Grace 7"

This is the debut 7" from Grace, a band I knew absolutely nothing about until I received the record in the mail. In fact, I didn't even order this or knew I would be receiving it. Bundled along with the last of the Pale Creation / Abraxis split variants was this record free of charge from Nate of Hemlock 13. I am so glad he decided to send me a copy of this, it blew me away when I first played it, and it continues to do so as I become more familiar with the tracks. In fact, I may go as far as saying that this is my favourite 7" of the year thus far (maybe even beating One Man's Trash!).

This has some really busy artwork going on. There is skulls, teeth and all sorts going on, as you can probably see for yourself. I'm not sure how to explain why, but the colour seems to perfectly suit the tone of the EP. In fact it happens to me quite a lot when listening to music, I associate a colour with the way the music sounds. I often wonder if I'd imagine the same colour without first seeing the album artwork, or if my choice of associated colour is influenced by what I've already seen. Anyway, I digress so shall back to it.

On the inside we have the lyrics to just one of the songs, "Sorrow". This is the first track of the three, followed by "Game" and "Up To Your Neck". I mentioned up above that I'm really into these tracks, but I'll say it again. There is not a single point in the entire 7.4 minutes that I wish wasn't included. From start to finish, Grace have put created a superb EP and I can't wait to see if anything more comes from them.

I previously mentioned this was a freebie, but on top of the freeness was the fact this is a copy of the limited colour version. Limited to just 200 copies, this sky blue version looks pretty fantastic. The black version is only marginally less limited anyway, with 100 more copies produced.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining at all, this is purely observational interest. On the H13 website it mentions this version being a bit different to what I received. While the quality heavy card stock is there, as well as the stickers, the rest described seems to be missing. It was supposed to have an stencilled B-side, whereas mine is completely stencil-free.

What's more, there are no patches or a 9-song download. It's a pity about the download, I would have loved to see what else the band has released. I can't complain though, this was still completely free which is just awesome.