Sign Of The Witch

Two years ago, things got kind of crazy. I was obsessed with Orchid, and I spent a silly amount of money chasing every vinyl pressing for their entire catalog. Under normal circumstances, this might be an easily attainable goal, but since we were dealing with Nuclear Blast, it was straight up over the top. When all was said and done, I ended up with 35 pieces of vinyl...with the majority of them only released that year. The chase was fun, but in the end it burned me the fuck out. When Nuclear Blast came through with yet another pressing, I dropped out of the game. What is the point in racing to the finish line, only to find that it keeps getting further away?

That experience changed my view on record collecting, and I walked away from it a bit more jaded than I was before. Collecting always meant something to me...it was historical and important...but after the "Orchid incident" I saw that not all labels have such a pure mindset. It isn't always about the music, and at times it is about how many units they can move. To me, it corrupts the game, and I won't play that anymore. When Nuclear Blast announced the new Orchid 10 inch, Sign Of The Witch, on six different colors of vinyl, I was quite content to pick up my one piece and then bow out.

This four song 10 inch is well worth the price of admission though. While there were obvious nods to Sabbath with the occasional riff here and there over the years, when I listen to these new songs, I just hear Orchid. The band have grown into their own...although there is still the tie to Sabbath with this release through the artwork on the insert, which was also used on Sabbath's Greatest Hits album from '77.

300 pressed on red vinyl.