For nearly two decades, Harm’s Way has evolved from whispered underground favorites to favorite sons with a sprawling discography that helped shape heavy music’s trajectory. Harm’s Way has never stayed complacent and constantly morphed shape – absorbing and reapplying influences in new and creative ways to create some of the most well-executed songs in hardcore punk and metal.
Considering the changeling that they and their previous efforts are, Common Suffering is easily the most musically diverse undertaking in their catalog. The album beams with undeniably memorable riffs, breakdowns, and impeccable songwriting. The title is a clear nod to the collective experiences of the past three years of chaos, misanthropy, paranoia, disorder, confusion and anxiety, with the band exploring themes ranging from personal struggles with mental health, relationships, political upheaval, corruption, and political power.
This time around, Harm’s Way shifted to recording at Studio 4 in Pennsylvania with producer Will Yip (Turnstile, Code Orange). Going into the recording, the goal was to improve some of the band’s processes, examine vocal cadences and experiment during production to gain the best idea from each track. The first change dealt with refocusing members on their specific wheelhouses. While vocalist James Pligge had previously assisted with riffs, on this effort, his main objective was to ensure the perfect vocal attack– leaning into Yip for advice and letting the remainder of the band take the wheel with their respective parts. The result is each player pushing to the far reaches and creating material that has previously never been colonized by any band, or hardcore writ large, before.
As masterful and impressive as Common Suffering is, the precision-guided cluster bombs that make up the album are just ten more reasons for Harm’s Way fans to queue up to see one of the best and most vicious live shows on the planet. There, amongst the wide smiles, flailing arms and bodies pinballing off of the edges of the pit, is where the world will see just how singular and uncommon the new effort is. Next month the Harm’s Way tour hits the road for a North American headlining run which routes them across the states and wraps in Chicago for a special hometown release show at Metro (now SOLD OUT). Fleshwater, Ingrown and Jivebomb are set as support.
See below for a full list of dates. Purchase tickets here.
Oct 18: Milwaukee, WI – X-Ray Arcade (SOLD OUT)
Oct 19: St. Louis, MO – Blueberry Hill
Oct 20: Louisville, KY – Portal
Oct 21: Columbus, OH – Ace of Cups
Oct 22: Detroit, MI – Magic Stick
Oct 24: Pittsburgh, PA – Preserving Underground
Oct 25: Toronto, ON – Lee’s Palace
Oct 27: Brooklyn, NY – Monarch
Oct 28: Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club
Oct 29: Philadelphia, PA – First Unitarian Church
Oct 30: Baltimore, MD – Baltimore Soundstage
Oct 31: Richmond, VA – Canal Club
Nov 01: Atlanta, GA – Masquerade – Hell
Nov 03: Dallas, TX – Studio at The Factory
Nov 04: Austin, TX – Mohawk
Nov 05: Houston, TX – Warehouse Live Studio
Nov 07: Phoenix, AZ – The Nile
Nov 08: Las Vegas, NV – Eagle Aerie Hall
Nov 09: Los Angeles, CA – 1720
Nov 10: San Diego, CA – Brick by Brick
Nov 11: Berkeley, CA – 924 Gilman Street (SOLD OUT)
Nov 12: Sacramento, CA – Goldfield Trading Post
Nov 14: Salt Lake City, UT – Metro Music Hall
Nov 15: Denver, CO – Bluebird Theater
Nov 16: Kansas City, MO – RecordBar
Nov 18: Chicago, IL – Metro (SOLD OUT)
Oct 18 – Nov 16 w/ Fleshwater, Ingrown, Jivebomb
Nov 18 w/ Weekend Nachos, All Out War, Fleshwater, Ingrown
