Rator "Possessed"

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Rator. Another legendary band from Malaysia. Who a metalhead from Malaysia would not know what band this is, right? Would any metalhead from Malaysia wear any shirt with the band's name printed on it? I would.

Now Rator is known to be one of the first band which came up from Klang Valley area in Peninsular Malaysia. The metalheads from Petaling Jaya would proudly claim that Rator are their "O.G." or "otai" (yes that's the local Malaysian slang for the word of the same meaning as O.G.) from their area, as a few of the band members or former members lived in Kampung Medan, Petaling Jaya during their early years.

According to my sources, their existence dates back as early as in 1987. For further reading regarding the history of this Malaysian band, just click here, although it is written in Bahasa Malaysia. For their information at the Encyclopedia Metallum, click here.

Now this shirt here I first saw at the old Nebiula Heavy Metal Shop which used to belong to Sil Khannaz frontman Jaie. This could not have been a bootleg right? But hey, should this shirt here be bootlegged, don't blame the people for making and buying it. As a legendary band they should realised that their merchandise will always have their buyers

If this shirt was bootlegged too, the band should then be responsible for handling their own merchandise and not disappear into thin air right after the release of their first and/or one and only album "Possessed" which was released in 2008.

Since I have never heard about the issues on whether this shirt is bootleg or not, I would like to consider this shirt as official merchandise from the band. This shirt design is the only shirt I saw mass-produced from/for the band too. Whoever produced this, I don't know and I really don't care. All I cared is that as long as I have a Rator shirt in my closet. That's it.

This shirt was released about the same time during the released of Rator's aforementioned one and only album, "Possessed" in the year 2008. The album's cover is used as the front design of this shirt. Ever since this shirt was first printed that year, it has since became an iconic shirt for Rator nowadays and is still selling well among metalheads.

BASIC INFO

Shirt: Rator "Possessed"

Category: Local Malaysian band t-shirt

Subject Origin: Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

Condition: 9.5/10

Back print: yes

Long sleeve: no

Sleeves print: no

Shirt status: original, released by local Malaysian label

Printing ink and method: rubber dye, silk screen

Blackfire "Blackfire"

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Blackfire (sometimes spelled Black Fire) claims to be the first ever metal band from Malaysia. They play a brand of heavy metal with religious themes from a dark-tinted perspective. I met a few people who interpreted the lyrics by this band to be religious... but this is not white metal. Call it what ever you like but they are not white metal in my opinion.

So what do you do when you walked into a metal store for the first time and saw a shirt of a legendary band from your country up for sale? Of course you buy it knowing that it has a aesthetic value. I even made sure this was not bootlegged too.

One interesting note for me is that the first metal band from Malaysia also comes from Malaysia's smallest state, Perlis.

Formed in 1982 as Metal Ghost, the band changed their name to Blackfire two years later it took them 24 years to finally record a material and the result was their full length album "Lahir Dari Api" released in 2006 and it is their only album to date. Better late than never, I guess.

Why is this band legendary if they never recorded anything? Well, according to Encyclopedia Metallum who had this little info on the website's page on Blackfire:

...their songs had never been recorded in studio until recently. However, they were already known from so many performances in rock festivals and gigs around Malaysia in the 80's.

The design of this shirt looks simple but hey, if it is Blackfire, I am definitely showing my support for the band plus I am just glad to have this shirt in my collection. If I am not mistaken, this shirt was released to accompany the release of their 2006 album to date. Correct me if I am wrong in the comments section below please.

One the back of this shirt are excerpts of lyrics to the song (or more like song and album intro) "Lahirnya Dari Api" found in their one and only album released in 2006.

BASIC INFO

Shirt: Blackfire "Blackfire"

Category: Local Malaysian band t-shirt

Subject Origin: Kangar, Perlis, Malaysia

Condition: 8/10

Back print: yes

Long sleeve: no

Sleeves print: no

Shirt status: original, released by local Malaysian label

Printing ink and method: rubber dye, silk screen

Thornspawn "Thornspawn"

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It is not often that we here in Malaysia get shirts released by underground bands from the land far, far way like the United States and if we do, they're probably made available from a label/ an individual based locally here or in neighbouring country like Indonesia or Thailand.

I saw this shirt during my last visit to Kedah, one of the Malaysian states located in Peninsular Malaysia earlier this year. I was really excited to get a hold of this shirt... but there is just one thing; I do not have any CD or physical release by this band during the time. Only later this year then I bought this shirt when I bought their 2002 album "Wrath of War". 

The ink used for this shirt is of gold coloured rubber dye and yes, for some unknown reason to myself, when its gold and printed on something black I just can't help but to fall in love with it. Gold on black just seems so right and beautiful, like this shirt here.

This shirt here is not really specifically based on any other physical audio release by the band and in my opinion, anyone who have any release by the band can buy and wear this shirt. Apart from the band's logo, nothing else is written on this shirt.

According to Encyclopedia Metallum, this band Thornspawn is based in San Antonio, Texas, USA, So far up to the point of writing this, they had not released any album since the year 2007 but have been actively releasing splits physical audio releases since that year up to three years ago in 2013.

BASIC INFO

Shirt: Thornspawn "Thornspawn"

Category: North American underground band t-shirt

Subject Origin: San Antonio, Texas, United States of America

Condition: 9/10

Back print: yes

Long sleeve: no

Sleeves print: no

Shirt status: original, released by local Malaysian label

Printing ink and method: rubber dye, silk screen