $55 is the price. Prorating the art into the unit price at 300 units really jumped the price up. It’s almost $20 a unit just in art cost on top of everything else. Plus, the band had a number in mind that they wanted to make for this to be worth it for them. So either do more units (no) or charge more per unit (yes). Next insta will be back to normal range. I just like the flexibility to go big on things when it is required! You’re going to dig it!
This one-time pressing is limited to 305 copies across five variants:
50 Sigmian Sigbrid Sigrotype (Wax Vessel Signature)
50 Big, Bad, Mean and Nasty (Wax Vessel Signature)
50 17 Splatters and None of Them Black (Wax Vessel Signature)
50 Throat Slit Splatter
100 Love Affair
5 Golden Mage
All of this housed in:
1.5x thickness Matte single pocket jackets
Double sided matte full color insert
Black polylined innersleeves
Gold foil numbering
Stuffed into polybags
So there it is! Cat is out of the bag! Dreams do come true! These should be in hand in the next week, so orders will go live on June 20th at 1:00pm CST. In hand and shipping immediately! Insta season continues!
Orders go live Monday, June 20th at 1:00pm CST and will be shipping immediately!
