Walk into any bin of early-2000s rock and you'll trip over this one. The 2002 reissue of Veni Vidi Vicious sold by the truckload after the band finally broke, which means there's a copy in every milk crate from Brunswick to Bunbury — most of them a bit scuffed, none of them mentioning that a better version exists.
Because it does. There's a copy of this record worth owning, and it isn't necessarily the one squinting up at you from the two-dollar bin.
Released to a shrug in 2000. Reissued to a stampede in 2002. The disc you grab decides which story you're holding.
The edition that matters
Veni Vidi Vicious first appeared on 10 April 2000 on Sweden's Burning Heart label, with Epitaph — well before "Hate to Say I Told You So" turned the band into a going concern everywhere else. That original pressing is the one collectors keep an eye out for: the record as it first landed, before anyone outside Scandinavia was paying attention.
The album eventually reached a modest number 63 in the US. After the singles caught, it was re-released on 30 April 2002 through Sire and Gearhead, and that's the version that flooded the shops. Nothing wrong with it. But the 2000 Burning Heart copy is the first word, and first words tend to hold their value.
What the disc gives you that the stream won't
The booklet and the artwork, for a start — that stark black-and-white look is half the reason to keep this band on a shelf rather than a server.
And if you're the completist sort, the Japanese edition is the one to chase: it added extra tracks the standard album didn't carry, which is the usual reward for hunting down the import. The stream gives you the album and a stop button. The right disc gives you the songs, the sleeve, and a reason to keep digging.
Value, plainly
Here's the honest version. The 2002 reissue is common as muck and trades cheaply — a few coins secondhand, because half a generation bought it the first time around. The original 2000 Burning Heart pressing asks more, the way first pressings of a band's breakout tend to. Either way you're under the cost of a month's streaming for a record you then own outright.
Grade before you buy. A Very Good or better with the booklet intact is the one to hold out for; a scuffed disc in a cracked case with no notes is worth what the op shop's asking and not a dollar over. When it sells here, that's 50 cents flat from each side — we'd rather the music moved than the fees did.
What to look for
- The original 2000 Burning Heart pressing — the first-word copy, from before the band broke.
- The 2002 Sire/Gearhead reissue — fine to own, easy to find, cheap as chips.
- Chasing extras? The Japanese edition added bonus tracks the standard album didn't.
- Check the booklet's present and the black-and-white artwork's clean — it's half the appeal.
- Grade Very Good or better, original case if you can manage it.
This was the band that kept loudly insisting they were your new favourite, and for a couple of glorious years the swagger was fully earned. Find a clean copy, put it on far too loud, and let the scuffed two-dollar reissue wait for someone who hasn't read this. Show me what you've got.