harms way - blinded white vinyl

the last record i bought on record store day 2016 and will write about (the other two were the last police record i needed to complete my full length collection of them and the ghostbusters soundtrack - as they don't fit the metal hardcore theme, i'll leave them out) is this lovely copy of harms way 'blinded' mini-lp. it's such a strong record that i always felt uncomfortable with my clear copy. i am not the biggest clear vinyl fan and therefore said to myself to get an upgrade for a reasonable price when the chance is there.

i actually thought this would be the ultra ace looking green and blue merge vinyl, which represents the rarest colour-way of the first press. unfortunately i never came across such a copy but when i was at burnout record store, hamburg sometime last year i saw a white copy sitting on the shelf. lately i really began to evolve a soft spot in my heart for white vinyl and when i saw it still being available after already having the rsd parkway drive in my hands, i couldn't say no anymore.

when i played it the other day after a year or so i suddenly remembered why this record is so devastatingly good. perfect five songs, nothing more nothing less. simply perfect. their latest full length 'rust' didn't really grab me. it is good but not as outstanding as 'blinded'. still the title song is my absolute favourite. so heartbreaking bittersweet and yet so ugly crushing. a masterpiece. go listen to it. 700 copies on this lovely white vinyl. cut at 45rpm. fantastic artwork. deathwish inc. 2013.

harms way - rust

their last release, the 'blinded' ep, was a huge cracker. i love it from first to last. 'blinded' is so deliciously evil and crushing that it is easily their musical peak to me. therefore i was in joyful anticipation of a full length through deathwish. then, in the beginning of the year, i got news from deathwish that pre-orders were up.

i really thought about getting the most limited edition from the states, because i really regret missing the blue green merge vinyl of 'blinded' and i believed deathwish would go for a similar good looking platter for 'rust'. but when i hit the e-store i realised that the 'rust vinyl' was already gone. ah well, fuck that, i would get a copy through a german distro.

and so, in pretty much all of such cases i could rely on my distro of trust, per koro records. markus of per koro had some copies in stock and i gladly took one off of his hands. after several spins the album really grew on me so far. at first i found that it just couldn't live up to 'blinded'. by now, i still think that but it's pretty close to its forerunner. a very well executed mosh monster, it is. check out 'infestation' and 'turned to stone', my favourites of the record.

the packaging of 'rust' looks pretty good all around. deathwish went for a gatefold sleeve in a rust and bone colour scheme with a die-cut sleeve to highlight the album title. looks pretty neat. as expected, i got the least limited colour way, which is fine by me. that 'ginger ale vinyl' matches the whole asthetics quite good. 3.121 copies of the first press with 2.100 of my ginger baby. deathwish inc. 2015.

harms way - blinded

so with the latest harms way release i close my little hw-vinyl issue for now. after i stumbled upon them in last year's september this mini lp was already out. that's why i came up short for the rarest colour way, a sea blue with green swirl plastic plate. man, that looks so good, i found some pics on the internet and am pretty jealous of everyone who has a copy. but what's the use, i probably wouldn't have ordered from the states anyway. maybe ebay will help out in the future. of course, per koro helped me out with this one here.

the five songs on 'blinded' are easily their best material to date. this is dark, ominous and heavy metallic hardcore at it's very best. i could rave on and on about this stuff but probably you should just listen for yourself. check out 'frontal lobe' and the instrumental title song 'blinded', my favourites of the record. on this recording they dropped their industrial elements for a more organic sound. i like it. wonder where the movie samples are taken from. has anyone a clue?

the presentation is as good as the music itself, if you ask me. great artwork, i can see a blindfolded horse that is kind of drowning? anyway, looks real nice! i really like the choice of colours, all in a blue-greenish tone. yeah, that sea blue green swirl would have looked awesome... but the clear version is a nice match too. better than white in my book. 2000 copies made in the first press. 300 on sea blue mint green swirl, 700 on white and 1000 on clear vinyl. cut at 45rpm. deathwish inc. 2013.

harms way - isolation

like i mentioned in the previous post, my first real encounter with this great band came with the discovery of an ebay auction. someone who is listening to die young (tx), meltdown and above all undertow proved some good taste in music, therefore i put some effort in checking out harms way. so i listened to something like two songs from the 'isolation' record and was sold.

boy, this is intense, dark, cold and depressive music. the feeling that really sticks out to me listening to 'isolation', is the feeling of coldness. give 'scrambled' and 'becoming' a listen and tell me you don't have to put on another sweater, because it seems like the temparture dropped rapidly in your room :-) i love it when you can feel music instead of just hearing it. to me, harms way's 'isolation' is such an album.

the artwork is great. looks like the same guy worked on wolfxdown's 'stray from the path'. also you get a black dust sleeve and nice split coloured vinyl. yeah, you know i love this colour pattern. half solid white and half clear looks ace! i scored this record from per koro distro as well because i missed it on ebay. closed casket activities. 2011.

harms way - reality approaches

i decided to make a small band related string of posts. because of the loss of the most of my vinyl pictures, my initial order, in which i posted up my records is dead and gone. so i get experimiental here, haha. over the months i brought together all the harms way records i want at the currency. i already posted about their 'no gods, no masters' 7". so now the first vinyl disc in line is their first full length album called 'reality approaches'.

i got this, together with some other records, as part of a per koro order. it was released on organized crimes records and this is a latter pressing on white vinyl. i got aware of them because of an ebay auction. a seller had a harms way lp among his offerings and as i was bidding on some good stuff of his collection, i thought i might check harms way out. he offered the 'isolation' lp and i listened to it on the net and found it pretty good.

so i checked back what per koro had to offer and, well, that's the story so far. the album itself is quite good. a mix of kiloton hardcore and metal. when you listen to the stuff that followed, you'll recognise this album as a part of a development. they didn't quite reach the sound they were looking for, so 'reality approaches' pales a bit in comparison with their further discography. but i like it for what it is. sounds a lot like integrity in my ears. check some tunes here. as said before, this is a later pressing, the third to be exact, on white vinyl. i couldn't find any numbers. organized crime records. 2009.

harms way - no gods, no masters 7"

for the first time i checked this band out in last year's september, i believe. it was because of an ebay auction i was watching, for the album 'isolation'. i really liked it and wanted to check out more of their discography. so the obvious place where i thought i might find some more harms way stuff was, again, ebay. i was really happy to find a copy of their 'no gods, no masters' 7" released before 'isolation' dropped in 2011. 

i was quite surprised to pay something around 15€. doesn't seem too high, i know, but i don't think that there are that much people here in germany who know them, plus it's a second press copy. the songs on this piece of plastic are very good. heavy and dark metallic hardcore with a singer who sounds like a barking rottweiler. check the song 'king'. at the end you can here a sample of 'american psycho'. i mean, that's cool but i can recall at least three other bands that used this or another line for their songs. doesn't seem too imaginative anymore. 

this 7" was released in 2010 and came out on closed casket activities. closed casket made three pressings by now, with the latest having appeared in 2013. as mentioned before, my copy is of the second press. 150 on clear w/ red/white/blue splatter and 516 copies on yellow w/ hot pink splatter. for detailed information about the other pressings you can have a look at the closed casket web side. 2010.