It feels good to finally kick off 2018, and what better way than with a new(ish) release?
The hardcore world peed its pants with excitement when news of the band FREE broke. A new band that contains (I think) 4 of the 5 members of Have Heart, anticipation and expectations were high. A demo came out in 2015 and a 7" came out towards the back end of 2017. And then, in the last week of 2017, the band flew over for a short European jaunt and Control Records pressed up a limited 12" to mark the occasion.
This is a pretty low key affair, following the same layout as the Higher Power 12" that the same label also released about a year and a half ago. Black vinyl in a plain white DJ sleeve with a sticker in the top corner.
It may be a pretty plain design, but sometimes less is more. It's good to be served this aesthetically minimal records from time to time, rather than glossy gatefold sleeves full of splatter vinyl.
So I was pretty lucky to get this. There were only 135 copies made in total, and most sold out on the tour. The label kept a few copies back to sell online. About ten days ago, the label announced during the day that the remaining copies would be sold at a certain time in the evening, and I happened to be at my computer at the time they went on sale and, even more lucky, I remembered that they were going up for sale. When the witching hour came, I grabbed a copy immediately and a couple of minutes later they were sold out...
... and then, a little later, the label posted to say that somehow the webstore had oversold the record, and some people who thought that they had placed an order would be getting refunded and their order cancelled. Fortunately, my order got through. Must have been bad to be one of the people who thought that they had successfully placed an order only to then find out that they hadn't.
So what is FREE like? Well, I haven't listened to this much as I don't usually like to listen to stuff until I have the vinyl, and this is the first FREE record into my collection. So far I'd say that it sits somewhere between the two Have Heart LPs.It's better than the second, but not as good as the first. That's about as much as I can say. But I don't doubt for a second that this band is just finding their feet, and by the time a full length comes around (if) then I'm sure they will crank it up a gear.
