Thursday 4 November 2021

Forever Bound

I think that I originally bought the Railhed 'Forever Bound' 7" simply because I was trying to collect the entire Inner Journey Records catalog. It all started with the Clutch 7" and inside it was an insert which mentioned all of the records and the limited versions that the label had available to trade, which helped me figure out what I was chasing. Railhed was the odd band out on the roster. They were the only non 'hardcore' band, and they also had a full length released by Jade Tree Records, which was probably not surprising when you consider that the vocalist of the band was Darren Walters (one of the two owners of Jade Tree). I'm not sure how it happened exactly, but I ended up buying two different colour vinyl copies of the from Darren Walters himself. Back in the early to mid 90s I would hand write letters to labels asking about colour vinyl pressings, and I probably just asked Darren if he had any coloured Railhed 7"s left. I'm pretty sure he sold them to me for $10 each, which I was pretty happy about at the time. Well anyway, here I am all these years later still collecting Inner Journey releases, and I managed to get a test press of the Railhed 7".

There are only 5 releases on Inner Journey Records, and 3 of the test pressings come in red paper sleeves. I really like this level of detail and consistency. This particular copy is slightly annoying though. It's not printed or folded straight, and the end of the 'D' gets cut off in the fold. You can see it in the photos.

This is now the 3rd Inner Journey test that I own, which I am pretty happy about. The other two are the Lament and Release 7"s. That leaves me needing the Clutch and Sub Zero tests for a full set. Both are tough finds, but realistically I don't think I will ever get a Clutch 7" test, so this is likely to be another collection that I never actually complete.

I really like this Railhed 7". Definitely an underrated 90s gem, and contains their best song in my opinion. Looks great too, especially the pink copy I have with black swirls. I still to this day have no idea if they all look like this or whether any were pure pink. I don't think I have ever seen another now that I think about it.

I also got sent another clear vinyl copy with this test press, which I don't really need. If anyone wants it, get in touch.

1 comment:

Mike said...

Interesting. I actually downloaded the songs from their I Am You 7 inch earlier this year. I remember the name from the early 90's, but I don't think I'd ever heard them. Might have to find a download of the songs on this record as well.