A couple of bands have come to our attention lately not only because they are releasing excellent music, but they are issuing their records on a cassette tape!

Romanian metallers Negura Bunget and Norwegians 1349 both have announced that they are releasing material on cassette tape – Negura Bunget’s classic album ‘OM‘ and 1349’s new album ‘Massive Cauldron of Chaos‘. We don’t quite understand when and how cassette tapes are making a comeback.

A new metal underground label called Archetapes Industries has specialised in creating cassette tapes for metal bands, bringing back the nostalgia of the early 90’s and the demo tape swap that was prominent during the rise of black metal in Norway and the Bay Area thrash scene. Obviously people are buying these as a whole business exists around the distribution of these tapes.

Maybe tapes are becoming cool again? While it sounds a bit hipster it sort of fits nicely into the metal world – a collectors item, no easy way of copying music, and just generally something that would catch attention on a coffee table or shelf. But playing them would be a bit difficult as tape players have gone out of production in most places around the world.

Is there anybody that has started buying tapes again? We’d love to hear from you and your thoughts!