Converge - Axe To Fall (Epitaph exclusive color)

Well, I turned 40 today.
40.
I am a god damn old man.

As unreal as it feels, I have to say the day has started out pretty damn good.

• My brother took me to see Kiss last night,
• I got to sleep in,
  
• I am taking the day off work,
• My wife surprised me with a trip to New Orleans next month for my birthday present, and
  
• On the kitchen counter was my first of many Converge Axe to Fall records!

Like everyone else, I was anticipating the news of the Axe To Fall pre-order back in September. I was checking every day, etc. My friend Shaun was in town and we were out and about hitting up Starbucks before a grueling day of record store shopping. I got an email from my friend Al that the Converge pre-orders were up but that the Deathwish server was having troubles.

I, being a great friend and host, drag Shaun back to my place so he can watch me hit F5 on my computer keyboard for over an hour trying to get into the DW webstore site. (Sorry man, that was just plain rude of me.)
While getting frustrated with the crashing and refreshing problems, I ended up ordering from Epitaph the exclusive color from them. Their site was also was sluggish, but my order went through finally.
People be lovin' the Converge!


This cream color is out of 500, making it one of the "rarer" versions.


Beautiful gatefold artwork by Jacob Bannon of course. Just awesome!


There is even a full color inner sleeve to boot. Thankfully, Deathwish made it so no one has to put the vinyl in it by adding a plain white sleeve for the vinyl.


I always try to get every possible color or variation of every Converge release, but this one could be trouble.
I have three coming from Deathwish, as I finally got in to order the three colorways advertised. However, it appears there are 8 different variations!
I put an order in this week at Amazon.uk hoping for the exclusive "beer" European color. I guess I will hit up RevHq for one of the common blue colors as well. After that, I guess I am playing the ebay game.

The rarest color (and one of the most beautiful I have ever seen) is clear with color shards. It is out of 100. Someone has already posted one for sale for $500. Damn! I guess there is always a one in a million chance that I might get one in my pre-order, but I am not holding my breath!

Most importantly, this is one amazing album. I can safely say I like Jacob's vocals better on this album that any of their others, including Jane Doe. It's all good. I also just figured out this is my first Deathwish post. How the hell did that happen? I love everything about the label. Everything. Looks like I better get on the ball.