Phoenix Bodies/Raein Split (Color) vinyl on Init Records is a U.S. pressing of a split 7-inch that originated overseas with Germany’s Crucificados Pelo Sistema label, combining an Indiana hardcore act with a European counterpart and finally making this record accessible to American collectors without the import markup or the usual wait.
Phoenix Bodies/Raein Split (Color) vinyl: The Import Problem Solved
The Crucificados Pelo Sistema pressing was a German release, which meant American collectors had to go through import channels to get their hands on it. Import 7-inches from small European labels have a specific friction: they exist, collectors know about them, but getting a clean copy without paying significant import markup requires patience or luck. Init Records addressed that gap with a dedicated U.S. pressing, which is exactly what a record like this needed. The domestic pressing makes the split accessible to the American hardcore community without the overhead, and the color vinyl configuration signals that Init treated this as a collector release from the start rather than a utility pressing.
The Split Format and the Two Bands
Split 7-inches serve a specific purpose in the hardcore and punk community: they document a moment of mutual respect between two bands, give each act a side of vinyl, and produce a record that is more about the relationship between the two artists than either one’s individual catalog. Phoenix Bodies came out of Indiana and operated in the heavier, more aggressive end of hardcore. Raein brought a European perspective that overlapped with the post-hardcore and screamo traditions. The combination on a single 7-inch made sense because both bands were working in adjacent spaces with compatible energy and a shared sense of what hardcore could do.
For the Hardcore Collector
Init’s decision to press in color confirms the intended audience is the hardcore collector who tracks splits carefully and wants the physical object as well as the music. For anyone collecting Phoenix Bodies, Raein, or the broader American and European hardcore split tradition, this U.S. color pressing is the correct version to own.
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