12 Heavy Metal Vinyl Releases To Pick Up at Phoenix Record Stores on Black Friday

I have personal issues with Black Friday.

I just don't get it. Why would you leave your house after a perfectly good day of football and feasting to embark on a wild goose chase for yet another flat-screen television or deep fryer, no matter how deeply discounted they are? Rabid consumers, zombified from food comas, feeding into the frenzy of heightened commercialism -- and before you know it you're bulldozing an 89-year-old woman for a $3 copy of 22 Jump Street.

Isn't the concept just everything that the holiday of "good tidings" stands against?

See also: 11 Best Places to Hear Music in Phoenix

Maybe it's because I don't like shopping. I prefer to spend my money on concert tickets, whiskey, travel, and vinyl records. I seem to never be able to pass up heavy metal vinyl in particular (although I've discovered that there is such a thing as music that's too heavy for vinyl -- Burzum, I'm talking to you).

So almost all music sounds better on vinyl. But there's something about heavy metal on vinyl -- and it's not just the backwards Satanic messages talking.

The crunchy distortion of the guitars on Dogman's "King's X" becomes clear as crystal -- a style that went on to inspire Pantera's Dimebag Darrell. The layers of percussion, strings and thrashy vocals on such tracks as Exodus' "Blacklist" show fantastic transition between sludgy tones to articulated riffs. The gravelly descent on Metallica's "For Whom the Bell Tolls."

So on that note, there might be one thing to get me out of the house on Black Friday: when you slap the words Record Store in front of it.

"Back to Black" Friday is an event created by the organization behind Record Store Day, offering an array of limited-edition vinyl and exclusive releases for music nerds everywhere throughout the country.

Plus, the whole point is to redirect the focus on the traditional psychotic Black Friday, an even created by large corporate retailers to promote mass-produced items at a discount. "Back to Black" Friday flips this concept, celebrating artful limited edition vinyls, as well as the awesome indie record stores that carry the music. It's like early Christmas gifts with all the treats and surprises

While the folks behind National Record Store Day make it clear that not all stores will stock all releases offered and that, obviously, some may sell out, you're sure to find some musical gems.

According to the official Record Store day site, Valley record stores participating include Asylum Records, Revolver Records, Stinkweeds, Record High, Record Revival, all Zia Records locations, Tracks in Wax and the Record Room.

We've compiled 12 of the coolest heavy metal (give or take) releases from this Friday's event. Find the entire list here. See them all on the next page.

The Acacia Strain - The Dead Walk (12-inch "piggy pink" vinyl)

Faith No More - Motherfucker (seven-inch)

Fantômas - Wunderkammer" (vinyl box set) All of the bands albums on vinyl with Mike Patton's bonus demo cassette

Five Finger Death Punch - Purgatory (12-inch picture disc)

Jimi Hendrix - Hear My Music (12-inch) with unreleased studio recordings from 1969.

Joe Satriani - Joe Satriani EP (12-inch)

Judas Priest - 5 Souls (10-inch red-colored vinyl)

Korn - Korn (two 12-inch Records), with the fourth side to feature laser etching, coke-bottle clear vinyl randomly inserted. And "The Paradigm Shift" (12-inch picture disc), a deluxe edition with expanded artwork and exclusive bonus track.

Mastodon - The Motherload (12-inch picture disc)

Metallica - Lords Of Summer (12-inch)

Ronnie James Dio/Dio & Friends - Dio and Friends Stand Up and Shout For Cancer (12-inch)

Velvet Underground - Live MXMXCIII ( 12-inch)

Happy heavy metal hunting.

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