An identifier with limits
Catalog numbers make a record easier to identify across shops, distributor lists and collector databases. The Karmageddon edition of Forefather’s “Engla Tocyme” is listed as KARMA033; Dismember’s “Where Ironcrosses Grow” is listed as KARMA025. Those codes identify catalog entries, but the digits alone do not prove the recording date, the original label, or the order in which every territory received a copy.
The Dismember entry makes the distinction clear: the database gives the album a March 2004 release date and KARMA025, while its recording information places the sessions between December 2002 and March 2003. A catalog code belongs to a release object in a sequence; it is not a timestamp for the music.
How to verify a pressing
One title can have several identifiers: a general catalog number, a CD-specific suffix, a barcode and a territorial distributor code. Databases may group or split those fields differently. Even the same catalog code can appear with variant matrix data, so a code alone may not distinguish every manufacturing run.
For a careful check, compare independent discographic records, then inspect the physical item if you are cataloging your own copy. Look for the number on the spine, disc face and matrix area; record the country and format. If sources disagree, show the disagreement instead of silently selecting the tidiest date.
This archive uses catalog IDs as search handles, not proof of ownership or a promise that a title is currently available. That distinction keeps an index useful without turning it into an unreliable shop listing.
