Record Store Day — which takes place annually on the third Saturday of April — is putting on a “Back To Black Friday” celebration at independent record stores across the country. Black Friday, of course, is the enormous shopping phenomenon that takes place the day after Thanksgiving.

As Record Store Day’s press release states:
Ah, Black Friday. Even if you’re averse to the crowds and the crazy, there is a great place to go shopping on that day after Thanksgiving, and it’s your friendly neighborhood record store. We think that there are terrific things, treasures even, at record stores every day and we’re just upping the ante a little bit on Black Friday with some limited edition vinyl, CDs, DVDs, box sets, and this year even a box of trading cards. Things you can ONLY get at a record store, and some things you can get FIRST at a record store. Things that are perfect to give/get this holiday season, EVEN if you’re doing that shopping for yourself.

So, you may ask, what are some of the hard rock/heavy metal exclusives I can drool over? Well, here’s a Powerline top 5 hard and heavy list:

1. King Diamond – No Presents For Christmas picture disc LP (above)
Roadrunner Records puts out an exclusive release for Record Store Day — a 12″ picture disc — which is a lot of fun, even for the bible thumpers with a sense of humor. Pretty hilarious, actually. King Diamond with a reindeer is a great visual.

2. Judas Priest – Screaming For Vengeance picture disc LP
Legacy goes a step further with its 30th Anniversary edition release of this classic album. The revised artwork is displayed in all its glory on this cool 12″ pic disc. It’s not a Record Store Day exclusive, however. It’s what they call ‘RSD First’ release. Think ‘advance.’

Read more: Check out Powerline’s review of Legacy’s 30th Anniversary edition of Screaming For Vengeance.

3. Tomahawk – “Stone Letter” 7-inch single
Here’s  a brand new 7” single by Tomahawk, Mike Patton’s “experimental alternative metal super group.” It features a track from the band’s upcoming album (due out in 2013) and made exclusively for indie record stores. The B-side is an etched Tomahawk logo, too.

4. Mad Season – “River of Deceit” / “I Don’t Know Anything” (Live) 10″ vinyl
The label Monkeywrench offers a Record Store Day exclusive release of Mad Season. This one should generate quite a buzz due to the love of Layne Staley alone. It is a limited Edition 10″, colored vinyl single from Mad Season, the American rock supergroup formed in Seattle, Washington in 1994 by members of three popular Seattle-based bands: Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam and Screaming Trees (Barrett Martin, Mike McCready, John Baker Saunders and Layne Staley. Mad Season released only one album, Above, and is best known for the single “River of Deceit.”

5. Primus – Green Naugahyde 10
Primus fans will get their green on with this 10″ Vinyl RSD Exclusive release of two live tracks never before released on a Green Naugahyde embossed sleeve + clear green vinyl.

and an honorable mention goes to …

Mayhem – De Mysteriis Dom Sathans LP
Century Media has an advance (‘RSD First’ Release) of this soon-to-be-released double 180 gram vinyl set w/poster.