Harvest - 'Transitions'

Trustkill Records, arguably the label of the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, have finally been reissuing some of their catalogue on vinyl recently. Classic records from Bleeding Through and It Dies Today have seen long-overdue pressings, but this essential compilation from Harvest, ‘Transitions’, finally comes to vinyl for the very first time.

For those unaware, Harvest hail from Minneapolis, MN, and were part of the burgeoning metallic hardcore scene of the mid to late '90s. Bands like Poison The Well and Eighteen Visions took Trustkill, and metalcore as a whole, to the next level, but what Harvest were doing was unique at the time. Granted, I heard them in reverse order after finding metalcore and hardcore around 2000/2001, but when you listen back to to 'Transitions' or their 1997 debut album, 'Living With A God Complex', you can hear how it paved the way for the next wave of bands.

Originally released in on CD in 1998, it features 14-tracks that appeared on various releases up until that point. It has the four songs from the ‘One Step Closer Than The Last’ 7”, tracks that were on compilations from labels Goodfellow, Apathy Press and Second Nature Recordings, and along with the early ‘Incision’ and ‘Worn Through The Layer of Separation’ 7’s on Trustkill and Ferret Records, respectfully.

The production of the tracks on the original CD left a little to be desired, but some of these tracks date back to 1995 and Harvest were an undergound hardcore band. This vinyl pressing has been given a fresh remaster from Scott Crouse (Earth Crisis, Sect) and sounds bigger and better than ever. It was almost like listening to a new Harvest record in 2024. 

It comes in a gatefold sleeve, and it looks as though the artwork has been restored for clarity’s sake, with a great live shot spread across the inside. It also comes with a double-sided photo and lyric insert. The vinyl itself is pressed on gorgeous orange and red splatter, which goes well with the artwork. The care and attention to detail that's gone into this release really shows.

There were three colours pressed for this reissue, and this one is out of 300 and was exclusive to RevHQ. It might not be the most limited colour of the run, but it was the only one I could find in the UK. For me, though, it’s more about just owning a record like this than having the most limited one, and even if I needed to have ordered it from overseas, I still would have picked this variant as I think it looks the nicest.

Seeing photos of new Harvest records across social media, and their name on bills with Sepultura on their farewell tour were not something I expected in 2024, but it certainly is a welcome sight. I'd like to think the Trustkill name still carries some weight with a newer generation of hardcore kids, too, and hopefully anyone who hadn't heard Harvest are checking them out.