Having been around since 2006, Harms Way seem to have bypassed me in much the same way as life seems to do these days, just in the outer reaches of my peripheral vision, things happen, birds swoop, cars drive by, cups of tea are slurped and apples fall from trees all whilst I continue my journey, impervious to the detritus of my life. It’s a circular and somewhat convoluted way of illustrating that Harms Way’s muscular and brutal brand of metalcore, only bubbled into my guts around a year ago via the pensive of YouTube. And it was a pleasing enough experience, rough and ready, sweaty, and pumped, stomping riffs, and double bubble bass drums like a rough blend of Cro-Mags, Pantera and Lamb of God. Having flown down said rabbit hole, and dived into their back catalogue, Harms Way testosterone fuelled live show has been captured in most senses on their recorded output which thus far comprises 2015’s ‘Rust and 2018s ‘Posthuman’ both representing sharp, cutting riffs that are syncopated with thunderous drums and barked/shouted vocals, straightening more as the band grew in confidence into more hardcore areas of influence.
And so, to this, their new album ‘Common Suffering’, and if you’re expecting some kind of road to Damascus transformative event or volte face, then you’ll need to level set your expectations to a setting of mostly more of the same please. Now, this isn’t always a bad thing and I’ll explain why as succinctly as I can. Bands start as one thing, gain in popularity (sometimes) for the music they play (with a soupcon of image, luck, foul play, money, and nepotism). Generally, bands get popular for their music. And as sure as night follows day, bands take that as a cue to throw the baby out with the bathwater when their popularity or success plateaus or stagnates and they decide they need to change what there are doing which often means, a change in musical direction which ends up possibly appealing to a new set of fans but then alienates and divides their existing fanbase and nets the band out to where they were (or worse) with the added accoutrement of a compromised musical identity.
What Harms Way have decided to do on this new album, is to retain the blueprint that has served them well thus far, and just ever so slightly tweaked the edges, adding splashes of variation, of colours, of shade and consideration to their pummelling metallic hardcore. Don’t’ get me wrong, this still shakes its ass like a rabid wolverine and grinds, sways, and stomps its way through your head. Its propellant riffs and drums, carry you aloft as vocalist James Pligge, spits bars like his teeth are on fire. But there are subtle and initially hard to detect alterations here and then throughout ‘Common Suffering’ no more evident than on ‘Undertow’ (which features King Woman) and album closer ‘Wanderer’ which stretch Harms Way’s somewhat formulaic (but enjoyable) musical DNA strands in ways that will surprise, but ultimately delight their fans and evidences that the band are far from a one trick pony and have the wherewithal, musical acuity and sense to allow their music to aerate, take a breath and grow. And it’s in these moments that are sporadically inserted throughout this album, that make this collection of songs, whilst not necessarily essential, represent an important milestone for the band. It’s a delicate shift and whilst much of the album is still an enjoyable slice of metalcore which is competent, heavy, bruising and toe tappingly good, it positions the Chicagoan’s at somewhat of a fork in the metaphorical musical road. The tempo and tonal variations compared to previous endeavours is if not marked, is noticeable and conflates with the other small changes within the band that is seeking to release at least one arm from the scene shackles it has engineered for itself and to reach for pastures new. If I were being, a cynic, you could take a look at a band like Harms Way and write them off as mid-tier, scenesters, peddling an inoffensive metalcore, rinsing and repeating album after album and whilst there is an element of duplication and a devoutness to their sound, there are moments on this album, that give you a glimpse of green shoots, that highlight that Harm’s Way have the potential to step off the treadmill and into territories hitherto unexplored, uncomfortable and fresh. This is a solid enough album that will appease their existing fanbase but comes replete with just enough fresh ideas to fall into recommendation territory.
(7/10 Nick Griffiths)
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